The First Few Weeks...in a Nutshell!

I am so glad I named my blog The Super Smartie Adventures--because this year's group has continued to amaze and impress me day after day with their smart thinking, problem solving, writing, illustrating, and more!  They truly are Super Smarties!  We have had such a busy, fun-filled first few weeks, and I have enjoyed getting to know my new little friends so much!  I want this blog to be a little peek into our "first grade world" for you parents--so please become a blog "follower" and visit often!  I will try to keep you updated as much as I can!


Day one started with "Magic Dough" from the "magic teacher store", because it is just so magical.  If your kiddo asks, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!  {Magic Teacher Store--A.K.A. Wal-Mart.} :)  If their play  magic dough changed colors, it meant they were going to have the best year ever!  So many happy squeals over this!  They loved it!

Later on during the first day, we read First Grade Jitters, and talked about being a little nervous for the first day of school!  We sampled Jitter Juice--a delicious electric green drink that made those jitters disappear right out of our tummies!  {You can surprise your first grader by recreating this at home:  green Hawaiian Punch and a splash of Sprite!} 

The first few weeks in math, we have been practicing counting and building number sense.  Really, this  entire blog post should be titled:  Math, Math, and more Math!  We have been busy mathematicians!!!  On one of our first math lessons, the kids were each given "Counting Cups" and had to count the objects inside. I was so impressed at all the strategies I saw the kids use to help them PROVE their answers!  P.S. I did NOT tell them how to do any of the strategies pictured--they just did these on their own!!!!

Sorting, then counting.

Putting objects into an organized, straight line, then pushing to count.

Grouping the googly eyes into 2's, then counting by 2's!

We have also been talking a little bit about tally marks.  We learned a little chant:  "1, 2, 3, 4...number 5 shuts the door!"  The kids had to represent numbers to 20 using tally marks on white boards, then they created model tally marks using popsicle sticks!

We are learning to order numbers by creating "staircases" to 12 using snap cubes.  The kids noticed that each step increases by 1--just like counting.  

We have been doing a little graphing, too!  The kids have learned about pictographs and we have started creating bar graphs.  The picture below was a morning work activity--they had to sort their bag of legos by color, then create a bar graph to represent which color legos were in the bag.  One kid was overheard saying, "This is the BEST day EVER!!!!"  :)  Fun + learning...makes me happy.

Okay, so I spent so much time talking about math, that I will have to catch you up on other adventures later!!!  I can't wait to show you some of the cool stuff your kids are doing in reading!   See you soon!  :) Mrs. Cooley