Week 5

Some highlights from Room 112 this week:

On Tuesday, we had the Missoula Childern's Theater teachers come into our classroom and teach our class about acting - it was a blast! The kids learned that to put on a play all you really need is your imagination, and your body...and with that, they put on a mini version of  "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" in about 10 minutes. It was great! 

We are continuing to add reading strategies to our CAFE menu! The majority of the strategies thus far are centered around comprehension, but we also talk about fluency, accuracy and expanding our vocabulary. It is pretty cool to have first graders asking for post-it notes to write down new and interesting words that they find in books! We have also been adding different activities to the word work area. They have been playing memory games with the words of the week! 

In math this week we focused a lot on story problems. We discussed the importance of figuring out what the problem is asking before trying to figure out the answer. The main focus has been addition, and repeated addition aka multiplication (ex: If there are 4 dogs and 3 cats, how many ears are there all together?). After working through these story problems as a class, the students started their first independent math check in. These check-ins allow me to better understand the students' thinking and number sense and gauge my instruction and individual support.  I am extremely proud of the Room 112 mathematicians and excited to keep developing their strategies for solving addition and subtraction!

Week 6 preview:

Tomorrow is moving day in Room 112! It is time to switch up the table groups and sit next to new friends! When the first graders come in tomorrow morning they will put all of their things in a paper bag and come to the carpet ready to move to their new home (desk) .

There will be a monthly newsletter going home in the Green Go Home folder tomorrow. The newsletter provides a little snapshot of what is coming up in the curriculum/important dates, and I have also attached class party info and volunteer schedule. 

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine! 

Here are some photos from the acting class and the actual Missoula production of Rapunzel!