Welcome students, families and friends and thanks for stopping in to see what is happening in Room 119! This site is a window into our learning. We hope you will enjoy the stories, pictures and videos. Please also check out the links below our theme song for additional information and fun. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter! We love hearing from you so feel free to leave a comment!
Greetings from Room 119. We had a full week of learning, went on a leaf hunt, participated in the Fun Run and had a great time at our Halloween Party! Thank you to all of our wonderful families who participated in person and behind the scenes. Because there were so many other events, Mrs. D. put together some videos at the bottom of this blog. Facebook followers already got a sneak peek at the videos this week. Don't forget to 'like' Mrs. Doran's page to get info hot of the presses!
Mrs. Doran had been going crazy waiting for our book boxes to come in. She had us keeping our books in Zip Lock bags and they felt like a mess. Thankfully the boxes FINALLY came in and we now have all our books kept neatly in our very own (decorated) box. The box will go home with us at the end of the year. Don't forget to keep all of our paper books home for extra practice throughout the year.
We are still working on Text to Text connections in our Reader's Workshop. We do this by completing a Venn Diagram. This also helps us organize our thoughts as we compare text. When we read, it is really important that we think about what we read and connect it to our lives or to other text in order to create a deeper meaning for us as readers.
Our Reading Stamina during workshop is really improving and Mrs. D. is able to meet with multiple groups a day. Our small class size is really helping us get regular instruction where we need it. We really are doing a wonderful job and have gotten compliments from other staff at our school!
We continue to work on our handwriting each week. Mrs. Doran makes us practice writing the letters correctly. Some of us have been writing letters the wrong way for a long time which makes this difficult to correct. If you watch us write please remind us to start our letters "top to bottom". Mrs. D tells us this a lot and says she may show up in our dreams (or nightmares) saying "top to bottom... top to bottom..." You may think that handwriting isn't important, but it really is. We can write more legibly and it will help prepare us for cursive in the upper grades.
In the next two weeks Mrs. D. will be assessing us again for our first marking period grades. She has kept us working a bit on money, time and addition and subtraction. This week we talked about different math strategies we can use for addition and subtraction problems. We have found that some of us prefer one strategy while others prefer another. The goal is that we get the right answer and get it quickly. The more we work with addition and subtraction problems the quicker they will come.
Because we work well independently and in small groups, Mrs. D. has also been able to pull small groups during math workshop to help reteach those of us who need extra support and challenge those of us who are ready for it.
Happy 6th Birthday Brandon!
During our classroom meetings we have been working on learning coping skills and this week we focused on how to be the best learners we can. We learned that good learners make sure they are doing four things: Ears Listening, Eyes Watching, Voice Quiet and Body Still. We had some extra help from our friend the snail to help us learn these behaviors.
We had some unseasonably nice weather and so Mrs. D. took the opportunity to take us on a leaf hunt. Before we left, we read a book and learned a lot about leaves. Ask us why leaves are so important (they make food for the tree/plant). We all went out and found three leaves and then did rubs of those leaves and will do a writing activity about them next week.
Friday afternoon we had our Halloween Party but we still had a Mystery Reader. Brandon's mom was able to come in just prior to the party and read to us. We were a great audience and loved her book. She then stayed and helped us all get into our costumes. Don't forget to check out all the videos below for Extra Pictures from Week 8, The Fun Run & The Halloween Parade and Party.
Progress reports will be coming home in your child's Everyday Folder on Tuesday. I have listed strengths and goals for every child. Should you have questions, please let me know.
Hopefully you've been busy getting those Fun Run pledges. The Fun Run is this Friday. Our class will be running at 11:30. Please make sure your first grader has running shoes and is dressed for the weather.
A note is coming home regarding our Halloween Party. It is this Friday afternoon (PLEASE NOTE IT IS NOT ON HALLOWEEN). Our room moms have been busy getting things ready but would love your help. The Halloween Parade will begin at 2:30 with the Halloween Party following the parade. Please do NOT send your child in his or her costume. Please send the costume in a separate bag for them to change into later. Please also do not send in make up or weapons that may accessorize your child's costume as they are not allowed.
Finally, Mrs. R who read to our class last week let me know that Commerce Public Library is having a Used Book Sale this Thursday through Sunday. They will have both children and adult books there if you are interested.
Greetings from another fabulous week in Room 119! If you are wondering why there are so many of us in the picture above, it is because we were again short substitute teachers on Friday so another first grade class had to be split and we had 7 extra students. We were really flexible with having to change things from our usual routine. Mrs. D. was really proud of us.
In math, we continue to work on telling time. Though we are only expected to be able to tell time to the hour, some of us are ready to challenge ourselves by telling time to the half hour and even the quarter hours and more. Mrs. D. explained that she was going to let us choose a paper that was "just right" for us. The green was exactly where we are supposed to be (telling time to the hour) and then the sheets got progressively harder. This gave Mrs. Doran a lot of information both on how we are able to tell time, how we see ourselves as learners and what steps she will take next with us in our instruction. We also worked with money and will continue that next week.
We had a special visitor this week from our local public library. Mrs. R. is a volunteer at the library who is a story teller and likes to read books. She came and told us a funny story (ask us about it) and then read us a Halloween story. She will be coming in our class about once a month to tell us stories and read to us. She did a great job and so did we. Mrs. S's class joined us so she had a big audience but we were all very attentive!
Some of you are aware that this week we started Show and Tell. Show and Tell is fun but Mrs. D also has us working. When we share something, we are working on our oral language. Each day a new person will get the show and tell bag to bring something to share with our class. After someone shares, we all write about the Show and Tell. We have to be good listeners so that we can write more details in our writing. Show and Tell books are sent home at the end of the week.
Speaking of writing, in Writer's Workshop we continued to work on including WHERE our story happened. Just because we are now becoming aware of including 'where' a story takes place does not mean we forget to write "when" the story happened. When we are finished with our writing, we make sure to circle when and where our stories took place. More and more of us are picking up on this every day. It also teaches us the importance of going back and rereading our writing and to make changes if necessary.
Mrs. Doran was very disappointed when the book boxes that she wanted to purchase were finally in stock but sold out by the next evening... They say they should be getting more shipments in soon. We have been using ziplock bags as book boxes. This isn't ideal, but it is working. We are still able to book shop for "just right" books to read while Mrs. Doran meets with reading groups. This week we talked more about connections and text to text connections. Ask us what text to text connections are and the two stories we compared (Red Riding Hood and Lon Po-Po).
We were very excited when Ms. B. (our school social worker) came in to work with us. We are lucky to have such a wonderful person share her knowledge with all of the classes at our school. Just like we are focusing on coping skills in our classroom meetings, Ms. B. helps us with social skills and PBS. Ask us about the fun activity we did with Ms. B.
And finally, we ended the week with a special Mystery Reader. Sophia's mom came in to read to us. She read us a GREAT book about awesome words (a book Mrs. D. is going to have to get for her collection because she liked it so much). We were a great audience as always and loved meeting Sophia's mom. We all commented on how much they look alike!
As always, this is just a snapshot into our week. To see even more, don't forget to click on the video below.
A Smencil is a smelly pencil! You can buy Smencils in the store for $2.50, but our fifth grade classes will be selling them for only $1.75.
Your child can buy their own Smencil October 18th and 19th (tomorrow and Friday), in the morning. Please send money in your child's Everyday Folder if you are interested.
If you have questions, let me know.
Have a great day and don't forget to order Marco's Pizza tomorrow night and let them know you're in Mrs. Doran's class!
Coming home in your child's Everyday Folder on Tuesday, is information about our upcoming field trip to the Outdoor Center. If you would like to be a chaperone, there is information about that as well. Unfortunately, we will only need one chaperone per class. Please make sure you read the information coming home and send back the permission slip and money at your earliest convenience.
Also coming home on Tuesday is information about our school's Spirit Wear sale. If you would like to help support out school, please consider purchasing something. These shirts can also be worn on popcorn days to earn a free prize from our PTA.
This Thursday is PIZZA DAY! Support our school by eating Pizza with your family. Make sure you let them know that you are in Mrs. Doran's class. I know 21 first graders that would be thrilled to earn a pizza party!
And fnally, If you haven't yet turned in your party donation money, please do so. Just put your money marked in an envelope marked "Party Money" and I will make sure it gets to Josh's mom.
Greetings from Room 119 and another great week! As a group we continue to do great, so much so that a second grade class came into our classroom so we could tell them what we do and how we make the choices we do. We're cheering them on in the hopes that they will soon be making better choices. They have a Potato Head like our's and when they fill it we're going to celebrate (we're checking in on them regularly now).
We also had a visit on Friday from our PTA president. She came in to tell us all about the Fun Run. We brought home a note about the Fun Run on Friday and Ms. Qonja also sent out an informative email about the event. This is our school's main fundraiser and we learned all about the amazing prizes that the top fundraisers can get. The top earner in our class gets to have a pizza lunch with Mrs. Doran and the other first grade teachers (and their top earners). More to come on this...
On Monday, Mrs. Doran told us our country had a holiday (meaning that the post offices and other government buildings were closed). It was Columbus Day and we read a little book about him, learned a song and created a map that showed us the route he took. We were kind of confused when we learned that he claimed a new land where people were already living. We also learned that the reason Native Americans were called Indians was because Columbus thought he had landed in India. We found that very interesting.
Mrs. Doran continues to work with us a lot on handwriting to make sure that we are forming our letters correctly. Many of us need a lot of practice on this. Our letters should go from top to bottom. She asks that when we are writing you take a look at how we are forming letters and remind us. Bad habits can be hard to break and we are trying to retrain our brains to do it the right way.
In math we continued to work on time, compliments of ten and tallies. Mrs. D. taught us this cool game to help us practice numbers that add to 10. This is an easy game that we can also practice at home. She has directions on how to play (and a copy of the paper you see pictured) that you can read about HERE if you would like to make it.
We also played a great tally game that we LOVED! Mrs. D. got this game idea from a friend in Vermont (who also teaches first graders). She passed out a deck of cards with tallies on it that we have to read and then we ask who has a card with a different number of tallies and that person stands up and so on until the last card is pulled. We've like this so much that some of us played it on indoor recess!
In writing we continued to work on including 'when' in our stories and more of us were including 'when words' in our writing. Mrs. D. also has been able to meet with students during workshop (now that we have built our stamina) on specific things we need. One group worked a lot with using our sounds to spell words and another group worked on spaces. We didn't think spaces were that important, until Mrs. Doran wrote a sentence without them!
At the end of Writer's Workshop all week, we highlighted our 'when words' if we had them and shared our pieces with our friends. We love sharing our writing with others!
Mrs. D. also (finally) finished testing everyone and began reading groups. She wasn't able to start every group but met with four. When she meets with groups, we are practicing reading and building our stamina. This week in workshop we worked on making connections in our books. We talked about making GOOD connections and we've really been doing well with that. Mrs. D. ALWAYS asks us what connections we make when we read so this is a great thing to practice when we read our paper books to you as well.
And finally we ended our week with a special Mystery Reader. Skyler's mom came in and read us a wonderful book! We were able to make a lot of connections to it and Mrs. Doran had a text to text connection (which we will work on next week), because the book Skyler's mom read reminded her of the Bucket Book. She did a great job and we were an awesome audience!
As always, Mrs. D took LOTS of extra pictures, so take a peek at the other things we did this week by clicking HERE or watching below.
We had a great week in Room 119! You have probably heard by now that we had a few extra students due to a substitute shortage on Friday. We were very flexible and were very kind welcoming new friends into our classroom.
We did a lot of work in math this week with things that will be recurring regularly throughout the school year. We will be focusing on many building blocks in math in hopes to make other math problems easier. One way we did this was by playing a "Roll to 100" game on the computers. With this game we practiced counting up by 10s (by a number other than zero). This is also something we did with Mrs. D. and hundred's charts in the classroom. We had fun practicing it on the computer.
We also worked with telling time. Mrs. Doran made us memorize 5 words "START WITH THE SHORT HAND". This will help us with reading clocks and writing times. We say (or write) whatever number the short hand just passed and then we STOP. After that we count by 5s. Right now it is only expected we tell time to the hour, but Mrs. D. has showed us how to tell time to the minute and will be working on this with students who are ready for it. By the end of the year, this should be a secure skill for all of us. You can also ask us how many hours are in a day, seconds in a minute and minutes in an hour.
Another very important skill we worked on this week was finding numbers that add up to 10. We explored this and learned that there are only 6 sets of numbers that add up to 10: (1,9), (2,8), (3,7), (4,6), (5,5) and (10,0). We did a lot of work trying to memorize the pairs. We played a game with our fly swatters and made Jack-o-Lanterns whose eyes (we wrote numbers on them) added up to 10.
Finding patterns with 10s makes things much easier for us, you can just ask our friend Zero the Hero. This is Zero and he visits room 119 every 10 days that we are in school and talks with us about place value. We love Zero and have also learned a bit about his favorite foods: Cheerios, donuts, Fruit-Loops, bagels, Spaghettios...
In reading this week we added a new reading strategy to our CAFE board. This strategy was added under the C which stands for "Comprehension" or understanding what we read. We met with partners to talk about books and made connections with the characters. We are working on understanding the differences between good connections and not so good connections. Understanding a character who is disappointed because you remember a time when you were disappointed is a better connection than making a connection with a character named Mark because you know someone named Mark. When we read to you at home, ask us if we can make any connections to what we read. Mrs. D. asks us that. She had hoped to finish our testing, but was unable to test anyone due to the added students on Friday. She hopes to be done with the entire class on Monday.
For writing we will constantly be working on making our writing better. One way we will do this is by adding details. We have been working on letting our readers know WHEN something happened. This is something that we can do in many different ways and we came up with some great ways. At the end of our workshops, we've been going back and highlighting in crayon where we've written "when" our story took place. We will continue to work on this next week.
Did you hear that this week we had an assembly? We had some story-tellers come to visit all of the first grade classes (Mrs. D. took many more pictures in the slide show below, of course). We loved listening to their story and also learned all about some interesting instruments that come from all over the world! One instrument was even made of GOAT NAILS! We were kind of grossed out when we learned that but they did make a cool sound when you shook them.
You may also have heard that we made our Mrs. Potato Head this week! Every time we get a good report from one of our FAPES teachers we get a piece for our spud. We had a few "not so great" reports. Thankfully we bounced back, pulled together as a team and had some great learning later in the week. Because we made our Potato Head, Mrs. D. took us outside for 15 minutes. We are now working on a "Mr. Potato Head".
And as always, we ended the week with a Mystery Reader. This week it was Amelia's mom that came to read to us. She did a great job and we were wonderful (even with extra students in the room). We did such a great job that she had time to read us TWO books which was a wonderful surprise!
Don't forget to check out the extra pictures in the slide show below and remember if you would like to order books from our book order, you can click HERE to do it online.
