Five for Friday: Sept. 23rd

Another week in the books and my kiddos are really getting into the swing of things!  The weather here in upstate New York is FINALLY cooling off and the leaves have begun to change!  Fall is such an exciting time in first grade!

I'm linking up for Five for Friday to highlight some of the work we did this week!

ONE: GoNoodle

We maxed out our first GoNoodle personality this week and we've started a GoNoodle Hall of Fame wall to showcase all the personalities we max out throughout the year.  The kids get so excited each time we earn another point!

TWO: Making Ten

This week I introduced number bonds and we discussed ways to make ten.  This is a concept we'll go back to a few times in the coming weeks but to wrap up our first math unit on number sense I wanted to introduce this important concept of making numbers and more specifically making ten.  Because we just started a science unit on apples we used real apples to show different ways to make ten.  Don't worry, we will use the apples to make observations next week so these perfectly fine apples don't go to waste.  

Three: Morning Meeting Greetings
My kiddos are really getting into these greetings we use each morning to start our morning meeting time.  In the past I've been hesitant to take the first few minutes of meeting time to have the kids do a greeting but this year I tried it and I'm so glad I did.  The kids enjoy it and it fosters a  classroom community and gives the kids a chance to share something with their peers each morning.   

FOUR: Vocabulary Tree

We began adding words to our vocabulary tree this week and the kids enjoyed trying to use these words in various discussions throughout the week.  I love that they are so motivated to expand their vocabulary and they are so proud when they are able to use the words in class discussions.  Because our classroom has a jungle theme we created a banana tree to hold our vocabulary words for the year.  I stared the same tree last year and I love that the tree is a way to continue reviewing and using these vocabulary words throughout the year.  

FIVE: Ron Clark Academy Visit

I saved the best for last y'all!!  In just four short weeks I'm off to Atlanta to visit the Ron Clark Academy with two other teachers from my building.  I literally cannot believe this is happening!!  We applied for a grant at the end of last year and we really applied for it thinking we'd never get the money.  When we got the letter saying we were approved for the full amount we were shocked!!  Needless to say we're all so excited to attend the two-day workshop.  I read this book at the end of last school year but have begun to reread some parts as our trip gets closer.  

Have a great weekend.. Don't forget to check out Doodle Bugs Teaching for more Five for Friday posts!