All About: Logic (Part 1)

We spend about 40 minutes a day (3 days a week) practicing our Logic skills in first grade.  These skills that the children learn help them become better readers, writers, and spellers. 

Logic is a literacy program that focuses on teaching children the syllable types and the rules that go with each syllable type.  To learn more about the Logic program, you can visit:  www.logicreading.com  The Logic program is supported by the common core standards and is also supported by recent literacy research. 

In this blog post, I will explain the different parts of our 40-minute Logic instruction: 

Review Skills/New Skills
We start our Logic lesson by reviewing sounds and also introducing a new sound.  Each sound is practiced for 2 weeks before being tested on.  (Except during the first quarter.  The first quarter is a review of kindergarten and we only practice the skills for 1 week before they are tested.)  

Above is a picture of the review sounds.  I point to the letter e and the children respond by saying:  "this is a letter. it's name is e.  The sound e makes in a closed syllable word is /e/ /e/ /e/.  I also ask the students if the letter is a vowel or a consonant and if it is a voiced or unvoiced letter.  We do the same routine for all the the review sounds. 

After we review the sounds on the whiteboard, I introduce the new sounds on the smartboard.  Above is the picture of the sound y.  I tell the children that we are learning the consonant y, y says /y/ /y/ y/  and y is a voiced letter. I also tell the children that the consonant y is found at the beginning of words.  We practice some words together on the board. 

We also practice our two high-frequency words.  We use fridge magnets on the smartboard to help us practice these words.

Auditory Drill
After we review and introduce the new sound, students go back to their seats for the Auditory Drill.  I say a sound and students write the letter or letters that say that sound.

Read Words/Sentence 
After the Auditory Drill, the students come back down to the carpet to read words and sentences.  We break apart the words by their sounds and blend them together.  We also discuss the syllable type and any rules that go with the word.  For example:  The students learned that when a word begins with the /k/ sound, we use a c when there is an a, o, or u and we use a k when there is an i e or y.

Write Words/Sentence 
 After we read words and sentences, the students go back to their seats and they practice writing words.  We finger spell the word first and then write it.  I am able to walk around the room and check the students' whiteboards for any mistakes. 

We finish the lesson by writing a sentence on our whiteboards. 

It is amazing to see these kids in action!  They are so smart and they are able to use what they learn from our Logic lesson and apply it to their reading, writing, and spelling. 

Next week, I will explain the syllable types that are learned in first grade! 

All About: The Morning Meeting

We are a classroom family!  Families need to have time to talk to each other and learn from each other.  In our classroom, we always start our day with a morning meeting and end our day with an afternoon meeting.  It is a great way to start our day and set goals and when we meet in the afternoon, it gives us a chance to wrap up our day and reflect on the goals we set.

In this blog post, I will explain the parts of the morning meeting.

The Morning Meeting

Greeting

We always start the morning meeting with a greeting.  The busy bee chooses a way to greet (right now they can choose from saying 'good morning' or 'hola'.  We take turns going around the circle and saying good morning to the person next to us.  We make sure we look at the person and say their name. We will add different ways to greet each other as the year progresses.  This is a great way to start our day!

Busy Bee Share and Tell
After we greet each other,  The Busy Bee shares something (either a special thing or special information) by going around the circle and then telling us a little information about it.  The children then ask the Busy Bee questions about their special thing or information.

News and Events in the School and Classroom
After the Busy Bee shares, I discuss news and events in the school and in the classroom.  This is a great time to talk about any special events going on at school and it is also is a great time to discuss and review our "Spotless" behaviors in our classroom.  Everyday, we have a conversation as a class about how we need to act at school and in the classroom.  We pick a "Spotless Behavior" of the day to focus on, but then we discuss other positive behaviors that will help us have a successful day.

 The class tries to earn the letters found in "Spotless" through out the day.  Once the class earns the word spotless, they receive special things like Extra Recess.  During the morning meeting, the Busy Bee sets a goal for the day.  We discuss what letter we want to get to by the end of the day.  If we reach our goal by the end of the day, the students receive a "Bonus" letter.

Calendar Activities
During calendar activities, the Busy Bee becomes the "Teacher."  We discuss the date, put a straw in the place value chart and discuss if the number is odd or even.  The Busy Bee gets to call on other students.

We also do a lot of calendar activities on the smartboard every morning.  

Morning Message 
After calendar activities, we read the weekly morning message.  We read the same message all week long to build fluency!  We also look for and circle different types of words each day.

Our Schedule 

Finally, our morning meeting ends with us going over the schedule for the day.  Our schedule is an interactive smartboard document that we use throughout the day.  We go over the entire schedule in the morning and then refer to it all day long.  It is a great way to stay on track and the students know exactly what is going to happen next in our day!

At the end of each day, we meet again in a circle to discuss our day.  We congratulate our Busy Bee for doing an awesome job and we check to see if we reached our goal.  The afternoon meeting is a great way to wrap up our day!

Having the children meet as a group is an amazing way to promote classroom community and responsibility.  We are a classroom family and we all work together to have the best days in first grade!

All About: Student-Created Weekly Newsletter

We work hard in first grade!  It would be great if your child would come home and tell you everything they did at school!  But we know that doesn't happen all the time.  The answer you usually receive is "nothing."  That is so not true!

On Fridays, the students write a weekly newsletter to tell their families everything they worked on during the week.  It is also a great way to review the skills learned throughout the week and see what they remember.

On Fridays, keep a look out for the "Buzzing Through First Grade"  newsletter that will be found on the "school news" side of their folder.  Take time to talk about everything that is on the newsletter!
We accomplish a lot during a week of First Grade!

 

All About: First Grade Homework

Homework begins next week.  This blog post will help explain the components of the First Grade homework packet.  

First and foremost, I do not wish for my students to go home and spend lots of time on homework every night.  I do not want my students to ever feel frustrated or angry while completing any type of homework.  

First graders need to re-energize when they get home.  They need to spend time with their families and get a good night sleep.  Homework should last no longer than 10-15 minutes.  Set a timer!

Reading at home is the most important part of the homework packet.  This can include reading right before bed.  Your child can read to you, read with you, or listen to you read.  All of these can be recorded on their reading log.  

Homework packets will be given to the students on Mondays and will be returned on Fridays.  

Here is an explanation of each part of the packet:  

Math Menu

I use a menu style of math homework.  

The appetizers are skills currently being taught or already learned.  It will provide a great review for students.  Just choose two skills through out the entire week.  You can do these every night or do them one night and be done for the rest of the week.  A great appetizer is practicing your child's rocket math page that comes home every night.  

The main dish is an activity page that is found on the back of the menu.  Students will complete the activity page and a parent/guardian will sign the menu

Desserts are math skills that have not been taught yet, but if children want to do more homework and challenge themselves, then they are more than welcome to.  

Math Activity Page

Found on the back of the math menu.  This is the main dish activity.  

Reading Study Guide (Vocabulary Words) 

The reading study guide just informs you of the vocabulary words and reading comprehension skills that are being taught at school.  You can discuss these words with your children if you would like, but there is nothing that needs to be completed.  

Reading Menu/Log

The reading menu is set up just like the math menu.  Please record books read at home (as I said, these books can be read by your child, with your child, or to your child...) It can be the same book over and over again, it can be a chapter book.  

If there is a night where you were unable to read---it's ok! Just write in the log that no book was read. 

Logic(spelling) Study Guide and Reading Passage

The way your children are learning how to spell words is amazing!  LOGIC is a program that teaches them the different syllable types and the rules that go along with each syllable.  

When you are practicing some of the example words given on the Logic study guide:  have them orally finger spell the word (breaking apart the sounds with their fingers) and then write it down.  

Do not have your child write the example words 3 times each or any other traditional method of memorizing spelling words...that is not what this program is about.  Your child is not memorizing words, but rather learning valuable skills!!

The reading passage will give your child extra practice with these skills.  Simply listen to your child read the passage and have them complete the questions.  

I hope this blog post was helpful!  All the skills in the homework packet are skills learned in school.  If your child does a good job of listening to the lessons taught in school, then the homework should just be a quick reinforcement.

All About: The BEE Book

Your child's BEE (Bring Everything Everyday) Book is an organizational tool we use to help stay connected from school to home.

In this blog post, I will explain every important part of your child's BEE book.  When used correctly, this tool allows students to be responsible and prepared for everyday in first grade.  It also helps parents organize everything that comes home.

Notes and Lunch Money
When ever your child has a note or lunch money, please slip it in the front pocket.  All students are responsible for looking in the BEE Book every morning and taking out any notes and or lunch money and putting them in the correct bins in the classroom.

Red Folder
This folder is meant for classroom work done by your child during the day and any school news from myself or anyone else in the school.  Students are responsible for taking the papers out of their mailboxes at the end of the school day and dividing them into two piles putting them in the red folder.
It is very important for you to check your child's BEE Book every night and clean out the red folder for the next day.  When papers are left in the folder and then more papers are stuffed in there each day, the folders do not last.  Please empty the papers in your child's Bee Book every night.

Yellow Folder
The yellow folder is for graded work (logic/spelling tests, reading tests, and math tests) and homework packets.  I am responsible for putting their graded tests and homework in this folder.

We will begin homework the week of September 11th.  I put the packet in their BEE Book on Mondays and it is due back on Fridays.  My next blog post will be All About Homework.

Orange Papers in the Back

These papers explain discipline procedures and other important first grade information.  Please make sure to read over them.

Monthly Calendar 
On the back of the BEE Book is a monthly calendar that tells you your child's Special (gym, music, etc....) for the day and any other special events such as birthdays!  (I forgot to take a picture!)