Saturday, August 27, 2011

First Full Week in First Grade - Randomness.

I just finished my first full week of first grade and I am T-I-R-E-D.  I don't have a whole lot to share (I have some things I'd like to share but FORGOT to take pictures ~ I'll have to save those until next week).  So, I thought I would share a few pictures from our first week.  We started our word study this week and began learning our first word family (-an).  Here is a picture of how our tree looks after we thought of all those -an words.  Take a look:


My students were so excited to see our first Word FAMILY up on our tree. 
On Friday, we added our words this week to our word wall.  We only had three words, so I can't wait until next week to add three more.


Remember my Good Work Spotted Here wall?  Well, my first graders couldn't wait to get something hangin' up there on an owl - so we wrote about something fun we did over the summer.  Here is how our wall looks now. 


I had some really good writing and illustrations for our first week of school. 

Did I mention we have a class pet?  We have a guinea pig named Lenny (Yes - Lenny the Guinea).  He has been staying with one of my first graders from last year over the summer.  His mom said he took really good care of Lenny and they are going to miss him terribly.  Lenny has been adjusting quite nicely to our classroom environment.


We read Sammy the Classroom Guinea Pig which is a great story about a classroom guinea pig that was making strange noises and the class couldn't figure out what was wrong.  It turns out, Sammy was just wanting some attention so the kids love hearing Lenny "Wheep, wheep, wheep" when we enter our room.   We also read I Love Guinea Pigs to learn about where guinea pigs come from, what they like to eat, how to take care of them and that they don't like LOUD noises.  (Maybe it will help on our noise level??)  On Friday afternoon, we sat on the carpet in a circle and let Lenny walk around and "get to know everyone".  She did a lot of sniffing and loved being out of her cage.  We have lots of class pets at our school (mostly guinea pigs, fish, and hermit crabs).  Do you have a class pet?  We will do some writing pieces about Lenny later in the year.  I would love to hear about your class pet experiences.

OH!  And we started Saxon Math and I'm really liking it so far.  It is starting out slow but the kids are really engaged in the morning meeting and lessons.  If anyone has anything to share regarding Saxon - I would love to hear it!

Have a great weekend!


8 comments:

  1. Your room looks great! I love the combination of the owls/trees.
    Kimberly
    Funky First Grade Fun

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  2. I love the word family tree! I need to work on something like that for my class.

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  3. Love your tree AND Lenny -- he's so sweet!

    ❀Barbara❀
    Grade ONEderful

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  4. I love your word family tree! Your room looks awesome! :)
    Jenn A Pirates Life for Us

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  5. I used Saxon math and I loved it. It starts slow but spirals and they will review everything they've learned on a regular basis.

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  6. Did you make the tree or buy? Wondering about the ols as well. I am doing a "nautical theme" for two years, but then going back to my forest/camping theme. Always looking to add to my collection of "stuff." thanks

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  7. Aimee, The tree was an old bulletin board tree trunk I had. I made the word clouds. Look under word families or bulletin boards on my blog and it will give you more information.
    Thanks,
    Nicole

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  8. Love the word family tree. Super cute and creative. Do you do a family a week and then leave them up all year?

    ((HUGS))
    Tifffany

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