Welcome to First Grade!

Team James 2016-2017

First Grade Families~

We've had an awesome start this year at Beulah Ralph!  It's been a blast getting to know each and every one of these very special first graders!  We've spent a lot of the last two weeks getting to know each other and getting to know our routine!  This week we've had a great time learning all about some of our favorite things by sharing our "What's in the Sack" objects!  Thank you parents for helping your kiddos make smart choices when bringing in items from home.  

This week I introduced the first component of Daily 5 to the class...  Read to Self.  Many of the kiddos already knew exactly what to do because they remembered doing it in kindergarten (woop, woop!).  We talked about the expectations for students and the teacher during this time, and we practiced, practiced, practiced!  They are doing an awesome job and we are already up to 7 minutes of read to self stamina!   

 This week we also started our math journals!  We will be doing daily math rotations during our math block.  Rotations include Math by Myself, Math with Someone, Math with Technology, and Teacher Table.  Our math journals will be used during Math by Myself time.  We also learned a couple of games this week that we will be doing during Math with Someone... ask your child what games they have been playing in math! :)  

We also started our writing workshop this past week.  Our first writing unit will be on personal narrative.  To help us get ready for this unit, we brainstormed many different topics that we can write about (things that are in our heart).  The kiddos did a nice job of decorating their writing folders with their heart ideas!






Parents~ This blog will replace a weekly newsletter that would normally go in the Friday Folder. Please make sure to check back often to see updates on what your child is learning!  I look forward to sharing lots of pictures of your children throughout the week!  It is exciting to see as a teacher, and I know you will be so proud of how hard they work at school!