Everybody Has a Story

Grab your gear...We are going on an Expedition!  Our first learning expedition, "Everybody has a Story" started with a kickoff of the Storyteller Superheroes Save The Day!  In our first case study, Telling Our Story, we are busy telling our stories, listening to others' stories, producing a high quality self portrait and writing.

High Quality work is hard work!

We take our time to do our best!

Learning Targets:
~I can speak and write in complete sentences to tell about myself. 
~I can listen to others tell about themselves with care and ask questions.
~I can answer questions about myself.
~I can persevere through many drafts to produce a high quality self portrait.

We got introduced to our master story teller, Mrs. Judy Hill, from the Douglas County Library.  She will be visiting our classroom once a month.  It was so amazing to see the kids engaged and mesmerized by her beautiful stories!

First Week

This week, students got to explore our classroom and get to know the spaces and the materials available to them.  Students got use to their book box to find their reading books, writer's journals, song/poem folders and math books.  Students practiced sharing our table tub materials such as pencils, crayons and colored pencils.

*Classroom Organization - setting up the physical room in ways that encourage student's independence, cooperation and productivity.

We learned our classmates names and spent a lot of time in CREW circles through out the day to practice  communication skills and to discuss how our day was going.


*Collaborative Problem Solving—using conferencing, role playing, and other strategies to resolve problems with students

The first week of first grade was filled with lots of exploration and practice of our routines.  We investigated lots of our math manipulatives to learn how to use them and how to keep our classroom clean.

*Guided Discovery—introducing classroom materials using a format that encourages independence, creativity, and responsibility



*Responsive Classroom Routines

First Grade ROCKS!

First Grade Team (Ms. Rivera, Mrs. Lysinger, Ms. Chris, Mrs. Schumacher

Welcome to first grade crew!  It was so great to meet many of you at the Meet and Greet.  School starts Monday, August 10 at 8:25 am.  We will meet you at the black top for an all school assembly.  Mr. Rodda, along with other Fox Creek Staff, will be leading us in songs and chants to get us excited for this school year. 

This year in first grade we will be involved in 2 Learning Expeditions
~Everybody Has a Story (fall 2015) - a study of fiction English Language standards around oral story telling, reading stories, understanding stories and writing stories
~The World is our Garden (spring 2016) - a study of non-fiction English Language standards and science standards about earth's materials, soil, compost, garden organisms and garden plants.

Our first grade year will be filled with lots of reading, writing, math, science and social studies.  I look forward to building relationships with both you and your student.  

We are all ready!

The classroom is ready, new crayons are in their place and now all I need is my new CREW!  I am looking forward to a great year of learning, laughter and love.  Please come to the open house on Friday, August 7 between 3-4 pm in our classroom.  This is a time for your child to bring all of his/her school supplies, tour the classroom, meet me and check out all the places in Fox Creek.  I hope you can make it.

Father's Day

Before we left for summer vacation, the students had an opportunity to celebrate their dads.  We enjoyed Donuts with Dads as each student shared his/her poetry books.

 It was so special to see all the kids share some quality time with their dads.  Thank you for sending me such courageous thinkers this year. Enjoy your special day with your family!

School's Out for Summer

We are second graders!  What a great year we had in first grade.  We learned a lot, laughed a lot and I loved having each student as part of Schumacher Crew this year.  I hope each student continues to read lots this summer....15 minutes a day.  I highly recommend these series of books:
~Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel
~Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant
~Mr. Putter and Tabby by Cynthia Rylant

Here is a link for a list of books to take to the library:
Just Right Books for end of First Grade

Here are some 1st grade educational websites:
Instructional Links

Need more resources...visit FCE website and go to Student Links!

Have a healthy, fun, relaxing summer!  Make sure to stop by my classroom to say hi!

Celebrating Learning

"I knew by instinct and training that students would learn more, and with more joy, if adults from their home lives shared in their school lives. I wanted to welcome families into our first grade classroom in ways that would engage them and allow them to appreciate the children's accomplishments.  I kept searching, asking myself: What's the most important thing our classroom community can share with adult visitors? The answer I arrived at was "our learning"—which is, after all, the heart of all we do at school!"

by Leigh Weaver

Responsive Classroom Newsletter: 

February 2009

 On the last day of first grade, our CREW members became the experts by teaching their parents all about the case studies from our 2nd learning expedition, The World is our Garden.  Students confidently spoke to their parents about their investigations and experiments as scientist.  Each child shared their recordings in important science journal.







 Parents asked questions as students clearly presented information they had learned and inferences they had made.  Students went through the scientific processes and showed pride in their hard work towards high quality work.

  

Students discussed which FCE Habits of Character they used throughout the 12 week expedition.  The kids were truly the experts as teachers stood in the shadows as the coaches and facilitators.   The excitement during this Celebration of Learning was contagious. 

As readers and writers, we researched multiple sources of information to include experts, i-Pads and non-fiction texts (books and articles) to help us with our research.

 Students led parents through experiments and scientific conversations that included findings the students had and questions they answered.

We hope you can visit the FCE outdoor classroom with your smart phone.  We created an audio tour which includes important information about healthy vegetables and unique garden organisms that help our garden thrive!