Our school year has begun. We just finished our third week of school in first grade. We have been busy learning our rules and procedures for our classroom. I've also been assessing my new kiddos to see where they are. I like assessing the following at the beginning of the year:

Letters

Sounds

Writing Name

Reading Level

Writing CVC Words

Numbers to 20

My free trial of ESGI just ended, so I debated on purchasing it. ESGI makes my life SO much easier when assessing letters, sounds, numbers, and sight words that I decided to buy it for myself. I love how easy it is to use and the letters you can print out for the parents. I know when my mid-terms are due that all I have to do is print and the parents will know exactly what their child can do and what they cannot do. If you haven't checked out ESGI, please do. It will make your life easier! Who doesn't want that??!!

I have noticed my firsties still need practice writing their names on lines and using first letter uppercase and the rest lowercase. I printed out their names on lines and put them in a clear sleeve. We use dry erase markers and the students practice writing their names correctly.

My students always LOVE using dry erase markers. I love walking around and seeing how engaged they are at tracing their names.

Here is the name packet I use with my kiddos.

Names - Editable Names Bundle - Names Activities

Our schedule at the beginning of the day is always a little bit crazy. Starting after Labor Day my school will serve breakfast. The students bring breakfast to the classroom to eat. I always struggled with the kiddos that come in right away and the ones that ride the "late" bus and get to school at 9:15. It makes for a wild start. This year I've decided to try out Morning Tubs. I know my students need this social time in their day for SO many reasons. I thought I would do Morning Tubs right after breakfast. That way the students eat quickly and then get to enjoy a little social activity right at the beginning of the day. I recently had a Donorschoose filled with some STEM toys that are wonderful for my Morning Tubs and I bought some building toys over the summer. So far, my students are loving the Morning Tubs!

Our rules for Morning Tubs are that the students can choose any tubs, but only 3 students per tub. So far that has worked out well.

This year I am also trying out some Flexible Seating. My classroom got 2 Wobble Chairs from a Donorschoose. My students LOVE the Wobble Chairs. I am hoping my new Donorschoose project of 4 Wobble Chairs gets fulfilled soon so we can have more. We also have a low table that the students love to sit at. And we have some other seating options. Check out my Classroom Reveal to see the other options.

We are still learning how to make "good" choices with the flexible seating and when throughout the day we can use them. I also have a table spot for all students. I got new chair pockets this year for my chairs so everyone has a "home" spot. So far we keep our headphones and take home folder in our chair pockets. Here is where I purchased my chair pockets {HERE}. This is my second time purchasing from Jeannine. She makes wonderful pockets. I only had to buy more because the size my chairs changed.

During Math time, we have been working on rotations. We did do a whole group activity about filling up a tens-frame with a partner. My kiddos loved the game. It will be part of our "tub" rotation.

We can get through about 2 rotations before our stamina in up. Our goal is 4 rotations so I can pull a guided math group.

My hope is do have a short lesson followed by guided groups. Practice makes perfect (or at least I hope it does) so hopefully soon I will be able to begin my math time the way I really want it to work out this year.

I assessed my students sight words knowledge. I learned that I really need to push hard for sight word knowledge. We have a lot to learn this year so we have no time to play around. :) Gish, I must have said that a million and one times this week. LOL. I am using THESE to test my students knowledge of sight words. I want them to know 100% before going to the next list.

I like to incorporate movement and fun in my classroom. We plays Swat a Word to help us practice our words as well as have fun with them.

My students told me over and over how much fun they thought the game was. (Wahoo!! Win Win)

I began my whole group reading lesson this week. My school district uses ReadyGen. (No comment!).

This was our first time using a book in their hands during our whole group lesson. We talked about what they should be doing during the lesson. Where their hands and eyes should be.