Learning To Go Mr. Avery's Class on the Web 

Reading We continue to learn about recognizing personal connections to the texts we read. Young children may say they have no connections to a story (about, say, the first day of school). This just means they’re still learning to become aware of how situations in text relate to their lives. When reading with your child, help her/him see the way characters and plots are similar to people and events s/he knows. The next step is to teach kids to see why this is meaningful: when they make a connection to a text, it helps them understand better, make predictions, and follow the choices made by the characters. More info on the different types of connections we encourage students to become aware of, as well as good prompts for adults to give: http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/making-connections-30659.html

This week we will learn how to read with a peer during Daily 5 time, called Read to Others. This is a strategy that is shown to improve fluency and comprehension. Students read the same or different books, either taking turns or reading chorally. They also take turns telling each other what they heard the other read (retelling, summarizing). It takes a lot of negotiating and compromising at first–and that’s often hard for first-graders–so we’ll spend a lot of time practicing expected behaviors for this new routine. More at: http://www.thedailycafe.com/public/department65.cfm

Our phonics work focuses on hearing, finding, reading, and spelling words with short -e: get, hen, leg, etc. Our vocabulary focus will be on words specific to our science lessons: specimen; properties; texture.

Math Everyday Mathematics has online games! Coming home in Monday’s folder is a paper with your child’s password and the web address to log in: www.everydaymathonline.com. The games are electronic versions of skill building games we play here. When you click the Grade 1 tab, you’ll see what’s available. So far, we have learned to play Monster Squeeze; Number Grid Game; and Top It.

Unit 2 continues with an exploration of “Complements of 10”. This is a valuable skill to learn! If a student automatically knows that 4 + 6 = 10, s/he can apply that knowledge to understanding adding and subtracting within 100. For example, if I know that 1 + 9 = 10, then I can see how 21 + 9 = the next “10”, or 30. This can be further extended to numbers in the 100s: 40 something plus 60 something will give just over 100, as will 20 something plus 80 something, etc.

We have begun a “Mad Minute” math facts practice time. By the end of the trimester, students should be able to tell/write the answer to any of these facts up to 5 in 3 seconds or less: 0 + 0 = 0, 0 + 1 (and the reverse 1 + 0, called the turnaround fact); etc. up to 0 + 5; 1 + 1, etc. up to 1 + 4; 2 + 1, and so on. We’ll teach them tricks like using the identity property of adding 0, and just counting up one when adding 1. We  will practice taking quizzes for 1 minute each day. Math facts homework will be added at the start of November.

Writing This week we will focus on writing expectations for all of first grade: using uppercases and end marks; sounding out words completely; using consistent spacing; and writing in complete thoughts (no words missing; words in right order). We will apply them in our daily writing as well as our personal narratives.

Science We have collected rock specimens on our Nature Trail! This week we will learn how to make scientific drawings using them, and how to observe them like a scientist (noting how they look, sound, feel, and what happens when they are moved, rubbed together, etc.).

Social Studies We were introduced to the topic of history last week. This week we will explore geography by focusing on maps. Our essential question for the year is: How do maps show places? Young kids naturally find more meaning in literal representations of things (models, photographs) before moving to abstract ideas like icons or map symbols. We will first explore making maps with photographs of our classroom and the playground (places that already have meaning for them).

Reading  Our Daily 5 CAFE focus this week is on activating schema and making connections when we read (part of Comprehension). These are huge strategies for young readers. Schema is what a reader understands about anything in life. We have schema about topics like making friends, seasons of the year, and so on. We also have schema for how to solve problems, and how we approach reading. Sometimes our schema is correct and sometimes it contains misunderstandings, which we learn to correct by reading and thinking. We therefore teach young readers to recognize what their schema is telling them and to use it as an access point to understanding what is read by making connections to it. Questions to ask your child during reading (either aloud to him/her or when s/he is reading): What do already know about ____ and what do you wonder? What does that remind you of in your life? This kind of thinking can help students understand characters, plot, and information better. More info is at Reading Rockets, a terrific literacy site for teachers and parents: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/29200/

 Our phonics focus will be on learning to read, hear, and write words with the short -o sound (pot, hop, log, etc.). We’ll be listening for it in words and poems read aloud, and leaning to write it by segmenting. This is when a reader and writer produces each sound in a short word in order. Research on memory suggests that young readers benefit from attaching sounds to a movement. The kids will therefore be learning to tap/clap/beat each sound as they say/write it.

 Another technique for learning popcorn words is for students to write them repeatedly, unscramble their letters, and find a missing letter/sound purposely left out of them in lessons. We’ll be doing all that this week while playing games to help us learn the words you, that, my, me, like. When reading with your child, if s/he stumbles on (or has difficulty remembering) words that commonly come up, try any of the above strategies after reading.

 Math  This week we’ll review counting, tallying, and number order. These are goals that are expected to be mastered by this time. We’ll take the Everyday Math (EDM) Unit 1 test as well. Student progress related to the unit tests is reported and used when looking at the overall progress of a grade level or of individual students. We will begin Unit 2 with a look at strategies for combining numbers. Remember to read the parent letter at the start of each unit; it provides lots of information on the “what” and “how” of daily lessons and goals.

Writing  The kids have been doing terrific at telling their stories and choosing topics for writing. They have started the first part of their personal narrative “books” by drawing in great detail the events and elements that are important so that a reader can understand the story. As we begin to write, this week we will learn about the importance of making even spaces between words. We will also have introductory lessons on: using a capital to start; using an end mark after each complete thought; segmenting words to include all the sounds; and using the word wall/dictionary for correct spelling of sight words.

 Social Studies  Social Studies encompass a range of understandings and relationships having to do with history, geography, culture, economics, and civics. We will explore the idea of history by learning by analyzing and comparing school life for kids in the past and the present. We will also learn about a historical figure from Massachusetts, Johnny Appleseed! His legend has become a tall tale, full of impossible or  unlikely elements; we’ll explore how history can become changed in the retelling over years. Here is just one of many sites about him: http://www.brainpopjr.com/socialstudies/biographies/johnnyappleseed/grownups.weml For fun, try doing research with your child and send in one thing s/he learned!

 Science  The skills of inquiry are essential to doing science and thinking like a scientist. We begin by exploring our outdoor environment with a focus on what we see, hear, smell, etc. We will learn to make a scientific observation (lifelike in size and color; accurate in description) of rock specimens we collect. This is the first step, to be followed by lessons in questioning, predicting, and collecting and analyzing data. Our topic of study is on rocks and minerals in trimester one. Here is a link to our Science program’s site, with more information and goals: http://lhsfoss.org/scope/folio/html/EarthMaterials/1.html

It was nice meeting you at Open House! Thank you for taking the time to continue our partnership in your child’s education. If we missed you that night, I’ll be sending home a paper signup sheet with available slots for parent conferences on Monday of this week.

Reading This week we will launch our Daily 5 CAFE board. The board and subsequent lessons are designed to teach and practice the key components of good literacy: Comprehension; Accuracy; Fluency; and Expanding Vocabulary. Check out the elements of each that will provide a focus for direct instruction over the year: http://www.thedailycafe.com/public/1330.cfm

We will start this week by teaching the following comprehension “Fix Up Strategies” for when readers encounter unknown words: Ask what makes sense (this one is HUGE); Look for words/parts of words you know; Say the first sound(s); Get a running start by rereading the sentence up to that point (this should help kids by guessing what sounds right there); and Chunk the word (break it into parts they can read). Any one of these makes a great prompt when your child gets stuck reading at home. You’ll notice that “Sound out the whole word” isn’t on the list. That’s because that strategy comes later once students know most vowels, blends, and phonemes (for example, think of what a reader must know to sound out a word like permission).

Our vocabulary focus comes from our list of classroom rules we created together last week(see rules_13_14): 1) Be Nice   2) Be Cooperative   3) Be Responsible   4) Be Safe . We will explore the meanings of responsible, cooperate; behavior; assertion, and we will practice using them in sentences and illustrating them in our vocabulary journals.

This week our phonics focus is on hearing, reading, and writing short a words, particularly those ending in -at and -an. We will listen and hunt for them in text; play games; and of course sing songs! Here’s one of our new favorites, sung with all short a words the kids make up: “I Can’t Spell Hippopotamus” (Coots) http://lmmya.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/2/8/1428504/hippopotamus.pdf (versions of kids singing it abound at youtube.com).

We’ll also practice sight words this, can, she, see, by that come from a kindergarten mastery list known as “Popcorn words”. We expect kids to read and write them correctly, so they will be practiced each week. Here’s a game with some of them: http://www.fun4thebrain.com/English/popcornWords.html

Math We will continue to practice counting by 1s, 2s, and 5s and identifying numbers up to 100. We will also give extra practice to students learning how to make and use tallies of 5 to help count. This skill comes back often in grade one. We will also explore calendars and months of the year. Remember to work with your child (as part of math homework perhaps) so they learn their birthday (month and number), phone number, and address.

Writing As students continue to tell stories from their lives, we are learning to pay attention as listeners and to inform the author about which parts of his/her story are clear and which parts may benefit from more detail. We will learn this week to brainstorm story ideas and to get started illustrating and writing the beginning of our stories, as well as learn how to plan the stories out in a logical manner.

 

Weekly/biweekly updates will appear in a new post here. To access updates to the Nuts & Bolts section, simply click the link on the right hand side of the blog.

Hope to see you this Wednesday night! Mrs. McCubrey & Ms. Day will begin at 6:30 in the café, and we’ll meet in our classroom at 6:45 when I’ll share subject area goals for the year. In addition there will be a signup for parent conferences in the room. If you have questions you hope will be answered that night, email them to me ahead of time so I can try to include them in my talk!

This week we will continue to learn through FACTS and CARES. The focus will be on Confidence (believing in yourself); Assertion (standing up for yourself and others); Trying Your Best; Stamina (which we’re developing bit by bit); and Cooperation. We’ll also develop rules for our classroom community beginning with our hopes and dreams for ourselves in school this year. We’ll explore what we should and shouldn’t do so that everyone can achieve their goals. More on this from the Responsive Classroom: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/article/our-hopes-and-dreams-school

As a school, we are committed this year to developing Social Thinking in children. This means teaching kids how to recognize and monitor their emotions and behavior, and how to interact with others. Besides the above work, school psychologist Ms. Demoga came in to teach us about Whole Body Listening. This means using our eyes, ears, hearts and minds to understand what others say and mean. We’ll be exploring the concept further this week as we practice what it looks like and sounds like. For more info, including links to theory: http://www.socialthinking.com/books-products/books-by-age-group/preschool/whole-body-listening-larry-at-school-detail

Reading The elements of a strong reading education include accuracy, comprehension, vocabulary development, fluency, and phonics/word study. This week we will focus on thinking about text as we listen to read-aloud stories. What’s important is that students begin to develop what’s called metacognition by recognizing when a story reminds them of something, or by pausing to ask questions or otherwise process what is in the text. Reading aloud to children remains one of the most effective ways to improve literacy, both at home and at school. When reading to your child, pause to ask, “What did you notice there? Why do you think _____? What does that make you think of? What might happen if _____?”

We will also begin work in vocabulary journals, the intent of which is to improve kids’ focus on words and their meanings. We’ll also introduce our word wall (sight words to memorize like the, and, with words that increase in difficulty. We’ll learn a bit about short a sounds in words, too. In addition, we continue to practice how to choose and read just-right books (improving fluency)  for longer than 5 minutes without stopping (building stamina).

Math  We continue to play games designed to improve our fluency with numbers and counting. By the end of Unit 1, students should be able to count by 1s and 5s up to at least 20, and back. They should also be able to write those numerals, and be able to tell what is one more/less than any number. You can help your child master these by using the number line or number grid. These tools can help develop a sense of how big numbers are as well, and can lay the foundation for addition and subtraction. We’ll also learn this week to make tallies of various things, as a ground-up way to learn how big numbers are when counting by 5s. In addition, we will practice using a calendar, including naming days of the week and reading the date.

Check out this Everyday Math page with links to games that support learning: http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/parents/games-table/

Writing  Good narrative writing comes from good storytelling. Horn  and Giacobbe (2007) note, “Children learn to tell stories that are personally significant, include specific details that evoke emotion, and reveal feelings when they hear stories that do those things” (p. 23). In addition, writers write best on what they know. This week we will read stories authors have written from experience, and we will begin to share aloud stories from our own lives. This is the basis for all the written work to come this year, including narratives, opinion writing, expository writing, and poetry.

Homework  Math homework will begin this Thursday. Reading homework begins next month, math facts homework in November, and writing work in the new year. Here is a guide with good advice for doing homework at home; see pp. 4-6: http://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/involve/homework/homeworktips.pdf

References

Horn, M., &Giacobbe, M. E. (2007). Talking, drawing, writing: Lessons for our youngest writers. Portsmouth, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

We’re off and running! So much of our success depends on building our classroom community of learners right. We are learning names and faces and how to speak kindly at Morning Meeting and through the day. We are learning routines for how to take care of our school supplies (through Guided Discovery–read more at https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/article/guided-discovery-action) and how to navigate the building. We are also learning work expectations, like sitting in one place and trying our best. In short, we’re learning how to be in school again! At Floral, we teach students in all gradesto use their FACTS (Focus; Attitude; Confidence; Try Your Best; Stamina)

Screenings At the start of the school year, we try to find out where students are with regards to English Language Learning, Reading, and Math, so that we can meet each child where he or she is academically. We also use the information to determine elegibility for extra help such as through Title One or E.L.L. Your child may therefore tell you that heorshe played math games/read with another teacher during these first weeks. This is especially true of students new to our school or district. These adults are tutors and specialists in the building. If your child is eligible for additional help, we’ll let you know soon.

Reading We’re learning how to choose just right books from the classroom library using “I-PICK”: Purpose (why do I want to read something); Interest (do the pictures/topics interest me); Comprehend (do I understand what I’m reading); and Know (can I read almost all the words). Research still points to the importance of beginning readers spending time in books that are at their specific levels, or just below, and not above. This week we’ll practice reading books on our own for longer and longer periods (the eventual goal is 20 minutes at a time), at what we call “Read to Self” time. I-PICK and Read to Self are methods taken from the Daily 5, a literacy management program we’ll be following to improve our reading, writing, and understanding. For more info, including sample videos, visit: http://www.TheDailyCafe.com/public/department38.cfm

Math The year begins with learning how tools like playing cards, number lines, dice, and money can help us learn and practice math. We are reviewing counting up and back by ones, and counting by 5s and 10s to 100. Believe me when I say that using and memorizing the number line and number grid goes an enormous distance to helping kids compute fluently and understand numbers. Read more on the theory here: http://bridges1.mathlearningcenter.org/files/media/rekenrek/numberline_overview.pdf

You can create number lines here; kids can use them to identify numbers to 100, to count up and back and to do simple addition/subtraction if you give them problems: http://www.math-aids.com/Number_Lines/Number_Lines.html

Here is a number grid to 100 you can print out; let me know if you find any interactive games for using the grid to count online–I’m still looking: http://springbrook.ipsd.org/uploads/Number_grid.pdf

Homework Math is the first homework to begin, and it will start next Thursday, 9/11. In the meantime, please help your child learn the following as homework over the next few weeks: address (#, street, town), phone number, birthday, and how to tie shoes, use buttons, and zipper clothing. If these are hard for your child at first, I promise they will improve with just 5 minutes practice a day!

 

Special Subjects This year we have gym on Monday and Friday. Please be sure your child has sneakers on those days–they are a requirement for running on the gym floor! We have Art on Monday, Media on Tuesday, and Music on Thursday this year as well.

Supplies Thanks to those of you who sent in health supplies! We now have all we need for the start of the year.

Upcoming Dates of Note:

• Reading Homework starts 10/15.
• Math Facts Homework starts 11/4.
• Classroom Volunteers start 11/4.
• Spelling Homework starts 11/18.