Farm Fun!

We had an awesome time at the Sykes and Cooper Farm! Students will be writing about this experience this week. We took lots of pictures so that they remember to include every little detail of this fun event! A BIG thanks to our wonderful chaperones! Enjoy!

Accountable Talk: Book Clubs!

Accountable Talk? Sounds like a pretty big concept for First Grade, or so you thought!
Since we have started our Mem Fox author study (see post below) we have been discussing Accountable Talk. Just like in Science, it is important that readers understand how to communicate with one another. In order to make this fun, we started Book Clubs! Book Clubs are a great way to get the students to work as a team, discuss books, and learn from one another. This is their time to agree and disagree. This is their time to listen to one another and to understand that there are times where more minds are better than one! However, it is also important that students understand that they are accountable for what they discuss about books. It is their responsibility to discuss what's relevant--not their favorite silly band they bought last night!
To establish our Book Clubs, we put students into groups of four. The group is given a folder and the students were asked to agree on a name for their club. Once the students agree on a name, one student records the name and then each friend writes their name on the lines so we know who is in each club.
Book Clubs meet during Reader's Workshop after independent reading time and the mini lesson (which often includes a read-aloud). Once they branch off into their clubs, this is where Accountable Talk begins! Each group is given one to two books that the teachers have already read during a read aloud. So far, we have been working with the Mem Fox books from our author study. At this point, the clubs have discussed whether they like a book or not and why, characters in books, and the settings in books.
After the Book Clubs have had met, we come together as a whole group and friends share the things they discussed in their groups. This is our time to make sure that all of our clubs are on the same page. This is also a great chance for friends to see that each group doesn't discuss the exact same things about the same books. Accountable in First Grade? You bet! :)

Mem Fox Author Study!

We have started our first author study in First Grade. We are studying the 'Awesome Aussie,' Mem Fox! We are not only learning lots of interesting facts about this author, but we are reading many books that she has written. The students get to enjoy these books through teacher read-alouds at the beginning of Reader's Workshop. We discuss the books, pose questions, learn new vocabulary, analyze the characters, think about the setting, and ask to students to discuss their 'wonderings.' Our friends seem to be enjoying many of Mem's books and are really learning some new things about Australian culture! We are very excited to dive deeper into this author study over the next couple of weeks!
To learn more about this author, click here --> Mem Fox

Rocking with Antonyms

It's All About Strategies in Math!

This year we will study nine investigations in Math. No matter what investigation we are in, we will always revisit and discuss strategies for solving story problems and counting numbers. The following image shows the four strategies that we cover in first grade. (Click on image to view larger version) Friends have been introduced to each of these strategies, however, they have been told to only use the strategies they are comfortable with. As students master one strategy, they move up to the more efficient strategy. When friends are ready to move on, we will see a lot more who are counting on and using the open number line.This month in Calendar Math, we are going to dive deeper into equations and discuss the parts: addends and sum. We are also going to focus on grouping numbers by 5's and make sure that we are grouping our tally marks correctly. We practice counting on through many of our math activities during the Workshop and we also practice number line with our Start With/Get to game each day before Calendar Math. Take a look at your child's work that will be sent home in their red folder this week and have them explain the strategies they used to solve their problems!

Ordering Numbers

Students have so much fun playing different math games in our class that they have no idea how much they are learning at the same time! Students played the game, "Ordering Numbers." Students worked in pairs and each drew 2 cards. They built towers to represent the number on each card. Then students had to work together to order the towers and cards from smallest to largest. So many skills...in such a short game! Let the fun continue!

Near and Far

Students learned to compare objects and how they look when they are near and far. We began this unit by observing two objects up close and then the same two objects very far away. Students also looked at pictures of a cruise ship at port and the same cruise ship sailing at sea. One misconception that we reminded students was that the objects were NOT actually getting smaller, they just appeared to be smaller. Another day, students wrote their names really big on a piece of paper and talked about their observations. Students compared this with how their name looked under a magnifying glass. This served as a great hands on way for students to see that the magnifying glass made the letters appear bigger and only showed part of their name. . We extended this learning to our next science unit by making the connection of the sun and moon appearing small in the sky because it is so far away!