What a week! This time of year always seems to be speed by and this year feels especially quick to me. We have been very busy in room 137 to say the least! This week we wrapped up our nonfiction-writing unit. Below are some photos from our publishing days. To say the class often looks like it had been hit by a tornado is an understatement! While these days are a bit chaotic, I find them to be inspiring: students are intent on their purpose to publish their books and are actively engaged in the writing process. Which leads me to the next point: student writing is up on their sites-please check it out and leave us some comments. I am so impressed with how much dedication and effort the class has put into their nonfiction chapter books. We have been working very hard not only on the content of our writing but also on punctuation. This week, we made a paper chain to decorate our classroom with sentences that had various forms of punctuation. We are working on this skill because Common Core Standards states that first grade students should be able to use end punctuation for sentences (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.1.2b). We will continue to work hard on this first grade standard in addition to developing our voice as writers.
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We have been engrossed in writing this year. Writing small moments in the beginning of the year was so engaging to the class, I was a little nervous about the transition to nonfiction. Much to my excitement and joy the energy we put towards writing has increased. This week students brought in pictures on topics they are writing about and worked with their writing partner in describing what they saw in the pictures. This strategy helps students to elaborate and add more details and information to their writing. When students got seated and began to share their pictures, the room was buzzing with facts and information on topics ranging from football to animals to volcanoes. After 5 minutes of sharing, students set their picture in a spot where they could see it and got to writing. Sometimes the transition from talking with writing partners to writing can be a little noisy, however, students were on fire with information they needed to add to their books and the room went silent in a very short time. I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday weekend. It was great to be able to meet with everyone to discuss your child’s progress within our classroom during conferences. Seattle public schools only sets aside one time a year for conferences, however, if you would like to meet later on to discuss your child’s progress, I am happy to meet with you. The week before our holiday break Susan, Jacob's mom came into talk about the history of Hanukkah and taught us how to play with dreidels. It was a lot of fun and the whole class enjoyed trading gold coins and spinning the dreidels. Thank you to Susan for coming to teach us about Hanukkah! This week we will have a very busy week. We will have roots of empathy on Monday. On Tuesday we will go on our field trip to James and the Giant Peach. If you have not yet sent in your $13.00 check for the ticket and bus fare, please do so. Additionally, if your child will need a sack lunch from the cafeteria, please let me know as soon as possible so I can tell Ms. Nancy. Wednesday through Friday we will be working on wrapping up our nonfiction chapter books and getting ready to publish. In math we will continue working on tell time on analog clocks. Most students can tell time on digital clocks, however, analog clocks are challenging for many first graders. If you child has an analogy watch, now would be a great time to encourage them to wear it and be a time-keeper for the family while at home. Upcoming Events this week: Monday: Roots of Empathy Tuesday: Field trip to James and the Giant Peach. Thursday: Library day-please remember to return books. |
AuthorHi I'm Ms. Smith. I am thrilled to be teaching first grade at Queen Anne Elementary. I am passionate about teaching and learning. Please stop by often to watch us grow as learners and citizens! Archives
March 2015
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