Bridges Blog Archive for Grade 1

Grade 1 teacher leader Shelly Scheafer and her colleagues, Tena Paulson and Vicky Hanna, in Bend, Oregon, in conjunction with Bridges author, Donna Burk, have developed a modified version of Unit 4, Penguins, acknowledging that many teachers aren't able to devote 18 full days to an integrated theme unit.

[Note: teach older children? Read the entry through to the bottom.]

If you're a first grade teacher gearing up for Unit 4, you've likely been looking over the list of literature connections found on page 419 of Bridges Volume Two. As you consider which books to include, you may also want to look over the virtual bookshelf for the penguin unit.

Shelly Scheafer, guest blogger and long-time Bridges user, teaches first grade in Bend, Oregon. As her students learn fact strategies, an eye-opening visual demonstrates how many facts they actually know. Here's how...

Fact Strategies Button Chart
By Shelly Scheafer

December Number Corner Planners, filled out for each day of December, have been posted on the support page.

Where should you be now? If you’re on track you are close to, or done, with Unit 2. The year I had a student teacher, finishing the last unit exactly the day before school let out in June, I was finishing Unit Two and just starting Unit Three the week before winter break started. Hopefully you’re a little ahead of where I was. There are 21 Sessions in Unit 3, and you have approximately 33 teaching days in December and January. If you should happen to finish before the end of January, just go straight into Penguins.