A Group of Cool Kids!

Hooray!  We completed our first FULL week of school!  I could tell by Thursday students were getting a bit tired, but we're slowly building our stamina. :)  This week included lessons on Citizenship, then an introduction to our new Science unit:  Magnets!  Students were excited to play with the magnets and discover what was magnetic in our room and what was not.  Look for homework to come home next week where they get to explore magnetism around their home!  We even discovered that magnets work through water, and that each magnet has a pole (north, south) that repel and attract other magnets.

We started the week with a review of cafeteria rules by creating lunch boxes and displaying them proudly in the hallway.  Then, just to show everyone how cool we really are, we created "Cool Kids" and wrote information about ourselves to share!  I think the students DO look pretty "cool"!

Next week brings more magnetism, as well as working with sentences (punctuation, capitalization, complete and incomplete), more basic skills with math and counting, and reading new books!

Oh, and don't forget to ask your child about our "Electric Company" Fridays!  Each Friday, we watch an episode off the PBS Kids website and then engage in centers related to the phonics/content topics that they cover.  This week, we explored short e, "ell" word family, and hard and soft c.  The episode was called "Scent of a Human" and students can rewatch it at www.pbskids.org/electriccompany.  There are also games and other videos for students to watch to help us with our reading skills!

Next week will also bring our first "STARS of the Week!"  Each week, Mrs. Byrd, Mrs. Mackey, and myself look for students who are showing good behavior as well as good work skills.  On Friday, we each pick a STAR and present them with a certificate and small treat.  It's our way of recognizing students who do a good job in the classroom!

First Week of School!

We had a great first (half) week of school!  Students are starting to get into the routine (as well as the teachers), and I think we might have almost a "regular schedule" day next week! :)  We have started math and reading group rotations.  Students are enjoying learning about numbers and 100 charts this week in math, and we did an informal assessment for word study and reading this week as well.  Students read aloud a book based on their spring levels for first grade and we will be starting "formal" reading groups next week.  Our PALS tests are scheduled for August 31st and Title I and Reading Lab are set to start August 11th (after all the grades have had an opportunity to test).

Students had a blast sharing their personality bags!  We started by the teacher pulling out items from the bag and students got 3 chances to guess whose bag it was, before the owner was asked to stand up.  I really enjoyed learning about my students this way.  I have now learned that Pokemon is well loved by a lot of the boys and girls, and that the boys especially are into Star Wars, super heroes, and motorcycles, especially!  The students were impressed by my knowledge of Pokemon, so I guess I lucked out my son went through that stage not too long ago!

I am looking forward to another great (and longer) week!  I hope you have a great weekend and thanks for giving me the opportunity to work with your children!