Weekly Wrap-Up

Another fantastic week here on planet first grade! We were able to get to a lot of material and the kids responded quite well. I was particularly pleased with how they handled the math assessment we took on Tuesday and Wednesday. Look for more on that in the math section. We also have picture day coming up next Wednesday, so everyone practice those smiles!!! Now onto the highlights...


Math:



It was a big week in math that saw us complete unit one. The culmination of this unit included an assessment that the class completed independently. I am still looking at the data, but I was really pleased with how everyone responded to the assessment. This is a new task for the kids and a big departure from kindergarten, but they did great! We also spent time on Monday working on counting larger numbers. The class got to play Rolling for 50 with a partner, which was a lot fun. Finally, on Thursday we introduced the "turn-around rule." The kids were able to practice this concept in their math journals. As usual, we spent Friday catching up on math items from the week and playing math games.



Phonics:


We worked on several concepts in phonics this week. The kids practiced writing rhyming words by themselves. They also examined how they can change the first letter of a word to make a new word. This has been a big focus this week.



Writing:



In writing this week we worked on spelling the best we can and moving on. Often kids will get tripped up on a difficult word and are unable to complete the story as a result. This lesson was designed to provide the kids with a way to keep the story moving, even when there is a tricky word. The class also received alphabet linking charts to help with their writing. In addition to the alphabet charts I added a personal word wall for the kids to write down hard to remember words. These tools will be very helpful as the writing lessons continue.



Science:



In science this week we examined how the sun warms. This included a fabulous experiment regarding several bags of ice outside. The kids loved answering questions about how the ice melted in their science journals.



Social Studies:



In social studies this week the kids had an opportunity to illustrate ways we get along in school. We also had a fun icebreaker activity I used when we switched desks today. As always we reinforced our PBIS concepts and of course our YNWA concepts!





If you have any questions please let me know. All told for the week!