1st-Grade Ice Cream Party!
Learning the Words
First graders have been accomplishing so much since the first day of school. The scholars had to learn sixty sight words. Of the sixty, forty were review from Kindergarten and twenty were totally new to them. First graders that met the goal and learned all sixty sight words have been rewarded with an ice cream party.
While interviewing the first graders who went to the ice cream party, I spoke to young Nicole who stated that learning her sixty sight words was easy. She also shared that she learned and practiced by herself and had almost no help. Nicole also said she enjoyed learning her sight words and thought they were important since learning and studying the sight words would help read a difficult book. Finally, Nicole stated the word “three” was the hardest word to learn and was able to spell “way” by sounding it out (w-a-y) for the interviewers.
Little Kiana was another scholar interviewed. She said that learning her sight words was easy in kinder but it got hard when she entered 1st grade. Kiana shared that it was fun to learn her sight words and that learning them was important because the sight words might be found in a book. Kiana mentioned the hardest word to learn was “because” and was able to spell “can” by sounding it out as well, for example (c-a-n).
These students all persevered through the struggle of learning new things.
Teachers Made the Road Strong!
All these scholars really owe it to their teachers, the teachers are the ones who pushed the kids to practice their sight words. Mrs. Gutierrez, Ms. Daniel, and Ms. Arce really pushed these kids beyond their limits in order to make them succeed!
While interviewing the teachers, Mrs. Gutierrez said she had sixteen students learn their sight words. Ms. Daniel said she had fourteen. Ms. Arce had thirteen students who met the sight words goal. It took Mrs. Gutierrez and Ms. Daniel the first five weeks of 1st-grade combined with the full year of Kindergarten to get the students to master their sight words. Ms. Arce’s class took about two months to learn the sight words, yet they still did it! Mrs. Gutierrez said that her students struggled to learn their sight words, but that she loved seeing them grow. Ms. Daniel and Ms. Arce said it was quite easy since they sent flashcards home with the students and some parents. Also, the words were in stories that they read in class. All three teachers stated that they sent flashcards home and gave the students an incentive for achieving such a difficult task. The incentive was an ice cream party that all students wanted to attend. Honestly, the students main support was their teachers.
Article by: Marely Ceballos
Interviewers: Marely Ceballos, Aylin Chavez, Aidelyz Mendez, and Ruby Cid