Seesaw Online Journal

Our class has been using the Seesaw online learning journal to record what we are working on in class so that family members can see what they are doing in real time! I am working to make these recordings more of a regular thing in our room because I'm finding that we get so busy and focused on work that we forget to record!

Please make sure that you are signed up to see your student's online journal (this can be parents, grandparents, extended family, etc -- I approve both the posts and requests for access so you know that your child is posting quality work and their posts are only visible to our class and your family members). You can "like," or comment on your student's work and it excites them and encourages them to post more when they know that their work has an audience outside of our classroom!

If you are not signed up already, here are the instructions:
Please Sign Up Now

1. Click on this link: https://app.seesaw.me/s/612-492-853
2. Choose your child from the list
3. Create your account
4. Once I approve you, you can see content from your child

After you sign up, download the free Seesaw Family app and sign in. You can also access Seesaw from a computer at https://app.seesaw.me.

Thank you for supporting your child's learning!

Here are a few samples of student work posted to our Seesaw journals today!

Self Regulation and Calming Strategies

This fall our class has been talking a lot about emotions and ways to help ourselves feel more regulated when we are frustrated or upset. In Guidance students learn about the Zones of Regulation which put feelings into categories. If you are in the blue zone you may be tired, sick, sad, bored, disappointed, etc. If you are in the green zone you are calm, happy, content, etc. Feelings like silly, hyper, agitated, frustrated, annoyed can characterize the yellow zone, and the red zone is feeling angry or out of control. These zones are things you could talk to your children about at home as ways to help them characterize their feelings. We hope to be in the green zone most of the time but have spent time talking about what you can do to help self regulate when you are not in the green zone.

Our class has also spent time using a 5 point scale as another way to discuss our feelings. We have discussed that when we are at a level one or two we feel the calm, happy green zone feelings, if we are at a level 3 or 4 we are feeling the frustrated, annoyed, hyper yellow zone feelings, and if we are at a 5 (which would be rare) we are feeling the furious, out of control red zone feelings. This is just another way to help kids identify their feelings (we can ask them at which zone or level they are right now and help them come back to a calmer level/zone if needed). 

Our class read a book called When My Worries Get Too Big as we were learning about the 5 point scale and used it to start making a list of calming strategies for self regulation. We have been practicing these strategies most afternoons all together as a class when we are calm in hopes that the strategies become ingrained and can be used at times when kids might not feel calm. We have discussed that if there are times where we feel like we are in the yellow zone or at a level 3/4 we can draw on these calming strategies to help self regulate. Here are some photos of our 5 point scale, our list of strategies, and kids practicing the strategies all together. It has been very exciting to see students start to use these independently over the past couple of months! You can certainly ask them about these and practice using them at home too!

Editing Our Writing

First graders have spent the first part of the year working on writing "small moments" which are personal narratives telling stories from their everyday lives. They often tell about things like play dates, birthdays, their weekend, going to the fair, playing with their pet, etc. We have been working hard on telling one story with events sequenced across several pages, using transition words like "first," "second," "next," "then," "finally/last," and adding feelings and details to both the writing and pictures. We have also been working hard on mechanics and language conventions (punctuation, spacing, upper/lowercase placement, etc).

Last week we talked about editing our work and students used an editing checklist to fix up older pieces of writing. The checklist asked students if they had used word chunks, stretching words, word wall words, and all they know about spelling to write their words. It also asked them about punctuation and correct placement of upper and lowercase letters. Here are some photos of students editing their work!

PBIS Celebration

All students at UMS have been continuing to earn Champ Bands for following our school rules and contributing them to their class container then to the whole school containers as we work together to Be Safe, Be Kind, and Do Our Best. When the containers are full we have celebrations.

As you may have heard from your child, the whole school is currently working toward earning a movie afternoon on the last day of school before December break! Our plan is to run 4 different kids' movies, voted on by the students, in different rooms and have students choose which one they would like to watch.

Friday our class filled our container and had a celebration in class. The kids voted on having hot cocoa since it was so cold out! This was a really nice way to wind down our last day before Thanksgiving break.

Turkey Bulletin Board

I am realizing that the last few weeks have gotten extremely busy and I haven't put up any blog posts! Here are a few now!

Last week we did some reading about what Thanksgiving is and talked about things we are thankful for. We put a up a new bulletin board where the kids made turkeys with speech bubbles saying something that they are thankful for! They are very sweet.

October 31 Party

Yesterday we had a fall party in our room at the end of the day! Most of us here celebrate Halloween but we also started learning about something that will come up again later in the year. In the early spring we study Mexico as a social studies unit and right now Mexico is celebrating the Day of the Dead. Dia de los Muertos is a holiday where Mexican people celebrate loved ones who are no longer living and it takes place just after our Halloween. We read about the Mexican holiday and made sugar skull masks that look similar to ones used during Dia de los Muertos. Here are some photos from our celebration!