Mrs. Pettit's Classroom Philosophy and Practice
We don’t have a lot of rules in our class but the three we do have encompass everything!! Our rules are:
Ø
Respect
yourself.
Ø Respect others.
Ø Always try your best.
These three rules cover it all. On the first day of school, the children and I discuss appropriate school behavior. They discuss things “not to do” like, no hitting, pushing, or being mean to our friends. All of the rules our precious little six-year-olds can think of are included in the above three statements. Especially since I do not accept anything from the children that isn’t their best and I teach them not to accept anything from themselves that isn’t their best.
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Interactive
Writing 
At
the beginning of first grade, the children are engaged in a type of writing
that requires us to “share” the pen. Through this type of writing, the
teacher models how to compose a sentence as children help to count how many
words are in the sentence, say the sounds in each word as we write them, and
re-read the sentence to ensure meaning. Also, as we interactively
write, phonemic awareness is emphasized, conventional spelling patterns are
modeled, and proper handwriting techniques are discussed and practiced.
Through this technique, children are able to build the confidence they need
to compose and write a sentence independently. Eventually, students
apply what they have learned through interactive writing to their own
independent writing.
Writer’s
Workshop 
A favorite among the children in my class!! After the children have become comfortable at taking risks when they write, we begin Writer’s Workshop. The composition of a story has been modeled all year trough shared reading and writing with the use of a beginning, middle, and end page. Each day, I teach 15 minute writer’s workshop mini-lesson. Examples may include, how to turn boring sentences into interesting ones, how to match your pictures to your words, how to choose an appropriate title, adding detail, creating an interesting title…etc.. After each 15 minute mini-lesson, the children go back to their seats with their writer’s workshop folder and compose their own piece of writing. Each child works at his or her own pace and is instructed to compose 5 different stories. After all five stories have been drafted, he or she picks one of their favorites and we conference. A teacher-student conference enables the child to learn proper editing techniques. Together, we talk about his or her story, and add detail if necessary, delete a part if the child decides, correct spelling, and ensure each story has a beginning, middle, and an end. AND of course, we make sure that the story makes sense! After each conference, the children are able to publish their stories by typing them on the computer in the classroom. Then, they bind their story together with a dedication page, and an about the author page. This is an AWESOME way for them to feel great about their finished work AND, it enables the other children to enjoy each others stories when they have a free moment. What an AMAZING way to get children to appreciate and aquire a love of writing!
P.S. While we are writing these amazing stories, we listen to classical music and dim the lights. We do not talk as not to disturb any creative minds. It is an amazing sight to see!
Guided
Reading/Centers 
Guided reading is an extremely important part of first grade. This is the time of the day where your children receive intensive small group instruction on reading. This is where they learn to apply comprehension strategies, build their sight word vocabulary, and advance through higher levels of material as the year goes on. As I stated at conference time, it is important to work with your child at home in reinforcing what we do in class. It is this support that will allow the children to develop into the best readers!
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Centers 
While I am working with small reading groups every day, the other children in the class are also engaged in meaningful and fun activities that reinforce concepts previously learning in class. During center work, nothing “new” is being introduced as the purpose of this work is for them to be able to complete it independently. ( this is so I can work with the small reading groups ) This is a great time to practice skills and strategies learning in class and master them! For example, at the poetry center, the children have to re-read the poem of the week and cut and paste it into their poetry journal. They illustrate the poem on the next page. After they are finished, they go up to the pocket chart where the poem is written on cut up sentence strips. They then mix, and fix the poem in the correct order. The children can play “I spy” with words from the poem with other children in their group to build sight word vocabulary as well. There are 5 center groups and about 4-5 children in each group. Each group goes to a different center and works independently.
