Two Week Catch Up!

Welcome Back! 

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend! Just a reminder- parent teacher conferences are next week! I am very excited to share your students' work with you. 

You will be receiving a confirmation paper in Monday's homework folders. See you soon! 

Here are a few things we worked on over the past few weeks. 

We have been doing many fun and interesting experiments in science while studying the phases of matter. Over the past two weeks, we learned and observed how matter changes phases. First, we looked at ice and dry ice over the course of one day. We've also learned about chemical reactions and how to identify when one has happened. To observe this, we activated glow sticks to see how a color is made, and combined vinegar and baking soda to see how the gas emitted can blow up a balloon. 

 We've talked about all the terms for matter changing, such as freezing, condensation, sublimation, and evaporation. To learn how these terms apply to real life situations, we observed condensation on mirrors, and turned liquid Kool-Aid into frozen popsicles. Our students have really been enjoying our science unit, and doing a great job engaging with the process of predicting and experimenting. 

In math, we've been working on skip counting by various numbers such as 2s, 5s, and 10s. To help us with fluency and speed with this skill, we play a game called count around. We choose a magic number to count up to, such as 25. Then, we stand in a circle and each person says a number as we go around (5, 10, 15, 20, 25). The person who says the magic number sits down, and the next person starts again at the beginning, until one person is left standing and declared the winner. This is a great game to play at home, even with a small group. 

Next week we'll be back to normal homework folders. Thanks for all your hard work at home! 

CONFERENCES

Parent-Teacher Conferences: 

 

Hopefully everyone received communication about upcoming conferences yesterday! 

Please use the link below to access Sign Up Genius if you haven't already chosen a conference spot. Looking forward to sharing your students' work with you all! 

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/904084AACAA23A57-fall

Spectacular Week Six!

What another great week in 107! They seem to be flying by, and we are making such great progress in all our work. 
This week, we started out celebrating a new month by decorating the bulletin board near our room for fall. All our students wrote book reviews about their favorite books and told why they liked it. Then, we put them altogether and thanks to Ms. Krissy's crafty skills, Voila! 

We've been having some fun in our reading groups "playing" with shaving cream in order to practice things like sight words, vowel pairs, and new vocabulary. Anything sensory is a great way to help kids retain what they're learning- so feel free to try this at home as you practice spelling words! Tracing words in shaving cream, salt or sand on a cookie sheet, making the words out of play dough, drawing them with sidewalk chalk, or painting the words are all great ways to help kids practice their weekly words, as well as make spelling a little more fun! :) 

  



One big focus this week was Writer's Workshop, where we published our first pieces of writing this year! All our kids have been doing a great job brainstorming and drafting stories from their lives, and this week we talked about revising and editing as part of the writing process. Finally, after many hours of hard work in our Writer's notebooks, we chose one story and published it. Lastly, we all walked around reading each other's amazing writing. It's so important for kids to build confidence and view themselves as authors, even at this early stage. Publishing a story is a big deal- be sure to read some of them when you come up into our hallway. 


In math, we've been working on telling time and counting pennies and nickels. These are really easy skills for you to have your student practice at home! 

Lastly, I want to show you some of the reading strategies we have for figuring out tricky words and building comprehension. We use these every time we read, and the kids are really familiar with them. The animals are a helpful mnemonic device to make sure our kiddos are aware of all the tools they have at their disposal as they learn to read. As you read with your child at home, I encourage you to let them try to figure out the words they get stuck on, and ask them to tell you what reading strategy they are using to help themselves figure it out. (Next week's homework folders will also include a copy of this bookmark to keep and use during your daily reading time.) 


Thanks again for visiting our page and seeing what we're learning each week! Check back on Monday for important updates in the homework tab.

Fantastic Fifth Week

Here's a few highlights from this past week!

First, of all, a HUGE thank you to all the parents who helped raise money for Laps for Lincoln. Our class raised over $800 for the Walk-a-Thon, and our kids did a great job running their hardest despite the rainy, chilly weather. This event is such a wonderful fundraiser and our students really enjoy it. 

On Monday, we used our clickers to vote on what our next party will be when we fill our marble jar again. This time we decided on a popcorn party! I have a feeling it won't be too long until we earn this one! :) 

Another big thank you to all you parents who helped your student find numbers for the Numbers Museum! We had so much fun going around the room and finding all the things numbers are used for in real life. Those numbers you collected will stay up all year long to help us remember why are learning to add, subtract, measure and all the other things we do. 

This week, we also started our first science unit! This unit is all about properties of matter, and we will be doing lots of fun experiments to help us understand and experience the phases of matter. We get into some pretty advanced stuff- even talking about the molecules in different forms of matter and how they move. Be sure to ask your student what they know about solids, liquids, and gases as the weeks go on, I think you'll be impressed by what they are finding out!

Thanks for reading!

Fourth Week Fun

Wow!
Can you believe we've already been in first grade for one month? It has absolutely flown by.

End of Day Movie Time! 

Of course, the highlight of this week was that we filled our marble jar and earned our reward pajama party!  These students have been doing an amazing job in school and definitely deserved this fun day. On Monday, we will vote again to decide what our reward will be the next time we fill the marble jar.

My favorite part was _____ because _______.

Other things we did this week included getting into our reading groups during centers. This time allows Ms. Krissy and I to work with students on their individual reading level and provide everyone with targeted instruction. We read and respond to books together, and often play phonics and word games. 

Happy Constitution Day! 

Tuesday was Constitution Day, where we celebrated the 226th Anniversary of the Constitution being signed. We connected this important event to our learning in Social Studies about rules and agreements that we make to each other. I hope you saw the excellent writing that students brought home that day! 

A Secretary Answers Phones and Talks to Families 

Later in the week during Social Studies we did some role playing in partners to help students understand the different jobs of teachers, principals, custodians and secretaries. This was a great independent team building activity, as students worked in pairs to pick their roles and script their own plays before performing in front of the group. I love this activity because it really gets students to think outside themselves and think about all the important people who help them in school! (And the plays are adorable!)

When You Think You're Done, You've Only Just Begun! 

 After lunch everyday we do Writer's Workshop, and I am amazed by the writing stamina our kids have already shown! Our motto during writing is "When you think you're done, you've only just begun!" Our students are learning to push themselves to add more details into their writing, revise, and keep brainstorming. I can't wait to get into some really fun writing projects and share them with you. 

Finally, I want to tell you about something I introduced to the kids this week called "Ask Me Stickers". One big focus as students get older is metacognition, that is, having students think about their thinking. This is a powerful tool to help students retain what they learn. To start our kids thinking this way, I like to give out "Ask Me" stickers that students earn for demonstrating independence with a certain skill. If your child comes home with one of these stickers, be sure to ask them to do whatever is written on it and chat with them about it. They are so proud of their learning! We always want to look for more ways to make curriculum carry over outside of the school day. 

Thanks for reading! Check the Homework Tab for the week's updates and important information! 

Third Week Thrills

Here are a few highlights from our third week of first grade! 

We have been having so much fun together, and are really getting into the curriculum now. Everyone showed great focus this week, despite all our rain and two days of inside recess. 

On Monday, we started Homework Folders for the first time, and everyone did a wonderful job starting out this big responsibility we will have all year long. 

One thing we do a few times a day is a "Movement Break", where we stand up and do little singing and dancing to move our bodies and keep our minds fresh and ready for more learning. Here is our group doing a great job dancing to the song Tony Chestnut. 

We also spent time during math doing what we call "Explorations". This is a chance for students to independently and creatively start to experience many of the manipulatives we will use during math time all year long. We had so much fun and the kids did a great job showing good teamwork while building and creating. 

 




In Social Studies, we went outside to play some games that helped us experience why following rules is important for everyone to have fun, and how showing good teamwork and cheering each other on helps everyone in our community feel good. 

Thanks for helping your students with their homework this week! Check the Homework tab on Monday for next week's newsletter. 

Second Week of School

Wow! 
I can't believe our full second week of school is already over! We learned so much this week and got so much done. 

 Here are a few highlights from our week:

Listening Center

We spent a lot of time every morning in Reader's Workshop learning the centers we will be doing all year. This is our main work time for guided reading groups and learning centers. Everyone did a great job staying on task independently. Ask your student to tell you about their favorite center!

Ms. Krissy's Reading Group

iPad, Math Games, and Reading

We also spent time working with different partners and practicing good listening and speaking skills. 

Next week we will start our DRA reading tests to see everyone's current reading level and start goal setting! Next week is also the first week of homework folders. Check the Homework tab on Monday for the weekly newsletter. 

Important Info

Supplies: 

Thank you for bringing in so many supplies this year! We have plenty of crayons, markers and pencils to get us through the year. 

Many children are still missing pencil boxes (without locks, please) and a folder with two pockets (just one for each student.) We could use extra donations if you have them! 

We've had many donations of the correct primary journal, so no need to worry about those. Thanks, parents!

Last thing we could use donations of is non-perishable snack items (fruit snacks, goldfish, etc.) This way we can make sure that everyone gets a snack every day! Thanks so much! 

Management: 

Some of you have probably heard about our Clip Chart that we use to keep track of our behavior. Here is what it looks like: 

If your student earns a reward coupon, they may bring home a slip of paper that entitles them to bring something to school. Please never send fragile or expensive things, even for show and tell. Thanks!