A Day In The Life Of A First Grader

I'm very excited to write this post! I love to hear about schedules of other first grade classrooms. Getting a glimpse into the life of another first grade classroom is such a blessing because it gives me new ideas and thoughts. I love it even more if there are pictures involved. I'm sorry to say that I don't have a picture schedule for you, but I am excited to share my day with you.

My day begins at 9:00am -- My students enter the room, get out their Take Home Folder and put their stick in the lunch chart and sit at the carpet. We go over our big rule: You may do anthing that does not cause a problem for anyone else. Then we say the date, review the long and short vowels, do a song or story (or both), go through some sight word flash cards, etc. Next it's boardwork -- we fix an incorrect sentence on the board and play a spelling board game (always on the lookout for good games). We do a handwriting page together - I'm on the overhead -- and we talk about sky, grass and underground letters.

Now it's time for Reading Groups (Read with Teacher, Read to self, work page at desk and a computer game/or listening center) and this lasts an hour.

Recess

Harcourt Basal reading -- they buddy read the story of the week and the decodable book. Then we transition into writing -- I have journal prompts based on our science and when they finish they can write about something of their choice. We use the Starfall journals and dictionary.

Lunch

Math -- M.T.I. (Mathmatical Thinking Instruction) - this class and philosophy is what we use to teach math - lots of story problems, rekenreks, # line work as well as tons of games. We teach an understanding of math through a lot of focus on # sense.

Science/Social Studies - depends on the month and topic

Recess

Specials

After Specials it depends on day of week: Brick Lab (use bricks - like leggos - to learn to construct and a focus on engineering), Book Share, extra Science/S.S., Poetry Journal, Art

Math Games (choice of games we've practiced)

End of Day Routine -- clean up floor (Quiet Person of Day finds a quiet cleaner), we get our folders out to stamp (or write about) behavior, get backpacks and meet on carpet to Spin the Wheel (for a question to answer) or read a story. We sing our song and line up to leave.

That's our day in a nutshell! It's busy but I love it! If you have any questions feel free to leave me a comment!

Natalie

Use of Puppets

How many of you use puppets with your first graders? I adore puppets and have so many! I bought a new one last spring and I named him Harry. He has a HUGE mouth and he's very furry. My kids think he looks like Elmo (minus the color pink). I use Harry in my story problems, to show a detailed picture (you know, he's been working on this picture all morning boys and girls -- look at the detail) and to help with science lessons or experiments! My kids ask for him to come out all the time! It is quite a joy for me to use him!

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you use puppets and how! :)

Assessments

Assessments Given Each Trimester

These first three tests are given by Title 1 in the beginning of the year. The rest are given by the teacher.

• Letter identification
• Sound identification
• Phonemic Awareness


• Word Test
(sight words – 3 lists each trimester but in the
beginning of the year see how far they can go)
• Spelling Inventory
• Concepts About Print (CAP)
• Fluency – not just speed but also do they read smoothly or choppy and do
they pay attention to punctuation


These are a few a the tests given in the beginning of the year. I also do a letter test and just assess if any students know how to write in the lines correctly and if they know how to write all the letters.

Natalie

This Is My Golden

Welcome to A Golden First Grade

This is my first post! Yeah! I chose this name because I teach first grade and I love, love, love Golden Retrievers! Let me know if there are any Golden Retriever fans out there following my blog! This is our first Golden and I can't imagine a better dog. ANYWAY -- my blogs will not always be about our one and only baby BUT I had to explain the title!

My hope in making this blog is to take you on a journey to yet another first grade classroom. So many of you have shared your ideas, thoughts and feelings and I want to give back. This is very, very new to me so it will definately be a learning year for me. All of your blogs are so amazing and I don't even know where to begin.

This will be my fourth year in first grade and I taught Kindergarten for nine years. I am married and I have a dog (but, of course) but no children yet. One thing I love about the younger children is that they are easily entertained with puppets. I just bought a new puppet last year (Spring Break) and I'm excited to have a special purpose for him all year this year. I can't wait!

Anyone ready for school? Day one is planned but not prepped and my classroom is set up with the bare bones but not the details.......good thing I don't start until the end of August!


Natalie