Mrs. V's All Star Learners Classroom: September 2013

Dear Parents of First Grade All Stars,
     We were busy, busy, busy this past week, and the time seemed to fly by! These super first graders are already demonstrating increased focus and ability to stay on task for longer periods of time. As we were packing up at the end of the day yesterday I said, "Boys and girls, it is time to pack up for the weekend." Several students said, "The weekend already?" and "I wish we had school tomorrow." (Honest!) Of course this made me smile from ear-to-ear, however I told them that as much as I already love them, I truly needed the weekend to rest, plan, and regroup. LOL!
     This week we continued to develop and practice the "foundation" to our literacy work. We continued to explore what reading means, things good readers do, ways to read books, what "just-right" books are, and how to find just-right books. The children "shopped" for just-right books to add to their own book holders, and they practiced reading-to-self to begin to develop focus and build stamina. As they read-to-self or whisper read with a buddy, I listened to individuals read to me to evaluate "base lines" for accuracy, fluency, ability to self-correct, and comprehension. (This one-on-one reading evaluation takes quite a bit of time, so this will be continued until I have met with all of my kiddos.)
     The students also worked in their poetry binders as they read and attempted to illustrate the poems to show their understanding. Understanding the figurative language of poetry is a challenging reading skill, so we read together to practice cadence, fluency, expression, and discuss the meanings of the poems. The children asked to stand up and act out the movements to go with our "September Cheer" poem. So we did just that! They found their own, personal space and we made both our bodies and our voices perform like "September cheerleaders"! Not only did we have fun, they did an AWESOME job! (I'm sad that I did not think to try to snap some pictures of that performance, but I was too busy being the lead cheerleader. Come to think of it, I never was a cheerleader, so maybe this was my big chance...ha! If we have a repeat performance, I'll get the camera ready!)
     Our word work reviewing the upper-case and lower-case formations of letters and sounds continued. We worked on the letters J through U. Finding pictures that begin with the particular letters/sounds on our poster/chart was still a "big hit"! There are groans heard when I must, because of time, turn the chart to the next page. But then some kiddos get back to the charts at snack time/break time. Hooray! The students practiced the letters with handwriting work. Children are also making word cards with pictures for our word wall to go along with the letters we're practicing.
     One of our popular read-aloud books was Rocket Learned to Read. The children loved how Rocket learned it all starts with the alphabet, letter-by-letter, word-by-word. We also read Johnny Appleseed on Thursday in honor of his birthday. As we read we discussed which parts were facts and which parts were exaggeration. I think the best discussion followed the read aloud of The Bully Blockers' Club on Friday. We discussed what bullying is, ways to deal with it, and how to be an ally or good friend. The first graders impressed me with their understanding and insightful contributions to our discussion.             During our writers' workshops the children continued to work on personal narrative writing. They made daily entries in their writers' journals. I challenged the students to "push" themselves and write a little more than they did the day before! Most students accepted the challenge and did just that! I am very happy to say that many more students earned the right to be called "writing machines"!    More and more and more kiddos are using their personal dictionaries as they write. Hooray! Some students asked if they could take their writers' journals home to share. The answer was: "Of course! I'd LOVE it...as long as they come back TOMORROW." If your child has not yet brought home their writer's journal and you'd like to read it with them and talk about ideas for writing, please do ask them. The only bad news about writing this week was that we did NOT get much time for "Authors'-Chair Share". Let me tell you I was not very popular when we did not get to "Authors'-Chair Share." (I guess if I must be unpopular, at least that is a good reason! Ha!)
   We worked on Spelling PREtesting using the B.C. First Grade Priority Words. We will finish that up next week and then on Thursday, 10/3, (Yikes! October already??!!), we will do the PREtest for the first spelling unit: short a words. Then we will be ready to begin our regular spelling routines.
     Math work this week focused on the problem-solving strategy of making pictures to "attack" word problems, adding in any order ("turn-around" facts, Commutative Property), and using objects and pictures to help find missing addends. We had our lessons on the rug first with TONS of students volunteering to "prove" their answers! On Thursday we had a review lesson to practice the skills and processes covered in chapter one. This was to help prepare for the FIRST MATH TEST OF FIRST GRADE on Friday. Did you EVER think students would be excited for a test? Well, these All Stars were! We read the whole test on the rug first, (no answers, of course), and then the students went back to their desks, put up their binders as privacy dividers, and smiled as they tackled the first math chapter test. I corrected them last night, and I'm so proud of their work. The tests will come home on Monday.
     At the end of the day on Wednesday Autumn celebrated her birthday with the class. Happy birthday again, Autumn!
   Yesterday we had the second session of our "Buddy Work" with Mrs. Kourt's fourth graders. Throughout the week the first graders kept asking me, "WHEN do our Buddies come again?" I understand that the fourth graders were anxious to get back with their Buddies, too! The fourth graders helped the first graders with Johnny Appleseed projects and readings. (Since the work load and expectation increase so much in fourth grade, the fourth graders were allowed to make their own Johnny Appleseed project, if they wished, as they helped their first-grade Buddies. Fun!) It is such a pleasure to watch the interactions and listen to the discussions as the fourth graders work with the first graders! The benefits both academically and socially are already evident. Plus, the Buddies already seem "attached" to each other!
   Yet again this week we ran out of hours and did not have time to read and discuss the latest "Scholastic News" issue. (I'm thinking we need to extend the school day. My spirit could definitely survive more hours, but I don't think my body could! Ha!) I asked the children to take this home to read with Mom and/or Dad. (Please let me know if this issue did not make it home on Friday.)
    Respectfully,
    Mrs. V.