Fabulous First Graders Fun with Words

First graders, today at computer lab play these fun word games that work on beginning sound. Do the games in order. Play each game at least one time. When you work through the list you can choose your favorites to play again. Happy spelling!

1. Chicken Coop

2. Letter Lifter

3. Clifford Sort

4. Word Robot

5. Starfall

Spectaular Second Grade Spellers

Today at computer lab, second graders will play these great games to practice your spelling skills. Please go through the links in order. If you get to practice all the games, choose your favorite to go back and play again. Happy spelling!

1. Word Sort

2. Word Builder

3. Word Find

4. Crossword

5. Word Game

Sunflowers

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Making 10

Knowing how to quickly and fluently make 10 is an important addition strategy. To help practice the 10 facts this week we made ten rainbows. Then, we played the game "Go Fish" but changed it to practice tens. Instead of trying to get matches, the children would pair cards that made ten (for example, 4 and 6 would be a pair). This would be a great game for both first graders and second graders to play at home.

Arrrggggh!

Monday was International Talk Like A Pirate Day. And, aye mate, we did celebrate. We read pirate books, sang pirate songs, made pirate hats, and even had a treasure hunt! The clues took the kids around the building and had them solving riddles that reviewed some of our recent objectives. I don't know who had more fun, the kids or me!

Shell Science

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Math Learning Goals

In math this week, first graders are working to build a foundation for addition. We played a game called spill the counters to explore combinations for making 6,7,8, and 9. For example, 6+0, 5+1, 4+2, and 3+3 all make 6. I am hoping to send the game spill the counters home this week with each first grader. The more the kids can practice addition the better! In the upcoming weeks we will be exploring combinations to 12, as well as, introducing different addition strategies.

In second grade, we are working on place value 0-100. We are using the hundreds chart for games and activities, building numbers with tens and ones, and counting, counting, counting! I found some great games online to help the students practice. Please let them show you what they know.
Shark Numbers
Give the Dog a Bone!
Counting Cows
A class favorite is Give the Dog a Bone. In these pictures, the second graders are cheering each other on as students try to beat the time and find 10 bones hiding in the hundreds chart. They sure love the interactive whiteboard.

Reading Learning Goals

This week in reading our target learning goal was for first graders to distinguish between fiction and nonfiction text. We also talked about why we read fiction and why we read nonfiction. For second graders, we went a step further and learned different features of nonfiction and their uses. For example, often in nonfiction you find a table of contents, text boxes, captions, photographs, labels, maps, graphs, drawings, bold words, glossary, and an index. Both first and second graders did all the activities together, however, my expectation for level of understanding was differentiated by the grade level.

Here are some pictures of kids sorting fiction and nonfiction books and explaining how they knew which category to place the book in.

We All Fit Together

We continued to work on teamwork this week. Each student got a puzzle piece to design. Then, we gathered on the floor, each student with their piece, and worked together to assemble the puzzle. The students discussed strategies and encouraged each other. This puzzle was different from other puzzles the students had put together and many of the traditional puzzle strategies wouldn't work. For example, the students couldn't match up colors because they each decorated their puzzles individually. When it was complete, each child's unique piece fit together to form the Cooperative Combo!

Watermelon Day

Friday was Watermelon Day! After a long week, we continued our celebration of the Cooperative Combo with Watermelon Day! During the day, we made estimates and then measured the watermelon's weight and circumference, we painted a watermelon craft, we read books, and we even learned a watermelon song:
"Oh, I like watermelon,
Because it wets my ears.
Sing polly wolly doddle all the day"!
At the end of the day, we joined our fourth grade buddies for some super fun watermelon relays. The kids had a BLAST! At last, we ate sweet, juicy watermelon. It was a delicious ending to a fantastic week in the Cooperative Combo!

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Cooperative Combo

This week we have really focused on getting to know each other, building a strong learning team, and having fun!  The class decided we needed a team name.  After careful thought, the kids came up with (drum roll please)....THE COOPERATIVE COMBO!  Brilliant!

Happy New Year

It is a new year!  Last week was difficult on all first and second graders.  It is never ideal to shuffle kids and teachers after the year has begun.  However, we are making the best of this situation.  Our first day in the combination room, we threw a NEW YEAR celebration!  Great things can come from change and I believe that this combination room is one of those great things.  What an amazing group of 1st and 2nd graders.  This year will be a thrilling adventure.  I can not wait!