I Am Good At…Grade One!

I just wrapped up my second week in our Grade One class, and it was even more fabulous than the first. By now, the kids and I are fairly used to each other, and I am picking up on the best strategies to use for each child. The classroom management piece is really coming along, and before long, all the little bits and pieces about how to listen and be respectful will require fewer reminders. Then we can really get into the fun stuff!

To go along with our big idea (that we should accept people’s differences because that’s what makes us special), we read books and wrote about what we are good at. We learned that we are all good at different things, and that’s what makes us unique. We started by reading Giraffes Can’t Dance—a book about a giraffe named Gerald who is made fun of because he can’t dance to the same classic music as all the other jungle animals. He learns that he is really good at dancing to funkier music, and all the other animals see just how unique he is. The writing task for this book asked the kids to write one sentence in response to the question: “What is Gerald good at?” The format of this question guided all other questions we looked at this week.

The other books we read dealt with the same theme: the characters are all different from the others in the books, but they are all really good at something. That’s what makes them special.

Our shared reading this week was a poem called “I’m Glad I’m Me” (sorry, I forget who wrote it). We reviewed what short a, short o, and short i sound like, and circled those words on the paper.

In math, we are moving away from the mystery aspect of the graphs and we are looking at how to transfer the information onto ten frames. The kids are so good at knowing that ten frames help us see groups of five and ten. One boy even connected it to our big idea that “graphs help us see information easily”. He noticed that ten frames are very similar. Smartie pants! I would give them graphs and they had to plot the data on a ten frame. They really loved it when they could work in partners and take turns filling in each box. I also introduced the rekenrek on Thursday and they just loved that. We learned that just like the ten frame, the rekenrek also helps us see fives and tens easily. If we know fives and tens, we can quickly identify the numbers close to them. I made them all their own little personal rekenreks as well. I bought some foam sheets, pipe cleaners, and beads. It was so simple and cheap and the kids loved it. I would give them their own, ask them to “show me ___” and they had to hold it up to show me. The game was a huge hit.

This is a Pinterest picture. I forgot to take a picture of my own. 

The rekenrek helps the students easily see that I have moved over 6 beads. They don't have to count each bead individually. I highly recommend buying a rekenrek or ask your school to buy one. 

Have you ever heard of International Dot Day? I went on Pinterest one night just to peruse for a bit, and I stumbled across a few pins. It’s a celebration based on the book, The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. The book is about a girl who stubbornly draws nothing but a small dot on her paper because she doesn’t think she’s good at art. Her teacher makes her feel special when she frames the paper. The girl then draws tons of dots and inspires others to make their mark. So…we had a dot party at the end of the week! The majority of the kids wore polka dots (so did I), we read the book/watched it on YouTube, and did some dot art. I made the templates on PowerPoint using different kinds of line to bring back what we learned last week. The kids just loved it. My one student who brought in his show and share today (something that is special to you), brought in a special rock with polka dots on it! They had a blast and asked if we could have a stripe party next week. It’s like they can read my mind. I do, in fact have something planned for a Friday in the future.

Overall, it was a great second week. I can see so much progress in academic and social areas in each of the kids. They now all have reading folders and reading bags with their leveled books, and they just think it’s awesome. I think it’s wonderful and adorable. I’m looking forward to another great week with the kids, as we move even further along with our reading, writing, and math skills.

Happy Friday!