Summer in September!

It has been a super fun, and HOT, week in first grade! We survived the heat, and the students were troopers! Despite the temps, we were able to stay focused and work hard during work times, and offered up some extra play time to beat the heat. We have been utilizing our outdoor classroom a lot---for both work and play! Thank you to Ashton for the yummy apples for snack one day this week. He picked them from the apple tree in his yard! How thoughtful!

This week we had a big milestone in independent reading time! The class has been working hard to read for 20 minutes by themselves, without interrupting others. THIS WEEK, WE DID IT! We celebrated with a game, some book give-a-ways, and a little treat from Mrs. Powell. We have been discussing the importance of reading every day for a period of time. Just like athletes have to practice to become better at sports (many of our students can relate to soccer practice, football, hockey, etc.), readers need to practice to get better at reading. Some students have discovered that they have slid backward in reading levels over the summer. We will work extra hard to get back to those end of the year Kindergarten levels, and continue on, aiming for level F by January. At home, you can help your child by ensuring they read leveled readers frequently (book bags were sent home Monday), and practice sight words. We are reviewing and working on sight words: a, I, no, of, so, is. Also, be sure to utilize the questions and comprehension prompts that were included with the book back and literature sent home during the week. The discussions and comprehension questions about the story are just as important as being able to read it!

Students will always be aware of their progress in reading skills/levels, and will graph their progress toward the first grade goals on a monthly basis. This helps them see the various goals/checkpoints throughout the year, and the end goal of level J by the end of first grade.

We have also been practicing "Read to Someone".....where students read to a partner. It is fun to read with friends!!

We really enjoyed our trip to the library this week, too! Students are able to check out two books each week, and return them on or before Friday.

We have been continuing to work with fables, and learned all about personification this week! By the end of the week, students got really good at being able to tell all about personification---when animals or things talk or act like humans, when they cannot do that in real life. Our class made some really great videos to demonstrate their knowledge of personification! Check them out!

Leah & some friends made the walls talk!