The week of Dec. 21 & 22

 This is a short two day week that is probably the longest week for all.  We are so ready for our Christmas vacation!  I wanted to share a few things with you.

First of all, we have been working toward a HOT CHOCOLATE party tomorrow earning a letter in the words each day.  It looks like we will earn it tomorrow!  Yay!  If any child shouldn't drink a cup of hot chocolate for any reason please let me know. 

 I know we just had a PJ day on Friday, but I'm designating tomorrow as PJ day also.  We are going to read, "The Polar Express" and watch the movie tomorrow.  Then, we will compare and contrast the two.  Of course we need to wear PJ's to watch "The Polar Express"!!  

The kids will be bringing home a Christmas Activity Packet that they could work on during their free time. Many have pages left in it, so they will have something to do besides TV and video games at home when they need something.

Bag of Practice Books!  Tomorrow I will be sending home a bag of books for each child on their level to read to you over the break.  These are books from our previous reading series.  There may be books on their level and a little above their reading level.  There will be a letter included to give you tips and activities you can do to help work on decoding, comprehension, etc. I hope you find these helpful for your child to have books they can read to you.  Per the note, when your child has read the books a couple of times and fluently, send them all back in the bag and I will refill the bag with new books. I understand how it's hard to find books on your child's level for them to read to you, so hopefully you will find this helpful.  Most children just need to read often to become better readers!

Please try to keep the books in the bag at all times, so they will not get lost around the house and others can read them too!

Shoe tying!  This is a goal I would like all of my first graders to meet by the end of the year.  If you haven't begun working on this with your child, it is time.  If he/she does not have shoelaces in their shoes, no worries!  Use a pair of your shoes for them to tie!  I will be having them practice tying shoes 3rd quarter.  

Addition doubles test--I started testing the kids on their doubles facts.  This skill will really help your child when adding and subtracting to 20.  Please continue to use the flashcards sent home to work on these.  Thank you!

Sight words!  Several kiddos haven't passed their 2nd quarter sight words, so please don't forget to practice them a couple times a week!

There are lots of goals in First Grade!  I don't want to overwhelm you.  Just work on a little each day.  It might be helpful to make a chart with  each that you can check off each time you work on it, so you don't forget any of them.

Sight words

Tying shoes

Doubles Facts

Practice books in the bag

I really do appreciate all you are doing at home!  

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  We all deserve some much needed time relaxation!  

The week of Dec. 14-18

Our solar system unit was a huge success!  The kids learned a lot about the moon, moon phases, the sun, constellations, and planets!  What a great job they did making Crayola Model Magic into a planet.  We had some Saturns, Earths, Jupiters, Venus, and Uranus.  They sure had fun painting them also!  

Thank you to Hadley's family for donating the Model Magic to our class!

This week we are going to do Gingerbread activities gearing up to Christmas!  We will be comparing and contrasting some books.  Today we read The Gingerbread Man  and The Gingerbread Baby.  Others we will read are The Gingerbread Girl, The Gingerbread Man Loose in School,  The Gingerbread Goes to School, The Ninjabread Man, and The Runaway Tortilla.  There are so many different versions!

Our new spelling words are:  

short "u" words:  fun, mug, cut, duck, hush, chug

sight words:  one, from, that, are, an have

We only have 6 school days to practice since next Tuesday, the 22nd, is our last day before the break.  Please work hard on these with your child so they are successful.  

Math this week!  We began Chapter 4 over "Subtraction Strategies to 20".  We are using number lines as one of the strategies to count back.  Also, knowing the doubles facts will help so much with subtraction as we will use the doubles strategy to subtract.  I may assign homework pages depending on how they are grasping the concepts this week.  I'll try to write "Do" at the top if I would like them to return it.

Reading groups--I am back to working with reading groups this week!  Your child will be bringing home a book to read with you one day.  It may be a paper book, so please read with them and help them do the homework if they come home with a skill we worked on. Thank you for your support at home!

Enjoy the pics of the kids with their planets!

All of the planets!

The week of Dec. 7-11

We are finishing up our moon, sun, stars unit this week!  We have learned so much about the moon and its phases.  I bet your child could tell you most of the phases, how many days it takes to get through all of the phases and about our first astronaut on the moon!  

This week we are learning about the sun and star constellations.  The kids will find out what their Zodiac sign is according to the month they were born.  We are going to do some fun activities with our Zodiac constellation too!

Our sight words this week are:  one, from. These are the first two sight words of 2nd quarter.  I will be sending home your child's checklist so you can see what 2nd quarter words he/she needs to review.  Please work on these at home with your child.  If your child passed them, I will send home a certificate!  Yay!

Spelling test this Friday!  Please continue to practice the spelling words this week on the short e.

Short e words--pet, hen, fed, tell, sled, then

and, you, but, with, had, for, his

Today the kids chose 5 spelling words to write in sentences for the first time.  It was a challenge for some.  It is a great skill to practice the understanding of the spelling word making sure the sentence makes sense and that it has its punctuation.

Math- Your child brought home math flashcards on a ring on Friday.  Please practice the doubles facts  with them.  Ask them out of order too as they are learning to count by two's and know what should come next!  Once you notice they know their doubles well, start working on near doubles like 5 + 6 (5 + 5, 6 + 6)  6 + 7.

Today we had three digits to add.  First we looked for a double to add, then added the 3rd digit.  Or we looked for 2 numbers to add up to 10, and then added the 3rd digit.

Our math test is Wednesday.  Knowing the doubles will help them a lot!

Reading every night! Reading to your child every night is very important for them to learn new vocabulary, how to pause at the end of sentences, fluctuation in your voice when it's a question or exclamatory sentence for excitement.  But, they also need to be reading to you.  Many of you may have kept the Kindergarten paper stories from last year that your child can reread to you if they are still on that level.  Level one readers are perfect for many of your children.  Read, read, read!  Your child loves to hear fiction and nonfiction books!  Don't forget to ask questions about the book during and after it to work on comprehension!  

Coming up!

Wed. Math test 

Fri.  Spelling test

Dec. 23-Jan. 4. Christmas Break

The week of Nov. 30-Dec. 4

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  My family sure did!  I was ready to come back and see the kids.

Brr!  The weather sure turned wintry feeling. This week looks like winter coat, hats, gloves, and scarves weather!  Please make sure your child wears a winter coat to school.  Sweatshirts are just not warm enough.  Hats and gloves will help keep the ears and hands warm too!  We will go out unless it's below freezing or raining/snowing.  

Book Fair Shopping!  Our class gets to shop at the book fair on Wednesday if you'd like to send in money!  Or you can check out Mrs. Arter's ewallet so he/she is not carrying cash!  They bring in a certificate you print off.  Check out her past emails about it!

Fastbridge Testing!  It seems like we just did this testing, but we it's time to do it again!  Unfortunately, the only time I have to test is when I would be doing my small group reading time.  So, books will be delayed coming home until the testing is done for reading and math.

Please keep reading at home each night!  If you still have all of the paper books from last year, they would be great to read again!  Or you can check out books at the library.  Bob Books are awesome books on your child's level that can be checked out at the public library or found on Amazon.  If you're interested, let me know and I will tell you what level to buy for your child.

Spelling Words--A new list is coming home today!

Short e words--pet, hen, fed, tell, sled, then

We have 7 sight words on our spelling test in two weeks--Nov. 11.

and, you, but, with, had, for, his

ELA/Science--This week we are continuing our study of the moon by learning the 8 phases of the moon!  The New Moon, Waning Crescent, Third Quarter or Half Moon, Waning Gibbous, Full, Waxing Gibbous, First Quarter, or Half Moon Waxing Crescent, and back to New.  We will be doing various activities to learn these Phases this week-ending the week with a Moon Phases snack!

Writing--Each Monday we write a Weekend Journal.  We are learning to write a topic sentence and 1-2 detail sentences about it.  It's hard to learn that we need to use periods instead of "ands"in our sentences.  The kids are doing an awesome job with writing detailed sentences!  Wednesdays, we write a Squiggle Journal.  The kids make a squiggle in to something and tell about it.  Most Fridays, we find Waldo in our classroom and write where we find him.

Math--Addition to 20.

We are learning that knowing our doubles up to the answer of 20 will really help us with near doubles.  If we know 6 + 6 = 12, then we can figure out that 6 + 7 = 13 or 

5 + 6 = 11.  So our new goal is to memorize our doubles up to 10 + 10 = 20!  Please work on these at home!  I will send home doubles flashcards this week to practice with your child!

Another strategy we will be learning is making a ten and what's left to add.  So, if I have 9 + 6, I would take one off of 6 and add it to 9 to make 10 + 5.  It's way easier to add to a 10 then a 9!

Lastly, we will be adding 3 digits together.  First we will look for a double or find a ten to add to the third number.  

Lots of strategies are helpful to add!

Coming up!

Dec. 2--Mrs. Scott's class will shop at the book fair!!  Send in money.  Let your child know what they can buy.  More books than trinkets!

Dec. 23-Jan. 4. Christmas Break

Happy Thanksgiving!

 I wanted to add a class picture with our turkeys we made today!  Plus our new student, Parker Armstrong is also in our class picture!  Welcome to our First Grade Class Parker!

I also had three more turkey disguise pics to add!  

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Stay safe!

We are thankful for turkey!

The week of Nov. 16-20

 Wow!  I can't believe how close we are to Thanksgiving Break!  

Masks:  Please make sure your child's mask fits them snuggly and does not fall off their nose.  Also, make sure they have a clean mask every day with a spare mask in their backpack if it gets wet.

We have been having a lot of fun with our science unit learning about Light and Shadows last week!  We found out that light will shine through transparent objects and a little through translucent objects.  But, it won't shine through opaque objects.  

Thank you for sending in flashlights!  The kids had a blast looking for words around the room with their flashlight, making shadows with them, and doing our flashlight science experiment finding out what objects are transparent, translucent, and opaque.  

Friday they heard a book called, "Sam and the Firefly" about a Firefly who made words in the air with his light.  Today, we made Gus, the Firefly, out of a water bottle, glowstick, and antennas made out of a pipe cleaner.  Check it out when your child comes home!  We turned off the lights and wrote our spelling words in the air with Gus.

This week we are beginning the study of the moon.  There's so much to learn about it!  I know I'm going to learn right along with the kids!  :)

Continue reviewing our spelling list over the short o words and 6 sight words.  The test will be in this Friday, Nov. 20. The words are:   

pot, top, job, dog, frog, stop

at, is, was, he, on, in

Math:  We have been working on fact families in class.  See if your child can do some at home with a subtraction problem you give them.  This concept will be on their test coming up on Thursday.

8 - 5 =3

8 - 3 =5

5 + 3 = 8

3 + 5 = 8

The children seem to be understanding addition and subtraction well.  You can make flashcards at home or buy them cheap at Walmart to work on memorization of the facts up to the answer of 10.  Our next Chapter is addition up to 20, so it would be helpful for your child to know them by heart up to 10 to move on learning the next chapter.

Coming up!

Nov. 19.  Picture Retakes--Bring back pictures from first picture day.

Nov. 20.  Spelling test

Nov. 25-27. Thanksgiving Break

Dec. 2--Mrs. Scott's class will shop at the book fair!!  Send in money.  Let your child know what they can buy.  More books than trinkets!

Dec. 23-Jan. 4. Christmas Break

Turkeys in Disguise!  So cute!

The week of Nov. 9-13.

 I hope you enjoyed the beautiful weather last weekend!  

Grade cards will be on Skyward on Wednesday.  There shouldn't be any surprises since we just conferenced about your child recently.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  It is good to show your child their grade card and how they did on it.  

Picture retakes are next Thursday, Nov. 19.  Please let me know if your child is getting their pics retaken, so the office knows how many to expect.  Thank you.

2nd quarter sight words (the next 25) are in your child's folder.  Start reviewing these at home!  

If you child passed 1st quarter sight words last week, they received a certificate.  If he/she needs to review any, they have a note with the words to practice at home.  Please look for one of these in their folder!

Sight words this week:  but, with

The new spelling list is in your child's folder also.  The focus vowel is short "o". The test will be in two weeks on Nov. 20. The words are:   

pot, top, job, dog, frog, stop

at, is, was, he, on, in

ELA/Science:  Today we began our unit on Light.  We will be reading about light in our science books.  We made a word web telling all of the ways we can get light.  We will be doing some fun things with the flashlights you sent in with shadows and searching for words.  If you haven't sent in a flashlight, you still have time!!

Specials: We will begin PE tomorrow for the next 5 days!  Please make sure your child is wearing tennis shoes through Monday, Nov. 16!

Math homework:  I love how many of your children are choosing to do the math homework for extra practice!  

Coming up!

Nov. 19.  Picture Retakes

Nov. 20.  Spelling test

Nov. 25-27. Thanksgiving Break

Dec. 2--Mrs. Scott's class will shop at the book fair!!

Dec. 23-Jan. 4. Christmas Break

The week of Nov. 2-5.

 Thank you all so much for attending your child's conference!  It was great to put names with faces!  Your kids are all doing fabulous and are making my job really fun!  If you ever have any questions or concerns please let me know!

Grade cards will go out on Nov. 9 on Skyward.  It is mostly review of what we talked about at conferences.  

This week we are talking about needs/wants, goods/services, and consumer/producer in ELA/Social Studies.  

Our sight words this week are:  you, in, and

Spelling words:  a, we, by, the, she, be,  short i words:  lid, big, hip, sit, chin, ship

I will add 2 challenge words each test that may include a consonant blend like: st, gr- with a short i ending.

Or I may add a consonant digraph such as; ch, sh, th, wh- to the short i ending or whatever vowel we are working on.

The spelling test will be this Thursday, Nov. 5 since kids are not here on Friday, Nov. 6.

Math--We are working on subtraction from ten.  If we have not completed the backside of the worksheet, your child is always welcome to complete it at home and bring it back for a ticket or piece of candy.  The same goes for the homework ws that they may bring home.  If I assign the homework sheet, I'll let you know.  If I notice your child needs extra practice I will write "Please do HW" and send it back.  

Enjoy the Halloween pics!  You can always download them to your computer!

First Grade Teachers as Waldo!