Marshmallow Pyramids

We made it to our first Friday! Everyone went home with a smile and eager for the weekend's plans. 

The challenge for today was to build 3-D shapes with marshmallows and toothpicks! The children did a wonderful job of remembering the names of 3-D shapes from kindergarten. I am pretty sure I had them stumped though when I asked how many corners, sides, and faces were in a cube. We explored the rectangular prism, triangular pyramid, and cube to name a few. They were asked to build these shapes simply by looking at a model, NO help from me. They did a very good job!

 






In the afternoon, we read another Kevin Henkes book, Owen. The kiddos were asked to think about their favorite character and why, and how they were similar to this character. We used our brand NEW, fancy reader's notebooks to records our thoughts.

We are really looking forward to making these notebooks a daily routine. See you next week!

Architects, Engineers, and Worried Little Mice

Today was a fun-filled day of exploring with shapes and our own names. After finishing our morning meeting which consisted of me dancing while the kids were staring, finding similar interests in each other, and discussing the agenda of the day, we dove into some math concepts. Shapes! The kids were pumped to recall the shapes they learned in kindergarten (hexagon, trapezoid, rhombus, square...) and point out the number of corners and sides. They were then asked what we call people that build and create things. I was told...workers, inventors, constructors, engineers, and architects. The kids were then given different challenges to build towers as tall and wide as they could with a certain number of shapes. They then had to recall the names of the shapes as they shared.  I was pretty amazed at the little engineers and architects we have in here!

Yesterday we began an author study with Kevin Henkes. If you are not familiar with him, he writes several picture books that include characters who focus on feelings and how to treat others.  We read Wemberly Worried which is about a little mouse who starts school. She worries about EVERYTHING and ends up meeting a little friend who makes it all better. Our class then shared their worries with each other and we talked through what to do when you are feeling this way. Check out our cute art projects we completed after.

We read Chrysanthemum today which deals with another sweet little mouse who goes to school. She is teased for her very long name. We then investigated each other's names and searched for vowels, consonants, and syllables. Who has the longest name? Who has the shortest? Here is another fun art project we did today.

DAY 2 ....What did we DO???

Well here we are at day 2!!! Why does it feel like we have been together all year already? These kiddos are great! They get along so well and already feel very comfortable with each other. We make sure that everyone has a friend to play with before recess and wow, these kids look out for each other:)

It really does feel good to have such an easy transition with the kids into a new year. We already have helpers that love to pass out papers, help me organize supplies, and go around and check on kids to make sure everyone is okay. I don't want to jinx anything, but I think this class will have an easy breezy year together!

Today we started off by partnering up to share our "first day jitters" we wrote yesterday. Then we began morning meeting in which we greet each other, play a quick activity, and review the agenda for the day. Today we played an activity which required each student to ask a question to as many peers as they could in the time limit. They learned about favorite sports, colors, foods, after school activities, pets, favorite places, etc. Overall it was a quick, fun ice-breaker to help the kids interact with each other and not be afraid to speak out. 

 

After that, we learned how to start our morning. We went through the routine again together and made a chart to help us remember. Then the kids wrote their own mini "how-to charts". Their homework tonight is to retell you how to start the morning while you read their chart! I hope they remember. 

Next we learned the 3rd way to read a book: We practiced by retelling the story of the 3 little pigs. We sat in a circle and each child had a turn to say a small part of the story in order. Then we moved on to some of the books we read aloud in class. This is a good way to practice at home too!

• Read the pictures
• Read the words
• Retell the story 

We read The Kissing Hand and made a cut out of our own kissing hands and wrote about it. 

It was another fun day!

First Day Jitters

 Aloha!

Today was our first day together as first graders! We came in, emptied our book bags, helped our friends sort supplies, and then headed off to wellness class. The class met Coach Hicks and Coach Braund and burned off some first day jitters! 

When we came back to the classroom we had our first official morning meeting. The kids shared their names, favorite colors, and foods. Then we discovered who we knew from kindergarten, which kindergarten teachers we had, and whether we were a.m. or p.m. kindergarteners. The kiddos really opened up and began to feel comfortable as they saw friendly faces or met new faces that were in similar situations. 

We learned two of the three ways to read a book, which will become a part of our daily literacy block, Daily 5. 

1. Read the Pictures
2. Read the Words

After I modeled both ways to the children they practiced on their own.  We discussed the importance of reading the pictures because it gets your creative juices flowing and that makes your brain stronger. I really emphasized that even if you can already read the words it is just as important to be able to tell a story by reading the pictures. This is how we will become writers after all!

Next on the agenda, was the first day of school photo. The kids brainstormed what they wanted to be when they grow up, drew it, wrote it, and I snapped a picture of it so we can look at it again on the last day of school. 

Look at our gorgeous faces!

Finally, we read a book about a character who was VERY hesitant to start her new school. She didn't want to get up in the morning, go into the building, or meet any new friends. Can you guess who she was? THE TEACHER! Good thing it wasn't me!! The kids then wrote about their feelings this morning before they got to school. This is their very first writing sample as a first grader and it will be so neat to look back at on their last day as a first grader. 

See you soon~
Mrs. Cervantes