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