Learning and Growing as Readers

The first graders braved the heat this past week and continued to keep up their great behavior. The Super Improvers Wall and Scoreboard are in full swing, and the positive attitude is contagious!

 In social studies the children are learning about having respect for the rules by which we live, including the Golden Rule. They are recognizing the need for rules in our home, school, and community. In addition, they are identifying authority figures and the need for fairness in rules. The first graders are also beginning to construct simple maps, understand map symbols, and identify places on a map by using a map key.

The children are really enjoying math this year with the strong foundation they have been given in kindergarten. They successfully completed their first math assessment and are ready to take on more challenging concepts. This past week the first graders worked on ordering sets from smallest to largest, identifying most and fewest, ordering numbers from least to greatest, matching a number to a set, collecting and sorting data, using data to construct a bar-type graph, using logical reasoning to solve a problem, and identifying first, second, and third.

In reading, the children and I are having so much fun learning strategies that readers use to become more accurate readers. The specific strategies they learned and applied were:  focusing on both the beginning and ending sounds when decoding a word, skipping a word in the text and coming back to it when they have reached the end of the sentence, and cross checking the text to make certain the pictures and words look right, sound right, and make sense. Basically, I am teaching the first graders to self-monitor their reading by stopping when it doesn't make sense. There is such joy in teaching these great strategies to children who are excited about reading!

This past week marks the end of our first read aloud novel Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins. Our class really loved this very first grade friendly novel. I encourage you to continue the series at home with your child by reading aloud Toy Dance Party and Toys Come Home written by the same author.

Have a wonderful week!