Our First Writing Sample

We had been reading "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" by Mo Willems this week.  My students love this story.  I gave them an art lesson provided by Mo on how to draw his pigeon (http://www.pigeonpresents.com/activities/pigeon_draw01.pdf) . They then wrote a sentence to respond to something in the story.  This was our first writing sample this year.  At the end of this school year we will create an end of the year writing sample and they students will get to reflect on how their writing improved.  I think the pigeons are adorable!  That was a wonderful exercise in following directions.  They did very well with this task. 

                                

Read-to-Self

We are in the process of using what we have learned from our "I PICK" song (see post below) to choose good fit books for our book boxes. Today we got to choose 4 books that: 1) I choose, not you. 2)I am interested in and want to become a better reader with these books. 3) I comprehend the book. 4) I know most of the words. We added these books into our "good fit" book bags that we keep in our book boxes. Later in the day, we practiced Read-to-Self starting with our newly chosen books. Our reading stamina soared up to 18 minutes.

The 4 "good fit" books this student chose.  She can read almost all of the words in each book.

She also has the song books we have made this year.  She knows all the words because she can sing the entire song.

These are all the other books she has in her book box that she is interested in reading. 

These are where we "park" our book boxes each evening.

We are graphing our reading stamina daily.  Our stamina increased to 18 minutes when students were reading their choice "good fit" books!  They have set the goal for tomorrow of getting to 20 minutes for Read-to-Self!

I PICK Good Fit Books Rap

First grade has been learning to pick "good fit" books they can read to help them become better readers everyday.  We learned a song to help us remember the steps when choosing such an important book.  We practiced the song together and then the students wanted to make a video of themselves singing our "I PICK" song.  I told them I would put it on our blog so you could view their video.

I PICK, I PICK, I P-I-C-K
I PICK, I PICK, I P-I-C-K

I
I choose, not you
I choose my books
I choose, not you
I choose my books

I PICK, I PICK, I P-I-C-K
I PICK, I PICK, I P-I-C-K

P
Purpose, purpose, why am I reading this?
Purpose, purpose, why am I reading this?

I PICK, I PICK, I P-I-C-K
I PICK, I PICK, I P-I-C-K

I
Interest, interest, do I like it?
Interest, interest, do I like it?

I PICK, I PICK, I P-I-C-K
I PICK, I PICK, I P-I-C-K

C
Comprehend, do I understand?
Comprehend, do I understand?

I PICK, I PICK, I P-I-C-K
I PICK, I PICK, I P-I-C-K

K
Know, do I know most of the words?
Know, do I know most of the words?

I PICK, I PICK, I P-I-C-K
I PICK, I PICK, I P-I-C-K
(Sorry for the low resolution.  This site reduces the file size by making the quality lower.)

Our Class Library

I have bought MANY books for our classroom library.  I want my students to love reading and exploring books when they leave my classroom at the end of the year!  I introduced them to our library today and turned them loose to browse for "good fit" books for themselves.  They were so involved in their treasures I had to snap a few photos!

 They found the same book and are "buddy reading."  I love it!!

 Sharks are always a favorite topic in our classroom.

 Reading and searching for bugs in their habitat.

 One of the collections I showed the class was "Danny" the dog books.  Looked like someone was interested in Danny!

 Nothing better, books and friends!

 Imagine!

 You just have to see this page!

 Reading Corner Crowd

We had indoor recess today due to rain so I snapped a few more photos for you.

 Pattern Block Spaceship

Teamwork

 Connecting Cubes

 Playdough

 They wanted to read more during recess.  You have to love it!

My Students This Year

This is my class!  They are doing such a great job so far this year.  I am excited to get to know each one of them better.  Some still have not turned in their photo permission form so they are not on the blog yet.

First Day of Read-to-Self

Beginning our "Read-to-Self" work station.  We will build our reading stamina daily.  Today we read for 3 minutes.  We came back and checked in to see how it went.  We all agreed that the class followed all the proper procedures and tomorrow they set a goal of 5 minutes.  We will begin graphing this data as we set and reach our goals.

Beginning of a New Year!

Here is what our classroom looks like in case you missed Open House on Wednesday.

 Laptops, ipads, projectors, speakers, whiteboards, oh my!

 Secret Stories Wall

The Rules