Books!

This year we have already read over 20 books! If you would like to keep up with what we are reading in the classroom, check out the Shelfari widget I have on the right side of the blog. You can browse our bookshelf and see the wonderful stories we've read. What books are your favorite?

Fun Friday!

Friday was a busy day! We had our first spelling test! The kids were a little nervous but they did great! We read our first story in our reading series, called Pam and Sam. So we had a little fun on Friday and made some really cute scenes from the story. Each student had a bird and a rabbit to color and put together (Pam and Sam were animals). They they glued the animals on large paper and wrote a sentence about their scene from the story. They really looked good!

I am glad that we are just about into our regular weekly routine. Soon we are going to start math and reading stations, which the students all love! I am ready for another fun and busy week!

Number Rock

Last week we worked with numbers 1-20. We watched this fun video to help us count! Enjoy!

 

Back To School Night!

Tomorrow (Thursday) is Back to School Night at Chapel Glen! I hope to see all my new parents! The night will start in the cafeteria at 6:00. Mr. Coapstick will have a quick introduction session and then parents will be released to their child's classroom. There are 2 sessions if you have more than one child. Our classroom (room 37) is downstairs. Look for the jungle and I hope to see you there!

Full Week!

This is our first full week of the year and we sure have a lot planned! To start off, we are reviewing many concepts that our students learned in kindergarten. We are reading simple stories that use common sight words. Each child will bring home a bag of words on Wednesday that I will check next week. Please review these words with your child. If they are having trouble reading any, these words are a great place to start practicing!

We are also reviewing numbers 1-20 this week. We are practicing writing numbers 1-9 with touchpoints as well as reading them in word form. Next week we will starting working on groups of numbers and objects. We will make groups of 2, 5, and 10. We will wrap up our review next week by comparing groups by using the words more, fewer, and the same. Look for these math concepts next week on homework!

We starting using our Writer's Notebooks this week as well. The children all made their first page titled "All About Me". The wrote a description of themselves and/or some things they like and drew great self-portraits! We talked about how we write about things that we love and created heart maps to glue inside our notebooks. That way each student has a 'map' reminder of things they like to write about!

Donor's Choose

There is a fantastic website called Donor's Choose. It is a place for teachers t post projects or ideas that they would love to have for the classroom but don't have the money to provide. I have used this website for the last three years and have received many wonderful classroom supplies: books on tape, big books, a document camera, and video cameras. Over the summer I had a project fulfilled to receive a webcam! I currently have a project title Games for First Grade Brains! You can check out the project and donate here. It would be really awesome if you could share the link to my project so that hopefully it can be fulfilled soon! As a newer teacher, I still don't have as many resources as I would like to have in my classroom. This project will help me have ample games for the children to use during math and reading stations. Projects are funded through donations of all sizes! It doesn't matter how much someone can give whether it's $5 or $50. I know there are generous people out there that will help bring these wonderful materials to our classroom! I can't wait to get them and share them with the kids!

Summer Vacation

Today we read a book about our summer vacations and talked about some of the things we did. The kids then wrote stories and made an illustration about their summer vacation. Here they are, hard at work!

Homework Binders

Every night your child will bring home a homework binder/folder. There are 5 things that are important in their homework binder.

Front Pocket:

This pocket holds the weekly first grade newsletter. Please read over this for important information (hw, contact info, specials rotation, units we are working on, and other school events).

Back Pocket:

This pocket holds your child's weekly behavior log. Everyday before going home your child will color their square to show you how their day went (blue - extra great all the way down to red - yikes!). Please sign this Friday after school and make sure your child returns it to me the following Monday.

Inside Front Pocket:

This pocket holds your child's nightly homework. After your child completes the homework, please have them place it back in this pocket so it can be easily turned in the next day.

Inside Back Pocket:

This pocket will hold any information that needs to be sent home during the week (fundraisers, school newsletters, etc).

Zipper Pouch:

This pouch holds your child's nightly leveled reading book. Each child chooses their own book everyday to read at home that is on their reading level. There will also be a reading log to keep track of what books have been read as well as keeping track of their reading growth!

Please help your child take good care of their binder so it can last all year!

 

First Day!

The first day is offically over! It sure was a busy day but we had a lot of fun getting to know each other. The first half of today was spent mostly going through supplies! Boy did that take a while! The whole first grade did a great job at lunch and recess. The afternoon flew by and then it was time for dismissal. Here there are ready to go home:

Look at those smiling faces! I am ready for a great year. I hope you can take the time to check out the blog every week for updates and pictures!

 

Parent Info

Welcome new parents! I am excited to begin a new year of learning with your child! I can't wait to meet all of you and hope that you will use this online resource often. This blog is used to communicate and show you (as well as other family members) what is happening in our classroom. I also use it to highlight important information and events. Anything I post on the blog will most likely appear in our weekly first grade newsletter, First Grade Flash.Other important parent information such as my parent handbook is available on my class website which is setup at mrsreedsvirtualclassroom.com. You can access this site by clicking on the apple on the right hand sidebar. The supply list for the coming year is posted on the website so you can have your child prepared for first grade on the first day of school! You will also find the weekly newsletters posted on that site as well once school starts. Classroom pictures, student links, and information about me can also be found on this website. It is an information portal!

 

I also keep you informed of what's happening in room 37 by using my classroom Facebook and Twitter account. I take lots of pictures and videos throughout the year and you can see them on here and on those two sites. The videos I record are usually uploaded to our classroom YouTube account. All three of these links are also on the right hand sidebar. Be sure to check them out and follow us!

 

I would love for you (or your new first grader) to leave a comment so I can see who has checked the blog out! I LOVE blogging but it's great to know that someone's out there! See you soon!