The Portraits Are Finished!

We have finished our self portraits and they are ready to hang up on the wall! These always turn out so wonderfully and I love seeing them on the wall adding color and personality to our classroom throughout the year! They always make me smile. Below are photos of the finished products. You will be able to see them on the wall at Curriculum Night this Thursday or at Open House in a few weeks!

Create your own slideshow

Self Portraits

First graders have been working on a self portrait project as part of our "All About Me" theme where we are learning about ourselves, our friends, and what makes us alike, different, and special. Last week students painted backgrounds, painted skin colored paper, and cut out heads, necks, ears, and noses for their portraits. Today everyone added eyes and mouths and next week we will finish with eyebrows, hair, and details. These always come out beautifully and will hang on the wall in our classroom all year. Below are some photos of our process so far.

Free photo slideshow customized with Smilebox

Readers' Workshop

First Graders have been practicing what Readers' Workshop will look like in class this year. We started with exploring what books we have in the classroom followed by practicing skills such as how to take care of the books, how to take them out and put them back, and how to read quietly focusing on your own book. Today readers got their own book bins and book bags for the year. Book bins are plastic tubs that students will use to house the books they choose for themselves during the week and book bags are where they will keep the books I have picked out for them or books we are working on in reading groups (books at their good fit reading level). They will keep the bag in their book bin so that they have access to good fit books and free choice books each time they read in class! Below are some photos of them using these today.

Picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Sharing schedule

Our class has finished our "Brown Bag Shares" and we are getting ready to start a sharing routine where each child will have one day a week to share something as part of morning meeting (this year we have the first integrated arts special of the day so we do morning meeting, then go to special, then will come back to the room and share while having snack). Today a copy of the sharing schedule hung up in our room will be coming home so that you can see which day your child will share each week. This way your child knows their share day ahead of time so that if he/she wants to practice what they are going to say ahead of time they are able to do so. In first grade we want to avoid having this time focus on things (i.e. toys or games).  Instead, our purpose is to help students strengthen both their speaking and listening skills so we ask the children to tell about an experience as opposed to a thing brought in from home.  Sometimes, children feel that they don’t have anything ‘important enough’ to share.  This is not true!  Shares can be very simple (i.e. receiving a phone call from a family member, getting a card in the mail, learning how to hula hoop) and the possibilities are endless! Please let me know if you have any questions.  

Author Visit

Yesterday first and second grade classes gathered for a special assembly where we got to meet the author Loren Long (author of the Otis the Tractor books). He read one of the books to us with the help of some UMS actors (Mr. Antonicci, Mrs. Flanagan, and some students), told us about how authors come up with ideas and create their books, and showed us how he draws Otis for his illustrations! Below are some photos from his visit.

Day 7

Today was a very hot day which we decided to finish off with popsicles and a bit of time outside! Earlier in the day we practiced playing math partner games in stations, which is how our math time will be set up in first grade. We took time to explore and practice with the rest of our classroom library and we read a great book titled The OK Book and took time to discuss our hopes and dreams, or goals, for first grade! This morning we did a guided discovery of the school bus with Mrs. McCleary, the school guidance counselor, to practice how to ride on and walk near a school bus safely. We also had a special, extra library class where the kids got to hear one of the Otis the Tractor books written by Loren Long because next week, on Wednesday, first and second graders are going to get to meet Loren Long at school! Our class will get to hear more Otis books during library class on Monday as well. If you have any at home, take them out for a re-read before Wednesday's author visit! Below are some photos from today. Please look for weekly blog posts (sometimes more frequently when we have special events or projects to share about) from here on out and keep checking the blog for upcoming events and much more!

Customize your own free digital slideshow

Day 6

Today our class continued the all important practice of routines, taking care of materials, and what it means to be a first grader! To work on our "All About Me" theme we continued working on our self portrait project. Today kids chose a skin colored paint (from our Crayola multi-cultural paint set) that they thought best matched their skin color and painted a paper with it. Tomorrow, when it is dry, we will use those papers to cut out the shapes of heads, necks, and noses to begin putting our portraits together (see yesterday's photos for examples of finished portraits from last year)!
Today we also gave a lot of focus to our classroom library practicing choosing books, reading them, putting them away in the correct spots and taking out new ones. We have many books to choose from in our class and I love seeing the kids find ones they are excited about reading! Today we started talking about "red words," which are the sight words we practice during first grade and kids created little books incorporating our first two review words, "I," and "can." During math time we learned a new math game using pennies and we learned about our new first grade math journals!

Slideshow design generated with Smilebox