Penguins

In literacy this week, we have been talking about penguins. We read many fiction and non-fiction texts about penguins. The kids really got into this! We started out discussing what we already knew about penguins. We used this cute penguin chart to organize our thoughts.

Throughout the week we filled in what we learned about penguins and our misconceptions.

We spent a lot of time discussing I wonder questions. Throughout the week we answered three I wonder questions:

1. How do penguins stay warm?

2. What do penguins eat and how do they get their food?

3. What are their families like?

{Sorry I don't have a picture of our completed chart.}

They did a great job finding this information and writing about it.

"Penguins eat squid. Penguins swim in the water to get their prey."

"Penguins eat fish."

"Penguins like to eat fish. Baby penguins get food from momma's mouth."

"Penguins eat fish. They swim to get their food."

We had a great time reading non-fiction texts and discussing all types of penguins and the way they live!! We even watched some cool videos on penguins!

We spent a lot of time counting in math this week. We practiced counting objects to 20 in many different ways. We also spent some time on word problems. Here is an example:

The students had to show me how to work the problem using their math journal. I then chose two people to teach the class how they got their answer. I also let the students act out the problem. I gave students different pieces of paper with numbers and math symbols and they had to put themselves in the correct order to show how to work the math word problem.

I found these cute signs to help students learn their punctuation marks. They loved it and wanted to read it over and over again!

And lastly, I added a couple of new good behavior motivators in our classroom.

Bookworms for good readers!

Bravo Chart for healthy table competition!

I hope you have a great weekend!!

All About Writing

One of the greatest things about being a teacher, actually probably the BEST thing about being a teacher is to see how much your students have learned! As a first year teacher, I often worry whether or not I am teaching my students the things they need to know before going into first grade. One of my favorite parts about this year is seeing the improvement they have made in their writing skills! These kids are writing sentences!! It blows my mind! I am so proud of each and every one of them!

We are going to be writing about winter for the next few weeks. Here are some examples of our writings about winter:

"I like playing with my toys. My favorite toy is my dog."

"I have snowball fights with my daddy. I play in the snow with my dad."

"I watch TV with my family. I cuddle up with my blanket and drink hot chocolate."

Today we read Where the Wild Things Are

After reading the book, the students had to be creative and write about where they would go, who they would go with, and what they would do. Here are some examples of their journal writings:

"I am going to see if Humpty Dumpty is still on the wall." I thought that was a cute and creative idea!

"I would go to the beach with daddy and mom."

"I would go to the ice cream place. I would go with my mom."

"I am going on a field trip with Bo. We are going to Bumble Bee."

"I would go to the North Pole. I would go with my mom. I would open my presents."

"I would go ice skating with mom, Emma, and dad."

I am so so proud of my students!! Thank you parents for all of the work you do at home!

This Weeks Update

We had a great week!! It was good to see all of the kiddos after our long break! Here is an update from last week:

We read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

We talked about what questions we had before, during, and after reading the book {thank you Pinterest for this idea!} This was great because the students were able to answer each others questions.

We discussed who, what, where and when questions

And then created a venn diagram to compare ourselves to the little boy in the book

We also read Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems. This is such an adorable book! The kids LOVED it!

We then created an anchor chart to retell the story {this is something great you can do at home when reading with your kids!}

I also introduced nouns and verbs this week. We used these cute boy and girl charts to help us! {Again, thank you Pinterest!} We read The Jacket I Wear in the Snow and then wrote all of the nouns from the book on our Nick Noun chart.

Here are our centers from last week and for the next week:

Students use the lights to count syllables and then they place that number of cubes or cotton balls to show how many syllables the word has:

At this center, the students are to sort the fish cards by beginning and ending sounds: -ch, -sh, or -th.

They do the same in this center:

They loved our Write the Room center this week! They have to complete a scavenger hunt and find cards that look like the one below. They are to count the number of snowflakes and then write the number word on the correct blank.

At this center, the students have to pick a card write the correct color word and then draw the picture.

And our last center is our read aloud center. The students had to match the color word with the correct snowman.

I worked this weekend to get my reading groups and my guided reading table organized! I am now ready to start our reading groups this week! Your children will be bringing books home this week. Be sure to read the books with them {rather let them read the books to you.} You can discuss what happened in the book, what their favorite part was, practice retelling the story, and you can have them draw a picture of their favorite part. These are just suggestions, not things your have to do!

Center ideas are from the following websites:

http://www.pre-kpages.com/blog/

http://candokinders.blogspot.com/

http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/