First Grade Poets!

Wow...it is starting to feel like Spring is here! The students have been enjoying their time outside this week. I hope you all have been enjoying this beautiful weekend.

We had a great week in our classroom. In Readers' Workshop, the students started engaging in a Poetry Unit. The class was excited to start this unit and share and learn more about poetry. The students are creating a their own poetry books. We are currently reading lots of different poems. This week we discussed what poetry is and made a list of things that we know about poetry. The students also practiced choosing "just right" poems, how to use the words of a poem to understand the meaning, and making metal pictures while reading poems. We set up a Poetry Share sign-up sheet. When students practice a poem and feel that they are wanting to share it with the class, they can sign-up have a chance to practice reading their favorite poems aloud.
The students are enjoying listening and sharing their "just right" poems.

In Math, we are continuing our study of Geometry. The students are having a great time exploring shapes through the use of manipulatives. We have been focusing on using hexagons, triangles, trapezoids and rhombus. We have been looking at shape attributes. The students are learning great geometric vocabulary and are learning about how to describe shapes. I was able to share one of my favorite books with the class, The Greedy Triangle, by Marilyn Burns. This book does a great job talking about different shapes and is a fun way to practice the names of different shapes.

This week we started a unit on Community. Both First Grade classrooms have been talking about Community Helpers or people in the community. The students were able to create their own Community Helpers with construction paper. The students are making some great connections with what their family members do to help out in the community as well as recognizing other jobs that people have in the community. We have been focusing on the importance of being a Community Helper. Next week, we are going to shift our focus to places that are important in the community.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and were able to enjoy the sunshine!