Week 21

The first grade readers have been working hard on their non-fiction reading strategies. They have been practicing:

• Taking a sneak peek
• Stopping and studying each page
• Guessing what might come next
• Chatting about a page
• Making their voice smooth and lively 

With their non-fiction writing, the first grade authors are working on strategies to help them teach their readers! Here are some of the ones we have been focusing on:

• Think about questions your readers might have
• Write in twin sentences
• Include pictures
• Use size, shape and color words
• Make comparisons 

Ask your first grader what topics they are writing about, or interested in writing about and you can help them research and take notes at home! 

In math we have been focusing on collecting, organizing and asking questions about data. We have had a lot of fun creating surveys, and collecting data.

A first grade parent who works at Lewis and Clark had some of her international students visit our classrooms on Thursday! These incredible students spent time reading and writing with the first graders, and wow was it amazing to watch. The engagement and excitement was palpable and the college students were very impressed with the first graders' skills and think they are ready for college :)

To improve our reading fluency we want to increase the words that we can read in a snap - without having to solve! Here is an activity to help build your first graders snap word bank...

Sight Word Post-It Bingo:

Materials: 

• pad of Post-It squares (3x3 or smaller)
• pencils
• set of 9 or 16 sight words to practice, written on index cards (See the list below for ideas)
• one piece of paper per player (Note: Instead of paper, you could simply use a flat surface, such as a cookie sheet or the kitchen table.)
• a set of bingo markers, about 10 per player (plastic chips, bottle caps, paper clips, coins, macaroni, M&Ms... be creative and have fun!

What You Do:

• Prepare the game. Each player writes the sight words on Post-It notes, one word per note; players check each other's notes for accurate spelling.  Once the prep is done, players arrange their notes in a square on the construction paper or flat surface. If you're playing with 9 words, you should arrange them in three rows of three. For 16 words, four rows of four.   Finally, put the stack of index cards in the center of the playing area, face down.

• Play!   The first player turns over the top index card and reads the word aloud. Players mark their matching Post-It note with a bingo marker. Once everyone’s done marking, the player shows the card to all gamers, so they can check their work to be sure they’ve got a visual match. Player puts card in the discard pile.  Play continues in this manner until a player has marked an entire row on their Bingo “board”. The winner yells "Post-It Bingo!", then the oldest player checks the discard pile to be sure all the marked words have been called.