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

Dear Parents of First Grade All Stars,

Without a doubt the highlight of this past week would be the visitation of parents and grandparents to our class on Wednesday. You could actually feel the children's excitement as they got a chance to "show off" their poetry work, present their Thanksgiving readers' theater, work on a little Thanksgiving project, and even go to lunch/recess with their "guests"! The children were very proud of themselves, and I, of course, was over-the-edge "mother hen" proud! Having you there was SO important to and special for the children! Thank you so much for taking the time to visit!

Our literacy work this week focused on short u words and readings. We brainstormed and developed our class-anchor chart of short u words. We worked on a short u poem/song called "Sunday Lunch". The students read short books like Gus, Fun With Gum, Run, Cub, Run, A Pup in a Hut, etc. All these books are "chock full" of short u words. The students worked to be called "word detectives" by finding short u words when reading their just-right books. Yesterday we read and discussed the latest "Scholastic News" issue entitled "Gobble! Gobble!" (That issue should have made its way home to you for rereads and discussion. If it did not, please let me know.) Students were again the stars of our D.O.L. (Daily Oral Language) as they worked to use their proofreading and editing skills to find punctuation, capitalization, and grammatical mistakes in the sentences. Being able to find the mistakes with colored chalk and "act like a teacher" to correct them is oh-so-popular! I told the students they are getting so good at finding the mistakes that I will have to start putting in some challenge mistakes for them to try to find! THANK YOU again for all the awesome at-home reading logs you've been sending in. The children are very proud to hand them in to me and to share what they are reading at home. Reading to, with, beside your child is not only a fun together time, but also a tremendous motivator that helps to build the love of reading as well as skills. I truly appreciate your at-home reading time with your child!

We were back to our regular spelling routines and practices. The students worked with their individualized lists of short u words, priority words, and words missed on the previous test. The children practiced saying and writing their words and learning the meanings of their words. They worked on "Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check", and we had another study practice/quiz time as students challenged classmates to spell this week's words. Our fourth-grade buddies came in yesterday morning to give the first graders their spelling tests. One fourth grader noticed that the words are getting harder and was very proud of the first-grade buddy for knowing them! Another fourth grader commented on how her first-grade buddy is writing the words much neater! It is a great "motivator" for the first graders when their fourth-grade buddies compliment them! Thanks so much for all the at-home spelling practices. They really do help the kiddos "cement" the learning of the spelling words. (The students took the PREtest for short e base words, but this list will not come home until December 2nd.)

During our writers' workshops this week the students worked in their writers' journals. They worked to try to apply the Daily Oral Language skills we are learning and practicing to their own writing. I was able to do my "happy dance" by several students' desks this week because they were writing neater or writing actual sentences or writing "longer and stronger"! Hooray! The children were happy because we actually made time this week for student authors to be "guest readers" and share the books they created. The stories shared this week were not only longer, they ALL included a beginning/middle/end, a problem, and a solution! One "book" even had a math lesson in it! I smile from ear-to-ear when they clap for their classmates and offer compliments or questions about the stories that were read!

Our math this week started off with the B.C.S.C. Math Interim Test on Monday and Tuesday. First we practiced how to fill in "bubble sheets" because the students are asked to do so after working their math problems in the test booklets. After our practices, I read each problem to the children and they worked the problems and selected their answers. I told the children that parts of the test had skills not covered yet, so they should not worry and just give it their best. They were TRULY amazing! They all stayed calm and worked very hard through each and every question! I LOVED when I heard the students say, "Oh! I know this!" or "We learned this!" The rest of the week we worked on making tens in different ways, subtracting with 0, 1, and 2, and using addition to help solve subtraction problems. We used our foamy ten-frames, pictures, number lines, and individual white boards to practice these skills.

Thursday was Ms. Stella's last day with us. The children presented Ms. Stella with the cards they had made for her. Some students even got Ms. Stella "teary" as they read the cards they made to her! We gave Ms. Stella a couple little "new teacher" gifts to show our thanks for her work with the class. We will miss Ms. Stella and hope she is able to come back and visit us! Also on Thursday we visited the "Book Fair". The new books I got at the "Book Fair" I put out after school. It honestly took the students about two minutes to discover the new books the next morning! Way to go, eager readers! Thursday night I had such fun seeing many of my kiddos "shooting hoops" at the "Turkey Shoot"! Talk about an action-packed Thursday!

During our "Buddy Work" session yesterday our All-Star Actors/Actresses got another chance to perform their poetry and readers' theater for their fourth-grade buddies. The fourth graders were an awesome audience and clapped like crazy for their first-grade buddies. (THANKS, FOURTH GRADERS!) One little girl who had a touch of "stage fright" before performing for the parents/grandparents, said to me, "I wasn't even scared at all THIS time!" I think we've created some drama enthusiasts! Then the first graders worked with their buddies on some "I am thankful for..." writing on a cornucopia picture to give to a family member for Thanksgiving.

I sent home a "hard copy" notice yesterday, but here is a reminder just in case you missed that:
The first graders have been working hard and have FILLED our "All-Star Behaviors" jar with gold coins with their super efforts, random acts of kindness, and good behaviors! They brainstormed possible rewards and voted on "Toy Time". So on Tuesday, November 26th, the class will be rewarded with a little time at the end of the day for this well-earned reward. Each child may, if they and you wish, bring in ONE toy, stuffed animal, OR board game on Tuesday, 11/26/13. (PLEASE no toys with weapons or potentially dangerous parts. Thanks.) Thanks for your help! Congratulations, All Stars!

Thank you again for all your fantastic support at home.
Respectfully,
Mrs. V.
P.S. Sorry I got "carried away" with pictures this week! So many great ones!