 Reading Makes Me Smile !
I'm a First Grade teacher at Briarlake Elementary School in Decatur, Georgia. I have been teaching at Briarlake for fourteen years. This is my twenty fourth year as an educator. If I'm not reading, you'll find me in my garden! 
Welcome to First Grade
It is an exciting year of learning and amazing growth. I am thrilled to have your child in my class. Please check my website weekly. I will update the homework and spelling lists on Friday afternoon. I will also post interesting things that happened in class.
5-4-12: So far this spring we have raised and released 24 Monarch butterflies, 2 Swallowtails and 30 Painted Ladies. We have incubated and hatched 5 Coturnix Quail, 4 Bobwhites hatched today and we're awaiting our chickens- due to hatch on Monday. Three of our new Monarchs are in their chrysalis, with 9 more to go (these are from the eggs we collected after we watched her lay them on our Milkweed).
 Our first quail 5-1-12 We watched this Monarch laying her eggs. April 10, 2012The eggs hatched on April 16. The caterpillars are about 2cm. long. (April 27, 2012)
4-30-12 We released 7 new Monarchs today, three boys and four girls. That makes our spring count 10 Monarchs. We still have 11 more chrysalis. We currently have 12 surviving caterpillars munching away on Milkweed. They are from the eggs we watched her lay on April 16. Last week we saw a Question Mark, a Cloudless Sulfur, Tiger Swallowtails, Black Swallowtails, Monarchs and Cabbage Whites. Our Butterfly Garden is working!!!
4-30-12 We have stopped turning our quail eggs. They are expected to hatch this Wednesday and Thursday. The chicken eggs are due to hatch on Monday, May 7.
Look! We made the news!
Check out our scientific observations on the link below.
Dear Mrs. Spencer and 1st grade students,
I'm writing to thank you for reporting your monarch butterfly sighting to Journey North!
We were excited to know that you even observed the butterfly as she laid eggs. It's wonderful that you had milkweed in your garden specifically for monarch butterflies.
I also want you to know that we featured your field observations in this week's migration news update. I hope you'll take a look and feel proud of yourselves for providing habitat in your schoolyard.
Monarch Migration Update: March 29, 2012
Warm regards,
Elizabeth Howard
Director, Journey North
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As always, find pollinator habitat tips, educational resources, and volunteer opportunities at www.monarchsacrossga.org.
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Language Arts: Fairy Tales
Science: We are learning about plants and animals.
Social Studies: Our next unit on Famous Americans is Thomas Edison.
Math: Adding two digit numbers.
Money: Working with coins to $1.00. Here is an easy way to help your children learn to count with money. I did this with my daughter all through elementary school, just making the problems more difficult as she got older. I kept a bowl of change on the kitchen table and charged her each evening for her dessert. Before she could eat dessert (or beans, chicken, whatever) she had to count out the money for the cost of the item. It may be 32 cents, 12 cents, 75 cents. Show me 3 ways to make 32 cents, show me 32 cents using nickels and pennies, etc. As they get more proficient counting money they can start making change for a dollar. It is a simple way to ensure they practice every night (we all have good intentions), there are no worksheets and it only takes a minute.
Reading Strategies for young readers
We all come across words that are difficult to read. Knowing what to do when we come upon "tricky" words can make us better, more confident readers. Below are five strategies I teach your children when they come across an unknown word.
 Checking the Picture: Preparing to read a story is an important step in being able to read a story successfully.
1. Parents can help at home by first reading the title to your child. Often the title is more difficult than the text.
2. As you look at the cover, talk to your child about what the story might be about.
3. Next, take a "picture walk" through the entire story, looking at the pictures first. Have your child talk about what he thinks is happening in each picture and how that will help him predict what will happen in the story.
 Think About the Story: By thinking what the whole story is about, we may be able to figure out what the "tricky" word is. For example, if our story is about frogs, and the sentence reads, "He likes to catch i______ with his tongue", we could guess that the word might be "insects" since we know frogs like to eat insects. A child who "thinks about the story"
while he is reading and keeps his mind focused on the content of the story with have much better comprehension as well.
 Go Back and Get Your Mouth Ready: When your child comes to a "tricky" word ask them to go back to the beginning of the sentence and reread it, but when they get to the "tricky" word they should get their mouth "ready" by making the beginning sound of that word. For example, the sentence might read: "I like to p ____." If we have to stop for that "tricky" word, we should go back to the beginning of the sentence and reread it, but this time when we get the word we should make the 'p' sound. Most of the time the word wi ll just P OP OUT of our mouths!
Look for Word Chunks: Another strategy to help us figure out a "tricky" word is to look for "chunks" or clusters of letters within words. For example, in the word 'swimming', a child might see 'sw' at the beginning, the 'ing' at the end, and the 'im' in the middle. By putting the "chunks" together, the child can figure out the big word 'swimming'.
When using "chunks" to read "tricky" words, it is often helpful to say the part you know, then cover up the chunk with the finger to look at the words that come before and after, adding on to the "chunk". For example, in the word 'history', the child may recognize the 'his' and the 'or' "chunk". In the past, children have been taught to "sound out" words they didn't know. This may work sometimes, but looking for "chunks" is a lot faster, more effective, and more accurate way of successfully reading unknown words.
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