Groups of 10 using Manipulatives

We enjoyed grouping everything we could find into groups of ten.  It was very interesting how different everyone decided to do this.  Some of us stacked our manipulatives, while others made a unique shape out of ten, while others made rows.  Take a look!

And some of us decided to use the manipulatives for other things....

Read to Self

We have been building our reading stamina during Read to Self.  We started the year at two minutes and can now read for nine minutes at a time!

First Week of First Grade

The first three days of first grade were tons of fun!  We started the first day reading Jitter Juice by Julie Danneberg. Sarah Hartwell doesn't want to go to school the first day due to being nervous. We find out at the end that Sarah Hartwell was not a student.  She was the teacher! Afterwards we made our own "Jitter Juice" from Hawaiian punch and Sprite. Most of us enjoyed it. The jitter juice sure helped take away our jitters. We ended with reading a poem about the jitters.

On day two the students were given a tube of toothpaste and told to squirt it out onto a plate.  They were then given toothpicks to help them return the toothpaste to the tube. The lesson learned was that once words are spoken, they can never be taken back! We are focusing on treating each other with respect and kindness.

The students were introduced to "good fit" books through an analogy with "good fit" shoes.  I brought in several shoes that might and might not be good to wear at school.  I even brought slippers, pool shoes, and my husband's flip flops. A discussion followed me modeling the shoes one by one.  Was it a "good fit" shoe for school? We paralleled this to "good fit" books.  What is a "good fit" book for one person might not be for another. A book is chosen based on why we want to read it, the purpose. We also need to consider interest level, as well as our ability to comprehend and read the words.

These are not "good fit" books.

These shoes fit like "good fit" books!

We are now ready to read from our class library and practice choosing "good fit" books.