Hi Families!
I hope you've had a wonderful weekend and that you were able to enjoy the gorgeous weather! I spent every second of it soaking up family time and getting excited for fall! I wanted to give you a few updates on what's been happening in our classroom and also send over a link to our blog! I will be posting pictures there to give you a glimpse into our learning space! I'm excited to do this moving forward so you can feel as connected to our classroom as possible!
In reading, we are working on establishing great reading habits! Students have begun choosing their own just right books, and being accountable for tricky words, instead of just skipping over them. We've started using our "Starbooks" Drive through! In their coffee cup students have a job from me for them to work on during their independent reading time. This job follows along with the focus lesson of that day and requires them to show that they have completed the job! As we work on our independence during reading time, myself and Mrs. Larkin will begin pulling small groups for small group reading instruction- as well as independent conferences with each reader!
In math, we are working on composing and decomposing numbers, up to ten! We will do so much deep thinking about how numbers work and the rules that they have. Students are learning how to use ten frames, number bonds, drawing strategies, and counting on strategies. We are also using manipulatives to help us see our math thinking. We are using iReady Math which has an amazing aspect of talking about math. We are becoming comfortable agreeing and disagreeing with our friends' math thinking while being respectful and just exploring the different ways numbers work, socially!
In writing, we have been creating Mo Willems inspired books! It's so important to foster happy writers at this time of the school year, so we are watching them be so creative and excited about their books! You will be seeing these books on Seesaw very soon! As we leave our Mo Willems inspiration unit, students will create books of their own! We continue to work on handwriting each day to become more confident and fluent in our writing for these writing times! We will begin the Lucy Calkins phonics program soon- right now, we have been reviewing the kindergarten sight words!
In inquiry, we will be exploring cycles, starting with pumpkin cycles and then cycling out into different cycle explorations to find connections!
SEL- Our Social Emotional Learning is intertwined throughout our daily learning in the classroom but we are so fortunate to have amazing teachers pushing into our classroom! Here is a message from one of the school councelors who teaches in our classroom every other week!
Dear First Grade Families,
Hello! My name is Jessie Caldwell and I’m one of the School Counselors here at SMS. In case you haven’t heard, I will be working in your child’s classroom for social emotional learning throughout this year. These lessons called Second Step align well with all the social emotional learning that is already happening in your child’s classroom. This year, we will be discussing a variety of topics from skills to learning (listening, focusing attention, following directions, self-talk for staying on task and being assertive) AND problem solving. We will practice fair ways to play, joining in group activities, inviting others to play and handling peer disagreements. Another important unit will be focusing on emotions, identifying feelings, managing worry, calming down anger and dealing with disappointment.
These discussions and guided practice opportunities will help foster your child’s emotional growth. I’m super excited to be part of this learning process. If you ever have any questions or concerns please feel free to reach me at jcaldwell@sau16.org. Also please take a moment to check out the SMS Counseling Corner.
Take care,
Jessie Caldwell
I'm so excited to share our classroom with you this week! Students will be uploading "tours" to Seesaw so you can see the amazing space they are working so hard in each day. If you are having any trouble getting onto Seesaw, please reach out to me! I am working with Steve Gagnon (our Makerspace teacher and Tech wiz) to connect some families who were having trouble and I'm happy to help in any way I can!
Have a great week!
Best,
Miss Donlon
