Reading - We have been practicing how we will run our reading groups and centers.  We are building our stamina and working on independence.  We took the STAR test and are now working on multiple assessments.  Once assessments are finished and we are able to work in centers with independence we will start reading groups.

Work on Writing

Word Work

Listening to Reading

Volunteers during our Reading Block

I love to have volunteers during our reading time!  Reading is every day from 10:00 - 11:00.  Please let me know if you can join us!

Writing and Handwriting - We have been practicing sentence writing in our journals.  We are practicing our letter formation in our handwriting books.  So far we have practiced letters a, b, c, d, and e.  

Phonics - We have been working on letter sounds, CVC words, and digraphs.  We have started learning some trick words and we have been practicing word and sentence dictation.

Science  - We are working on the PLTW unit called light and sound.  We went on a scavenger hunt looking for items that show light and sound in our classroom.  We worked in sound centers.  We found out that sounds happen due to vibrations.

Math - In math we have been working on partners of 10 and making a 10 to solve a problem.  Making a 10 to solve a problem is a challenging concept.  Here is how we have been working on it -

We have been using ten frames and red/yellow counters.  If the problem is 7+5, we put 7 red counters on the ten frame and 5 yellow counters.  After we reach ten, we put the counters under the ten frame.  First we have to figure out what two numbers will make ten.  We can see from the ten frame it took 7 red counters and 3 yellow counters. Next we look at how many yellow counters are left.  That gives us the equation 7+3+2 = 12.   

Next we look at the ten frame in total.  The ten frame is filled up - so our problem is 10+ ___.  We look under the ten frame and can see there are 2 yellow counters.  Our equation is 10+2=12.

This models shows that 10+2=12 and 7+5=12.

Religion - We continue to read Bible stories.  Last week we read the stories of Adam and Eve and Noah's Ark.  We worked on pages in our Promise books that go along with those stories.  We celebrated the Solemnity of the Holy Cross and colored crosses.  We went to our first Adoration.  We have had 2 masses at school, and on Friday we had our first mass at Holy Cross Church.  During mass we will sit with fifth grade buddies.

Have a great week!

We have been busy these last 8 days.  We have been discovering our new building, as well as starting to learn our routines.  Here are a few things we have been learning as we start off our school year -

Reading - We have started to practice our reading routine.  We will eventually be working on reading in groups.  Before we do that, we have to learn and practice our daily routines and centers.  We have been practicing read to self and read to someone.  Friday we started learning about the listening center.  We will learn more apps for listening to stories this upcoming week.  Before we do our reading groups, we do have to do some assessing.  We have Heggerty assessments and STAR CBM assessments.  We will also do our fall STAR testing, check each students sight word knowledge and do running records.  The fall STAR test for reading will be next week.  As you can imagine, doing all of these assessment takes quite a bit of time.  It takes a few weeks to get all of the students assessed.  

Phonics - We have had our first full week of Heggerty.  Heggerty is a daily foundational literacy and oral phonemic awareness curriculum.  It takes about 10-15 minutes each day.  After Heggerty, we go into our Fundations lessons.  So far we have reviewed what we have learned in kindergarten - consonants, short vowels, and digraphs.  Our first focus is CVC words.  (Consonant -Vowel-Consonant)  We have gotten our first trick words and vocabulary words.  We are learning how to put those words in our student notebooks.  We have also done some CVC dictation and a few sentence dictations.

Handwriting - Handwriting goes hand in hand with reading, writing, and phonics.  In preschool and kindergarten the students start learning how to write their letters.  In first grade, we focus on writing those letters correctly.  Handwriting includes letter formation, letter spacing, and writing the letters on the correct lines.  Fundations uses the terms sky line, plane line, grass line, and worm line.  

Writing - We start the year out with simple journals.  The journals have sentence starters.  The students complete the sentences and add illustrations.  We will be working on when to use capital letters and when to use lower case letters, using good spacing, and using punctuation.  

Math - We have been learning about different tools to help us with adding and subtracting.  We have spent time learning how to use ten frames, cubes, and number lines.  We have now begun our Into Math series - and are using these tools to help us.  We even had our first homework last week.  :)

Religion - We started Religion by reading from our Children's Bible.  The first story we read was the first story in Genesis - The story of Creation.  We then worked on a coloring book of the seven days.  We also watched a short video from The Beginner's Bible about the creation story.  We have  started working out of our Promise Books.

We made an art project to hang from our ceiling.  We made a cloud and rainbow.  On each strip we wrote something about ourselves - something to describe us or something we like.

Recess fun...with worms!

Friday Fun Time!

Have a great week!