Monday, November 22, 2010

What are you thankful for?

During this time of year, we can't help but think about all the blessings that we have to be thankful for. Many times, we get caught up in our busy schedules and we don't take the time to slow down and think about all that we do have. We are thankful everyday to get to share in your child's lives and to watch them grow. We hope that this holiday weekend you are able to enjoy your family and all your blessings. Happy Thanksgiving.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Inferring in First Grade

This week our reading strategy is inferring. We have been listening to different scenarios and inferring what information is not given to us. Here are some examples of scenarios we have been working with:


In the morning, we noticed that the trees were uprooted and homes were missing their rooftops
1.What can you infer from this?
2.What words helped you to infer?
3.What do you know in your head that helped you to infer?

The boys poked holes in the lids of the jars. They went outside to look around the yard. “There’s one!” said Bobby. “Now let’s find one for you!”
1.What can you infer from this?
2.What words helped you to infer?
3. What do you know in your head that helped you to infer?


Mom gave Matt and Josh lunch money and walked them to the bus. When the bus came they got on with all the other children and waved goodbye to Mom.
1.What can you infer from this?
2.What words helped you to infer?
3. What do you know in your head that helped you to infer?

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Skills Stations

This week we have made some new changes to our schedule. To begin we will now be doing Skills Stations on Wednesdays for about 20 minutes. Today was our first day and what a fabulous job they did. Each group will have a set of activities they will be working on that is a review of skills we have done in class. All students in each group will be working on the same activity. Each week they will rotate and complete a different skill. Here were the skills we focused on today.


Blends Match



Synonym Concentration



Rhyming Concentration



Short Vowel Bingo



Rhyming Concentration



Synonym Bingo

Monday, November 15, 2010

Reader's Workshop

This week we began working on inferring as a reading strategy. Today the kids learned that in order to be a good reader, we need to know how to infer the information that is not directly given to us in the text. As they become better readers, they will need to learn how to use what they know to understand what is not directly stated. Today we practiced basic sentences to help us understand what it means to infer. Here is a couple samples from our lesson today:

My sister and I share a room. We are twins. Sometimes we wear each other’s clothes.
The speaker is ________________.

My son has two children. They visit me every summer. I bake them cookies and take them to the zoo. We have a great time!
The speaker is _________________.

This divides my yard from the yard next door. It is made of wood. I cannot see over it.
The object is ________________________.

I wear these when it is cold. I have a red one and a blue one. My mom has one for the sun.
The object is _______________________.


Each day we will look at text and learn how to infer what the sentence/passage is about. Ask your child how we are learning about inference as a reader.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Literacy Parade and Fall party

Friday was such a busy day. We had a great time dressing up as our favorite characters. We did some fun crafts and enjoyed some yummy treats. Here are some of the pictures from our day.