Writing as a First Grader

Over the course of this school year, we have been encouraging writing through the use of free write journals and small mini lessons in our classroom.  Our writing this year has focused around the philosophy of 6 + 1 Traits for Writing.  Through a lot of discussion and modeling, we have elaborated on the traits that you would find in pieces of good writing.  We have slowly covered one trait of writing at a time, so students can use the information received and then practice this trait with their story writing.

The following trait areas we are focusing on with our first graders are listed below:

Ideas (the meaning and development of the message)
Organization (the structure of the piece)
Voice (the tone of the piece-the personal stamp the writer leaves)
Word Choice (the vocabulary a writer chooses to use to make the piece interesting)
Sentence Fluency (how words and phrases flow together)
Conventions (the correct usage of grammar)
Presentation (the overall appearance of the work)

Next week we will be publishing a piece of penguin writing!  We will let you know when these pieces are posted on the blog!

Balls & Ramps

For about the past month, our first grade scientists have been exploring how different balls move when they are rolled, bounced, and thrown. They have had opportunities to put their new understanding of balls to the test while creating their own balls. This past week, we challenged students to create their own ramps and pathways to further explore the movement of balls. 

Here is a fun and easy activity you can do at home to help support your child's learning in the classroom!

Go on a tour of your neighborhood and try to find different ramps in the area. Ask your child how these ramps help different people. If you are able to capture a photo of any ramps, we would love to share these during science! Happy hunting!

Day 100

Well, we are officially 100 days smarter in first grade!  We had a blast celebrating this day with everything the 100 way yesterday!  We made sure we were fashionably dressed on this day, constructing headbands, badges, and glasses to wear.  Putting our counting skills to the test, we worked in small groups to count to 100 by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's.  We then challenged ourselves to have some fun with movement activities to 100 and putting together a necklace of 100 Froot Loops.  We also enjoyed a 100 snack and received our certificates of achievement for our hard work in first grade so far to date!