The Week of Oct. 24

 

**Student Illness**

Many students in first and second grade have respiratory symptoms such as runny nose, sore throat, coughing and sneezing at this time. We are encouraging students to wash their hands multiple times a day, drink lots of water, along with other best practices (coughing/sneezing into your arm etc.) Please keep your student home if they are not feeling well. 

**If you are sending cough drops  to school with your student, we need to know. Nurse Allysa or I will keep cough drops in a safe area and will monitor when your student needs and uses them**

Upcoming Events

Parent Teacher Conferences 

Nov. 8-10 

Thank you to all of the families who have already signed up for a conference. Please check with Ms. Stephanie in the office and she will help anyone set up a time.

Teacher In-Service/ No School 

Nov. 11

Big Buddies Little Buddies

This week, we had a engineering challenge to work on with our Big Buddies! Students could build the tallest or strongest structure. Students worked to plan, build,  and test their creations. It is really special to see the relationships being built through our Big Buddy/LIttle Buddy tradition. 

Readers' Workshop

In reading the first and second graders wrapped up our first unit of study on Building Habits of a Good Reader. Together we built a amazing Readers' Workshop time where students have purpose and a love of reading.  We continue to work in our small reading groups each day.  Book discussions are a big part of developing comprehension. Students are learning to write about their reading in their reading journals. I am excited to share their reading journals with you at parent/teacher conferences. 

 Our next unit will focus on reading nonfiction texts. Students will work on visual strategies for solving unknown words, and begin to ask/answer questions about nonfiction topics. Students will join book clubs based on interest at the end of our unit. 

Writers' Workshop

In writing, we are working on building our writing stamina. Students are learning to write for extended periods of time. In first and second grade, students are learning to plan, write and revise their small moment stories. 

Writers' Workshop Format

All students take part in our main lesson. This lesson teaches a specific grade level skill or strategy and lasts for about 10 minutes.

Students then work on their own writing for about 20 minutes. Some students work in small guided writing groups to develop a specific skill or strategy, while others are writing independently during the workshop. 

Lastly, we often end our writing time by sharing our writing with others. 

School Wide PAWS Celebration

On Friday, WES students celebrated using our PAWS with some Halloween Craftivity time. Students were broken up into small groups and worked with a teacher on a special craft. Students were sorted into groups based on their top 3 choices. In the 1-2 classroom we made Halloween Slime. Be sure to ask your student which craft they made :)

Here is the link to the Fluffy Halloween Slime we made the 1-2 class.

Fluffy Halloween Slime

The Week of Oct. 17

 

Upcoming Events

Teacher In-Service/ Early Release Day @ 11:30

Oct. 26 

Parent Teacher Conferences 

Nov. 8-10 

Thank you to all of the families who have already signed up for a conference. Please check with Ms. Stephanie in the office and she will help anyone set up a time.

Teacher In-Service/ No School 

Nov. 11

Readers' Workshop

This week, we worked on setting goals for our independent and partner reading. Each day students write a goal for how many books they will read and keep track on a sticky note! We also worked on smoothing out our reading. When students read a new text for the first time, they are working on figuring out the words, and how the book works. Rereading words, sentences and even the whole book helps build fluency and comprehension. 

Students continue to work with small groups in the classroom. 

Writers' Workshop 

This week, we read a new mentor text called Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall. Reading this book together helped us to see how personal narrative stories go, and how recognize and add feeling to our own stories. We brainstormed ideas to write about based on different emotions we felt at the time. Student learned to "touch, tell, sketch and write" a routine that helps student learn the writing process. 

Fundations/Word Study

The first and second graders are working on becoming fluent with letter names, sounds and beginning digraphs. This week, we broke up into small groups to learn and practice various skills. We finished up our first list of POWER WORDS (these are the most common trick words found in first and second grade texts). We practice reading and writing these words through games and repeated practice. 

Big Buddies/Little Buddies 

This week, we met with our awesome Big Buddies from Ms. Jones' 4-5 class. Together we did a guided draw and created cool jack o'lanterns for Halloween! 

First Grade Math 

In math, the first graders finished up their end of unit assessment, and began working on addition combinations from 0-10. We played a fun game using dominoes that helped us to identify the multiple ways to make 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. During out Math Menu time, we are having a blast! Students know our routine and have really began developing a growth mindset. 

This week, our journal writing prompt was:

Think of a job that uses math everyday. Write and draw about them.

During this time of day students are bumping up into activities that challenge them. Game time and Problem Solvers are meant to challenge and provide students with time to talk and work together. These activities are about the process of math thinking not the end product.  Making mistakes and persisting through challenges are celebrated in our room! 

The Week of Oct. 10

 

Upcoming Events 

Teacher In-Service/ Early Release Day @ 11:30

Oct. 26 

Parent Teacher Conferences 

Nov. 8-10 

Teacher In-Service/ No School 

Nov. 11

PBIS WHOLE SCHOOL CELEBRATION

Waterville students celebrated using their PAWS  by having all school EXTRA RECESS on Friday! Way to go, Cougars! 

Seriously Fun!! 

Silly Faces!

Readers' Workshop

The first and second graders have enjoyed working in their small reading groups. Now, that we have our routines and expectations down pat our Readers' Workshop is running smoothly! Groups meet weekly and work on a variety of reading strategies. We also spend time responding to our reading with pictures and words in our reading journals! 

We are working on Building Habits of a Good Reader. Here are the skills we are learning.

Writers' Workshop

This week we began Writers' Workshop. Our first unit of study is focused on planning, writing and revising personal narratives. The first and second graders will zoom in on "small moments or tiny moments" in their day to write about. 

We read two great mentor texts which taught how a personal narrative book is organized. We loved reading:

The Shortcut by Donald Crews and The Night of the Veggie Monster by George McClements.  

 

Craftivity

On Friday, we worked on writing a 5 senses poem! Together we brainstormed a list of smells, sights, sounds, tastes and feels that occur in the fall. Students worked on writing a poem and then created a cool fall leaf using chromatography. We colored leaves on special paper, then sprayed them with water! 

First Grade Math 

In math, the first graders are wrapping up Unit 1 on Numbers All Around Us. We spent time working on measuring this week. Students made estimations and then measured items around the room with unifix cubes. Students began to unitize their cubes into groups of 10 to be more efficient.  We are working with 2d shapes, and learning defining attributes of many different shapes. This week, we worked on creating new composite shapes from other shapes. 

Please check out the Unit 2 overview linked below. 

Unit 2 Overview