We have been working hard on the comprehension skill of retelling. This involves identifying the beginning, middle, and end of fiction stories as well as the characters and setting. Each week we practice during group read aloud, silent reading time, and during reading groups. This week our read aloud story is called Peter's Chair by Ezra Jack Keats. I have included a reading of this book above. I encourage you to have your first grader demonstrate their retelling abilities. They are getting pretty good at identifying what is an important detail and what should be left out of a retell.
Last week great memories were made with the annual Columbus fire truck rides. I'm telling you that you haven't lived until you've cruised around town on top of a fire truck with 21 first graders. It is definitely one of my favorite days of the year!
What an exciting day in library! Mrs. Wishy Washy took time away from her farm to read to our class. Boy were the kids surprised when she walked in! She was very nice and the students had a great time. She was so pleasant that some of the students even thought she reminded them of our very own, Mrs. Cranston! Although they do share the same rosy cheeks and big smile, I reminded the students that Mrs. Cranston is a principal not a farmer. ;)
Each week we will be doing a poem. Poetry is a great way for students to increase phonemic awareness, learn new vocabulary, practice decoding, and improve fluency. Plus, they are a lot of fun! This week we had a lot of fun working with the poem, "Fire! Fire! Cried Mrs. McGuire." In the pictures below you can see the students working on illustrations to match the poem. One student even felt inspired to create his own "Fire! Fire!" poem. I think it turned out pretty neat! :)
We have so much fun learning about our friends during their Star Student Week. Last week we got to meet a Star Student's cat named Zena. We thought she was super cute but I'm not sure she felt the same way about us! ;)
At Columbus, we teach students 6 pillars of character including Responsibility, Trustworthiness, Fairness, Citizenship, Respect, and Caring. This week we learned about Responsibility from the Kindergarten teachers. They put on a Wheel-of-Fortune themed assembly in which the puzzle was RESPONSIBILITY. Mrs. Anderson made a lovely Vanna White! I will be on the look-out for students demonstrating responsibility this month.
This week we had a visit from the local fire department. They brought their trucks and the fire trailer to teach us all about fire safety. We learned a lot about how to be prepared at home and at school for a fire. We even got to check out the cool uniforms!
This week we had an amazing, international opportunity. We Skyped with a third grade classroom in Australia! We learned about Australian schools, climate, animal, seasons, food, and houses. They were very curious about Iowa as well. Our class evening created an e-book to send to them about Iowa. I was very proud of the hard work and creativity the class put into this book. Please let me know if you would like me to send it to you via e-mail so you can have a copy.
We began a new math unit this week. Students will have many opportunities to work with shapes. Our goals for this unit are to be able to short shapes by their characteristics and to be able to build new shapes larger shapes from smaller shapes. It is a great way to build spatial reasoning and an early foundation for fractions. The students have been working really hard at this and seem to really be enjoying working with the shapes.
We had a great time learning about our Star Student this week. She had some special guests come visit her and one of them even read us the book Dinosaurs Love Underpants. The kids got lots of laughs from that one!
If you were unable to attend the FAST and Title Meeting held a few weeks ago at Columbus, please take the time to watch this video recording of the meeting. Important information is given out about new legislation and how it will impact your student's educational experience. Let me know if you have any questions. FAST and Title Meeting
Friday was a great day at Columbus! In the morning we had a pep assembly put on by the high schoolers and a small carnival! It was so great celebrating being a Charger.
Check out these photos from our Star Student last week! It was great getting to know her and her guests! We had a great time hearing the book Berlioz. Check out the clip of our class enjoying her reading. :)
