 | | Mary Beth Muehlenbeck - 1st Grade Teacher |
"A child is like a butterfly in the wind. Some can fly higher than others, but each one flies the best it can. Why compare one against the other? Each one is different. Each one is special. Each one is beautiful."
Kindergarten and first are exciting times and years of significant growth and change in a child's life. Children develop skills in reading, writing, math, and interpersonal relationships that they will use for the rest of their lives. During the year we become a community of learners who work together through independent learning, cooperative groups, and partner learning experiences. My classroom is designed to reflect current research and best practices. I focus on the core academic areas outlined in St. Paul's district curriculum.
My classroom environment seek to include Brian Cambourne's "Conditions For Learning". Children are engaged in purposeful learning, they learn through modeling, share responsibility for their learning, are expected to learn and work at developmentally appropriate tasks, and are encouraged to take risks and are celebrated for their efforts.
I use balanced literacy in my approach to reading. Students participate in shared reading, word-work/phonics, guided reading and independent reading. Shared reading involves learning vocabulary and comprehension skills in the context of a weekly story. Word-work/phonics introduces sight words, word families, reading strategies, and phonemic awareness activities. Guided reading enables children to read in small groups at their instructional level while independent reading allows time for reading enjoyment and an opportunity to practice reading strategies.
Math curriculum encourages children to explore basic concepts in math through the use of real life applications, hands-on activities, games, and cooperative learning. It gives attention to numeration and computation without neglecting geometry, data, and algebraic thinking.
Children learn quickly. They are writers and have a lot to say! I use the writer's workshop model which incorporates mini-lessons, independent writing, and a sharing time. Among other samples, each student will complete a personal narrative, nonfiction report, a procedure, and a response to literature.
On Monday a newsletter is sent home highlighting the areas of study for that week. On Friday each student receives a progress report letting you know how your child's week at school went.
Mary Beth Muehlenbeck - 1st Grade Teacher
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