Parent Seminar

It was great meeting so many of you last week at the Parent Seminar.  I hope you have a better idea of what your child is doing all day.  They are very busy and expectations are high (though we always manage to have plenty of fun while learning).  

I have included my PowerPoint for those of you who may want to refer back to it; click on the image below:

Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or concerns.  

                                     

Read to Self

As I discussed at the Parent Seminar, in order for children to improve their reading skills, they need to have many opportunities to read books that are "Just Right" for them. In the following photos, the students have chosen their books and are working on developing stamina. The rules for Read to Self include choosing a spot in the room quickly, remaining in the same spot, reading quietly, and reading the whole time. At first the class as a whole was able to read for 6 minutes and as of Friday they're up to 12 minutes with the goal being 20!

At times when I am blogging I will include some questions or statements which could be used to start a dialogue with your student about the post.  The following are related Conversation Starters:

What is a "Just Right"book?

How do you know when a book is "Just Right"?

What does stamina mean?

What is a dessert book?

Welcome to Mrs. Hancock's Fabulous Firsties!

Welcome to Mrs. Hancock's Fabulous Firsties!

It is always exciting to begin a brand new school year!  I am so looking forward to getting to know my new class of first graders; I know we will have a wonderful year of learning! I feel that home school communication is very important; therefore, keeping parents informed is high on my priority list. For the last two years I have maintained a classroom blog and received very positive feedback from parents. I do post pictures of students; however last names are never included. If you would prefer not to have your child appear, please let me know as soon as possible.

The blog will include posts about curriculum as well as classroom and school wide events and happenings. You will find additional information in the links located above.  There is a class list (including first names only), specialist schedule, 1st grade portal which includes many worthwhile educational websites, and the Steward School website. In order to receive email alerts when a new entry is posted, please enter your email where it says "Follow by Email".


Looking for ways to make the transition back to school easier for your child?


10 Teacher's Tips to Kick Starting the New School Year

Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions and/or concerns about the upcoming school year.  The most efficient manner in which to reach me is through email: lhancock@topsfieldps.org.

Enjoy the last days of summer!

Opinion Writing

As part of the Common Core Standards for Writing, first graders should be able to: "Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure."
I have been teaching the children to remember the important elements of an opinion piece with the acronym OREO, to which they can all relate!!
Here is a graphic organizer used in the classroom to help the children organize their thinking before they start writing.  See if your child can explain to you how OREO relates to opinion writing.

After reading the book Duck! Rabbit!, I asked the children to write about their opinion.  Did they think the creature in the book was a duck or a rabbit? The children organized their opinion piece like an OREO:
O:  State your opinion R:  Give a reason E:  Explain your reason O:  Restate your opinion
The children know to include at least two reasons in order to make the piece stronger. We also discussed several appropriate sentence starters...

I made this activity that much more meaningful by connecting it to our last math chapter which focused on picture and bar graphing. After writing about our opinions, the children made both picture and bar graphs to organize the data.

Ask your child what his/her opinion was and why.  Be sure they give you at least two reasons.  :)

Other mentor texts we've used during our Opinion Writing unit:

 

Fairy Tales

  

Our fairy tale unit is coming to a close.  In addition to making the Wanted posters, here are some other activities in which your children have participated.

After reading several fairy tales, we developed a definition, and discovered the elements often found in this genre.

We worked on a chart indicating the elements that appear in many of the most popular Fairy Tales:

We have also made several story maps.

We created a Venn diagram comparing The Three Little Pigs, with the fractured fairy tale:  The True Story of the The Three Little Pigs.

If you have not already read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, click below and view it with your child; it's very humorous.

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

See if your child can discuss similarities and differences between these two tales.