We Are Good Listeners!

First Graders know how to be good listeners on the carpet!

How To Write A TEACHING BOOK!

Monday Update!

Happy Monday Fantastic First Grade Families!

Here's a quick update about what's going on in Room 16:

Writer's Workshop: We have officially ended our Small Moment unit and moved into our next unit - Non-Fiction Chapter Books! We started out our unit today by discussing the difference between a "story teller voice" and a "teaching voice." We have been using story teller voices throughout our whole first unit, but now we will be using teaching voices! We also learned we ALL are experts on different topics - sports, animals, games, you name it! Help your child brainstorm different topics they are experts on - we will be writing LOTS of teaching books, so they will need LOTS of ideas! :) 

Math: We are continuing our work with addition. More specifically, we are learning different addition strategies. We know that the best strategy is to just know it, but we're learning other strategies to use for tougher addition. Some addition strategies we are learning about/will learn about:

• Counting On (in your head AND on a number line!)

• Doubles

• Doubles Plus 1 (Near Doubles)

• Making 10 To Add

• Related Facts

• Fact Families

Spelling: Breaking Words into BEGINNING and ENDING Chunks!

As we become more experienced readers, our brain effortlessly searches for known letters, sounds, and parts of words we know to help us “solve” the parts we don’t know. Finding and remembering chunks of letters to decode (reading!) and encode (writing!) is a very important strategy we use throughout our entire lives!!!

• BEGINNING CHUNK - The beginning chunk is the letter(s) in front of the vowel. These are consonants, digraphs, or blends. Most words begin with a beginning chunk. These are also known as onsets.
• ENDING CHUNK - The ending chunk begins at the first vowel to the end of the word or syllable. Every word has an ending chunk (because EVERY word has a vowel!). These are also known as word families or rimes.

What is Math Workshop?

What does math look like in room 16? Math Centers and Small Groups!

After a short, whole group mini-lesson, students go out to centers while I pull multiple small groups each day...

1. Materials used in centers are based on previously taught concepts and provide continuous concept review. 

2. Centers do not change weekly. Instead, materials are used to reflect a student's level of math understanding and strategies for review. 

3. Centers are used for meaningful independent or collaborative group work. 

4. Centers have different tasks to differentiate learning for students with different needs.

5. Small groups are pulled for differentiated, guided instruction. Groups are not concrete and change depending on each student's level of understanding for each concept taught. 

Check us out in some of our centers!