Reader's Theater: Billy Goats Gruff and Chicken Little

We wrapped up this series of Reader's Theater with two performances today.

Violet, Peter, Zoey and Noah  performed "Chicken Little," which can be found by clicking on the YouTube link below.

We were also treated to Freyja, Jeremiah, Lucy and Oscar's rendition of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," which can be found here:

Reader's Theater: On the Farm

Please click on the YouTube link to see our most recent Reader's Theater performance. 

You'll hear Caleb as The Dog, Madison as The Horse and Ryan as The Farmer. Once again I apologize for my loud voice,  as I was filming and playing the part of The Chicken.

Happy Viewing!

Writing Stories With a Beginning, Middle and End

Our first grade writers know that authors often get inspired by reading other author's books. We begin most of our weeks of writing by reading interesting books. When they make a connection to those books, those connections help to inspire our first graders in their own writing.

This week, we began by reading Down the Road by Alice Schertle.

After reading this story about a young girl who gets to go to the store by herself for the first time, the children brainstormed ideas for times that they felt proud because they did something by themselves for the first time.

We spent 2 days writing and editing stories with a beginning, middle and end. The students were encouraged to write about how they felt during each part of the story.

Finally, yesterday, the kids were excited to share their stories with a partner.  Enjoy the pictures, and feel free to check in with your child about what proud moment they wrote about!

The Little Red Hen Reader's Theater

Each of our reading groups has been working on Readers Theater, which is a wonderful way to improve fluency and reading with expression.

Click on the links to see Penelope, Jack, Neil and Jackson in The Little Red Hen.

Unfortunately this blog only allows short videos, so there are 2 short clips. Please excuse the my loud voice, as the narrator, since I was also the amateur videographer!

The Little Red Hen Video 1

The Little Red Hen Video 2

What's going on in art?

Mr. Plourde is having students create pictures of the animals that they researched as part of our Animal Research Projects. 

With these projects, we are integrating science, language arts, art and technology.

We will be sharing our projects with you in the coming weeks!

Biomes Update

The kids were amazed today that despite the lack of sun we've had lately, the grass in our biomes have grown so much.

We discussed how, as scientists we need to use a careful eye to observe what is happening around us. 

After observing their biomes, the kids drew and labeled what they noticed and were able to write about how the biome had everything it needs to support a living thing (air, food, water). 

The discovery of condensation on the top of the biomes invited a quick exploration into the water cycle and a discussion about evaporation.

There are so many rich conversations that naturally occur with science. The kids love sharing what they already know and learning about the natural world around them.

Read to Self

Research shows that having uninterrupted blocks of time to just read, read, read every day is critical for improving reading.

Every day, our class has time to read self selected "just right" books (books that are neither too easy, nor too hard). It is so exciting at this time of year to see the kids fully engaged in their reading, and able to independently read for sustained amounts of time. Here's a glimpse into our class when all the kids are reading, reading, reading!!

 Students record the books they have read in a Reading Log.















After reading 10 books, students sign up to have a Book Conference with an adult, where they review the books they have read, and choose one book to read aloud. The adult is able to reflect with each student to ensure that they are choosing "just right" books.

The hum of the classroom while all kids are reading is the definition of music to my ears!