Out of the mouths of babes...
One of my firsties came up to me the other day, patted my shoulder, and said, "Ms. Carter, sometimes you just gotta let it go. Just let it go."
I have no idea where this came from or even why this little bit said that. But I just had to smile because she has no idea how appropriate that was to say.
I'm learning.
Relax is the key word for me. I need to learn to just leave it alone and move on. Take a deep breath and just keep moving.
I'm finally starting to get over being sick and the sickness seems to gradually be dying down among the little ones. I'm learning that if you don't take time for yourself, your body will force you to do just that. I tried to ride today but I couldn't canter or jump because I had NO energy. I've been pushing too hard lately I guess and I still need to give myself time to regain some strength. But it was nice to get out enjoy the last of the nice weather we're having.
In our classroom...
1. Reading:
We've been studying about responsibility in our Imagine It time. The kids have enjoyed the shared reading of Pigsty by Mark Teague. We started out in our first reading by talking about predictions while reading. In our second reading we talked about inferring using the pictures. The kids thought it was hilarious that the boy was visited by pigs when he wouldn't clean his room. They were also floored when the pigs made a mess in the Wendell's room and he had to clean up his mess! That led to a great conversation about who has to clean up their mess in the classroom if they don't do it...
Chicken 1 and Chicken 2 song - I found out about this song at the math conference I attended recently. We do it hand motions and the kids are to be in their seats by the end of the song. It so works! The kids LOVE it.
We tried karate math, which I also discovered at the math conference, but the kids were a little too ninja-like with their kicks. I'll have to rethink this before we try it again. : )
In math we've been learning about place value, specifically working with tens and ones. I've been able to find several wonderful centers on teacherspayteacher.com and the kids have been working with these in small groups for the past 2 weeks.
This summer I was blessed to be chosen to go on a trip to Mesa Verde, Colorado with a NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities), which is a grant given to selected teachers to participate in different workshops around the world. On this trip, I got to learn more about the Ancient Pueblo Indians in Colorado. From this experience, I've gradually starting putting together a unit for my firsties about the Pueblo. Since we study culture and history in 1st grade, I've been focusing specifically on the Pueblo to talk to the kids about how a different culture lives. We will soon learn more about the Hopi Indians and we also have learned a little about the Powhatan as a comparison. We will continue to learn more about Native Americans as we approach Thanksgiving.
In honor of Veteran's Day, I read the picture book The Wall to the kids. The kids then completed Veteran's day cards during morning work.
A link to the book on Reading Rainbow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWOFmih1QWM
In the afternoons we are still doing Daily 5. This has been just about the only way I can get progress monitoring done. I need to have the kids doing something that is not "busy work" and has educational value, but is also something that they can do pretty independently. Because we've Daily 5 for a while, I can usually get a few minutes to test one of the kids.
Just a few happenings from our room...
Have a great night, first grade!
Love, Ms. Carter
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