Reading and Writing Updates

The past month our first graders have really started to pick up the pace with reading and writing. They are learning to write using more detail and transition words. Each student got to write a descriptive paper on an animal and then create a sticker story to go with it. I was SO impressed with the finished products. Students did a great job using adjectives and creating a jungle-scene for their animal picture.

During small reading groups, students participate in a variety of centers that reinforce the phonics skill and weekly sight words they are working on. We utilize the famous blogger, Reagan Tunstall's, word work activities. The kids have really enjoyed doing these centers and it makes their daily routine easy to remember. We have completed short vowels and after Thanksgiving break we will be focusing on blends (examples: FLip, SWim, TRap).

Hope everyone is staying warm during this first snow of the season! Got to love living in Iowa! And as always, Go Hawks...beat Purdue! :)

Turkey Facts!

To kick-off our week we read an informational text on turkeys and then students recalled facts that they learned! It was fun to see how interested and engaged they were to learn about these fun-feathered birds! Students were shocked to learn facts such as: only male turkeys make the "gobbling" sound and turkeys can fly up to 55 mph! My teammate found this fun turkey activity (pictured below) where students recorded on the feathers the most interesting facts they learned! Their fact turkeys turned out pretty cool! The remainder of the week we are going to read a series of fictional books on turkeys and students will get the opportunity to practice their retelling skills!

After reading about turkeys, students helped recall facts to record on our big turkey chart!

Each student wrote four facts they learned about turkeys.

Gobble...gobble! :)

Thanksgiving Activities Continued

This past week our first graders learned about the role that the Native Americans played in the first Thanksgiving. We read a book about Squanto and completed a Venn Diagram comparing the Native Americans to the Pilgrims. In addition, we read the story Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano. Students then wrote their own stories about a turkey in disguise and made these adorable turkeys (idea from The First Grade Parade)...they turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself! :)

Kimberly's turkey tricked the people by dressing up as a mom! :)

Marquise's turkey tricked the people by dressing up as a human and instead of getting eaten, the turkey was invited to Thanksgiving dinner! :)

Coming up next week: Reading both fiction and non-fiction stories about turkeys! Can't wait!

The Mayflower and Pilgrims

Last week the first graders started learning about how to ask questions before and during a story to help them gain deeper meaning. We talked about "question words" and learned a song to help us remember them! We also discussed the difference between a question that can be answered "in the book" verses "in our head". If an answer can be found in the book it is considered a "right there" answer. If an inference needs to be made or a question asks for an opinion, we learned that we have to answer the question in our head with our own ideas. Being able to distinguish between the two types of questions will help students when they start to take standardized tests in later grades.

We used these questioning skills to launch our unit on The Mayflower and Pilgrims. We read a few different books this week and answered questions about this topic. Students were SO INTERESTED in the voyage that was taken to the New World back in the year 1620. We did several activities to deepen students' understanding of this major historical event. Next week students will dive into Native Americans and how they played a major role in the success that the Pilgrims had in building a community of their own.

This poster has questions students were able to answer after reading about The Mayflower.

Students unscrambled sentences about the Pilgrims' story and made their own Mayflowers!

Students were SHOCKED at how little the Pilgrims got to take along on their journey due to how packed the Mayflower was with people! They got the opportunity to discuss things they would bring along and then each decided on their top four items! Definitely have some 21st Century answers here...very difficult for the firsties to fathom that back in the 1600s iPads and other electronics were not around! :)

 My favorite thing about these sweet kids though is that all of them put they would bring their family...<3 

Finally, we wrapped up the week with a "Then vs. Now" sort where students compared things from long ago and modern day. I love how cross-curricular this unit is...we are able to mix many language arts activities with social studies standards as well! Win-win! 

Note: Many activities from this unit were found from the wonderful Deanna Jump.

October Activities...It's a Wrap! :)

This week we finished up all things October...pumpkins, bats, and of course, Halloween! :) First, we teamed up with our amazing art teacher, Kara Dickel, to write facts about bats and then use paints to make an adorable bat-themed picture!

In addition, students worked hard to complete book reports during guided reading time. We taught students basic story elements: characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end. Students got the opportunity to write about these elements on "candy pieces" and then put their candy pieces in a bag that they decorated with their own illustration of the book!

Students also completed their character trait "inside/outside" descriptions. We read a few different books with strong characters to give students a chance to use a variety of words. The students pictured below did amazing work on their character traits!

Next, students had a great time writing adjectives about pumpkins and then writing a descriptive paper about them! We are working hard on using first, next, then, and last as transition words to give our writing a nice flow.

 Touching the pumpkin to help think of describing words!

Finally, many students participated in our Halloween party activities. A special thanks to Henry's mom, Brooke, for providing healthy snacks for the students to enjoy at the party! Also, thanks to my mom, Nancy, for volunteering all day and bringing some fun games to play with the first graders.

Next week we will begin our 3-week series of Thanksgiving-themed activities. We will be focusing on the Common Core standard of asking questions about stories in order to clarify meaning and make connections to the text! Happy November!