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Pumpkin book reports are coming along nicely!
Your pumpkin decorating portion is due Oct. 19th.

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Thursday, September 6, 2012

Fun in First!

Welcome to our blog, first grade families! What a fun week, and what a GREAT group of students in our classroom!!

Much of this week was spent going over school routines, emergency procedures, rules and expectations. We've begun to review Kindergarten skills/concepts, and will be jumping into the first grade curriculum on Monday! Please know that this blog does not cover everything that is in the newsletter each week. Our blog is an informal communication tool----one more important venue for parents to stay connected with their child's education!

This blog is meant to be light hearted, heart warming, and visual in nature. Here, you will find lots of pictures with learning in action and tidbits about how it all ties to our curriculum. Everything we do (no matter how fun, messy & silly it looks) will be valuable and relevant to your child's first grade education. As you see pictures of your child having lots of fun at school, please keep in mind that learning IS fun in our classroom! Through a variety of hands on activities and lessons geared towards all types of learners----we are mastering required standards and objectives!

But enough of the reassurance. The proof will be in your child's growth and development throughout the year. You came here to see your little cutie's first week of school! So here's it is!.....

We read First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg. 
After we figured out what jitters were, and who had the jitters in the story, we made text-to-self connections by talking about our own first day jitters. 

To wash those worries away, we read a magical poem and made Jitter Juice to drink! 
It was YUMMY and worked like a charm. No jitters in this classroom! 


Then, we completed a book about first day jitters....



As part of our Daily 5 literacy block, students are learning one area: "Read to Self". Our goal is to read up to 20 minutes un-interrupted! We are currently at 8 minutes and working hard! 
Students are able to choose anywhere in the room they want for this time.





 We also read Froggy goes to School, by Jonathan London. 
After reading it three times, students were able to sequence the events in the story! 


 In small groups, students are playing "Who Am I?"---a get to know you game! 
Working their way around the game board, they are learning interesting facts about their new classmates. 





We also read...

And completed a back to school craftivity! 
We are "Steppin' into First Grade!"

 Tweet! Tweet! 
At the end of the day, our students "Tweet" about their day. 
They tell me one thing they learned - with the goal being reflection on the day and focusing on content that helps "make our brains smarter". As the year progresses, the tweets will become more focused and detailed. 
It has been a really great first week! We are off to a great start!! 
Cheers to the 2012-2013 school year!