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Friday, August 23, 2013

My First Week in Pictures

Like many of you, I am happy to report that I survived my first of school. I'd be lying if I said it was easy! Since I taught my first graders when they were in kindergarten, they came to me already familiar with my procedures and I was actually able to start stations today. Here are some pictures of what they did...

At the Grammar Station, they made sentences with Lakeshore's Sentence Building Learning Center. I had some paper there for them to write some of their favorite sentences.



At the Phonics Station, they played Bingo. My phonics station will be used for spelling, but we didn't start Journeys yet, so I just put out some fun activities for the children to use, so they could get used to our station procedures.

At the Listening Station, they thoroughly enjoyed Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and I Love School, by Philemon Sturges.

This is my library, and we call this station Read to Self. I am doing my own version of the Daily 5. Daily 8 to be exact! We started building our stamina on Wednesday. The children started with 3 minutes, just like the book suggested. Then, they read for 5 minutes. And then 7 minutes! They were supposed to go for 10 minutes today, but we ran out of time and didn't get to it. However, the children who went to Read to Self, followed all of the suggestions from our Read to Self anchor chart. They all read for 15 minutes! It was a beautiful sight! They didn't even realize I took their picture!


At the Word Work Station, they practiced the Journeys back to school words. This is my newest Journeys game, Read it, Make it, Write it. It kept them actively engaged the entire time.


At the Work on Writing Station, the children used my School Supplies Scrambled Sentences activity. They put the sentences in order, and began writing them in their booklet.

Here is my Writer's Notebook Station. They children can write whatever they want. Most of them used the Writing Topics Cards to help generate ideas. They were happy to see them again this year, as they were a huge part of their kindergarten writer's workshop last year.

The only station that was not open today, was Meet With the Teacher. I wanted to keep myself accessible to help answer questions and to make sure our first station experience was a success. At one point, though, I told the children that they were on their own because I was going to pretend to have a small group at my teacher station. They got a kick out of watching me teach my invisible children how to read! All kidding aside, this was very helpful to me, because it made me realize that I would have to rearrange my teacher table to make room for my small groups. 

Once I start Journeys, I will have 2 whole group lessons, Monday through Thursday. My first whole group lesson will be about 30 minutes and will cover HFW, phonics, spelling, and grammar. This will be followed by 4-20 minute station rotations. I will meet with 3 reading groups a day. During the fourth rotation, I will meet with my Tier 2 and/or Tier 3 students. My final whole group lesson will cover the comprehension skills and strategies for the week. This will be followed by a short writer's workshop. Friday's will be reserved for testing and seasonal/thematic activities. Here is an image of what my rotation schedule will look like...
Since I don't have a teacher station yet, today, I replaced all the teacher stations with another round of Read to Self.

Next week, we will continue to build our stamina for Read to Self, and continue stations. We also have the SAT for 4 days, so first grade will be very, very busy!

I'll be back this weekend to let you know who the lucky winner is from my Learning Resources Giveaway! Right now, it's 7:00 PM and I can hardly keep my eyes open!


15 comments:

  1. Looking good! So neat to see them hard at work the first week! I made it through my first two days this week. Glad to have the break.

    Crystal

    Teaching Little Miracles

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  2. Lori
    Thanks for sharing all your pictures despite your exhaustion! I hope by now you are fast asleep and that you have a wonderful and relaxing weekend! :)
    Laura ~ First Grade Spies

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  3. We all understand first weeks exhaustion so sleep well.
    I went to year 1 with my kinder class a few years back and it was brilliant. There's a lot to be said for established routines!
    Julie :-)
    Mrs Stowe's Kinder Cottage

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  4. Ohhh! Such precious industrious little learners! I started a modified D5 (a rotation, not choice) last year in K5 too and I am so majorly homesick for my kiddos. They were so great and independent last year that my assistant and I marveled and bragged to everyone about them. It's been like a physical pain to start over again. Like baby proofing the house again for a new one. My class this year are just hatched chickadees. A third of them have July or August birthdays! We have a long way to go and I can't envision it yet. But, I'm going to trust the process and dive in to Read to Self next week (when they can't even sit beside someone without touching or talking)! You are so lucky to loop up with your class. Though if it's the first time, I'm sure that it's a huge amount of work!

    Donna Williams

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  5. Oh WOW Lori! Your room looks AMAZING and your kids must love you to pieces! I loved reading about your rotations. Everything is so hands-on and interactive!

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  6. I WISH I had time to do 6 rotations :( This darn mandatory 30 minute intervention time (which ends up being more like 45 minutes) takes up so much of my day :(

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  7. Loved reading this post . . . the kids reading on the carpet is my favorite shot. Cozy storybook/student pics always make my heart smile. Great work my friend!!!

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  8. This wasa great post...I would love to hear more about your Phonics Sation as I am going to startone this year. What other activities do the kids do there?

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    1. Heather,

      Once I start Journeys, my reading program, the children will use this station to practice their spelling words and additional words that follow the same spelling pattern for that week. I have prepared a lot of games to be played at this station.
      Lori
      Teaching With Love and Laughter
      luvyorkies@gmail.com

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  9. The kiddos are so engaged in their activities!! Looks wonderful!!!

    ღDeAnne
    First Grade and Fabulous

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  10. I love the Read It, Make it, Write It activity! What exactly is around the sheet?

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  11. I love the Read It, Make it, Write It activity! What exactly is around the sheet?

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    1. Cecelia,

      I laminated the boards so the children can just write on them with wipe off markers. Then, I decided to put them in dry erase sleeves. The children love using them!
      Lori
      Teaching With Love and Laughter
      luvyorkies@gmail.com

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  12. Can you post a picture of your Daily 8 management chart? Thanks!

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Thank you for taking the time to comment. I love to read them!

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