Making Goals for Reading

 Today students learned how important having goals are especially in Reading. They sorted their books from easy to hard and then set a goal as to how many books they thought they could read in Reader's Workshop. Students wrote the goal on one Post-it and after it was read, they recorded it by tallying it on post it. They were very serious about reaching their goals and are aiming to make tomorrow's goal even higher. They are reading more and more, setting goals, and keeping track of their progress. What a great idea from Teacher's College.

What Do Scientists Do?

As a beginning Science lesson, students brainstormed things they think scientists do. They wrote their ideas on sticky notes and shared them with the class. They come up with:  make potions, look closely at bugs, compare, count, try and try again, see what makes sense, experience and of course, have fun. Then we went on line and found out that scientists research space, the oceans, and the world around us. Below are samples of their personal Science Journals:

I-Ready Testing - Diagnostic Time

Today our class completed i-Ready diagnostic testing. This testing gives us a baseline as to the child's entry level in First Grade and focuses on Reading and Math. The students will continue to work on lessons in these subject areas independently at home and in school and are monitored weekly on their progress.  There will be a mid-year and end of year formal diagnostic to assess gains in these subject areas.

Pirate Art - Working Independently

We love First Grade. The students can use scissors, glue sticks and follow a pattern that has been modeled for them independently. Today we finished up our pirate people and the children were focused and used their create juices to create their pirate.

Class Promise - Our Pirate Oath

Our Pirate Oath has been brainstormed and discussed by the class and all hands approve. We will raise our hands to speak be a first-time listener, and be respectful and kind to others. That covers most of what we all agreed upon. Establishing rules are an essential part of creating a learning community where everyone feels safe, valued and a part of the team.

Our First Day in First Grade

F.irst Grade is always a pleasure being able to loop our Kindergarten class. After a little dusting off, we will be able to pick up where we left off. We welcome a few new additions to our class and we are looking forward to learning and growing together. Our first grade was WOWed  by a pirate game show assembly featuring the pirate interacting with the children. Today we all got on board and made pirate hats and treasure maps. We are off to a wonderful adventure in First Grade!!

Rockin' Out with Rocks - Book of the Month

Our Book of the Month for May is "A Rock is Lively" by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long. This book gives a history of rocks in language that our kindergarten students can understand. After reading it, students were very excited about the rocks they have collected and wanted to bring them into class. As a class, we tried to classify them as well as we could using the book and internet until we came upon an agreement as to the name of the rock. We also talked about animals that use rocks as tools (otters and chimps) and birthstones which represent the month we are born. This is a great end of the year book which keeps students engaged and leaves them wanting to know more about the world around them.

Mother's Day Memories

We celebrated Mother's Day with songs, a slide show, and breakfast. It was a fantastic time for all, especially the children. They were extremely excited to have their moms come to school and perform for them. This is a tradition we have started many years ago and it so worth all of the work and effort it takes to create such wonderful memories.

UNF Field Trip - Nature Trail

We went on our last field trip for the year to the University of North Florida Nature Trail. This preserve is over 500 acres and protects the natural flora and fauna of the area. We were able to spot a snake, turtles, and fish. We walked about 2 miles of the trail which included a hike through a swamp with plenty of cedar trees and a lot cooler temperature. Our guide was very knowledgeable and made the trip very interesting for the children using the book "A Home for Ozzie" to help track landmarks.

Persuasive Writing - A look around our world

It is amazing to think that 5 and 6 year old children can see problems in their world and think of possible solutions. Valentina wrote about littering:

    This is how to make the world a better place.

People have been littering and that's not good. 

I think we should get some friends and bring some

little trash cans and get the trash.

Students have also written about problems they see in their classroom and school:  backpacks on the floor, loud hallways, cafeteria lines, and not enough playground swings. The important thing about finding the problems is focusing on a solution. Students have also been writing notes to parents trying to persuade them to get a cat, pool or fish.  By writing letters, they are realizing the power of the printed word and realizing that they can make a difference at home, school and the world around them.

R-Controlled Word Game

A favorite part of Skills Block is when students get to practice the lesson with each other. First, we we sorted r-controlled words (ar, or, er, ir, ur) as a group. Then each set of partners were given a cube, tiles and a r-controlled sheet to play the game. The cube has the "r" letter combinations on each side.   Then they tossed the cube, found a word with those letters, said the word, and placed the tile on the word. It was a great way to reinforce these sounds and have fun at the same time!

Lots of fun in P.E.

Every once in a while we get to have an extra P.E. class for our Kindergarten students in the morning. Coach Bailey plans activities that are a little out of the norm. They went to the big playground where the older kids play. They played with basketballs,soccer balls and playground equipment that they hardly ever get to go on.  From the looks of things, the children had a great time.

Poem Surprises

Every now and then students surprise us. It may be in Math, where the light comes on and they can add and subtract numbers in their heads. Or it may be in Writing, where students start to understand how to use capital letters and punctuation. Well, today we were surprised when one of our students told us that she knows the poem "The Swing" by Robert Louis Stevenson without looking at the paper...so in fact, she had memorized it.  We have been reading it everyday as a reading fluency activity as we have several other poems and songs. The poems and songs are put into their Poem Books and they can read them during Reader's Workshop along with their other books. We were pleasantly surprised when "L" recited the poem to the class and then again for this blog. Since then, three more children have memorized and recited the poem. According to Bestonlinecolleges.com, memorization can train your brain to remember, is essential to learning new concepts, and teaches rhythmic patterns (as with nursery rhymes). Yes, we were surprised but we are more happy for our students to gain all of these extra benefits from poetry.

The Swing - A New Bend in our Reader's Workshop

In this unit, "Falling in Love with Poetry," (Lucy Calkins)  students will be learning about the beauty of poetry. They will see that reading poetry is like reading songs. Avid poetry readers get the rhythm and feeling just right. Today we practiced "The Swing" by Robert Louis Stevenson. Learning how to say words louder, softer, lower and faster will help to promote rhythm and fluency in their reading.

After hearing and reading the poem "The Swing" students drew how the poem made them feel. It was a wonderful introduction to the world of poetry.

Circus Day - School Spirit

 Students dressed in circus attire today to show support for our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. They will be taken the FSA (Florida Standards Assessments) upon their return from Spring Break. It's a great way to release a little of the anxiety that the students and teachers feel during this time.

Planting Corn in our School Garden

 We are very fortunate to have a school garden. It's located behind the school in a nice patch of land that gets just the right amount of sunlight and shade for eggplant, peas, lettuce, potatoes, and corn. Students were give a few kernels of Silver Queen Corn and told to plant it an inch beneath the soil. As you can see, they were very precise in their measurement.  We will check on it in a few weeks and monitor the growth of our plants.

This is the Chets Creek garden where Spring planting has already begun.

A Visit from the Dental Hygienist

 Students were treated to a special visitor (K's Mimi- Caroline) who happens to be a dental hygienist. She came prepared to teach about the importance of dental health. Students were told that an apple after eating is beneficial in removing plaque build up and keeping teeth healthy.

K was her patient and enjoyed watching her Mimi teach the lesson. Thanks so much for presenting the class with this lifelong skill.

Reading Playdates - An Avid Reader Activity

 Children were invited to have a reading playdate today.  They were told that avid readers have conversations about the books they read, tell why they liked the books and recommend books to their friends. Today they were invited to have a "Reading Playdate" with their friend. We talked about how we can make our reading playdate fun and exciting, just like a regular play date.  Students acted out their books, read aloud, guessed feelings, and even played school with their books.

 These two avid readers are playing school with their books.

Going on a hunt together and finding snap words are what these two  decided to do on their playdate.

"Guess what comes next" is a fun activity to play with a book.  The reading playdate went very well and they can't wait till next week when they they will meet again with new activities to try.

Day and Night Sky - What do you notice?

 We were very fortunate to have Mrs. Ruark teach a Science lesson to our class on Wednesday.  She started the lesson by having students observe two different water bottles made to represent the day and night sky. One was light blue with white pom poms for clouds and the other was dark (Karo) and glitter to represent the night sky.

The day sky and the night sky representations.

 Students were given pictures to sort in a Day and Night Venn Diagram.

Many observations were noted and made clearer by Mrs. Ruark's superb science lesson!

Students were very proud of their work and can answer the essential question, "How are the day sky and the night sky different?"

How Do Animals Move?

In Science, Kindergarten students are learning about how things move with the focus on animals. One of the first lessons was having children act out (charade style) what animal they are imitating. Next, they watched video clips of how animals move in their environment.  Working collaboratively in their groups, students sorted animal pictures. Some focused on fast/slow, while other focused on the way animals move - slither, crawl, fly or swim.

Students are presenting to the class.