This week finds students reflecting about progress they’ve made. In Reading, all students are reading to teachers using the DRA or Developmental Reading Assessment. The DRA looks at the strategies students use such as: rereading, checking picture cues, blending the sounds or chunks in an unknown word, and asking what would make sense with the structure of the story and the English language. It also gives us record of a student’s fluency and oral retelling or comprehension. First grade is an exciting year for readers. It is amazing to see the progress students have made.
In Writing, students are sharing their best work in personal narrative. Their independently written sample is scored using the District’s DWS or Developmental Writing Scale. The DWS looks at both the conventions that make it easier for the reader to read our writing. This includes: using consistent spaces, using lowercase letters appropriately, spelling turtle words correctly, using end punctuation, and capitals for names and to begin sentences. Then we also look at the craft of writing. We want students to show voice or personalize their writing by using descriptive verbs and adjectives, have the reader understand their passion for the topic by sharing feelings, and varying our sentences so each one doesn’t begin with I. The students and I will each select a piece that embodies the best of their work. Again, I am impressed by the progress students have made in writing. Many came in at the beginning of the year with a very small appetite for writing and have increased their stamina. Students feel good about their writing and are proud of the progress they have made.
In Math, each student has worked with Tiffany and I individually so we can check the progress students have made with many number strategies. Our end of the year test marks the end of our problem solving unit. It is great to see students know whether the problem is asking them to combine or separate. They are also learning to use friendly numbers (2, 5, 10’s) and strategies such as: doubles, fast tens and ten buddies to solve their problems. It has been great to see students who feel empowered and can read/write numbers (and often count numbers into the hundreds when several had confusions with the numbers 12-19 when they began the year.
Finally, we find ourselves finishing up our nonfiction books with Tiffany. Students are in the last stages of writing a Table of Contents, an Index, and Glossary pages. They will then bind the books before getting ready to share them with their families. I’m sure students have been sharing all about our menagerie of insects. Stop by to see our mealworms, silkworms. and wax worms. This Friday is our visit from the Oregon Zoo. Please send $2.50 to school tomorrow if you haven’t already.
