First Grade ABCs

Not surprisingly, the alphabet is an IMPORTANT part of the first days of first grade. Some kiddos are still learning the letters, some are still connecting the sounds, as well as learning how to correctly form the letters so that we can become efficient and fluent writers (more on that later).

We’re read lots of ABC books:

Every year I like to do some sort of class-made alphabet. Last time around we drew the pictures, and then I used our creations to make the letter charts for our tables (that kiddos can utilize while they write and read).

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This year, instead of just drawing, we decided to use torn paper. Our focus has been on fine motor work at the same time as letters, sounds and names and so it just made sense. Kiddos made their image on an index card and then we attached it to the letter.

And even before they were finished they looked AMAZING. Doesn’t this picture make you happy?

Ok, well then here they are hanging up. Decided to put them over our cubbies because they are easily seen, as well as because kiddos can reach them if need be.

I love that every year the same activity can be new and different and this year it was because of the vowels. In the past, there has only been one picture for each one. This was always confusing when we were actually using the chart or wall letters because somehow the kids always needed the other sound. So this time we made two. 🙂 Or…in the case of A, we actually made 3 (including the way that a can sound like a u at the beginning–or end–of some words). I’m super excited about how much more useful (and used!) these letters will be.

Also, because we’re working so hard on forming our letters correctly, we added the directions for how to make them (the red numbers and arrows). Again, hopefully this will make them ever more helpful!

Here are the rest:

I’m not sure I’ve been so excited about the alphabet before! GREAT job, Rm. 111 friends!

First Grade Twins (x3)

Last Friday we had three sets of twins in Rm. 111!

And just because he couldn’t let a selfie happen without him, Mkahi jumped into this one with Makayla and me.

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First graders are silly. Enough said. 🙂

#classroombookaday UPDATE: First of the year!

Somehow we’ve gotten to the 22nd day of school and I have only posted ONE TIME about our book-a-day challenge. Because that’s the reality, I will NOT tell you about every book we’ve read (we’re up to 85 as of today!!), but I will give some words about this week’s additions. Hope you enjoy, and maybe even find a book you might want to read!

First, here’s what our wall looks like right now (the pic on the left):

(At this point last year we were at 89. Funny–I thought for sure we were reading faster this year!)

This display is so different than how I displayed it last year, and in some ways I think it’s hard to see how quickly it’s growing…

…but FOR SURE it’s an improvement because of all of the kids and teachers who get to look at it now! I LOVE to see last year’s kiddos walk past and marvel, as well as other kids point out the books on our list that they’ve read, and the way so many people say “Man–they read ALOT of books!” I’ve even heard from teachers who have now begun to keep their own book lists as they read with their classes. LOVE the inspiration that can come from such a project just because it’s shared in a different way!

Ok…here’s what we read this week:

You can probably tell by the titles that our focus this week was on our community (getting to know each other and celebrate how each of one us is special and unique) as well as the celebration of Dot Day–we ended up reading 6 of Peter Reynold’s books!! The Hooray for Kids book was really cool and led us to a scavenger hunt where we found out what kind of kids we are:

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As we shared out after we were finished we made lots of connections to who is like us and who we might want to know better. I’m excited to build on the things we learned!

What did you read this week? 🙂

What’s in Those Boxes?

Last week there was this pile on the risers in our room:

I wish I would have taken a picture of it BEFORE I opened them all up (just because it looked a little nicer), but let me tell you that this last week was like Christmas over and over and over. I posted our Amazon Wish List recently and then boxes of goodies just started showing up with our name on them! What amazingly supportive families we have (THANK YOU!!) and they gifted us with many new learning tools and toys (including MORE LEGOS, a Sequence game, a new book and some paintbrushes that are not in these pictures). At this point we just had to stop and play!!

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Thank you, families for all the fabulous treats! We feel very loved and supported by you. 🙂

#FDOFG2017: Marshmallow Challenge 2017

I learned about the Marshmallow Challenge about 5 years ago and I’ve been doing it with classes ever since! It’s always fun to see what a new class with do with the challenge–how they tackle it, how tall their towers are, what strategies they use to work as a team, etc. Like with most years, we did it twice, with a debrief in the middle to help us think about what worked and what we could change.

Take 1:

We had an ok start, and kids took pretty quickly to what they were supposed to do. Teams (which I chose ahead of time and are groups we will use periodically all year) worked well and learned to negotiate who did what/when/how, etc. After our first round–where all of the towers fell over–we talked together on the carpet:

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The black words are from our first conversation; the green arrows denote the things we changed that made our second went much better. So yeah–spoiler alert!–we tried again and this time teams were much more successful. Successful, we thought, meant that our towers stood up and everyone participated and helped the activity work.

Check out our 2nd go-round: