Nonfiction Fun

This month, reading has been all about nonfiction.  Students have been exploring texts full of facts and information. We've learned that this genre has special features - table of contents, photographs with labels and captions, keywords, maps, and glossaries - that help us understand the information we're learning.

This past week, we were penguin fact finders! We loved learning about these adorable creatures.  Using nonfiction texts and their features, along with iPads for research, we gathered interesting facts about these birds.  We created a rookery, or colony, of penguin facts!

We even watched penguins live and in action using the California Academy of Sciences Penguin Cam.  Click here to watch from home!

Common Core Standard: RI.1.5 Reading: Informational Text Craft and Structure- Know and use various text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text

Readers' Workshop

Readers' Workshop is part of our daily routine in 1-Thomson, and we love it!  Each day we are busy putting our reading strategies to use through independent reading, partner reading, and group reading activities!

The pictures above show most of the materials we use during reading time.  We keep all of our books and reader's notebooks in our numbered book boxes.  We keep track of the books we read by checking them off on our "Just Right" Book Trackers.  We focus on a new reading genre each month.  This month is nonfiction!  And we choose our independent reading books from our leveled library.

MY favorite part of Readers' Workshop is seeing my students grow into amazing readers and writers! Ask your child about our daily reading routines and maybe even try some of these routines at home! Happy reading!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the first graders in 1-Thomson! This past week we talked about what it means to make a resolution, or goal, for the new year. We started with a literature share of Pat Miller's story, "Squirrel's New Year's Resolution".

Click to Listen

Next, the students wrote their own New Year's resolutions for school or home. Some goals included "becoming a better reader", or "doing more chores at home". We hung these in the hallway for our friends to see!

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Happy New Year!