Establishing Routines and Exploring Our Schoolyard Habitat

We have been busy establishing routines in our classroom these first couple of weeks of school.  Even though it has been extremely hot we did manage to accomplish quite a bit! We even practiced bus safety!

Our morning begins with "Wake Up" work.  Students settle in first thing and work on practicing their word wall words, math problems, handwriting, etc.

"Wake Up" Work

The majority of our morning is spent with the "Daily 5" where students are working on reading, spelling, and writing.  We are working on building stamina as we establish and practice the expectations for each routine.

"Read to Self" 

 

"Read to Someone"

Another important part of the Daily 5 is "Work on Writing."  Students choose any topic to write about in their monthly journals.  Right now we are working on developing an idea or topic.

"Work on Writing" - August Journals

 One of our word wall words was the word "as" which can be kind of tricky for 1st graders.  After we read the book "Easy as Pie", students wrote one of the sayings from the book and illustrated it.

 

We explored our schoolyard habitat using our five senses.  We discussed how scientists always record or document their findings and how they use special tools to explore nature.  Then, students used a special habitat booklet to draw what they experienced.  They even got to use magnifying glasses and binoculars!  Later on, back in the classroom the boys and girls wrote sentences about their pictures. 

Another part of our beginning of the year ritual is the school bus safety review.  The kiddos did a great job!  Here they are practicing exiting the bus safely.

As you can see we have been very busy!!