Likes and Dislikes

We sure do live in a World of Difference. Friday we discovered that while some of us like snakes others dislike snakes. Here are some other things we discovered with this activity;
Aidan - I learned that it's okay to like things that other people don't like.
Alexander - Other people can like things you like and they can not like things that you like.
Sunthoshini - Some people like the same likes and some people like the same dislikes.

3 is the magic number!

Everything in first grade works better with a little magic thrown in! This week we have been learning about the 3 parts of a story (beginning, middle, and end) as well as the 3 parts of a sentence (capital letter, spaces between words, and end punctuation). When conferring in Writers Workshop the children are questioned as to whether or not they have all of these elements. During writers share the listeners can comment or question a piece of writing that has outstanding elements or perhaps has something missing. They are really beginning to listen to their own words as well as others with a critical ear.
Yesterday we managed to stay clean for our pictures as well as learned how best to wash our hands from a visit to Germ City.

Daily Jobs

Everyone loves to do the special jobs of the day, especially answering the telephone. Being the morning director has many responsibilities throughout the day: line leader, special helper, calendar, as well as running morning meeting and using the Smartboard to lead everyone in the morning message and daily question results.

Matthew - Sharpening pencils is fun.

Cole - I can't wait to be morning director again because you get to run the Smartboard and be line leader.

Charlotte - I like to be the telephone person because we didn't have that job last year.

Maggie - I like doing the pencils because we got to be in charge of where the pencils went.

Guntaas - I'm excited to answer the phone.

Cyrus - I would like to be the pencil person because you get to sharpen a lot of pencils and you can make them really sharp.

Sunthoshini - I can't wait to be the telephone person and I hope we get lots of calls.

Working Together

Our class is coming together quite nicely. The children have stopped asking when they are going to have "choice time" which I imagine was free play time in kindergarten. We have set up a behavior system that encourages good listening skills (I know many adults that could benefit from this), taking turns speaking, and following directions. Each time the class works together to achieve one of these skills a balloon is popped on a page on the Smartboard. Under each balloon is a letter which is part of a hidden message (their reward). When all the balloons are popped the surprise is revealed and we are able to celebrate. They also worked feverishly trying to decode the hidden message each time a clue was revealed and were quite successful. Last weeks hidden message was "video party" which turned out to be a youtube video of Really Rosie singing Chicken Soup With Rice (we've been singing the September song from the book by Maurice Sendak each morning) and lollipops for everyone! We'll have a new hidden message this week! I'm going to have to up the anti with a more difficult message.
The children also very much enjoy our weekly Kiva meetings with the other 3 classrooms in Vista. We have done a mixture of singing and sharing quality work. We are looking forward to sharing our own work next week.
I hope to see everyone this Thursday evening at our Vista Parent Information Night.

5th Day of School

Here we are on the 5th day of school and already we have many routines in place. Everyone is excited about their daily jobs and are waiting patiently for their turn to be in charge of the telephone! We are all enjoying exploring the math tools and are beginning to use them much more constructively. Without a doubt the favorite times during our day are the social events! Here is what several of the children had to say about today:
Charlotte - We went to the technology lab and we made our dots bigger.
Guntaas - I liked playing soccer outside for recess.
Jessica - I liked doing the monkey bars at recess.
Cole - I liked sitting with my friends at lunch.
Isaac - I liked lunch, it was very yummy.
Hailey - I am having a drawing contest with my friends.
Colby - I liked drawing with circles.
Michael - I like to color and make dots.
Matthew - I liked it when Pumsy came out with Ms. Sumner.
Sunthoshini - I like doing Writers Workshop because I like writing stories.
Maggie - I like writing during Writers Workshop.
Cyrus - I like to do Readers Workshop and I read Fly Guy, it was really funny.
Aidan - I like Writers Workshop because I wrote a story about my cats and I like them very much.