Vocabulary development happens rather quickly at this grade level!  You will notice a correlation    between reading and vocabulary.  As the texts read become more difficult, they also become much more rich with vocabulary.  During read aloud time, we add words that “sound cool” to our Graffiti Wall.  We talk about what each word means, then also discuss other ways to say the same thing.  We know that good authors use Million Dollar Words to spice up their work!

Tonight’s mission is a vocabulary game.  Ready, First Grade?  BEGIN! (a fancy word for, “Go!”)

Basketball fans, March Madness is just around the corner!  (GO ILLINI, right, Joe?!!)  Brush up on your math skills and take a few foul shots with this math game.  Ready first graders?  GO!

Congratulations, West!  I am very proud of you!  West was a first grade friend of mine when I taught at Millikin School.  Today we talked about the fact that we will all always be “Mrs. Reakes’ kids.”  I want the kiddos to know that I will continue to follow them as they grow.  Along with their parents, I will celebrate their successes with them or help them make good choices, if needed.  They all laughed when I said it was like having another M-O-M!

Let’s try something new!  Every couple of days, I will add a link to a new learning game for you to enjoy.  After you complete your mission, let me know what you think by adding a comment!  In class, we have been learning how to do Sudoku puzzles.  Tonight’s mission is to practice Sudoku!  Click on the word, “go!”  to play.  Parents – there is advertising on this site.  Many times, you can click to skip the ads.  Please let me know if you have any problems!  First graders… Go!

Thank you for visiting!  Please play the movie below.

Our literacy work stations keep us busy in the morning.  I am a firm believer that first graders learn by thinking, interacting, collaborating, and DOING!  Having said that, we are often found engaged in cooperative learning in our room.  Many times, there simply is no “end product” to our work.  Instead of using worksheets to demonstrate the completion of a task, we use business cards.  When students have completed a task, they place their “business” cards next to their work and take a picture of it using a digital camera – no, I haven’t had one dropped or broken yet!  I can then check the pictures in order to see how their time was spent at centers (I am working with reading groups at this time).  Now that’s what I call, “taking care of business!”

Thank you all for your patience as your teacher learns about blogging!  I have added pictures from our     Valentine’s Party and will continue to add more.  I have also removed the link to “Cool School,” as some of my friends mentioned that it took an incredibly long time to download, then didn’t work!  I hope you enjoy seeing pictures from our days at school.  Ultimately, I would like for this blog to be an interactive place for my friends to learn and chat.  We’ll see how fast your teacher can learn!

I am excited to learn more about posting and changing this blog.  Thank you for your patience as I embark on a new learning adventure!