Another great day in Room 240 – here’s the low-down:

After Independent Literacy Time and Morning Meeting, we had Reader’s Workshop. Today we talked about treating books and materials with respect, and reviewed how to properly store and use books (a simple, but necessary lesson for first grade). The kids all then got to do both independent reading and buddy reading, and also wrote a nice reader response.

After that, we had two songs – we reviewed the ocean song again, and then I taught the kids a song about the continents (see the lyrics here – the tune is to “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”). Ask your child how many of the (seven) continents they can remember!

After singing, we had Writer’s Workshop. The kids all had writing that they were anxious to get back to – they are working on pieces as diverse as stories, poetry, recipe/cookbooks, lists, and letters. It is so much fun to read them and discuss them with these young writers as they work!

It was then time for lunch and recess, and then back up to the room to read three more chapters of Mercy Watson – Something Wonky This Way Comes. At high noon, we headed down to the gym for class with Mr. Hill and Mr. Peterson. Gym was indoors this week – next week we will be outside for skating, weather permitting. (Parents are ALWAYS welcomed/encouraged/begged to come and help out – tying all those skate laces is quite a job. Please come if you can – Monday and Thursday, from 12:00 until 12:55. You can meet us in the gym, or in the warming house at Lynnhurst.)

When we got up from gym, we had Math Workshop, in which the kids all put the data that they collected from their surveys yesterday onto a graph. I am collecting all of the graphs to make into a class book, which will be in our class library.

After math, we finished the day with Science Lab. Yesterday the kids all traced those little water-expanding animals, and today we measured them (a little measurement lesson) to see if they had grown any since yesterday. They actually have – tomorrow we will work on recording that information on a large chart!

After that, as always, it was time to clean up, pack up, and bundle up!