Field Trip Reminder

Remember, tomorrow morning all four first grade classes will be going to the Flynn Theater to see a play about Junie B. Jones! Today we had an actor from the Flynn come to school to spend a little bit of time with each class to prepare us for what to expect during the play. Make sure to remind your child about the trip in the morning and then ask about it when they get home tomorrow afternoon!

Readers' Workshop

During Readers' Workshop our class is working on choosing successful reading spots around the room, choosing books that are "Good Fits" for them, and building stamina reading quietly for a little bit longer each day! Today I introduced the class to the Kids A-Z reading program so that they can begin using that as well. Once a week on their sharing day kids will get to use their A-Z accounts during silent reading time. This way they will have four days a week reading in their books and one day a week reading with their A-Z account.

I want to let you know A-Z Kids is available for reading at home as well! This is especially helpful if your child is reluctant to read at home or if you have trouble finding books that are good fits for them. A-Z not only provides a collection of books at students good fit reading level but is also exciting and motivates kids to read. Kids earn starts for each book read that they can then cash in to "buy" parts for customizing their own robot or rocket ship within the A-Z program.

We explored the program today as a class and the kids started trying it out at reading time. Give it a try at home as well! The more good fit books the students read the better they will get at reading. Click the "Reading A-Z" tab at the top of this blog for directions and a link to your child's account.

Dreambox math

In first grade we reading, writing, and math using the workshop model where the teacher teaches a mini-lesson to the whole class, then students go on to do independent practice while the teacher works with individuals or small groups tailored to their individual needs. In math the independent portion of the lesson takes place in stations where the students rotate between working with a partner on a game, working with the teacher, and working on technology. 

Students are now familiar with their Dreambox math accounts (used at our tech station) and may use these at home as well as at school! The kids have learned their usernames and passwords to login and can use these at home too by clicking on the Dreambox link at the right side of this blog (under "student links" and logging in. As the year goes on students will learn to use all of the links under "student links independently!" We are working on learning them one at a time. 

Scholastic News Magazine

This year our class is subscribed to Scholastic News magazine! We will read them together in class and look at the digital components on the Scholastic News website then the magazines will come home. If you would like to check out the online features with your child go to the link under "Student Links" on the right side of the blog, click "sign in," "student," then enter our code which is kellyclass123.

Twitter

Our class started using our Twitter account today and, if you also use Twitter, you can follow us and see what we are tweeting about! We follow other primary classrooms (mostly first grade, some K and 2) around the country and around the world to connect with and learn about kids of the same age in other places! My class started this last year and loved it. We learned about being good digital citizens, what other classrooms, kids, and the places they live are like, and got to share some about what we do here! Our first tweet was sharing about bucket filling and the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? If you are not familiar with "being a bucket filler," ask your child about it tonight! If you'd like to check our our class on Twitter our handle is @mrskellysclass. 

Our Hopes and Dreams

As we have been building a classroom community practicing our rules, routines, jobs, etc, our class has been working on our Hopes and Dreams (goals) for the year at school. Students each set a goal for themselves which included wanting to learn to use iPads, do research, do harder math, paint, do Lego projects, do homework, tie their own shoes, and make new friends. Here is a photo of each student showing what their Hope and Dream is. If you don't see your child pictured below and would like to, make sure to sign and return the blog permission slip to me!

PTO BBQ This Evening!

Don't forget this evening from 5:30-7:30 in Bayside Park the UMS PTO is hosting its annual school BBQ. We hope to see you there!

Self Portraits

At the beginning of every school year first graders do an "All About Me" theme unit where we focus on building classroom community, friendships, problem solving, feelings, and learning about each other. As part of this unit we do one of my favorite projects of the year, which is a self portrait art project. I am trying out another photo slideshow program for these photos so we'll see how it looks! These are photos from our process.

Portrait 2 - Kizoa Video Maker

First Two Weeks of School

Finally here are photos from our first two weeks of school! I have been having major technical issues with the photo slideshow program I usually use for posting to the blog and have taken so many photos that I can't just insert them all into a post! I love posting on our blog and don't want to wait any longer so I am trying out a new photo slideshow program. We'll see how it goes! Try out the link below.

Photos