Sweets & Tweets Classroom: Student-centered emails

In true Charlotte Danielson fashion, the first grade team is now working to make our parent communications more student-centered! Students contribute to the emails and tell their parents what we've been up to! Pictures and video clips are included too, to really help parents become part of the classroom.

Here's a sample email my class sent in October!

Dear First Grade Families,

We are “fall”ing in love with science! Luke A. enjoyed observing mealworms. Did you know mealworms have antennas? And Asiyah adds that they have 6 legs, which we debated a lot. We have stereoscopes in our classroom and will watch them as they turn from mealworms to pupas to darkling beetles. Zymal liked making models out of play-doh. We made models of animals and labeled the external body parts! Jacob S. shared that we made models because we are scientists! Jacob L.’s favorite part was when we took pictures of our models with ipads and voice-recorded how the body part helps the animal survive.

Payton says that in reading we shared our thinking and connections to the wordless book, WAVE! We made connections to visiting the beach. In reading, we also read-to-self, went to the writing center, or read-to-someone. Akirah’s favorite place to read is with a comfy pillow in a quiet corner of the classroom.

In math, Gracelyn explains that we learned part + part = sum. London enjoys playing Compare Dots and Five in a Row Bingo.

We also had visitors from the Baltimore County 911 center. We need to learn our addresses!!! We can also practice making calls with you at home.