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.
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