The buzzzz... we are very bee-zy!

Hi Families,

Students are adjusting so well to the pace of first grade! I am amazed with what these kiddos are doing and the growth I have seen in just over one month! It is incredible! I am proud of them and admire their willingness to take risks and make mistakes as well as how their rise to a challenge. I love that I am getting to know students better and that we are working hard but can also have some fun too. 

Before I mention what we have been working on this past week, there are a few upcoming things on our calendar and some reminders I want to mention.

Weekly Reading Logs:

Please help your child get into the routine of turning in their rain logs every Monday, demonstrating that they have read with you or independently each night. We check folders for these logs each Monday and students earn a star for each one that is turned in. Once they have 25 stars, the students earns a book as a prize. I would love for every student to earn at east one book over the course of the year!

Mark your calendars:

October 5th-Open house. Hope you can all make it with your child for visit to Crocker Farm, including a welcome greet with Derek and Sharri in the cafeteria, followed by a half hour exploration focused on curriculum in room 4 and then time to visit your child's Specials Teachers. Higher grades will welcoe their families in the later portion of the evening.I will have out a class its to share your contact info with other families in the classroom, free give-aways, and also have sign up sheets for conferences that night (see below).

October 6th-Field Trip to Spare Time Bowling in Northampton. Please return permission slips by October 4th. We still are in need of chaperons, so please if you or another family member are interested, contact me! We would love to have you join us!

October 19th, 21st and 24th- Sign up at back to school night to secure a date and time that works best with your schedule. These dates are October 19th (1:20 dismissal), October 21st and 24th (Noon dismissal).   

Room 4 Wish List- color or white card stock paper, multi-cutural crayons, multi-cultural markers, binder clips and rings, white-out tape. We have had such generous families this year and appreciate your kindness and the support of all of the students in our classroom. 

Okay, now on with the latest learning and classroom discoveries...

Literacy:

We have completed the first part of the Superkids program (The Welcome Back Review Units). Students completed a 2-day assessment. This combined with a BAS assessment (reading level), aimsweb data, letter name and ID assessment and classroom observation will help me  and the support staff provide differentiated instruction and work that is ore specified to your chid's needs. Next week, we will start   the new curriculum, with The Adventures of the Superkids. This will focus on word blends, syllable patterns, and new memory words. As we get moving I plan on keeping close watch over your child's reading progress to ensure that they are reading books that challenge them and are appropriate for their comprehension. Please let me know if the books they are bringing home are or are not a good match. Enhancement pull-out groups will start shortly for those students whom teachers feel could use an extra boost in reading  Any concerns, please email me: prattle@arps.org.

Writing & Handwriting:

We have continued to read small moment stories and share our personal small moment stories in groups and partners. Students are now in the early stages of writing their own small moment narrative stories. Students are learning about adding details to their stories and stretching their stories out, making a small moment seem like a big moment. Even though it may be just a small breath, it can hold great importance. In handwriting students continue to practice reviewing their capital and lowercase letters and writing sentences. They are doing great. I am watching for letter and number reversals and consulting with OT for more strategies to support those students.

Mathematics:

Tomorrow (9/30) and Monday (10/3), Ms. Bartolini and I will be attending a AVMR math training, which is an awesome math recovery program, focused on numeracy and supporting students' early numeracy skills. I have heard wonderful things about this curricuculm and we are already starting to use some of the activities in small group during our math centers. Students are becoming experts in using their rekenreks and number revers-

als and partners of 10. Students are also counting backwards ore fluently and counting on with addition. 


Second Step:

We are working through our second step social/emotional curriculum during unit study right now. I have enjoyed our circle time and sharing about our CARE values and building the foundation of a strong community and/or family.

I hope to see you all in the next few weeks but should you have any questions or concerns, pleas email me: prattle@arps.org. I appreciate your support and make sure you congratulate your child on  their work ethic and all the progress they have made thus far!

Rockin' in First!

We are R-O-C-K-I-N-G it in First Grade!

As someone who is also transitioning from Kindergarten to first grade with these kiddos, and who has seen the shift, I am so impressed with the way students are adjusting to the pace of the day! I am already seeing a lot a growth after only 3 weeks of curriculum. Students are also doing a stellar job showing CARE, and as of the end of day today (Thursday), students have filled their pom-pom jar. In case your child has not mentioned this reward system to you, C-4 students earn pom-poms for positive school behavior: listening, working hard, treating each other with respect, transitioning quickly and quietly, following directions, working together, etc. Our class has also been earning many Crocker Farm CARE tickets and has also started to write each other “student CARE tickets,” taking notice of each other and all the great things their peers are doing.

Learning Targets

Sometimes (for me, always) it is helpful to see the big picture and the “why” or direction of learning and where we are headed. When I sit down to plan, I may be planning a week out or putting final touches on the lessons for the following day but I always like to know what I our ultimate goal and where are we headed next. When there becomes a purpose and ultimate goal, it helps create meaning and motivation behind the learning.

This year, across the school, teachers are invested in making learning targets part of our daily routines to better our instruction and allow students to become more involved in their own learning.  In room 4 and in first grade, we have been posting learning targets on a daily basis and involving students in a more purposeful learning experience. Each morning and throughout the day we look at our goals (one for math, writing and reading for now) or the skills we are working on and we reflect on the process and the learning. Students are learning to self-assess and gage their own learning and comfort level. This, in turn, helps me as a teacher to further support students who may be feeing less confident or who may need to revisit a lesson or work further on that skill.

Here are some of the skills and targets that students have been working on over this past week:

Reading/ELA:

Students have been working on glued syllable ending such as –an and –am and also forming word families or creating word ladders, where students find as many words as they can with the same ending (rhyming words). This means changing the initial sound (letter or blend). We have been reviewing some of the many memory words that students were introduced to last year, including: a, the, see, the, like, for, of, was, put, to, said, and others too. I have finished assessing each student in reading to determine your child’s current independent and instructional reading level. Your student’s book bags with nightly leveled reading will now reflect those results. Please read with your child each night and fill out those reading logs. Fee free to read other books from home with your child, and do not feel limited to only the book your child brings home. Students have been working on reviewing punctuation and adding an "s" to words to make the plural. We have also been doing guided and shared reading through Superkids, where your child has been involved in classroom discussions and think alouds.

Writing:

Sentence structure and sequencing through our small moments writing unit have been two major focuses thus far. While we review letter formation in our Hand Writing without Tears writing books, I am seeing some letter and number reversals, however, I am impressed with students’ ability to remember to capitalize, add punctuation and use finger spaces in sentences. Students will be wrapping up their first Small moment stories, which was written together as a class and put together by each student. On Tuesday, students will begin to brainstorm ideas for their next story, which will be an individualized small moment story, which students will be writing from their own unique experiences. I a looking forward to reading these and hearing all the fun things students think of for their topics.

Math:

Students have completed their first math assessment for unit one and I am amazed with the success of each and every student. The math coaches and first grade team have been working hard to differentiate instruction and make sure that students are seen daily by the teacher(s) and have scaffolding throughout the math blocks, but also have time to talk to each other and are given the opportunity to learn from one another. Students have been working on combinations of 10 and many of them have picked up on the pattern and strategies to check and organize their work: 10+0=10, 9+1=10, 8+2=10, 7+3=10, 6+4=10, 5+5=10.... Students have also been practicing counting on and counting backwards. We are starting to use number lines and grids to solve story problems and identify patterns. We use the language: start, hop and land, when using them to count and students learn to “sweep” down to the next row on the number line. This fall, first grade teachers will have the opportunity to participate in 4 days of AVMR training for math, which should help teachers really individualize instruction for students and target the specific skills needed for each child.

Such an Awesome Crew!

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful group of students this year and feel like we have been a community far longer than just over 3 weeks. I hope your child is starting to feel at home in Room 4 and like a valued and special part of our classroom community!   Thanks for your support at home and please keep turning in those reading logs. Your child receives a star every Monday when he/she returns his/her filled out log. Any questions please email me: prattl@arps.org.

Some of my favorite online resources to save for a rainy day:

Interactive Learning Games and E-Books:

www.abcya.com

www.starfall.com/

https://www.getepic.com

http://www.exploratorium.edu/explore

http://www.storylineonline.net

http://www.education.com/games/

http://pbskids.org/games/

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com

https://www.brainpop.com

http://www.spatulatta.com

http://www.goteachthis.com/online-rekenrek-ideal-for-exploring-number-sense

http://kennedymath.weebly.com/rekenrek-activities.html

http://www.bookadventure.com/Home.aspx

https://www.firstbook.org

http://nationalgeographic.org/education/explorer-magazine/resources/

Small Moments: A breath of fresh air

This week the first graders took a small break from the classroom to visit Brookfield Farm in South Amherst. This field trip was designed to support our Small Moment writing unit. Students spent the morning picking flowers, watching (some rather rowdy) pigs and taking a a snack break, before heading back to Crocker. Teachers took pictures at various stages of the trip to look back to and write a short, small moment story, with a: first, next, then and last sequence. Students will first participate in this shared writing activity to better understand the elements of a small moment story, before writing their own personal small moment stories. How nice it was to get outside, slow down and enjoy the sunshine as summer comes to an end.

Students have enjoyed being reacquainted with the Superkids and been focused on a quick review of letters and their sounds, as well as practice decoding and encoding short vowel cvc words, blends, and some work with glued syllables. I have enjoyed meeting one:one with some of the students to pinpoint their current BAS reading level. I will continue to BAS next week at several parts of the day.

I am amazed with this group's ability to explain their thinking during our daily math blocks. Students are engaging in number talks and the steps they took to solve each math problem. Students are very involved in their own learning and play the role of both the student and the teacher. Students are engaging in a daily lesson and a 3-center rotation: independent work, partner games and teacher time. Students have been strengthening their number sense, counting skills and use of gird and number line. Students will begin to work on decomposing numbers up to 10.

Students are off to a great start and already becoming a tightly knit group. Thanks for all of your support thus far!

Welcome to Ms. Pratt's First Grade Blog!

Welcome CF Room 4 family and friends!

I am excited to launch our classroom blog for the 2016-2017 school year. I hope this blog helps to keep families connected and updated on classroom learning and provide you with some helpful resources. I would love to think that this blog might save some trees, as newsletters will be replaced by more frequent bog posts, however, for families who would prefer a hard copy or who do not have access to a computer, please let me know!

This blog will be secure and used only in conjunction with Room 4 families and the ARPS community. Should you have any questions, please contact me. I'm looking forward to having you follow us on our first grade journey this year and blogging with you!

Ms. Pratt