Day 3 - Buddy Sort!

We are half way through learning the process of word study! Today students worked with a buddy to call words to each other. This is a great way to practice listening to the word and hearing the pattern.

Day 2 of Word Study

We are on Day 2 - The Word Sort! Today we practiced sorting our words using the pattern we learned yesterday. Students did a great job using yesterday's lesson and sorting words in their word study notebook.

Day 1 of Word Study

Today we started learning the process for word study.  We started by practicing sorting words using our names.  Students amazed me at the ways they thought to sort.  After learning that words follow patterns (not all words - some are oddballs), we looked at this week's list and sorted them by their pattern.  See if they can explain the pattern to you tonight.  Starting next week students will work in a small group with the me to identify and practice the patterns in their words.  This week we are learning the process all together. 

An instruction sheet cam e home to help you assist your student's homework.  Please keep them in a safe place.  We will use these practices all year with new words every week.

Greater Than What?

This week in math we have been comparing numbers. Our class learned that to compare, we have to look at two things. Today we used our document camera to compare piles of beans. Students were able to see all the beans on the active board, and then make a statement.

Abby figured out that when we counted the larger group in groups of 10, it made more groups and change what we compared. Way to think Abby!

Ask your student about what greater than and less than mean. See if they can tell you the difference between a guess and an educated guess.

Don't Pop My Bubble!

Ask your student about their bubble. Today we learned about building our stamina for reading. Students start out the year reading to self for about 10 minutes. As the year goes, we increase our time. We will use our reading response notebooks to record our thinking.

The class did a great job. I love to see kids spread out all over the room with books in their hands. It was a great start to our training!

Building a BUSY Community!

Wow! Week 1 is almost done. It has been a great time of new friends, lots of routines, and building a community. I am so proud of the 1st graders. If you were to walk into our room, you would think they had been in school for months.

Today, we enjoyed the nice breeze and went outside to use our bodies to make patterns. It was a great way to get moving while learning math!

The Eye of the Storm

As a little girl, I remember when Hurrincane Alicia barreled into Galveston Bay.  As I sit here in a quite classroom with names on desk and bulleton boards hung, I am reminded of that day.  I grew up in Sharpstown and the eye of the storm actually went right over my house.  I watched and worried through the window for hours, as the trees (50 year old oaks) blew in one direction  and pounding rain  fell, and then all of the sudden the air grew still.  My dad let us walk outside to look up.  It was about 5 minutes of complete calm, before the winds whiped around in the opposite direction. I remember looking at my dad and saying, "we made it" and he said, "the best of the storm is still to come."

I look at my classroom as a hurricane, or maybe a reverse hurricane (more constructive than DE-structive)! Every summer, I know what is coming and spend time thinking of better ways to be prepared and  to make a difference in each kid's life.  And then it is back to school, the winds begin to whip with pouring excitment for what is ahead.  Busy days of inservice and endless preparing.  But today (if only for the time it takes to post this) I sit in the Eye of the Storm, the calm room, and ponder over of the possibilities for the year.  New kids to love, brain cells to ignite, and the chance to help everyone find and feel sucess.  Wow!  That is what makes me love my job!

I know the calm will stop in a blink of eye and the winds will begin to roar in the opposite direction.  It's those winds that I can't wait to blow.  Kid's voices, lightbulb moments, and mistakes that we learn from - my hope for the new year is that we ride those winds as high as they will take us. 

I can't wait to meet those smiling faces!  Here is to a GREAT year, and "THE BEST IS STILL TO COME!"