Thursday, November 29, 2012

DAILY REMINDERS:

• Homework:  Spelling worksheet, practice for Week 13 Spelling Test (are, with, brown, went, eat, word family words, words with ch, sh digraphs), read (WRR due tomorrow).
• Spelling Test tomorrow
• Library tomorrow

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOUR FIRST GRADER:

• Shared Reading/Word Work:  Our focus was on the long a sound.  We read the story Jake and Jane's Great Race, identified the long a words, and listed many on a chart.  Then to check for understanding, I had them text me a long a word with their clicker.  If you have not heard about our clickers, ask your first grader about them.  They're so fun and we LOVE them!  After we texted long a words we sorted them by their spelling patterns.
• Writing:  We will continue our Writing Plan webs tomorrow along with the lesson on the 5 Page Book. 
• Math:  We took a math time test, and practiced writing subtraction sentences for a picture.  We learned that the first number in a subtraction sentence is the total, the number after the minus symbol is the amount taken away, and the last number (difference) is the amount that is left.
• Social Studies:  Our discussion continued about inventions since the 1800's, but we learned about inventions that help us COMMUNICATE with others.  We learned what communication means and all the different ways we can communicate now.  We finished the unit, so we will review and take the test tomorrow.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Early Dismissal is this Wednesday, December 5 @ 1:40.  Our ELL students are dismissed @ 1:20.  It is also a Show and Tell day.  Please encourage your student to choose something that is important to them and something they are able to tell us about.  A few rules for Show and Tell:

1. Must fit into bookbag.
2. Can not be alive.
3. Should not be valuable/expensive.
4. Student must have permission from parents to bring it to school.

Tues., Nov. 27 AND Wed., Nov. 28, 2012

DAILY REMINDERS:

• Homework:  Math pattern worksheet, read, practice spelling words and addition facts.
• Library on Friday:  Several students brought home overdue notices yesterday.  Please return books this week.  Thank you very much to those who already have returned their overdue books!
• Support-A-Family:  We are collecting cleaning supplies and paper products this week.
• Holiday Party:  Dec. 20 @ 2:00.  The only donations we still need are the felt squares and the sparkly items.  All donated items are needed by Monday, Dec. 3, please.  THANK YOU!!
• Spelling Test on Friday.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOUR FIRST GRADER:

• Shared Reading:  We have been reading The Lady With the Alligator Purse.   We identified rhyming words and words with the long a sound in the story.
• Word Work:  Our sorts this week are words/pictures with the c, h, and ch sound.  Along with vowel sounds, blends (st, gr, fl, etc...) and digraphs (ch, sh, th, wh) have been our main focus during word work lessons.
• Writing:  Yesterday we wrote letters to our buddies in the Buddy Notebook we share with them, and today I introduced how to plan for a 5 page story.  I modeled the web, called My Writing Plan, we will use to plan our stories.  Your first grader will soon be writing stories that include a beginning, a middle with details, and an ending.  Very exciting!  After the holiday break your student will have monthly writing assignments that will help build their writing stamina.  More details to come soon!
• Math:  Subtraction is our main focus this week.  We learned what the math vocabulary word difference means in a subtraction sentence, and we discussed the minus and equals to symbols.  In addition, we modeled subtraction stories with bears and wrote the matching subtraction sentences.
• Social Studies:  Transportation has changed quite a bit since the 1800's, and we have been talking about different transportation inventions and how they have improved how people move from place to place.  We also compared and contrasted schools from long ago to our school/education now.
• Buddy Activity:  Today we had our buddy activity.  It was a lot of fun!  We made Rudolph by tracing one of our feet onto brown paper and cutting it out, tracing and cutting our hands for the antlers.  We glued the antlers to the head (our foot) and glued on googly eyes and a red fuzzy ball for Rudolph's nose.   These Rudolphs will be given to the residents at the Bethesda Nursing Home next month.  We also colored holiday cards for the Bethesda residents.  Finally, we  ate "reindeer food" while we worked with our buddy.  Take a look at our buddy activity pictures:

 

 

 



Monday, November 26, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving (belated) and Welcome Back!

I intended to post before the holiday, but the hustle-bustle of  turkey day caused me to run out of time.   I hope everyone had a peaceful and enjoyable Thanksgiving with their family.  I am very thankful to have the opportunity to work with your precious children everyday.  I love what I do, and I feel blessed to be your student's first grade teacher!  I am also thankful for the support I receive from our fabulous first grade families!

DAILY REMINDERS:

• Homework: Spelling worksheet over Week 13 words.    

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOUR FIRST GRADER:

• Shared Reading:  We read The Lady With the Alligator Purse.  We discussed the story elements of the story (characters, setting, problem, solution).  These elements are important parts of a retell when your student has finished reading a book.  Encourage them to tell you the story elements after you read a story together. 
• Word Work:  Week 13 spelling words (went, with, are, brown, eat).  Don't forget your first grader can practice their words on www.spellingcity.com.  It's a fun way to study the words every week.  Test is on Friday, Nov. 30.
• Guided Reading/Daily 5:  I introduced some new activities for the word work and work on writing centers.  They will be sorting words with the long and short a and e sounds.  Another activity is to write a book about a food and write a story about a sailing ship.  In our reading groups we are focusing on words that are in the same family (-ame family) and retelling the stories we read.
• Math:  This week we are working on subtraction.  We took the chapter pretest today.  We also took an addition time test.
• Social Studies:  Our unit on the Pilgrims and American Indians continues this week.  We should be ready to test on Friday or early next week.

Monday, November 19, 2012

DAILY REMINDERS:

• Homework:  Your first grader brought home a math workbook page to complete and return tomorrow.  This homework will help prepare them for the chapter 17 math test we're taking tomorrow.
• No School November 21-23.  We return from the Thanksgiving break on Monday, November 26.
• Next week we are collecting CLEANING SUPPLIES and PAPER PRODUCTS for Support-A-Family.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOUR FIRST GRADER:

• Shared Reading/Word Work:  We read The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss and identified and listed all the long e words in the story as well as other long e words spelled /ee/, /ea/, /y/ like in turkey, and /e/ like in me.
• Math:  We did 2 math lessons today, so we can take our test tomorrow before the break.  We learned how to find a mistake in a pattern and correct it.  We also learned how to transfer patterns.  For example, if I make an AB pattern (red, white, red, white etc..) with red and white colored cubes, I could follow the same AB pattern with shapes (circle, square, circle, square etc...).
• Writing:  A few of us are still working on our Thanksgiving stories.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

DAILY REMINDERS:
• Homework: spelling worksheet and study for spelling test.
• Jingles for Jammies: Your student may wear their pj's to school tomorrow and a coin donation for support-a-family is greatly appreciated.
• Library tomorrow.
• Last day of school next week is Tuesday due to Thanksgiving holiday. We will NOT have spelling words next week.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOUR FIRST GRADER:
• We spent our shared reading and word work time writing our stories about why we're thankful. These stories will be displayed on a turkey they are going to make.
• In math we practiced making new patterns using the same shapes from an existing pattern (+ # + # to + + # + + #).
• Most students brought in something for show and tell, so we were able to wrap that up today.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

DAILY REMINDERS:

• No homework tonight due to early dismissal today.  Please remember to read, practice spelling words, and addition flashcards.
• We will continue Show and Tell tomorrow for those students who did not have time today or remember to bring their show and tell item to school today.  I forgot to remind my class about Show and Tell last night, so I have extended it to tomorrow.
• Jingles for Jammies on Friday.  Your first grader may wear their jammies to school and a coin donation is appreciated for Support-A-Family.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOUR FIRST GRADER:

• Morning Meeting:  After our usual morning meeting routine, we wrote a thank you letter together to Mrs. Jardon for teaching us about the Lewis and Clark expedition.  Your first graders are really good letter writers!  I was very pleased with the thank you letter they composed together as a class.  Tomorrow they will draw pictures for Mrs. Jardon.
• Writing:  We will  be making a turkey this week, and we brainstormed the things we are thankful for.  I modeled how to organize our ideas for writing on a web, and then our students began working on their own web about the things they are thankful for.  Tomorrow they will organize their web ideas into a story.
• Daily 5 Centers/Guided Reading:  We have several different activity choices in the Word Work center and Work on Writing center which include building weekly spelling words, sorting words in different word families and building words with word family cards and beginning consonant letters, writing in handwriting books, writing in our first grade journal, listing 15 things that remind us of Thanksgiving, a sequencing activity, and writing an answer to an open-ended question about a picture.  In our reading groups we continue to work on our reading strategies, word work, writing in journals, reading with expression and reading fluently, and thinking about what we are reading in order to comprehend the stories we read.

We did not have time for math or social studies today due to Early Dismissal.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Hi!  Here are pictures from our Veteran's Day Assembly....

DAILY REMINDERS:

• Homework:  Math worksheet on patterns, read, and practice Week 12 spelling words.
• Early Dismissal and Show and Tell:  If your child is going home a different way than they normally do on Early Dismissal Days, please send a note to school with them tomorrow.  Please remind your first grader that tomorrow is Show and Tell, and they need to pack an item they are prepared to talk about. 

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOUR FIRST GRADER:

• Morning Meeting:  Our character word of the month is PEACE, so we discussed ways we can show peace at school.
• Shared Reading:  We compared and contrasted the On Top of Spaghetti book and video.

• Word Work:  We read a story called Shoe Man and discussed the /sh/ digraph.  Then we did an /sh/ word sort in our Word Work book.
• Math:  Since we are learning about patterns, we discussed the math vocabulary word pattern unit and circled the pattern unit in different rows of patterns.  The first graders also practiced completing patterns on the computers, and they made patterns with stickers. 
• Social Studies:  We started a new unit that covers settlers, transportation, history, present, future,  and communication.
• 
  

Monday, November 12, 2012

Welcome to the new week!

DAILY REMINDERS:

• Early Dismissal/Show and Tell-Wednesday, November 14 @ 1:40 (ELL @ 1:20)
• Spelling Test-Week 12-Fri., Nov. 16
• Support-a-family-Food items
• Library-Friday
• Dance-a-Rama-Friday

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOUR FIRST GRADER:

• Today was a special day. We had our Veteran's Day Assembly in the morning and a special visitor after lunch.  Mrs. Marge Jardon, a retired 1st grade teacher, presented to all of our first grade classes about Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea.  It was a very interesting and informative journey we took with Mrs. Jardon along Lewis and Clark's expedition to the Pacific Ocean!

I will post pictures tomorrow from the Veteran's Day Assembly.

Friday, November 9, 2012

HAPPY WEEKEND!

DAILY REMINDERS:

• Monday, November 12--VETERAN'S DAY ASSEMBLY @ 9:30--Please remind your first grader to wear red, white, and blue (or one or two of the colors).
• Support a Family begins next week--collecting food items.
• Wednesday, November 14--EARLY DISMISSAL & Show and Tell.  If your child is going home a different way than you informed us about at the beginning of the year, please send a note to school with your child by Wednesday. 
• Friday, November 16--Jingles for Jammies:  Your child may wear their p.j.s to school and a coin donation for Support a Family would be greatly appreciated.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOUR FIRST GRADER:

• Word Work:  We took Week 11 Spelling Test today.  I actually had time to grade them before your student left today, so you should find their graded test in their green folder.  MANY first graders missed the two words in the -ack family, so we will spend more time practicing that word family next week.
• Library:  Mrs. Justus, our librarian, did a lesson with our class today.  We also checked out library books.
• Social Studies:  We took our test over Unit 2 (suburbs, neighborhoods, countries, maps, map keys, etc...).  I will send the graded test home next week.
• Officer Ed came to our class today for his last DARE lesson.  Your first grader will participate in DARE again when they are in 5th grade.  I think the first grade classes thoroughly enjoyed the lessons with Officer Ed, and they learned a lot!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Hello!  Sorry to be posting so late!

DAILY REMINDERS:

• Homework:  Study spelling words--TEST tomorrow.
• Library tomorrow.
• Monday, November 12-Veteran's Day Assembly @ 9:30 a.m.
• Support-a-Family--Next week we are asking for food product donations.

A Day in the Life of Your First Grader:

• Shared Reading:  We read the story On Top of Spaghetti and watched it on YouTube.  After that we compared and contrasted the book and the video.
• Word Work:  We learned how to use the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check folders for practicing spelling words. This is another activity they can do at the Word Work center during our Daily 5.
• Math--After we looked for patterns in our classroom environment, we worked on a pattern flip chart together.  Then we practiced what we learned about patterns by completing a pattern practice page.
• Social Studies:  To review for our social studies test, we played a game by dividing the class into 2 teams and took turns answering questions that will be on the test. 

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Good evening!  Welcome back from the long weekend.  I hope everyone enjoyed the extra time with family.

DAILY REMINDERS:

• Homework:  Spelling worksheet. 
• PTO Meeting tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m.
• Spelling Test on Friday, November 9.
• Weekly Reading Record due on Friday, November 9.
• Library on Friday, too.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOUR FIRST GRADER:

• Shared Reading:  We read the story On Top of Spaghetti, and we highlighted all the words with the long e sound.
• Word Work:  We learned our new words (Week 11) and discussed that some of them have a word family chunk at the end.  The words are will, am, black, do, have.  It is likely that our Friday test will also have words in the -ill, -am, and -ack family on it.
• Daily 5/Guided Reading:  We continue to read books on our level and move to the next level when appropriate.  Along with reading new books every day, we also write in our journals about the stories we read and do word work using magnetic letters, dry erase boards and markers.
• Math:  Our new chapter covers patterns.  We will be learning how to identify patterns and pattern units.  We will also learn how to extend patterns and continue patterns with different shapes or colors.  Your first grader should have brought home a yellow math parent letter tonight.  Please let me know if you did not receive this, and I will send another letter home.
• Social Studies:  Today we worked on map skills.  We know what a MAP KEY and COMPASS ROSE is used for on a map.  We can identify the directions (North-Never, East-Eat, South-Soggy, West-Waffles) and map key symbols on a map. 

Friday, November 2, 2012

Happy Friday!  It's been a long and busy week (conferences and Halloween), but we made it!  Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend their conferences last night.  I enjoyed talking with each and every one of you!  Thank you to all of my families for sharing your child with me.  It's a privilege and an honor to work with them every day.

DAILY REMINDERS:

• Please encourage your first grader to read over the long weekend.  I will collect their WRR on Friday, as usual.
• No School on Monday or Tuesday next week.
• I emailed our November calendar today.  Please let me know if you did not receive it or could not open it, and I will send you a hard copy next week.
• I sent home our 2nd quarter spelling words today.  They are printed on pink card stock, and are for your "studying enjoyment".   They should be in your child's take home folder on the home side.  Please let me know if the words did not make it home, and I will send home another set.  Don't forget that Spelling City is a fun way to study the words too.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOUR FIRST GRADER:

• Word Work:  We took our spelling test today.  I will send the graded test home next week.
• Shared Reading:  Mrs. Justus (Crestwood's librarian) came to our classroom today and taught a lesson on Fiction and Non Fiction books.  Soon, your child will have a larger selection of books to choose from when they check out.  The students also checked out new books today.  If they did not, it is because they have overdue books at home.  Please encourage your son or daughter to look for library books over the weekend, and remind them to put them in their book bag before Wednesday. 
•  Math:  We made our addition time test flashcards.  These also came home today in a zip lock bag, and they are on green card stock.  Please let me know if you don't have them, and I will send another set home.
• We participated in Kids Voting with our buddies today.  Your first grader had the opportunity to vote for the president, the state senator, and the governor.  We will have the "official" Crestwood results next week.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• PTO Meeting next week on Thursday, November 8th @ 7:00 p.m.  The PTO Board would like you to join them for dessert while sharing your ideas and opinions.  Child-care is provided.

Enjoy the four day weekend with your kiddos!  Get outside and play and don't forget to READ too!  See you next week! (:

Thursday, November 1, 2012

HAPPY NOVEMBER!

It's hard to believe that the holidays are right around the corner! 



DAILY REMINDERS:

• HOMEWORK TONIGHT:  Spelling worksheet to help your child practice the words for the TEST TOMORROW.  They will  be tested over words:  ran, so, our, this, well and words from different word families such as -op, -ug, -in etc....
• NO SCHOOL on Monday, November 5th and Tuesday, November 6th due to conference compensation day and Election Day.
• Please remember to send your child to school with a jacket or coat labeled with their name.
• Please remember to send a healthy snack to school every day with your child.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF YOUR FIRST GRADER:

• Shared Reading:  We reviewed the story Listen to the Desert and discussed the facts we came up with about cities and deserts.  We put our facts in a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast them.  Ask your child to explain to you what a Venn Diagram is used for.
• Word Work:  We brainstormed short u words.  We have now covered all the short vowel sounds.  Ask your first grader to tell you the sounds all the short vowel letters make.
• Writing:  We are finishing our Halloween riddles and we talked about how to write a letter.  We are writing letters to a soldier in Afghanistan.
• Math:  We took an addition time test, reviewed Chapter 16 concepts by playing a game, and took the test for Chapter 16.

Have a great evening!  I'm looking forward to seeing many of you at Parent-Teacher conferences tonight!  Thank you to all the parents I talked to on Monday night!  I appreciate your support of your child and their learning experiences in first grade...SO IMPORTANT!!  (: