Welcome to our weekly update on the Blog! My overall goal for the blog is to have the students write it each week! Hopefully we can start that in a few weeks! For now we are learning procedures and expectations! I was so impressed with how quickly they caught on to our morning routine! This week will be 5 whole days so they will be super tired by Friday!
Thanks for sending the "Me Bags" in. The students enjoyed learning about each other and I enjoyed learning something new about each of them!
This year we are going to include " Growth Mindset" lessons in our daily activities. We want the children to understand and believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. This mindset, creates a love of learning that is essential for great achievements. Last week we learned that there are things we can do very well and things that we may not be able to do YET, but we know with motivation and hard work, we will be able to accomplish anything. We are learning to change our words in order to change our mindset.
IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
Monday, Sept. 14th: Parent Information Night 6:30 pm in our classroom. (Room 306)
Hope to see you all then!
Tuesday: Tuesday folders come home. Please sign and return the folders the next day.
Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: P.E. days. Please have your child wear tennis shoes.
This week:
READING
We will learn how to read independently to ourselves for a few minutes at a time. Each day we read for a little longer period to build up our stamina. We will learn that strong readers read every day. A picture is worth a thousand words and we can read the pictures as well and retell the story through pictures. We will talk about our favorite reading memory, when reading felt so good to us. The children will practice using the classroom library correctly and responsibly.
WRITING
We will begin our first lesson: Introducing the writing tools (papers, pencils, markers and crayons, tape, glue, scissors), and resources such as the alphabet charts, first grade words, and the prints around the classroom. . I will first model how to brainstorm, sketch, and write about my story, something that I know and care about. The children will then begin writing a true story about themselves, something that they have experienced and has happened to them. On Friday we will try out an app called Educreations for write a story on our iPad.
Word Work:
Word Work:
We will think about finding patterns in words so we can spell more words! We will remember that letters are written in upper case and lower case. We will also review a few of our kindergarten sight words as we engage in Word Wall Wednesday.
MATH:
MATH:
This week in math we will explore numbers. Numbers represent different and specific quantities. We will think about things that we can count and different ways that we can find the answer to the question, "How many?"At this age some children count individually and some can count by 5 or 10's. If asked to show 6, some children count one by one and some can show 6 in one move. Our goal this week and forward is to push children to use the benchmarks of 5 and 10 to determine the total amount vs. counting one by one. We will work on recognizing instantly the quantity of structured arrangements. I am especially excited to get engaged with our interactive white board. It is up and running and will be great for our math lessons this week!
SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we will be discussing rules, and laws at school, home and in our community. What is the difference between a rule and a law? Why do we need rules and laws? We will discuss the characteristics of good citizenship at school. We will also identify the leaders/authority figures at school, home, and in our community. We are going to use an app called Quiver this week after we illustrate what a good citizen might look like in a community. We will draw on a paper called "The Dot" then we will use the app to make our picture come alive (4D)! I think this will be a huge hit! Students will get a chance to "tell a story" with their picture while they use their iPads.
SCIENCE:
In science we will learn about who a "scientist" is and why do we need to learn about science? Science helps us understand the world around us. Scientists ask questions, make observations, record data, and communicate their thoughts. We will learn how to follow safety procedures during investigations in order to keep people safe and healthy.
Thank you for sharing your little people with me!
