Edible math

Leading the class by writing under the hover cam for everyone to see. 

I have been a little behind on our blog posts. I apologize. Now that the Chicken BBQ excitement has died down things in our class should be getting back to normal. Last week we were finishing up our subtraction unit and used snack time to demonstrate our understanding. We would set out a number of snacks and then eat some of them. Then we had to write the subtraction sentence that matched what we did. That made snack time into math time. You might try that at home and see what your 1st grader can show you. 

Finding the answer before clearing the work mat by eating the snack all up!

We like to share

We spend time after lunch writing about small moments from our lives. Everyone is writing their stories in 3-page books that have an illustration for each page. Ask your 1st grader what they do when they are "done" with their stories. Our writing motto is "when you think you are done, you have only begun". The correct answer should be that we add more details to our pictures, add more writing to each page, and use our writer's eye to watch for capital letters and punctuation. Our "reward" for using our writing time productively is having something to share at the end of writing. A great way to learn how to add more details to a story is to learn from other 1st graders. You can tell by our photos that sharing is a time of collaboration and engagement.

Dot - 3D style

International Dot Day encourages courage, creativity, and collaboration. We discussed how we could do that as 1st graders and as a class. We spent some time this morning creating 3-D dot art together. Then we enjoyed working with partners to see it "come to life" using the Quiver app on I-pads. It was so much fun to "play" with our dot art. The Quiver app is free at the Apple App Store or at the Google store if you want to try it at home. I will send a blank dot art page In the Friday folders so everyone can create another 3-D dot masterpiece. 

Getting ready for International Dot Day

Tomorrow we will be celebrating International Dot Day in Room 14. It is a celebration of courage, creativity, and collaboration. We have read The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds and have talked about what it means to "leave your mark" on the world, be it big or small. If you would like to read it tonight and see what we mean here is a link for the book online. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS5YU66s5tc

If your child has polka dot clothing or socks, this is the day to wear it. I am going to make my shirt with a white t-shirt and some Sharpie markers. That is an easy idea too.

Stay tuned tomorrow for photos of our dot celebration.

Math at home

If you're wondering what to do at home some evening, pull out a deck of cards and let your 1st grader teach you Compare, Double Compare, or Pick up Ten. Just remove the Jacks, Queens, and Kings. One big math goal is to have 1st graders be very comfortable with different combinations of 10. Instead of drilling math facts or doing problems on paper, play a game with your child. Games lead to strategy, conversation, and social skills. Take a look at them playing Pick up Ten together.

Here are the rules we wrote down in class.

Stamina reading

During reading time we have been building our stamina. We know that stamina means getting stronger and better. With reading, stamina means getting stronger at reading and reading for a longer time without quitting. The first thing we do is pick our spaces and stay there with our book boxes. Then we read the books in our book boxes. If we get done before our stamina reading time ends, w read our books again. We can read our books in 3 ways - read the words, looking at the pictures, or reselling a story we already know. Each day we have gotten longer with our stamina reading. Take a peek at what it looks like when we are reading to ourselves during stamina reading time.

We have a cow!

Yes, you read that correctly. Room 14 has adopted a very cute calf and we got to name her. She is being raised on a dairy farm in Oak Ridge, Missouri.  We chose the name, Luna, which means moon in Spanish. She is black with white hooves so that name seemed appropriate. We will get information and photo updates each month so that we can learn all about her as a dairy cow. The students were a little disappointed when they found out that the calf has to stay on her dairy farm and not come to school. I look forward to using Luna and what we learn about her in math, science, reading, and writing. 

working in Room 14

We are exploring different areas to work in Room 14. We review each morning how we use the supplies, including beanbags and wobble pads. Sometimes the students want to stand and work. You will notice in the photo that the students are standing on the wobble pads. That was something new they learned they could do today.Others like to work by themselves in a bean bag. And others like to be on the floor. Chairs are not necessary, and truthfully, aren't missed here. It's amazing to see after only 2 days where kids choose to work. And they really are working, quietly, and staying in one place. I did a lot of research about flexible seating and have wanted to try it out for about a year. People are stopping by to see how it works and I have been proud to show our room of learners using the different areas appropriately. We will add a couple more choices in the next week. What would be your choice? 

First day jitters-no way!

We had a fabulous first day in Room 14. We are learning to work together, such as lining up so that we can go to recess, lunch, or specials. These kids looked like they had been doing together this for more than just 1 day.

Working this well so that we can do more things make me think of that famous quote from a 1st grade favorite, Dr. Seuss, "You're off to great places. Today is you day! Your mountain is waiting. So...get on your way! 

We are on our way! I can't wait to see where this year takes us. Welcome to 1st grade adventures. 

Hello First Grade Families,

I can't believe summer is coming to an end and  the 2016-2017 school year ready to begin. I am so pleased to have you as part of our Room 14 school family. room 14. I am excited to work together and create an exciting learning community with your child for the next 9 months.

This is our class blog site. I will use this to post information that often gets lost at home, as well as news that is happening in our classroom.  There are different tabs with helpful information, learning links, pictures and more! I hope this will help keep you up to date on your child's learning! If you ever have any questions about room 14, this blog site will be a great place to start to get your questions answered.

I am in the process of updating the site with all to the 2016-2017 school year information. Please check back soon to check out all of the new happenings!

Money, money, money

This blog was written by 2nd grade blog reporter, Ellis G. and photo was taken by Ellis G.

We have a jar in our class with money. We filled it up. There are $1361.30 in the 1^st jar. Yesterday the class who had the most money was Mrs. Lee with $247.60. Mrs. Tutt’s class has $379.40. That is the highest class.  Today the RBE total is $2675.30. We love counting money. 

Cole's Lemonade Stand

This post was written by 2nd grade blog reporter, Ellis G. and photo provided by Mrs. Norden

Cole made a lemonade stand with his brother, his sister, and friends. Cole said it was a long time to set it up. Cloe’s friend Rian brought Gatorade. Ten people came and bought lemonade. Cole raised $20.25. He stayed out and sold lemonade for 1 hour. And he sold all of the lemonade.

Here's what we started this week...

In Room 1 we are making money for St. Jude’s children hospital. The children at St. Jude’s have cancer. The money is for the kids with cancer so they can stay alive. We are donating money to fill the money jar in Room 1. Our class goal is to make $200.  Our school goal is to make $1000.  We are excited to raise money for St. Jude’s Cancer Research Hospital!

This article was written by 2nd grade blog reporter Sullivan F. and photo provided by Mrs. Putnam. 

Counting donations

This blog post was written by 2nd grade blog reporter, Julie'ona W. 

Today we counting money from Mrs. Ross’s class. Her class donation was $69.88.  Her class goal is $100. Nice job for raising that much money for St. Jude’s Hospital. There were a lot of pennies to count.  It is fun counting the money because it helps us get better at adding money up.

Presenters

This blog post  was written by Ellis G. and the photo was taken by him too. 

At 8:00 am Myles, Youssef, Luka, and I went to Ms. Mottaz’s class. My team did a presentation about raising money for St. Jude’s Hospital. There were three kids sharing their presentation. Ms. Mottaz’s class already has 23 dollar bills! Their class had a good talk about how to raise money. 

Indoor recess

In 2nd grade we had indoor recess because it was too snowy on the blacktop to go outside. At our 1st recess we played with blocks, games, such as checkers, Sorry, and Uno, and drew pictures. 4 girls built a town with a castle and a village. 

At lunch recess we did indoor recess on GoNoodle.com. It is fun because we have a chance to move around with music and fun videos. The videos help us know the fun movements we can do. One of our class favorites is the Wishy, Washy, Washer Woman on Moose Tube. Another one is PopSiKo 2.0 by Koo Koo Kanga Roo. Check it out!

Blanket Fort Friday

We work each day to be a respectful, safe learning community in our room and around our school. When we do a really good job other adults notice and give our class a compliment. We keep track our our compliments by building Mr. Potato Head. When he is all assembled we know we have received 20 class compliments. Then it is time to celebrate together as a community. We vote as a class to decide what the celebration will be. Today is Blanket Fort Friday. Everybody could bring a blanket and/or pillow to build a huge fort to read in.

First the building had to happen. Then everyone settle in with books and flashlights. What an adventurous day of reading in Room 1.