It's hard to believe that we are almost 20 days into school! The first few weeks are definitely an adjustment as the kids have been transitioning into a full days schedule and first grade life in general.
This upcoming week I will be administering Aimsweb which gives me baseline data on each students foundational reading and math skills. Since I will be out of the classroom to give these assessments our daily routines will differ somewhat, but after this week we will be pretty settled and daily routine will be established.
So far the children have been practicing a lot of routine management and classroom expectations while focused on Kindergarten review. Here are the highlights:
This upcoming week I will be administering Aimsweb which gives me baseline data on each students foundational reading and math skills. Since I will be out of the classroom to give these assessments our daily routines will differ somewhat, but after this week we will be pretty settled and daily routine will be established.
So far the children have been practicing a lot of routine management and classroom expectations while focused on Kindergarten review. Here are the highlights:
Reading
We established our "turn and talk" partners for whole group reading. Students discuss our read aloud and answer questions about the story with their partners. Our reading skill is making self-to-text connections. While reading or listening to a story students should be able to relate and make a connection with a story event to their own personal lives. We've also been practicing our reading stamina. Our class analogy is "swimming" Swimmers tire easily if they don't practice to build up their strength and we do the same with reading. We're up to reading for 5 minutes independently without becoming restless.
We established our "turn and talk" partners for whole group reading. Students discuss our read aloud and answer questions about the story with their partners. Our reading skill is making self-to-text connections. While reading or listening to a story students should be able to relate and make a connection with a story event to their own personal lives. We've also been practicing our reading stamina. Our class analogy is "swimming" Swimmers tire easily if they don't practice to build up their strength and we do the same with reading. We're up to reading for 5 minutes independently without becoming restless.
Math
To ease into our math routine we start the year with our geometry unit. Basic plane and solid shapes should be review. We have focused on being able to identify shapes by their attributes as well as compare and contrast, group, and describe. Students have done a lot of hands on practice with combining shapes to make new shapes, pictures, and models. Getting the pattern blocks and foam shapes out has been a favorite!
To ease into our math routine we start the year with our geometry unit. Basic plane and solid shapes should be review. We have focused on being able to identify shapes by their attributes as well as compare and contrast, group, and describe. Students have done a lot of hands on practice with combining shapes to make new shapes, pictures, and models. Getting the pattern blocks and foam shapes out has been a favorite!
Fundations (Phonics)
Fundations is our phonics and language program. It is a research based approach that teaches students to understand the rules or our language rather than spelling memorization. By learning the rules, students can apply this knowledge to figuring out new words while reading and writing. So far we have only reviewed letter and sound identification as well as lowercase letter formation. Next week we take-off on 3 sound words and introduce digraphs (ch, sh, wh, th, ph, and ck)
Writing
Our focus on writing has been on being able to generate a sentence or two about a known topic such as "things I like" or "ways I help" and add a related illustration. Over the course of the year students will develop their writing to include more details and be able to generate their own ideas. During centers students have been able to make multiple pages on these topics and combine them to make their own book which they have loved! We have also introduced free writing journals which are another favorite. Students write every. day. whether teacher directed or freely in their journals.
Science/Social Studies
These two subjects are always lumped together for me not because they aren't important but rather because they are usually integrated into our other core areas such as reading and writing. Some weeks the focus will be on science and others will be social studies. This past week we took a trip down the hall and out into the school courtyard to observe lambs ear plants. The kids did a great job making observations and then recording their observations in a writing assignment. They absolutely loved the outdoor learning environment.
Social studies will be focused for awhile on rules and community. Establishing a classroom community where students feel valued, are supported by me and their peers, and can thrive as a contributing member to the group is HUGE. It doesn't happen in one day, but by using social stories and team building activities we will get there. Our apple unit is coming up and learning about Johnny Appleseed is a big citizenship study for us.
RTI (Response To Intervention)
If you hear your child talk about centers, they mostly happen during this time. We have an intervention block which is 1 hour a day. This time is used to instruct at each child's individual level. Students are grouped by ability and given small group instruction whether they need remedial work on a skill they are struggling with or enrichment where they excel. Students may leave the room during this time to work with our reading aides, work with me in small groups, and/or work independently at centers. Independent centers include:
More individualized information about your child's specific need during this time will be discussed with you at Fall conferences.
I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into what are days have been like and feel included in what your child does at school each day.
If you hear your child talk about centers, they mostly happen during this time. We have an intervention block which is 1 hour a day. This time is used to instruct at each child's individual level. Students are grouped by ability and given small group instruction whether they need remedial work on a skill they are struggling with or enrichment where they excel. Students may leave the room during this time to work with our reading aides, work with me in small groups, and/or work independently at centers. Independent centers include:
- Books center (reading alone and/or partner reading)
- Sight words (games and other activities)
- Technology (working on various assigned activities in reading and/or math on the tablets)
- Word work (games and activities working on our current Fundations skill)
- Writing (students work on previous writing pieces and/or add new pieces)
More individualized information about your child's specific need during this time will be discussed with you at Fall conferences.
I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into what are days have been like and feel included in what your child does at school each day.