Thursday was first grade's apple day! Boy, did we have fun! The day began with homemade applesauce.  The children were in awe of the apple peeler.  I must say it was my first time using an apple peeler and all 21 of us were amazed.  Some of the children even helped me peel the 28 apples that went into our applesauce.

The day was all about apples!! In the morning we listened to some Johnny Appleseed stories, sorted pictures from beginning to end, and even read some Johnny Appleseed books with our friends.

Before lunch we did some word work with the words applesauce and Johnny Appleseed.  We used the letters in the words to make other words.  We learned that from applesauce we could spell clap, sap, and even apple! We really enjoyed this activity because we got to pick our own partners!

During our writing time we made apple books.  The children had to write 3 things that they learned about Johnny Appleseed.  These books will be on display outside of our classroom.

During our math time we wrote story problems with apple trees.  There were some apples in the tree and some on the ground.  In their story the children had to include the partners and the total.

At the end of the day our applesauce was finally ready! The children were waiting and smelling all day long. There were a few students who didn't want to try it, but everyone who did loved it! Someone even told me I should sell my recipe to the grocery store! :)

Enjoy your three day weekend!

Mrs. Donohue

First, please let me apologize for being so late on our weekly blog.  We had guests over the weekend at the Donohue house!

This past week the children learned about making connections during their reading.  We first learned about our schema.  Schema is all the stuff in our brains that we take with us every day. Our schema is what we already know.

We learned that the books we read remind us of things we already have in our schema: this is called a connection! We will continue working on making connections in the coming weeks.

This week we began literacy stations with everyone doing a 
different thing at the same time.  The children really enjoyed being able to get on the computers during the Listen to Reading station.

This week we worked a lot with partners.  The children worked with partners on a short o word sort.  They did a great job finding the different short o word families (-ock, -ob, -ot, and -og).

They also worked with partners in math.  This week was all about story problems and equations.  They rolled two dice, created a story problem, and wrote an equation with the partners and total. We discussed the importance of the plus sign and equal sign.

Enjoy the last week of September!

Mrs. Donohue

This week was such a busy but very exciting week! The Boosterthon ended on Thursday. Mega Mark and Dynamite Dave came to our classroom each day to teach us about taking an EPIC adventure (encourage, play, invite, and celebrate). The children ended the fundraiser with our Fun Run on Thursday.  By the end of the run all the children were sweaty and exhausted, but we all had a blast! As a school we raised over $30,000...way to go Panthers!

In reading we have been continuing to build our stamina both in reading to ourselves and reading with someone.  The children learned about the good reader flower this week.  We talked about different things the children can do when they get stuck on a word.  (Boys and Girls: what are some things you can do when you get stuck on a word?) The children created a good reader flower of their own to use daily in their reading. 

Emma and Amani building their stamina in "read to someone"

This week two special things happened in our classroom: the classroom store opened and the children were able to begin choosing their own good fit books for their book boxes. The children were very excited to count their pennies and turn them for something in our store.  Two of the most popular choices this week were candy and pick your job.  The children's favorite job seems to be calendar.  If this is your job you get to lead calendar all week long. 

Paul was our calendar leader this week.

In math this week we discussed the importance of the number 10.  We did several activities to help commit these important partners to memory, including a fun card game called "make 10". In this rendition of "go fish" the students ask a neighbor for a card that will enable them to collect two numbers that add up to 10.  They can even play this game at home!

In writing this week we learned to tell a story across our fingers.  It is very important for a story to have a beginning, middle, and end.  The children are working hard to write at least three complete sentences in their stories.

Our star of the week, Nilay, did a wonderful job this week.  The children loved hearing the story of Tarzan and were very interested to find out that Nilay wants to be a chef when he grows up.  Next week we will learn about Olivia H.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Donohue

This week the children did an excellent job practicing our first Daily 5 Literacy station, Read to Self.  On Friday we read for a total of 9 minutes! WOW! Great job first graders! The children learned how to pick a good fit book for them.  We even learned a song to help us called the IPick Rap.  I hope to post a video on our website soon.

Allie is reading under the easel during Read to Self.  She is reading so quietly.

We learned a new Daily 5 Literacy station called Read to Someone.  This week I picked their partners for them.  They learned two ways to read to someone: check for understanding and I read you read. 

Paul and Andrew sitting EEKK during Read to Someone. EEKK is elbow, elbow, knee, knee.

This week we took a spelling test on short e words. We have 10 Super Spellers this week and a ton of children who got all 5 challenge words correct, way to go!!! Throughout the week we engaged in various activities to practice breaking apart and blending together short e words.

Tuesday was a very busy day for us.  We had our Boosterthon Pep Rally and we practiced our severe weather drill.  The children are really enjoying the Boosterthon.  They look forward to seeing the Booster team member that visits our classroom everyday. Right now as a class we have earned $14 per lap.  Way to go Donohue Dashers!!!!

In math the children have been busy breaking apart numbers to find their partners. On Friday we learned about switch partners.  4+3 is the same thing as 3+4 it doesn't matter which number comes first or last. 

This was our first week switching for science and social studies.  In social studies the children learned that all families are different.  Each person in a family has a role.  (*First Graders: Who can tell me another word for role? Post your answer as a comment on this blog! You can also share a role you have in your family.*)  We also learned that you can belong to many groups such as family, Mills Park, soccer team, art club, etc.

Thank you for another amazing week first graders!!!
Mrs. Donohue

Our first whole week of first grade is now complete.  I am very impressed how smoothly they have adjusted to first grade.

This week in reading we spent a lot of time building our stamina.  At the beginning of the week the children could read for 2 minutes without any interruptions, and by Friday they read independently for a whole 6 minutes! The children were very proud of themselves. We will continue to practice this every day and work on increasing our stamina.
 
This week we also took our very first spelling test.  I was so pleased with how well the students did.  We have a whole wall full of Super Spellers!

We also dove right into math this week.  The children enjoyed breaking apart numbers with a break apart stick.  These partners work together to make a total.  The children used the partners to create a number sentence.  (Ex: 2+2=4).

On Tuesday, we were able to meet our reading buddies for the very first time.  We are going to be reading with Mrs. Smith's third grade all year long.  The children were really engaged and enjoyed listening to their buddies read a story. We can't wait to see them next Tuesday.

Please remember that we don't have school on Monday.  Enjoy your long weekend!

Mrs. Donohue