From the 90 degree heat, to the chill I am experiencing right now (with a frost advisory on the way!), fall is a season that nicely reflects the changes taking place in a classroom.
There are on days and off days, shifting schedules, and unexpected time constraints. Each situation teaches us to be flexible. This lesson is applicable in and out of the classroom and I love being able to address moments when I not only can model flexibility, but help the class understand that they too are demonstrating flexibility as well. This group has shown that they can go with the flow and adapt, and I am so pleased to be a witness to this skill! We need flexibility as we build our literacy routines. We need flexibility when learning new word study activities. We need flexibility as we learn to share our materials. We need flexibility as we work hard to share our stories through writing. We need flexibility when we have guest teachers. Rigidity allows little room for growth, and I am so encouraged by the bravery and flexibility of these first graders! We accomplished much this week, all the while being flexible, and by the holiday weekend will have our final routine of our day in place. I hope you can join us for our woods walk on Thursday and that you all have a wonderful, if not chilly, weekend! Please enjoy some photos of our recent activities, centers, and classroom expectations!
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Hello first grade families and happy weekend! As the title of this post suggests, room 210 is quickly coming together, as is our schedule for the fall.
This week, we got some of our amazing work up on display in our room, completed our first phonics unit on reviewing our alphabet, added another independent task to our daily 5 repertoire (so far we have "read to yourself" and "read to someone" to practice), began writer's workshop with the help of our Idea Books, logged not only into our 1:1 Chromebooks but our ST Math accounts as well, and finally, spent our Friday learning about the butterfly life cycle! As our days continue to settle, it will get easier and easier to "look ahead." Be on the lookout for an October calendar that will be coming home with your student. It will not only list out your student's "specials schedule" (which can also be found on our notices page), but will list any major events coming up for Team 210! One event in particular will be a woods walk that is quickly approaching, more details to come! Please enjoy this look into Room 210 and have a wonderful week! Though our schedules have been "full" since day one, this past week was the first where we spent Monday through Friday with each other. Are your students as tired as I am?! :) Despite the general fatigue of going from "summer mode" to the "first full week of school" I am energized by this group and I hope everyone feels that energy!
We have already been accomplishing some great things in a short matter of time. We have transitioned our discussion of teamwork to a discussion of feelings which was well timed with a Guidance Lesson with Mr. B on Tuesday. We are working to take ownership of our new room and new materials. We are adding to our daily routine so that we will have a well-oiled machine of independence before you know it! We have been working together to fill out anchor charts outlining expectations at the carpet and in the classroom in general. These anchor charts will also be completed for other areas outside of our classroom as a way of unifying language and expectations in the building. Along these lines we have created our classroom "Essential Agreement" which will be posted this week. Team 210 will agree to: Self - Control your body, own your actions, and do your best! Others- Treat others kindly. Classroom - Take care of all materials and furniture. We have reviewed almost all 26 letters of the alphabet; their names, word associations and sounds. We are adding to our daily math routine and hope to start some whole-group ST Math lessons next week and practice logging in to our 1:1 Chromebooks that arrived! Finally, next week also will bring a scientific opportunity as we focus on butterfly life cycles. As you can see, there is a lot that has been happening in room 210! To celebrate the beginning of a year filled with teamwork, please enjoy our Team 210 puzzle! Have a fantastic week! Mrs. Hunton Wow! Team 210 has already had two "school" weeks together! School, is in quotations because we won't have our first full week of five days together until this coming week! I am expecting everyone will be exhausted come next Friday!
This past week, Team 210 took on some awesome projects! In addition to completing our "First Day Jitters" projects where we designed our beds with us hiding inside revealing our first day jitter, (which we all wonderfully overcame!) we continued solidifying expectations and routines, explored math materials, opened the "animals" section in our class library, and wrapped up our introductory unit on Teamwork. We talked a lot about our roles as individuals and created puzzles of "us" and then related that to the piece of ourselves that we all contribute to Team 210! We got to design and paint those pieces this week and you can look forward to pictures of our giant class puzzle next week! We also, along with our personal puzzles, wrote about what teamwork means to us. Teamwork is an excellent concept to start the year off with as we all are taking accountability for the success of our class team as we learn expectations and routines! This group has already shown how much they care about each other's success and we are only two weeks in! Until next week! Wow! I can't tell you how pleased I am with our first three days of school! It has been my pleasure getting to know your students this week and I already have a sense for how much we are going to accomplish together this year!
First grade is a big jump from kindergarten, but team 210 rocked showing me all of the expectations they remembered from last year. We had great conversations about how organization, energizers, schedule, and expectations may be different than what was in their kindergarten rooms, but they jumped right on board with me! Some highlights of this week were using finger paints to record our first grade handprints, creating our "I Rocked the First Day of First Grade!" hats, reading the text First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg, successfully completing our first fire drill, enjoying picnic snacks together at the rug, using our Promethean board to go over whole-body listening expectations, and last but not least...completing the activities "The Human Knot" and "Hula-Hoop Challenge" to continue our conversations about teamwork! Phew! We got through a lot! I hope you all have a fabulous three-day weekend and I can't wait to see everyone again on Tuesday! All My Best, Mrs. Hunton |
AuthorMusings of a Grade 1 teacher. Outlet for exciting "goings-on" in the classroom. Archives
May 2018
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