First Day of our First Full Week!

Wow - I can not believe how much the kiddos have absorbed since their first day of school.
They are an incredibly enthusiastic bunch; I love their energy and how eager they are to learn.

Today we looked at what clues help us to make predictions. We concluded that the title and cover help us make predictions, as well as the pictures and words in the text. Our predictions changed while we read; while the title and cover clues can tell us a lot - they leave too wide of a gap because we all have different experiences (schema). As we get into the story, our schema helps us make predictions - but we're really using our knowledge of fictional text/stories.

I wanted the children to look at how their predictions changed and how their initial predictions were important because they were thinking about the text, but they were very likely incorrect. It is difficult to admit your prediction was "wrong" in first grade - so we just make sure to celebrate thinking (and of course being able to prove your thinking).

The littles were excited to start borrowing some books from the classroom library.

Penny, Penny

Easily Spent

Copper Brown

and worth one cent.

Today, we talked about manipulatives in math. We won't be learning about money in depth right now, but money will be a useful tool in counting (one-to-one, and skip counting using nickels and dimes). The children were excited to explore pennies. We didn't do much with the pennies; the lesson was really a lesson in manipulative exploring. We looked at how we put the manipulatives on math mats, how we sit side by side with a partner, carefully empty the bags out on to the mat, and keeping the bags as flat as possible while sealing.

Some of the students shared their Me Bags, today. They did an exceptional job - there were some very clever things inside of those bags. Thank you for helping them put the bags together!