Learning Launch!

This week has been what I feel is best described as the learning launch!  No longer am I just teaching procedures and expectations, but now I am adding that layer of academic challenges to really push my students to launch into a new year of learning. 

The students are into the routine of working first thing in the morning right up until morning announcements.  They want to keep working in their binders after announcements too, but we try to wrap it up at that point.

This week we reached 16 minutes for our reading stamina and we have launched all 5 Reader's Workshop choices!  I was able to pull reading groups today!  Hip Hip Hooray!  Six days ago I was afraid that we were not going to make it to this point! Amazing what can happen in a short amount of time in first grade! 

 Another learning launch has been our writer's workshop.  After we wrote three days this week, we had an author's sharing around the rug.  I didn't take pictures of the students sharing this time  They passed the microphone and shared one piece from their folder.  It was neat to watch them think about and choose their favorite piece to share. 

 Since we are authors now, it was time for our Special Delivery to arrive in our classroom! Boy was this exciting! 

 It was a tight election, but it looks like our class pet's name is President Bob.  We are all in love with him!  (It's so fitting for a little bobcat!!!)

 President Bob went home and has already come back with stories to tell...

  For math this week, we have been working on tallying, graphing, and analyzing as well as comparing numbers.  I snapped these pictures during our whole group lesson and then realized they are upside down to a normal person....As teachers our whole day is upside down like this!

 Math tub time is always a favorite!

  This activity was an interview, tally, and graph. 

  To practice for our first spelling test, I grabbed these short a apples and gave my students each a white board.  I gave each word in the format that I will give it tomorrow on the test. They wrote it on their whiteboards.  We went over it by placing the apple on the tree and checking our work.  I was told I was the best teacher in the world and that spelling tests are SO FUN! 

 Another Fantastic Week!