It was so nice to see so many of you at Back to School Night last week. I hope that you were able to get a glimpse of the year ahead. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any further questions. I know that we were very pressed for time.
Over the course of the year, I will be updating this website pretty regularly to keep you up to date on what's going on in 1-Bu. Hopefully you find this website a useful tool.
Here's what we've been working on in the classroom so far :
Reading : At the very beginning of the year, we spent some time going over the four main parts of reading workshop and practicing them each day. Ask your child what we do in reading workshop. First, we get ready by putting our book bins out. Then, we go to the rug for a mini-lesson. After that, the students go off and read. Finally, we come together again at the rug for a share.
Last week, we began talking about good reading habits. These are things that we want to get used to doing when we read because they will make us better readers. So far, we've spoken about taking a sneak peek of a book before reading, checking your sneak peek while you read, and then doing something at the end of a book (other than just closing it and putting it away). Ask your child if you want to know more about any of those habits! He/she should be able to tell you. :)
Phonics/Phonemic Awareness : Do you know the difference between phonics and phonemic awareness? We'll be spending a lot of time very systematically working on both of them this year, as they are crucial parts of students' reading and writing development. Your child should know the difference, as we've been talking a lot about it. Phonemic awareness is the study and manipulation of sounds. Phonics is the study and manipulation of the relationship between sounds and written symbols (i.e. letters). So far, we've almost reviewed everything the students did in kindergarten in regards to rhyming, segmenting and changing parts of words, and connecting letters to their basic, most commonly used, sounds.
Writing : We haven't officially launched writing workshop yet (we'll do that this week,) but the students have been working on many beginning of the year writing tasks. If you haven't done so already, please make sure to decorate your child's green writing folder and send it back to school ASAP.
Math : So far, we've reviewed a lot of math that the students learned in kindergarten. We've been counting, skip counting, and using a number line. The students also played a math game on the Smartboard called Monster Squeeze. On Friday, they played Top It, which was a kindergarten favorite apparently.
Science : Our first unit of the year is Earth Science. We had a great Liberty Science lesson last week, where the students were tasked with finding the pattern that the moon makes over time. We'll be talking more about patterns to do with Earth Science as we go through this unit.
Social Studies : Our first unit focused on the community. We started learning about our community by talking about our classroom and school community. The students created some class rules that they feel are important to make sure that everyone feels safe, happy, and can learn in 1-Bu.
Technology : The students did a great job learning about the new way we are going to log on to the Chromebooks this year. Ask your child about it! All we have to do now is scan a QR code, and we're in!
Here are some pictures of the first couple weeks of school :