First Week of 1st Grade

I don't know about YOU,

but I'm EXHAUSTED!

Here is a glimpse of my

First Week of 1st Grade

 

 

 

Of course we started off the 1st Day learning about our Rules! Then I complete this activity so that the students know the difference between Good Choices and Bad Choices! I give each student a card and then they must place their card in the right category! As each student does so, we discuss why it is a Good Choice or Bad Choice! I keep the chart displayed for the first few weeks of school and refer back to it!
You can find this activity here and it's FREE!

 

Then I read one of my favorite books "A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue" by Julia Cook. This will help teach the class the difference between a tattle and a warning! Of course I found a cute craft to go along with this lesson! You can see I displayed it right above our class Tattle Box!

You can find the craft here!

 

Later in the week we started to review our letter sounds and I BUSTED out my Slinkys! I use these to help us STRECTH out our CVC words! The kiddos LOVED it! Then on Friday when I tested them orally on sounding out some simple short /a/ CVC words, they went through the hand motions of stretching the Slinky out! I was so PROUD of my beginning readers!
I found these Slinkys at the Dollar Tree. They came with 2 in a pack for a dollar! Then I found a pack of 6 at Wal-Mart in the party section for $1.50! Make sure to pick up extra in case some get tangled (you know that is going to happen)!

  

We also started to learn about NOUNS this week! I introduced the concept of Nouns being People, Places, or Things using an Anchor Chart (forgot to capture the picture)! We brainstormed different examples of each and added them to our anchor chart! Then I gave each student a card that had a picture and word on it (to help those students who struggle reading) and had them place it under the right category! For my quick assessment we completed a picture sort independently! You can see some precious Firsties working hard on their work below!

 

 

 

You can find these Noun Sort worksheet here and its FREE!

Guess What? The picture cards are FREE too!

  

This activity is WONDERFUL!
It is a bit stressful for your students, but after you do this you will LOVE it!
Each year in the first few days of school we complete 4 dictation sentences! I say these sentences aloud and instruct the students to write the sentence to the best of their ability!
I don't help them AT ALL! Save this writing in their files to pull back out later!
Yes, this causes some frustration but there is reason!
We conduct our first parent teacher conferences mid September, and right before conferences I have the students complete the same dictation sentences again! Then when I meet with their parents we compare their writing from the beginning of the year to the present!
The results are always AMAZING!
The amount of improvement you will see in their writing in a matter of 6 weeks is CRAZY!
Your parents will LOVE you and you will have evidence to confirm that ALL your hard work is paying off and producing results! Then I do the same dictation sentences again at the end of the year, and we make a little book to send home with the kiddos! Below are two examples of some student's work (names are being covered of course)!
I can't wait to see how much they improve!

I also repeat the same process to show progress in Math! My students fill in this semi-blank 100 chart and I file it away! I pull it  out at conferences to show improvement on number writing/counting abilities! Again, it will be frustrating for some students who want help BUT it is WORTH the frustration! I also think it helps the children to learn how to work independently and persevere in their work!



 

 

 

 

I will be adding more Goodies from our 1st Week of 1st Grade later in the week so STAY TUNED!

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