Newsletter: Week of September 23

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First Grade Fun

Busy, busy, busy was the theme of the week. We accomplished so many things in such a short amount of time. First, everyone came in with amazing alphabet items, and clues too! If you haven't already check out our Padlet wall to see them all. Then, we completed our 5 Senses unit on Tuesday. Most students were able to identify each of the 5 senses as well as how each of those senses helped them survive. We discussed Community Helpers this week. We identified what they are, who they are in our community and how they help us. We used the computer lab to create digital art work of our Community Helpers. Stay tuned for the link! Lastly, we ended the week with writing in our September journals and Relax Reading in the afternoon! We definitely had a lot of first grade fun this week!

Staying warm! Remember to pack to your child with layers as the seasons are changing :-)

Classroom Damage...

Today it came to my attention that several pairs of our headphones were damaged. Upon farther investigation, I realized 5 out of our 13 pairs of headphones were broken beyond repair and two more were fixable but left disassembled. The most disappointing part of this all was the fact that not one pair of headphones had been reported broken by a student. 

We had an important class discussion around this today, and how it was everyone's responsibility to take care of the things within our classroom. We talked about how even if they personally did not break the headphones, they should have let me know earlier so we could have fixed the headphones or addressed this issue earlier, preventing more from becoming "unfix-able."

A few of the broken head phone

These headphones are very popular within our classroom. Students use these headphones regularly to stay focused, and cancel out distractions around them. It's disappointing that now less students will be able to use these in the classroom as a result of misuse. I am hoping students will come forward and take responsibility for what has happened. I am also hopeful we, as a class, will be more aware of our classroom materials and  how those materials need to be handled. 

First Round of Homework

Over the weekend, each student was asked to find an item to match a designated letter, then write three clues for that item. Check out our Padlet wall to see our collection as well as our clues. If you would like to add a comment to our Padlet Wall, feel free! All you have to do is find some empty space in our Padlet and double-click. Your "title" can be your name (ex- "Joey's mom", "Polly's Gramma") and then just type your comment below.

Alphabet Clues Using Padlet

Another Great Week!

We had another great week! This week, we really looked into the value behind a number; what it meant to count on the off-decimal by 10's (3, 13, 23, 33, 43) instead of just memorizing 10, 20, 30, 40, 50... We also practiced counting backwards. This was much trickier than most expected it to be. In science, we finished our discussions around the 5 Senses. Next week, they will be tested on their knowledge of the five senses and how they are used to help us survive. In writing, we have been working on writing with detail and expanded sentences. Instead of writing, "I like cats", we are writing, "I like cats because they are cuddly." or "I like brown and white cats." Reading groups began this week! It was great to meet with other first graders outside of our own classroom. Lastly, students were able to cash in some of their "otter bucks" for prizes in our school store today! A large thank you definitely goes out to anyone who donated to this store. We certainly had plenty of items to choose from!

There is homework this weekend. Please work with  your child to complete the task. I have attached an electronic copy to our blog, in case anyone misplaced their copy.

Newsletter: Week of September 16

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Also there is homework this weekend...

Click here for a copy of the homework

The ABC's of the Tunbridge Fair

Check out our video! We used photos we took at the fair, and connected them to the correct letter in the alphabet. If you listen carefully, you can hear every first grader's voice throughout the video. *Sorry about the volume of some voices. After watching the video today in class, students realized they need to speak up a little more when creating audio clips.

Great Math Discussions

Today we had some wonderful math discussions around quantity of number and estimating. We introduced new sea creatures as a math station. At first, everyone made an estimate only by looking into the bucket. Next, we spread the creatures out in front of us and checked or changed our estimate. In the end, we counted all 96 sea creatures and compared our estimates to the real number. Students used great math language and communication skills during our lesson today. We also looked at place value and the value of different numbers...we even counted by 10's on the off-decade. For example: 3,13,23,33,43,53 rather than 10,20,30,40,50.

First Field Trip

We had a great time at the Tunbridge Fair yesterday. The rain held off for us, and the mud wasn't very thick. We enjoyed looking at all the different animals, antiques and artwork on display. During our trip, we focused on two things: the alphabet and our 5 senses. Students were on a scavenger hunt to find something inside the fairgrounds beginning with each letter of the alphabet. We took many pictures of these items, and will be doing more with them next week! After the trip, we discussed how our 5 senses helped us and what information was taken in by our various senses. It was pretty neat to listen to them describe what they saw, smelled, tasted, felt and heard while at the fair. You might want to ask your child yourself and see what he/she says!

Taking a look at some very tall sunflowers...one was 13 feet!

Meeting one of the local farmers

Testing our strength...working a hand water pump is harder than it looks!

Checking out the printing press

Newsletter: Week of September 9

 Click the link below for this week's newsletter

Newsletter: Week of September 9

Open House and So Much More!

Today was filled with so much fun. We continued to explore the five senses, focussing our discussions around sight and how it helps us to survive. We began solving word problems created by our classmates. Students had to look at these word problems and decide what picture and equation they would use to solve them. Towards the end of the day, we met our 5th Grade Book Buddies for the first time. They spent some time reading with us today. This evening ended with a wonderful Open House. We had a great turnout of families and friends of Raney's Rock Stars. I had a blast getting to know families and touching base about everything that takes place inside our mini-world at DBS on a daily basis. Thanks to all those who came out (and for filling out last minute permission slips for the fair!)

Manic Monday

Sometimes Mondays can feel a bit like a tornado, everything hits all at once and you're not quite sure where it all came from. Luckily, today wasn't one of those Mondays. Today went rather smoothly, as students are beginning to remember our daily routines and become more independent. We worked together to solve and create new bug word problems. We discussed how one problem could have many different ways of solving it. This was an exciting idea amongst our classmates! It also required us to be able to explain and support our ideas, rather than just "have an answer". We continued to look at our surroundings with our senses and had some time to play cooperatively at the end of the day. 

Exploring With Our Senses II

This week we explored the outdoors using our senses (all but taste!) The students worked together to collect video clips and pictures that highlighted the different things they could see, hear, smell and touch. Check out our Youtube video here:

Week 2: Underway!

Well, after a very restful and relaxing Labor Day weekend, week two is underway. We accomplished so much already and have lots to look forward to this week. Today, we began using our September morning journals and our September writing journals. Each morning, as students arrive, they will complete a page in their morning journal, highlighting the day of the week, color of the day, the date in numbers and continuous counting. During our literacy block, students will have a chance to add writing entries. They are already looking great! In math, students explored various geoboard patterns. They also created and labeled their unifix cube patterns. Some patterns were ABAB or ABCABC while others tried more complicated patterns, such as AABBBCC or AABC! Wow! I was very impressed! Lastly, today was our first opportunity to use our Science Notebooks! We have begun our unit on the Five Senses and how they help us survive. We had a science discussion and made observations using our senses. Later this week we hope to explore the outdoors and record how our different senses allow us to observe nature.