The week of October 21

Hello Owl Families!

Happy Friday!

I wanted to give another THANK YOU to those that are volunteering and bringing things in for our Halloween party.  I greatly appreciate it!!  I do have one more slightly odd request!  I looking for someone to bring in pumpkin seeds (that are baked) for next week after our Halloween party.  We will be doing an activity with these!  So, if you are planning to carve pumpkins this weekend, please don't throw the seeds away!  I would love them for our class!!  One last housekeeping item: don't forget that conference confirmation slips are due back the day before Halloween.  That's Wednesday, October 30!  I still have a few missing and would like to get the schedule concrete!  THANK YOU!  

Yesterday we saw our book buddies.  We read a story called Stellaluna and then made a bat and retold the story for the beginning, middle and end.  They turned out great and are all hanging out in our room!  Take a look! :)

Today we started our fourth Daily Five choice, which was Listen to Reading.  Check out the action shot of some owl friends doing Listen to Reading for the first time!

It was indeed a happy Friday in the Owl Room today.  We had our writing celebration today!  Since September, we have been working hard on our small moment stories.  This week we picked one and made it into a book.  We celebrated today by reading them (videos below) and cheers-ing each other for the FABULOUS job we all day! (pictures below).  Please note that the videos are limited to 30 seconds, so some of the videos are just a glimpse as to what the story was about!  They loved this, and I was a very proud teacher!!  Enjoy!

Adam

Ahyana

Austin

Avarey

Cade

Ethan

Ellie

Gary

Jonah

Jordyn

Justin

Keegan

Kennedy

Lindsey M.

Lydia

Nehemiah

Paityn

Reed

Week of October 14th

Greetings Owl Families!

This week in language arts we were hard at work editing our small moments stories.  There are pictures below for you to enjoy as they worked with their writing partners.  There are also videos of when they did their editing checklist--I was very impressed with how well they did!!

In math we finished up unit 2 and will start unit 3 on Monday.  This unit focuses a lot on stories problems.  To solve story problems, children first need to know which number is unknown.  Is it the total or one of the parts?  This program helps children focus on this important issue by using "math mountains" (picture below).  In a math mountain, the total sits at the top and the parts (or partners) sit at the bottom of the mountain.  Children can quickly see the relationship between the partners and the total when they look at the mountain.  Children can find the answer by drawing the mountain to see which number is unknown.  Then they count on from the partner they know to the total.  In this way, they can find the partner they don't know (see picture below).

In social studies, we have learned and studied ourselves, our families, and how a family is like a school.  Now we are moving on to past and present.  These lessons will be talking about how the past was different than today, and we will compare school, housing, travel, communication, work and play.  We will hit on what makes us a good citizen and study words like authority, rules, responsibility.

I wanted to quick thank those who are bringing in things for our Halloween party, and those that are coming to help!  I feel so blessed to be able to work in such a supportive community!  Thank you again!  This party will go very smooth because of the givers and volunteers!

Have a great weekend!  --Mrs. Vos

Shape GO! Map

Hello there, Owl Families!

I hope you had a fabulous fall week!  Thank you to those that came to Dancing with the Teachers... we didn't place but it sure was fun!!  Here is what's happening in the Owl Room.

We have been focusing on retelling our stories with our Shape GO! Map.  This helps us comprehend the story better.  Below is a Shape GO! Map to print off for your reference as you read with your first graders at night.  I would recommend putting a copy in your JRL bag so you can practice this after you read your JRL book!  Remember it's okay if the JRL books your child is bringing home are a little easy, we are working on becoming fluent readers and can practice that better with easier books!

Thank you for your continued support in and outside of school!

 
Have a great weekend!  Mrs. Vos

 

The start of October

Greetings Owl Families!

Happy Friday!  We have made it through our 5th week of school!  This post is just an update on what is happening in first grade.

Language Arts:  Every week we have a new sound of the week and words of the week.  This past week our sound was the /k/ sound.  We know that sometimes when we hear the /k/ sound it can be the letters ck.  We focused on words like lick, pick, stick, etc.

  

Social Studies:  We will be focusing on the social units of family and school.  We will talk about many important concepts such as rules, responsibilities, basic needs, wants, change and diversity.  We started by comparing ourselves from the past to the present (kindergarten to first grade).  We will then move to comparing our families and how family rules and responsibilities ensure families live and work together safely and effectively.  Finally, students explore similarities and differences between school and family.

Math:  We have started unit 2.  This unit will focus on addition, subtraction, and equations.  These concepts are introduced with stories that capture children's interest and help them to see adding and subtracting as real-life processes.  At the beginning of the unit, children show a story problem by drawing a picture of objects.  If they are adding 4 balloons and 2 balloons, for example, their pictures might look like the top one shown below.  If they are subtracting, their pictures might look like the bottom one shown below.  In a short time, children will show objects quickly with circles rather than pictures.  From there, children are asked to show partners (4+2) as well as give the total (6).  Then they will be a small step away from writing the equation, such as 4+2=6 and 6-4=2.

A couple odds and ends to update....

•    Please be sure to check your child's folder every day!  I have seen a couple folders this week that have come back looking the same.  Sometimes, there are important notes from me!

If you're looking for something to do this weekend, I will be in the Dancing with the Teachers show Saturday night, tickets are $5 and it supports the Zeeland High School Dance Ensemble!  There is also a pumpkinfest parade downtown Zeeland at 3 PM!

Have a great fall weekend!

Mrs. Vos :)