THe week of Jan. 31-Feb. 4

 Well the Chiefs game didn't turn out how Chiefs' fans wanted but it was sure a fun season to watch!  

We have been real busy in first grade learning all about Kansas last week and finishing it up this week.  Friday was the most fun celebrating the 100th day of school!  Below are a few of the pictures of all of our stations we did and of the "old" people that visited 1st grade!

ELA--Long a with "ai" usually found in the middle of a word, and "ay" usually found at the end of a word.  I tell the class it's easiest to remember that "ai" is in the middle, like "i"  in the middle of the alphabet.  "Ay" is at the end of a word, like "y" at the end of the alphabet.

New words:  away, one, doesn't, something

Math--We will finish Chapter 5 on Place Value with a test on Wednesday unless we don't have school because of the winter weather.  Then, it will be whatever day we come back.  The most challenging part of the test for some will be being able to write ten less and ten more of a given number.  To practice at home you  could write _____55_____.  Your child will write 10 less than 55=45, and 10 more = 65.  Give them several examples to do reminding them that the ones place always stays the same.

Kansas celebration today-- We had fun playing a Kansas BINGO game with all of the Kansas symbols.  We finished our Kansas packet, so check it out in your child's folder.  Quiz them on what each symbol is.  We also ate a bite out of a graham cracker square to see what Kansas looks like!  

Sight word lists--the kids are doing great on their sight word list tests!  I'd like for them to pass 51-75 by the end of 3rd quarter.  If your child is working on this list, practice 5 min. a day on the words by playing games like I Spy or memory match to help them!  Thank you!  It really makes a difference on their fluency when reading to know the sight words!

Coming up!

Feb. 14.    Valentine's Party. 3-3:30. Bring 22 Valentines with only From:  your child's name on them.  Decorate a box or bag at home to put Valentines in and bring it to school on Feb. 14!

Feb. 16.    1/2 day school/Parent-Teacher conferences 

Feb. 17.     All day Parent-Teacher conferences

Feb. 18-Feb. 21.   No School

Feb. 23.    CCE Skating Party  and PTO night at Sombreros

April 21    1st grade music program at 6:30

Stacking 100 cups!

Rolling and bouncing balls counting by 1's, 2's, 5's, 10's.

Dabbing 100 dots on 100!

Counting by 10's with Fruit Loops and making a necklace.

Putting together a puzzle of a $100 bill!

The week of Jan. 24-28

 I hope you had a great weekend!  For those of you that are Chiefs fans, Wow what a game!

The class is looking so forward to 100's day on Friday!  Please let me know if you have any questions about dressing up (it is totally optional, but fun to see the kids having fun looking 100!), and/or bringing in a 100 collection in a baggie (optional too!).

Phonics--This unit is long o words with one vowel on the end.  (go, no, hi, me, he)

sight words--new, why, school, friend

I will also introduce what re (to do again) and un (undo) means in a word study.

A decodable paper book will come home with the sight words and new phonics pattern words mentioned above.  Please have your child read it 2-3 times to improve their fluency.

Social Studies--This week we are learning about our:

state insect--the honey bee

state reptile--ornate box turtle

state fish- catfish

our state seal and flag

We will find where Kansas is on a map, where our county is on a map, how to label a compass rose on a map, and how to find our state capital, major cities, and rivers using a map key.

Math-- 

Greater than and less than using the symbols.

Place value with numbers to 120

Read and write numbers to 120

Kansas Day Fun!

We will do some Kansas activities on Monday, Jan. 31!

Coming up!

Jan. 28.   100th day of school!

Jan. 29.    Kansas' birthday!

Jan. 31.    Kansas Day activities

Feb. 14.    Valentine's Party. 3-3:30. Bring 22 Valentines with only From:  your child's name on them.  Decorate a box or bag at home to put Valentines in.

Feb. 16.    1/2 day school/Parent-Teacher conferences 

Feb. 17.     All day Parent-Teacher conferences

Feb. 18-Feb. 21.   No School

Feb. 23.    CCE Skating Party  and PTO night at Sombreros

The week of Jan. 18

 It sounds like the kids had a grand time playing in the snow over the weekend!

We have had fun doing "snow" activities in class!  

ELA/Social Studies

With Kansas Day coming up on January 29th, we will be learning Kansas history in first grade.  Today we read about the life cycle of a sunflower since the sunflower is our state flower.

The other Kansas symbols we will learn about this week are:

state tree--The Cottonwood Tree

state animal--American Bison

state bird--Western Meadowlark

Phonics--Magic e --long o, u, e vowels.  

The kids are beginning to remember to change the vowel sound when they see the silent e on the end of a word!  It's harder to remember to add the magic e on the end of a word when it's a long vowel sound.  It's also tricky to know whether the long o is a word like -note, soap, or snow!  The more your child reads books, they will begin recognizing what way to spell words.

The Phonics decodable books are great to practice the long vowel words.  Have your child read these books multiple times to improve their fluency--Reading it without having to sound out each word.  It would be helpful to hold on to all of these decodable paper books to pull out for your child to read on their level and reinforcing the skills we are working on.

Math--We are continuing with Chapter 5 over place value.  We are learning ten more and ten less along with different ways to write a number- using tens and ones blocks, writing the numeral with digits, and writing the number word.  We will be comparing using greater than, less than, and equal to.

Also, counting nickels and dimes.  Although, we have already been counting coins each day in our calendar when we count how many days we've been here.  The class is doing great recognizing and knowing the amount of the penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and half dollar, along with counting them.  We have learned to start with the biggest amount first.  See if your child can count some change at home!

Specials this week!

Wed-PE

Thurs-Art

Fri-Library

Coming up!

January 28.     100th Day of school -look for information coming soon!

January 29.     Kansas' 160th Birthday!

January 31.     Kansas Day activities!

February 10.    1st grade music program @ 6:30

Pictures from our Holiday Party

Holiday pictures in first grade!

 

The week of Jan. 5

 Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a wonderful break and the kids are rested, refreshed and ready to return tomorrow!  I'm excited to see them!  

First things first!!  Please make sure your child continues to come to school with a mask on and extra masks in their backpack.  Elementary is not optional and with the cases soaring, we want to be as safe as possible!  Thank you!  The kids have done wonderful wearing them!

One change for the kids you can let them know about will be that they will have to wear their masks out to recess instead of leaving them on their desks.  Once outside, they can put them on their wrists or in their pocket.  We will try to get out for fresh air even if it's not very long, and the windchill is below 20 degrees.  If it's 10 degrees or below, we will not go out for sure.  In all likelihood, we will probably stay in doors in the mornings this week.  PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR CHILD HAS A WARM WINTER COAT, HAT, AND GLOVES!  Thank you!

This week we will be reviewing rules and procedures while easing our way back in to school.  

Grade cards:  Please get on Skyward after 4:00 Friday to see your child's 2nd quarter grade card.  If you are having trouble getting to it, please call the office.

ELA--  Learning about New Year's Resolutions.  Instead of making a general resolution, we are going to think about what we can do to show kindness to our friends. Then we will make Kindness Resolutions for the year!

We will read, "The Mitten" and "The Hat", do some fun activities to go along with each book and compare/contrast the two stories.

Phonics--Final e--Making vowels long by adding the "magic e" on the end.  We are beginning with long a and long i.  We will be talking about how a cvc word like "can" becomes "cane" with the silent e on the end.

You will find a Phonics' packet in your child's folder with the pages we skipped before the break due to time constraints.  Those pages are skills that we have covered frequently already this year or are just introduced in first grade.  They will be great for your child to pull out and do when they have time.

Fry's Sight word lists!  I hope you had some down time over the break to review your child's sight word lists that I sent home!  If not, please work on those.  Our goals are passing the lists at the times below.  The more sight words your child learns the more books he/she will be able to read.  The kids are doing awesome remembering their sounds and decoding words.  Adding sight words to their reading, will help them take off!  Thank you for working on the at home!

1-25 by the end of first quarter

26-50 by the end of second quarter

51-75 by the end of third quarter

76-100 by the end of fourth quarter

Sight words in our Phonics book:  who, know, was, made, water, that, of, carry

Math--We will begin our Volume 2 Math book on Chapter 5 over Place Value.  We learned about place value before the break add to our place value chart every day during our calendar time, so the class should do well on this very long chapter!

Specials:  Just a reminder that your child's new specials' schedule is on the front of their folder.  Please make sure they wear tennis shoes on PE days and bring their library book back for library day.

A day- Library (tomorrow)

B day-Music

C day-Technology

D day-PE (Monday)

E day-Art

Coming up!

Jan. 7.       Grade cards posted on Skyward, look for 2nd quarter progress reports and info. in Friday's folder.

Jan. 12.     CCE eat at Panera night

Jan. 17.      No School-MLK holiday

The week of Dec. 13

 I hope you all had a great weekend shopping and shopping and shopping!  It's amazing how getting ready for Christmas is never ending!

This week is going to be full of holiday fun, so this is a short blog.  We will be doing Christmas crafts and reindeer games in-between Phonics, Reading, and Math!  

I hope you have a great week!

Coming up!

Dec. 16.       Holiday Party --Half day, dismiss at 12:10

Dec. 17-Jan. 4.  Christmas vacation

Jan. 5.        3rd quarter begins--Welcome Back!

Jan. 7          2nd quarter grades posted on Skyward

The week of Dec. 6

 What a difference in the weather this week from last week!  Please send winter coats to wear tomorrow also!  It's warming up after tomorrow.  Thank you for trying to remember to check the weather, so the kids are comfortable playing at recess.  

Last week we had a fun time with fairy tales.  Friday we worked together to doing STEM building with 5 different fairy tales.  It was a challenge at times sharing and taking turns, but we made it through 5 stations!  Enjoy some of the pics below.  Have your child tell you what they had to do!

ELA--This week we are moving on to Gingerbread stories!  We will be comparing and contrasting stories, along with doing other gingerbread activities.

Phonics-Consonant Digraphs-2 letters together that make one sound.  ch, th, sh, wh.  These may be at the beginning or the end of a word.

Due to limited time and many skills to cover, we will only do a few pages on each of these digraphs.  I may send home others for them to do at home.  They can send them back if they choose to.

Math--We will continue with various review and math activities while Mrs. Scott works on Fastbridge testing.

Holiday Fun!  Along with Gingerbread we will enjoy some holiday activities too!  Today we are reading "Santa Gets Stuck" and will make a flipbook telling the parts of the story.

Rudolph!  The class will get to make a Rudolph after playing a dice game with addition.

Coming up!

Dec. 16.       Holiday Party --Half day, dismiss at 12:10

Dec. 17-Jan. 4.  Christmas vacation

Jan. 5.        3rd quarter begins

Jan. 7          2nd quarter grades posted on Skyward

Fairy Tale Stem

Building The Three Little Pigs House

Building the Three Bears Chairs from Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Building the bridge!

Building the Pig's house

Building the bridge from The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Building Rapenzel's Tower

Building a basket for the apples that Red Riding Hood took to Grandma's