Rain, rain, go away...

I feel like I've used this title for a blog before, but wow!--the rain today was relentless!  Luckily, my kiddos have the routine of indoor recess down, so not going outside isn't as bad as it was the first couple weeks of school.  Still, though, Mother Nature, if you could send a little less rain until winter break (I wouldn't mind some snow!), Room 106 would thank you!

On to the good stuff...

To add to the dictionary:
chree = tree
ont = aunt (when you say "aunt" with a short o sound instead of a short a, this actually makes a lot of sense)


Alexander books
This week, we began our social studies unit of economics; Monday and Tuesday we learned about needs and wants, and today we began studying saving and spending.  As an introduction, I read the class Judith Viorst's Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday.  In this book, Alexander has a dollar, but instead of saving it--like his brothers do--he spends every penny of it on things he just wants, not things he needs.  The kids loved it, and it was a great review for needs/wants and introduction to the importance of saving money/implications of spending it.

 (You may know/ remember Alexander from his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day...)

Overheard in 1st grade:
This afternoon, as my class was lined up to walk out to the bus, I heard a few of my students talking about how they have "long names" and "short names."  (Translation: full names and nicknames.)  One student said, "Well my name is [first name] [middle name] [last name].  It's really long.  What's your holy name??"  I couldn't help but smile--he meant to ask "What's your whole name..."


Take away
We're really getting into subtraction, and my kiddos are really getting the hang of it!  We've started on story problems, and this makes so much of a difference--the children being able to picture a story really helps them to "get it."  We've read a couple of books about subtraction...and more to come in the next couple of days!

Exploring numbers
We began doing an exercise called "Today's Number," where we pick a number and see how many ways that can make it.  For example, the number 2 could be:
- February is the 2nd month
- When I hold up my thumb and pointer fingers, that is 2 fingers
- 1+1=2
- 2 is written as two
- In tally marks, 2 is  | |

Here is some of the great work that my kiddos produced!

More Marc Brown
I love Arthur books, but when I was at the library this weekend, I found a great book written by Laura Joy Rennert and illustrated by Marc Brown, and as I giggled to myself thumbing through it, I figured my class would love it, too.  It's a little long, so we only started the book today, but so far, Buying, Training & Caring for Your Dinosaur has been a hit!

Fingers crossed for some sun tomorrow!  I hope you all are having great weeks--we're halfway through!

Love from Room 106,
Allie

Happy Monday!

Oh!  It feels so great to be back on the blog on a more regular basis :)  A couple of happenings from this Monday in Room 106:

Sharing
Our fresh produce this afternoon was oranges.  They were cut into slices, so thank goodness they were super-easy for my kiddos to eat!  We usually have an extra piece of produce or two in our basket, but this afternoon, we were actually three oranges short :(  When I noticed this, I asked the class if anyone would be interested in sharing with their classmates, and I could not contain my joy as every hand shot up in the air with an orange slice to share.  Looks like the season of giving has begun in my classroom--there was enough citrus to go around this afternoon!

Reading Growth
So, we have a fabulous book room at school, with book sets galore for all of us to use for our guided reading groups.  Well, I have to admit that I am really great at checking books out of the book room, but not always so great at returning them.  When I went to put books back the other day, I was beside myself with pride for the progress that my kiddos have made this past year--some of the books that I was putting away were ones that my students read about two months ago, and waiting this long to return books showed me the growth that they have made.  Let me tell y'all, teaching in the grade where children are supposed to build their reading foundations is a lot of pressure, but moments like these give me faith that in June (fingers crossed!) all my kiddos will be leaving me completely ready for second grade!


Just a short one for today...more as the week goes on!

Love from Room 106,
Allie

Back in the swing of blogging!

Oh, it feels so nice to be back in the blogging world!  And after that last marathon post, I have promised myself not to wait that long between posts again--there was just too much to write!  (I wish I had taken a picture of how many Post-It notes I had collected with tid-bits on each one...)

Anyway, here's a re-cap of our Friday in Room 106:

USA!
On Friday, my kiddos took a test about schools, communities, families, and transportation of the past, present, and future.  First of all, they rocked it--every single student!  That was pretty darn heartwarming.  For part of the test, the children had to draw pictures of what schools, communities, families, and transportation would look like in the future.  One thing I found interesting (and patriotic) was that about half of the class, in their drawings of future schools, drew buildings with flags in front of them.  Though we say the pledge of allegiance every morning, and they see our flag flying out in front of school before they enter in the mornings, it is not something that we've ever explicitly discussed.  I just thought that was pretty neat...


Information Recall
This past week, we really stressed that communities were places where people live, work and play.  My goodness, I think those kiddos could recite those three things in their sleep!  Which reminded me of when we studied habitats earlier this year, and that the four things animals need to live are food, water, air, and a place to live.  After our past, present, and future test, just to see what would happen, I asked if anyone remembered the four things animals need; since they were so great with the three things that happen in a community, I wondered if they still remembered information from October.  Well, lo and behold!  They remembered!  Looks like they've been reciting those in their sleep for the past couple months :)  It's sticking, y'all!


Arthur
Marc Brown--add him to the list of other authors that I adore.  Arthur books have been around for over 35 years (honestly...did you know that Arthur just turned 35?!?!) and I know my kiddos enjoy them today just as much as I did almost two decades ago as an elementary schooler myself.  I would challenge you to find a kid who doesn't like Arthur and find his life somewhat relate-able to theirs (except, of course, that Arthur happens to be an aardvark with animal friends).  Writing about situations that children often face, Marc Brown's 30+ Arthur books are classics!

As part of our Marc Brown author study, we read Arthur's Tooth, Arthur Writes a Story, and Arthur's Teacher Moves In.

I love the tooth book because some of my kiddos have not lost any teeth yet (and some have lost as many as six!) and this story shows that it's okay I'd you haven't lost a tooth yet and that we all lose teeth and grow at different paces.

The book we read about writing a story was great because it teaches exactly what we teach our kids about writing--that it is easier to write about personal experiences because they've happened to you first hand  In this story Arthur starts writing a story about his dog, Pal, but doesn't think it's creative enough so he starts writing an extravagant tale of two-stepping purple elephants on the moon, a story which no one really enjoys. He ends up getting praise for his original story--it's like Marc Brown was following our curriculum when he was writing this book :)

Reading about Arthur's teacher moving in was just a fun, kind of unrealistic story of Arthur's teacher, Mr. Ratburn, coming to stay with the aardvark family after his roof caves in from the snow.  He eventually moves out and goes on to live with other students, to Arthur's relief.  (My favorite part of this book is when D.W. discovers that teachers don't live at school!)  This one brought questions from the class like, "Ms. W, would you come stay with me if your roof came down?" and "Ms. W, if you came to stay at my house, we'd have so much fun!"  At least I know I have options if my roof ever caves! ;)

**Trivia fact about Marc Brown: did you know that his children's names are woven into the illustrations of many of his Arthur books?  They're names are Tolon, Tucker, and Eliza--next time you read an Arthur book, check it out!


Fresh produce
You may remember that our school is part of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program; every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the kiddos at school get to try a different fruit or vegetable.  Since the beginning of the school year, we've tried many recognizable fruits and vegetables, but also more unique ones.  All have been quite tasty!

This week, we had the chance to try pomegranates on Wednesday and grapples on Friday.  I learned that pomegranates are pretty difficult to manage (you have to pick the seeds away from the skin, and be careful that the juice doesn't quirt you, because it stains!) but that the kiddos loved them.  And I've learned that a grapple looks like an apple, but is crunchy and tastes more like a grape (really crunchy!).  I'm so thankful that my class is lucky enough to have these tasting experiences.


Cynthia Rylant
Along with reading some of her Henry and Mudge books, this week I read When I Was Young in the Mountains, a great book to talk with my class about the difference between past and present lifestyles.  It focuses mostly on the community and family aspect of what we were learning, and the kids enjoyed it.  It is also one of those perfect-length books--not too long, not too short, and juuuust right for an introduction to a lesson :)

Mo in DC!
So, by now I think we know that I have a list of favorite authors, and Mo Willems is definitely high on that list.  As if it was wonderful enough that my mom donated some Mo books and stuffed animals to my classroom when she visited, I found out from a teacher-friend this weekend that Knuffle Bunny is playing at the Kennedy Center in DC.  Dream.Come.True.  Most of the shows are over winter break, and it's a little late to plan a field trip, but I've decided that I will be going to see the show and have started recruiting others to join me.  If this sounds interesting to you and you're in the DC area, please let me know!


This weekend flew by, and with the speed that last week passed, I'm sure this week will be another blur!  I hope y'all had a wonderful weekend and are ready for your Mondays, too!

Love from Room 106,
Allie