Picture it ;)

Now that I can upload pictures, I wanted to show a picture of my children~!! They are so excited to be famous. :) This is from our field trip to the Christmas Tree farm, they had so much fun. My dad was able to go with us and they love when Mr.Leahy comes to visit! Also, the other pictures are just a quick tour of the classroom and the walls we use DAILY to be independent learners~!

Making goals count

At the beginning of each week, I list out the objectives for the week for all the subjects. Last week, I had the students take that objective and make their own personal goal. The objective stated the students needed to be able to count, write, and read numbers 11 to 20. Each student chose their goal, wrote it in their journals, and worked on that goal all week. At the end of the week, I had the students check to see if they met their goals. Most of them had met it! I was so proud and I could tell it gave the lesson more purpose for them. We did it again this week except they chose a reading goal. I can't wait until Friday when we meet more goals!!!!

We also do daily objectives in math. At the end of the lesson, I give an exit task to see if they students have met the objective. Here's some examples of those "objective maps". 

Hanging with the vowels

We have been working on the LONG vowel sounds. I created a center to help the students understand the importance of vowels. Without vowels we can't "hang" words. In the center they are sorting short a and long a words. Then they are writing the words. Also during tier 2, I have the students read a book and make lists of all the words they find that have long vowels in them. We add these words to the chart. The idea is that students can refer back to the chart to help them build words using the vowels.
Our field trip to the Christmas tree farm is tomorrow! Bundle up! :)

STRATEGY

Today we talk about calling the strategies by name. We shouted out STRATEGY several times to help students remember this big word! In math we use different strategies to add and subtract. Some examples are: using a numberline, counting up, use your fingers, use tallies, draw a picture, and counting out loud. I put this number story up on the board. I had 10 cupcakes. My mom ate 4. How many do I have left? The students could choose one way to solve the problem. After solving the problem, they got with their math partner and used the sentence starter, "the strategy I used was..".
The students did AWESOME! They not only got the answer correct and knew it was subtraction, but they all used a variety of strategies.
During reading we talked about text connections. I brought "Mr.Connection" with me today. It is a cup filled with sentence starters to help students understand how to make connections while reading. We made a poster of the three types: text to text, text to self, and text to world. First I read a book and modeled my text to self connection. Then I had students share their connections. During reading groups, they all got to choose a stick and make their own connection to the book. They caught on really well. Today was just an introduction so I can't wait to see all the great connections we make in the weeks to come!

A "First" for me

Welcome! I decided to create this blog for YOU parents! A teacher on my team has kept a blog since the beginning of the year and it is such a great tool to keep you all involved. I can upload links to helpful websites, books we are reading, strategies we are using, and so much more from our classroom. Remember, I am new at "blogging" but I promise I will get the hang of it.
My first helpful link tonight is thereadinglady.com On this website, you can find strategies to help your child develop reading fluency and comprehension. I have made folders with different strategies for students to focus on before, during, and after reading. I use these folders for reading groups, reading extensions, and to help students be independent readers.
Keep checking for new blogs!!!