The Week of Sept. 26th

 

Upcoming Events

Picture Day: Please be sure to send in your student's envelope :)

Oct. 4th 

No School

Oct. 5th 

Teacher In-Service/ No School

Oct. 10th 

WES Open House 

Oct. 13th from 6:00-7:00

Please come to visit our classroom! Your student will share some of their work, show you around and I will available to answer questions. 

Morning Choice Time

Friday Circle 

On Friday, we had our first Restorative Circle in class (which we call Friday Circle). We sang our class song Three Little Birds by Bob Marley, passed our talking piece around and took turns answering some cool get to know you questions. Our goal is to build a community circle time, where students learn to share, listen, and feel welcome. Eventually, we will use this time to discuss and repair harm and/or conflict if needed.  Below are the Restorative Practices we will work towards this year. 

Readers' Workshop

In reading, the first and second graders have been working hard to master our Readers' Workshop routine. This week, we worked to build our reading stamina in both independent and partner reading. Students read with a partner and reviewed taking turns, sharing books and being a kind and helpful partner.  Students also book shopped for just right books and books of high interest. 

Our fall benchmark assessments are finished, and we are ready to begin small group targeted instruction soon.  Students will meet on a weekly basis to receive instruction at their "just right level". WES just received an AMAZING new Fountas and Pinnell guided reading kit which includes high interest books at the first and second grade level. Small groups are flexible and could be skill or strategy based.  

Fiction vs. NonFiction

The first and second graders reviewed the elements of a fiction book, and compared them to nonfiction books on the same topic. We have really enjoyed reading Jory John's books :The Bad Seed , The Good Egg and The Cool Bean. 

Mind Up: My Brain and Body

The first and second graders finished up our first social emotional unit of study on our brain and body. This week, we had fun developing mindful smelling, tasting and touching. Students LOVED identifying the mystery smells in different cups and drawing pictures to match. We practiced mindful tasting by taking our time to savor some Hershey kisses and lifesaver mints.

 Friday we guessed a mystery snack by using our sense of smell- It was POPCORN :) Students also explored different textures and feels around the room and recorded them with words and pictures. 

Brain Break Time

The first graders doing a guided dance before math time! This helps our brains have fun and engerzie before we dig into math. 

First Grade Math 

This week, we worked on a variety of skills! Students continue to work with a variety of numbers up to 20. We solved number stories using our number racks to model and solve, and reviewed estimation and measuring. Here are some pictures of student measuring different things around our room! 

Math Menu 

Our first grade math benchmarks are complete! Students are becoming masters of our Math Menu time. As students become more and more independent during this time, it will allow us to work in small groups each day. Check out an example of our a Math Menu here- ask your student what they enjoy the most about Math Menu time!