Friday, September 2, 2016

September Songs and Poems

Hello First Grade Families!

We have just completed our first week together as First Graders and it has just been so lovely.  I can't express how much fun Carolina and I are having will all the these new and returning friends.  We've hardly skipped a beat and are displaying such great mentoring skills!

Here is a brief recap of our first adventures:

Morning Meeting

Each day, we have been doing our morning greetings, activities and shares.  Ask your child about our Butterfly, Brown Bear and Compliment Greeting that we tried this week.



One of our shares involved taking a survey of everyone's age.


We are also finding Sight Words in our Morning Message to add to our Sight Words box, which friends have been using in their writings.



Open Choice Time


After reading a story from our library, friends are selecting one setting they found in the book to highlight and give their friends a small taste about the book they chose.







Interview Questions

Friends have started generating open ended questions to add to our Interview wall so that we can get to know each other better.


Measuring Length and Width

Friends have been using tools in our class to figure out our classroom's measurements.



We had a Revisiting Meeting about this work to help friends overcome some challenges they were experiencing completing this task.  Some issues including sharing the classroom space with others, collaborating and keeping their tools in order.  Here, friends listen to other's suggestions on what to try next time.



Butterfly Observational Drawings

Many have been studying the different butterfly specimen closely and making careful lines to match what they see.  They have also started to label the different parts of the butterfly's anatomy and types of shapes they see in the wings.  Come in to see some of their finished pieces.





Another Revisiting Meeting revolved around helping a couple of friends with feedback on what types of lines they could try for the wings shapes, as well as which details they could include in their next tries.


Number Talks

We have started using our Rekenrek to help us study the different ways to see the number ten.  Come read their ideas in our Class Notes Journal found on the Information Table.



Journaling

This week, we watched a video highlighting different things that makes our school's neighborhood special.  Friends were excited to see our school in the background of the video. Before writing their ideas down, our class generated a Key Words List of important words they might need to know how to spell in order to share their ideas. Feel free to watch the 3+min video below.  




Later in the week we also journaled about bees and wasps after having an excited discussion inspired by one of our poems from this month.  We created a brainstorm of Key Words to incorporate into our new entry.


Lastly, we have been enjoying our time outside, recognizing how lucky we are to be surrounded by the beauty of our flowers and dancing butterflies.  As you can see, friends practice observing the fritillary butterflies respectfully and with such curiosity!



Enjoy learning our new Songs and Poems from this month's collection.  We have some good ones!







Love, Gaby