September 29th-October 3rd

Happy Thursday! Please see the list of important dates that are coming up.

October 17th: You will need a "costume" for this. Please do not worry! If you need help making anything or coming up with an idea I will gladly help. Any costume related to fairytales is great: prince, princess, fairy godmother, fairy, little red riding hood, a knight, etc. Get creative but do not make it too hard!

October 29th: Parade of Fiction- Dress like your favorite character from a book! Please come to me if you need help with a costume. :) Last year there were many cool costumers! I saw Fancy Nancy, Matilda, Amelia Bedelia, Junnie B. Jones and so many more.

October 30th & 31st: Parent Teacher Conferences *A sign up genius will be sent out later.

November 5th: Yearbook pics...dress your best! :) We take these at 8:30 in the morning thank goodness.

Thematic Unit:
This week we are studying Cinderella! We painted a glass slipper and wrote what we would ask for if we had a fairy godmother, we "transformed" a pumpkin into something new and wrote about it and we also decorated a real pumpkin like Cinderella's carriage (thanks for bringing in the pumpkins). It was so much fun! We read a Cinderella book each day and read many other versions like our other fairytales. Our main questions for this unit are:

1.What are the fairytale story elements?
2. How have fairytales lasted so long?
3. How can you compare and contrast the different versions of all the fairytales we have studied?

Math:
We learned a new game in math this week and we added it to our math tubs. The game is called "5 In a Row" and it is very similar to BINGO. You get a game board with many different numbers in a grid type of format. You roll two dice and then add the numbers. After that you find the sum on the game board and place a marker on that number to show you already rolled that sum. Your goal is to get 5 in a row on the game board. This works on addition, finding the total of two or more quantities up to a total, comparing two quantities and counting on/using number combinations.We also worked on addition story problems again in our math groups. It is so important that mathematicians are able to tell how they get their answer and justify their answer by showing their work/showing what addition strategies they used. Story problems are difficult to solve if you do not have a strategy for picking out the important parts of the problem. They are also difficult if you do not have any strategies for adding numbers. We are working on both pieces to solve story problems efficiently!

Reader's Workshop:

This week we introduced our second to last option. We learned how to do "word work." At this station there are different activities to complete related to word study. We work with many different materials to help us remember the word study words. We write our words in sand and shaving cream, we rainbow write words, use wiki sticks, stamp our letters, use chalk, write them on whiteboards and so much more. This is a fun station that we will be able to visit each time we have reader's workshop along with reading to self, writing, parter reading and listen to reading. We also met with our reading groups on worked on individual reading goals. Everyone is working on something different. We are reading fiction and non fiction. We also talked about punctuation in our writing (again). Punctuation is hard to remember but we are working hard. Everyone is still reading out of their individually designed book boxes, reading with partners and writing books, passages, letters, poems etc. during this time.

**If you see punctuation being left off of sentences at home it is ok to gently remind your child to add it to the end. It may be a period, exclamation mark or question mark!

**Do not forget to order scholastic if you would like! Orders are due by October 17th. Class code is: MG2XP

**Please remember tomorrow is sprit Friday. So wear your spartans apparel!

** We have a piggy bank in our class and we are collecting any spare change that you may have. CSD does this fundraiser every year and the money collected goes towards the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. Bring any spare change if you wish to donate it to our class piggy.

**Please bring in your parade of fiction book next week. We will be doing an activity with this with our book buddies! If you have not picked your book and character yet, go ahead and do that this weekend. If you cannot get your book to class by next Thursday, please let me know and I can make arrangements to choose one for your child for this activity.

SIgn up genius link: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0C4FA5A82BA4FF2-october5 

Have a happy weekend!
Hugs,
Mrs. Schultz

September 15th-18th

Happy Thursday!

We have a short week next week so there will be no volunteers needed! We are off September 25th and 26th. I will probably send home an email with an update rather than posting a whole blog post for the short week. Look for that email Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning.

Thematic:
We have been studying Rumpelstiltskin this week and discussing names. We played a game where we took an index card and wrote our real name on the front and then a new name we would give ourselves on the back. After that we tried to guess who would be who! The next day we made a huge chart and compared our name to Rumpelstiltskin's. His name was the longest by several letters! It was interesting to see this difference on paper. The last day we sequenced the story. We read several different versions and compared this fairytale to the others we have read so far. We may even attempt to weave a basket out of construction paper this week or next! We need to practice that skill and it would relate to this story really well.

Reader's Workshop:
We are still practicing writing, reading with a partner and reading independently during reader's workshop. We added another poem to our poetry journal and highlighted "colorful words" (words that we can visualize in our mind). We practiced many site words and our word study words doing various activities during this time. We have magnetic letters, shaving cream words, play dough words, stamping words, scented markers to rainbow write etc. Feel free to repeat these methods at home with word study words or frequently missed site words while reading. We also met with our reading groups and worked on reading strategies with Mrs. Schultz. If a leveled book comes home, look for the sticky note on the front cover. That will tell you what strategies we are working on for that particular book and your child. Sometimes we send home a book that may appear "easy" but we have a specific goal. We may be working on fluency, stopping at punctuation, comprehension or expression. There are so many things that we are working on right now! Reading is about so much more than a "level' or a challenge. We want kids to enjoy reading, learn to comprehend what they are reading, learn new vocabulary, feel confident and so much more. We are working on being independent but it is still hard so thank you to the parents who have volunteered so far!

Math Workshop:
This week we worked on ordering numbers from least to greatest and greatest to least. We started by using math manipulatives and then moved to number cards. Each child was given 4 number cards and they were to order the numbers from least to greatest. We continued to play "Fix It" from last week. This game is really powerful and addresses many great concepts. One child calls out a number from the number strip and another child "fixes" the amount of cubes that are on the game board.
EX:
Number caller: 2
Number Fixer: I will add 2 to make 2.
Number caller: 6
Number Fixer: I will add 4 to make 6
Number Caller: 1
Number Fixer: I will take 5 away to make 1

We also began to learn greater than and less than. We introduced the official sign. EX: 6<9 (that would read 6 is less than 9). An easy way to remember the way the sign goes is that the "alligator" always wants to eat the bigger number. So the < sign would need to have the "mouth of the alligator" eating the 9 and not the 6 since 9 is bigger. Use this language at home because it helps! This is a very new and somewhat difficult concept, so practice as much as you can.

Each day your child brings home a book for you to read to them. Please take the time to do this every night. Reading aloud is so important! If you do not have time to read a book that evening, keep it for one extra night.

Have a great weekend!
Hugs,
Mrs. Schultz

September 8th-12th

Hope everyone enjoyed curriculum night. It was great to see everyone! If you were not able to attend and you did not receive a packet of papers, let me know. Hopefully it was informative and well worth your evening! :)

Important Message!
Please do not send your child to school if they are not fever/vomit free for 24 hours! I know this is very tough when you are working but this is a school policy that helps keep our children and teachers healthy. Even if you think they may not be sick anymore, they need to stay home just incase! This is crucial as we enter the “sick months.” We do not want to spread germs! We would rather them miss an extra day of school than possibly spread anything in the classroom.

Thematic Centers:
This week we are reading Little Red Riding Hood and learning about all the different versions that exist. We are also learning about wolves. There will be 3 centers for this fairytale. A nonfiction book about wolves, a graph (which will continue into next week) and a torn paper plate wold (which addresses fine motor skills, direction following, cutting and interacting with multiple art supplies). This classic story has also shared the same story elements as our other fairytales. You can discuss these with your child and look for them in other stories you read. We have seen: "once upon a time" beginnings, "happily ever after" endings, hero vs. villain, beginning/middle/end, sometimes a moral etc. These are great conversation starters to get your children thinking about what they are reading.

Reader's Workshop:
This week we started pulling groups of readers to read out loud to teachers. These small groups are so helpful. In these small groups children receive one-on-one reading attention, they are able to practice and learn reading strategies and have meaningful discussions about books. While teachers are pulling reading groups, everyone else is either working on a writing piece using their individual and class word wall, reading with a partner or reading from their book box. The room is quiet and focused. Everyone is working the whole time. In the future there will be 5 choices to choose from during reader's workshop. We are starting out with two and working our way up. Soon the 5 choices during reader's workshop will be: read to self, read to a partner, word work (working on word study words), work on writing or listen to reading. While students are working, teachers are pulling reading groups and individual readers. At the end of reader's workshop the class comes together as a whole to work on our handwriting without tears lesson for the day. This is where we also practice our word study words.

Math Workshop:
The mini lessons that we focussed on this week were: counting forward and backward, comparing quantities, developing/analyzing visual images and comparing two quantities to see which is larger. Children were pulled in small groups and pulled individually to work on these concepts through games and lots of practice. 

The math tubs that children could choose from were: mystery bags, race to 100, start with, get to (counting backwards this week), quick images. Each game focussed on one of the mini lessons that were taught for the week. A fun game to play in the car to practice counting backwards is called "start with, get to." You shout out a number to start with and then you shout out a number to get to and your child has to start at that number and count backwarrds and stop when they get to the final number. Example: Star with 18 and get to 5. Your child would count 18, 17, 16, 15 etc. until the reached 5 ad stop.

We start walking to the park next week! Sign up to help us if you can. The sign up genius will be sent out soon!

**Please have your girls wear shorts under their skirts and dresses every single day even if it is not a PE day. It helps on the playground and on the carpet when kids are sitting cris-cross applesauce!

Hugs,
Mrs. Schultz

September 2nd-5th

Hello and happy Thursday!

Here is the sign up genius for the week. We are starting light and easing back into having volunteers in the classroom. We will start going to the park the week of September 15th. But if you would like to sign up for something this week, you may! www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0C4FA5A82BA4FF2-september1


We have been busy studying Jack and the Beanstalk and learning many new procedures for reader's workshop.

Thematic Centers:

We have read many versions of Jack and the Beanstalk including Kate and the Beanstalk! On Tuesday we planted our very own lima bean. We wrapped the bean in a wet paper towel, placed it in a ziplock bag and taped it to the window. Hopefully the begin to grow soon! On Wednesday we studied the 4 phases of a lima bean as it begins to grow. The first stage is the seed, then seedling, sprout and finally a plant! Today we will be practicing putting Jack and the Beanstalk themed words in ABC order. We will also be comparing and contrasting the different versions of the story.

Math:

Wow have we been busy! This week we have worked to master several concepts: counting, ordering, representing and comparing. We worked on counting out of mystery bags and trying to remember to use one of our accurate counting techniques (grouping objects, skip counting, counting on etc). You may have seen this mystery box (we used bags) come home! We also worked on making our own staircases on a graph. In class we built staircases out of unifix cubes and worked on counting on and trying to determine which staircase was missing when Mrs. Schultz made us close our eyes and removed one. This worked on ordering a set of numbers and quantities up to 12. Today we will be playing a game called "Compare." This game works on comparing numbers and developing an understanding of how the quantities in the counting sequence are related. Each set of partners is given a set of dot cards with different dot patterns (similar to dominos). The cards are laying face down and when students flip their cards over at the same time they have to quickly determine which has more. The person with more dots gets to keep both cards.

Reader's Workshop:

We are still building stamina and learning procedures for reader's workshop. By the end of this week everyone will have built up to reading quietly and independently for 20 minutes. Yahoo! We have added a new procedure this week to our workshop time and that is independently writing. We are learning that it looks much different than writer's workshop. We are also learning to brainstorm topics on our own. If we do not know how to write a word, we are working on underlining that word and moving on rather than staying stuck on it. We have been practicing our word study words, reading individually with teachers and we worked on our first poem in our poetry journal. Each child has received a book that is on their level that was chosen for them. They also got to pick two books on their own. This is great motivation to keep reading! Because this is an independent activity, teachers are able to meet with students individually to work on reading!

Mark you calendars for curriculum night! September 10th from 6-8. At 6 pm there will be a welcome session in the elementary gym and teachers will run 30 minute sessions from 6:30-8. We have sessions starting at 6:30, 7 and 7:30.

Remember if you have a birthday coming up, the school has asked that you bring a healthy treat for your snack (if you choose to bring a treat at all). Fruits and veggies are welcome! If you do not want to bring a treat but still want to celebrate your child, please feel free to come read a book to the class! :)

Have a great weekend!
Hugs,
Mrs. Schultz

August 24th-29th

Hello families!

Second week down. We did it!

We do not have school on Monday as it is a holiday. Please do not forget this!

Math Workshop: We have had several mini lessons for math this week before we break out into math tubs. We played "Start With Get To" where children receive a starting number and ending number and they have to count from the starting number until the reach the ending number. Example: Start with 25 and stop at 41. This is hard! We discussed counting accurately and went over many strategies. We also played a staircase game where students had to count on, use addition/subtraction and determine how many cubes to add to the bottom cube. Our math tubs still consist of race to 20, roll a tower and roll and cover. A new tub will be added where students are ordering unifix cube staircases from least to greatest according to size.

Reader's Workshop: We have been working all week to set up our reader's workshop. Each day we take our book boxes (which consist of 1 book chosen by Mrs. Schultz and two books kids choose) and practice reading quietly to ourselves. We had a few mini-lessons on choosing books, ways to read, building stamina, and decoding words.

We learned that there are 3 ways to read a book in first grade:
1.      Read the words…following the words that the author put on the page.
2.    Read the pictures: using the pictures to guide you as you create your own version of what is happening in the story
3.     Retell the story from memory: reading a book you already have heard and using your memory and creativity to recreate the story. We demonstrated each way and will continue to demonstrate them as the kids become more fluent in each method This is the time where Mrs. Schultz will pull reading groups and meet with children individually for reading. After we practiced reading quietly we went to reading stations. These stations were: free writing, scrabble, alphabet soup, stamping word study words, reading out of book boxes, spelling matching puzzles and a spelling matching game. In the future these stations will be more structured but for right now we are just getting used to the structure. After this was over we were able to practice writing letters correctly in our handwriting without tears books each afternoon.

Thematic Centers:
Our first unit of the year is fairytales. This week we are studying Rapunzel. We are reading several versions of this story and comparing them (including Tangled). We are also learning what components make up this genre. There are 3 Rapunzel centers. One center is comparing the length of your hair to Rapunzel's. Each child gets to make their own Rapunzel locked in a tower using construction paper, yarn, glue and art utensils. Another center is graphing. Each child receives a pack of character cards from the story and they have to graph how many cards they have of each character. The last center is sequencing the Tangled version of Rapunzel. We may have to continue these centers into next week as they are taking much longer than we anticipated.

Quick Note About Word Study:


Why Word Study?
In word study we look at each letter of the alphabet more closely and study the various sounds that each letter can make.  We are not doing “traditional” spelling words, instead we are looking at the phonemic system we call English.
My Kid Can Spell “Mississippi” So Why Is He/She Having To Spell “have?”
In the word study program we are not just looking at how to spell one single word.  Instead we are helping the kids to see the whole picture by studying smaller words and using them to explain the rules of our system.  When we study the word “have,” for example, we are stressing to the kids that English words do not end in the letter ‘v’ and that the ‘e’ at the end of the word is doing one of its many jobs  (in this case it is the ‘supporter e’  for the ‘v’).
Why Does My Child Only Have 5 Words Each Week? My Neighbor/Nephew/Older Child Has 20 Words Each Week.
With our program we aren’t just memorizing a list of words that we’ll possibly never see again, but are learning the rules of English spelling.  Word Study is one part of our literacy program and isn’t the only time that we are working with words and spelling.  We also use spelling in our writing workshops, in our literacy block and during word work.
Why Are There Three Columns On The Green And White Paper?
1.       Column 1: In class we instruct as we write the new words in the first column.  After this first week you will notice that some letters and word will have some word study “markings” in the first column.  In this column we are showing the kids how to write the words and then we mark specific letters and talk about the job that letter is doing.
2.       Column 2: “The Better Column”: In class the kids are then to write their words neatly, focusing on letter formation and spelling.  They are not to make the markings on the letters.
3.       Column 3: “The Best Column”: at home, the kids are then to write the words in their best handwriting as their first assignment with the words.
What Should We Do At Home Each Week?
The first job each child should complete each week is to neatly write their 5 words in the third column on the green and white paper.  After that, we have included a list of suggested activities for kids to work on during homework time.  This is a suggested list, so be creative and come up with your own ideas, too.  If the homework is sized appropriately, put it behind the “homework” tab.  If not, you can put in a sheet of paper and explain what you did.  For example, this week a parent wrote a quick note that said, “We wrote the words on our hands to practice.”
A few ideas from this list and off the top of my head: write the words on white boards, write the words with colored pencils, write the words in sand, paint the words, spell the words while in traffic, write them on mom’s iPad or make the words with magnetic letters.  Have a competitive child?  See how many times they can write the words neatly and correctly in a minute. Bounce a ball and spell a letter for each bounce.  Jump for each letter.  Hop for each letter.
My Child Needs a Challenge…
Have your child brainstorm other words that match our spelling pattern.  Search in their books for other words that have the same rule and words that look the same BUT DON’T follow that rule. Have them explain the rule and why words fit or don’t fit.


We got together with our book buddies for the first time today. We gave each other interviews and then enjoyed reading a book. This is really great for building school community.

Look for volunteer opportunities sometime after Labor Day.


Have a great weekend!
Hugs,
Mrs. Schultz

August 18th-22nd

Welcome back!

I am excited to say that we have made it through our first full week as a new first grade class. We have been working hard this week and we have been learning new procedures and routines.

Below are a few pictures from our first week.

Our principals Ms. Marianne and Ms. Leslie came to welcome us back to school and read us a story. Thank you!!

Libby wore her hair just like Mrs. Schultz. Complete with a top knot and headband. We were twins today. I loved it Libby! ;) 

Our first class picture on the first day of school. They have grown so much!

Reading on the couch! Thanks Wolding family!

Sadie was the first one to lose a tooth at school this year! She signed her name on our new tooth poster. I think Megan is going to be next!

As you may have noticed we have been busy. We started learning how to write on green line paper. Of course this has been difficult but everyone has been doing really well. We have talked about in the house letters, basement letters and attic letters. Ask you children to explain this to you. Many of the kids are actually enjoying this more than I thought! Today we had a class discussion about expectations and dreams for this upcoming year. On our green line paper we wrote "Our class should be________" and then everyone came up with their own expectation for how the class should be. It was great to set the tone for the year with ideas from everyone!

We also started math workshop this week. Math workshop is a really neat way to learn math! Each day  there are 8 math tubs that everyone gets to visit. You can move around whenever you want and change tubs when you are ready. During this time small groups are pulled to work on lessons and individual work. This week we have been exploring math manipulatives from last year (and a few new ones) as well as reviewing math games from last year. We also learned a new math game this week called "Race to 20." Super fun!

We have had free choice center time in the afternoons and we are hoping to start thematic centers next week. Our first unit will be fairytales. Exciting!

We played a lot of games and participated in lots of "community building" activities. We completed a scavenger hunt, a 'Hello School, Goodbye Summer' chart, played Guess Who (with real facts from kids from the class) and made goals for the year.

I will be sending more about word study (and those huge binders) soon! We will start having parent volunteers after Labor Day.

Thanks for your support! Get some rest this weekend. Everyone is SUPER tired!
Hugs,
Mrs. Schultz

First Week

Hello families!

Welcome back and welcome to first grade!

I will post weekly updates here throughout the year. Do not forget to bring in your supplies if you have not already (including the 2 pocket folder). Remember to bring all of your forms as well.  The first week back to school will be spent reviewing classroom procedures, practicing on our new writing paper and catching up from the summer. My email has changed to: eschultz@csdspartans.org and phone number is the same. Contact me if you need me!

Hugs,
Mrs. Schultz

If you have not had a chance to view the "The Night Before First Grade" video, you can do that here!