It's almost the end of September!

We are now 19 days into our school year and I have been so pleased with how our group of students are coming along! It was almost as if these first graders have been life long friends because we have such a friendly and cooperative group.

As September is coming to an end, we have accomplished a lot.....

In math, we have moved from concrete, to pictoral and now are on abstract theory of adding numbers from 1-10. We started with hands on manipulatives to pictures to real equations. The students have been practicing counting on from the higher number. For example if they were to see 3+6, the student would start with 6 and count on 3 more, 7, 8, 9. We have been practicing this with math games and in our math workbook. The more concrete and automatic the students can be in knowing their basic math facts will help with further learning this year.

In reading, we have started working Mrs. Roby and Mrs. Kugland. Todays lesson was about the difference between reading words and thinking words.  In a few days we will be book shopping in our guided reading library and starting our guided reading groups.

In writing, we are working on narrative writing, more specifically "Small Moments" in our lives. We have discussed that as writers we need to have a plan for our writing so that we have a framework to work with. If your child uses words like I am thinking of my story across the pages, they are saying that they are thinking before writing. When the plan has been established, then the students are encouraged to write.

In science, we have been introducing your children to the idea of being a scientist. We came up with a long list of attributes that a scientist might have and what they might need. The students are absorbing all of these thoughts as they will be scientist on their first exploration to Minnehaha Falls!
We have learned a little about how to observe closely. In our classroom we have been making observations about different types of rocks.

In social studies, we have learned about our first change maker of the year. We have been learning about Jane Goodall and how as a scientific observer, she changed the way that scientist observe animals in their natural habitat. We have been motivated by her dedication and her bravery.

For fun, we took some rocks and turned them into our PET ROCKS. We have painted them and added different bling! The students have named them and say hello to them in passing!

Overall, I feel that this year has started smoothly and we have fallen into our groove rather quickly.
I can't wait to meet with all of the families over conference time.