Funky Friday

Wooo hoo! We made it through our first week! Can you believe it? I wrote "happy Funky Friday" on our morning message today which sparked a long discussion about the word funky... what a great way to teach a vocabulary word. As you may have guessed, the rest of the day everything was "funky". ("Ms. Carlberg that chair is funky. Ms. Carlberg, that book is funky.) We have all been working extremely hard this week to learn about our school, classroom, and each other. This morning we finally got to explore our math boxes! (There have been kiddos asking about them all week.) These are boxes that are full of manipulatives that students can use as they solve problems in math. My goal is for these boxes to promote independent problem solving in our students. They are packed with: base 10 blocks, beans for counting, money, chain links, tower cubes, number lines, and counters. We will add more to them as we learn! The students had so much fun exploring these boxes and I was enjoying watching all of their creative ideas of how to use each of the tools.

What a fun, creative day we had in first grade, but the kiddos are tired! By the end of the day, they could barely function; and rightfully so, they've worked hard this week. After a weekend of sunshine and rest, we'll be ready for another week!


Books We Read Today
Miss Mingo and the First Day of School - Jamie Harper
I Am Invited to a Party- Mo Willems
Josef Had a Little Overcoat- Simms Taback
Chrysanthemum- Kevin Henkes


Interesting Tidbits From Our Day
It's Anoosha's birthday today! (September 10th) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

"Finally, we get to use these [math boxes]! I've had my eye on these things all week!"

(As I was asking what students know about snakes) "Did you know I love 1st grade? It's my favorite thing to do."

(student to another who ran and did a kick onto our rug) " Remember we have to walk in our classroom" (YES, we're starting to help each other out already! I didn't even have to say anything.)