10/18-10/22

Whoa! A whole week of school, and I somehow did not take a picture. We must have been SUPER busy (as if we're not always).

This week we began unit 2 of our Reading Street series. We read A Big Fish for Max and even made fish at our Following Directions center. We discussed the main idea of the story, as well as the main idea of other stories we have read. We also learned about the sh and th sounds. Please continue to work on these sounds at home. Sometimes we forget them.

In grammar we extended our knowledge of naming words by calling them nouns and by learning that a noun names a person, place, animal, or thing. We even illustrated nouns (which I totally meant to photograph, but got sidetracked). We will do a noun search in class this coming week!

In math we used a number line to add and subtract. I'm very impressed with how well the class is doing with learning their facts.

Weather was the unit of study this week, and the class LOVED the books we read and the activities we did! I think they would be happy to learn about weather every day of the school year. ha! I hope your child can tell you something new that (s)he learned about weather. I have a little more to do Monday in regards to weather, and then we will move to Spooky Fun.

I have really enjoyed meeting you at conferences over the last few weeks! It is so fun to brag on your children and get to know you better. I have one conference left tomorrow (YAY!). Please contact me if ever you need to talk to me. It is a joy to teach every one of my twenty students, and I definitely want them to have a great year!

10/11-10/15

We returned from Fall Break revived and ready to learn and review!

Since it was unit 1 review week, we had fun activities and websites to visit to help us prepare for our unit test (which the class did extremely well on)!

We also studied nocturnal animals. Rylee’s hedgehogs even came for a visit! We watched a fun, informative Reading Rainbow episode about bats (Stellaluna), read about silly Epossomundus, learned about raccoons and hedgehogs, and painted owls. At the end of the week we wrote facts about four nocturnal animals.

In math we continued to add and subtract related numbers and even learned to use a number line to help us add and subtract.

It was Fire Safety week at school. We read several books on fire safety, visited websites to help Sparky the Firehouse Dog, walked to the fire station, and made firefighters!

It was a spectacular week! This has been an amazing year so far, and it just keeps getting better!

Stuffed Animals

Because they performed so well on our Unit 1 Benchmark test, your children may now bring a stuffed animal to sit on their desk and watch them work. The animal should be no larger than a standard Webkinz. They may bring a different stuffed animal each day or the same one. Also, if your child plays with it during class, it will be placed in his/her backpack for the remainder of the day. Then, your child may try again the next day to leave the stuffed animal on his/her desk.

I will have last week's post up tomorrow night (hopefully). I spent Saturday cleaning, and Case did not take a nap today, so I didn't have time to upload photos. There are a bunch!

Thank you all for everything that you do! I do not take for granted for a single second that I am blessed to have each of your children and you as my classroom family this year!

9/27-10/1

This week we took a safari as we read Animal Park. The students LOVED reading about the safari animals. They learned new facts about lions, zebras, hippos, and elephants! We made a koala at our Following Directions Center. Those koalas are too cute! Our boys and girls are really improving with their tracing and cutting skills!

We finished our short vowel review, so your child should be able to instantly read words that contain short vowel sounds. As a review we read “Doughnut Words.” Each student had five plates, each with a short vowel written on it. They were then given several doughnuts, with letters written before and after the doughnut hole. They laid the doughnut on each plate and read the word when the vowel filled in the hole. We then talked about which words were real and which words were nonsense.

We also finished Unit 1 of Reading Street, but don’t throw away the spelling and story words lists. Keep them in a safe place and pull them out from time to time for review. Unit 2 will be in this week Wednesday Folder, e-mailed this week, and updated on my website this week, so go ahead and be studying! This coming week is a review week, so we will not have a new Reading Street story or any language arts tests. We will visit the computer lab, however, to take our Unit 1 test.

In math this week we sang the Doubles Rap and learned about fact families. The numbers 3, 8, and 5 are a fact family because you can use those three numbers to make four number sentences: 3+5=8; 5+3=8; 8-3=5; and 8-5=3. We have a really fun way to write fact families, in which we begin with skeleton number sentences!!! Our minds and hands are always so busy during math!!!

We wrapped our Amazing Apples unit of study. Next week we will learn about Fire Safety. We will walk to the fire station on Tuesday to see real live firefighters and their equipment!!!

Our greatest adventure of the week was our field trip to Burritt Barnyard and Treasure Trail. The bus ride was very bumpy (It always makes me sick.)! When we arrived, we visited the barnyard animals: mules, goats, pigs, chickens, ponies, sheep, a cat, and a cow. The students got to pet a sweet goat. Then we went on a treasure hunt to find out what living things need: food, water, shelter, and care. The class learned about food chains, and even got to make their own food chain. They had such wonderful answers to difficult questions! These kids always amaze me!! We enjoyed a picnic lunch and some run around time. Then we made it back to school for PE! What an adventure!!!

I hope you all had a fun, restful fall break! It was just what I needed to get rejuvenated! I will see your sweet children Monday. Please remember to arrive on time for your conference. J I need plenty of time to brag on your children!

9/20-9/24

This week we read and wrote words with the short e sound. The short e sound is the most difficult vowel sound for students to recall and distinguish in words. I blame our southern accents. :-) We also learned to blend two consonants when they appear at the beginning of a word (as in block). We played several fun matching games to help us with this. The two trickiest blends are tr and dr, so I really try to emphasize their sounds.

We have practiced taking AR Quizzes, and some students have their AR Folder and are quizzing on their own (almost). The other students should receive their AR Folder this week! I love that AR motivates students to read. They love that it is done on the computer and that they get a sticker if they make a 100! AR Quiz grades NEVER count as report grades in my class, so if your child has a little trouble on a quiz, don't get too alarmed. There is a learning curb to this process!

In grammar this week we distinguished telling sentences from other sentences. To practice, I wrote a telling sentence starter on my board and let the class complete the sentence on their boards. They could only write a telling sentence though. They caught on pretty quickly. Next week we will learn about asking sentences, or questions. This should be easy, since they are already such fantastic question askers! ha!

In math we began subtraction. We used cubes to help us subtract and we played a fun ActivBoard flipchart game.

We wrapped up our Farm Life unit this week, and began studying apples. We will continue our apple study until fall break. On Friday we had an apple tasting, in honor of Johnny Appleseed's birthday. We had apple slices (with 3 dips), dried apples, apple chips, applesauce, and apple juice. I think the students were pretty shocked that they actually liked the apple chips. After we tasted our apple products, we made a chart to show our favorite way to eat apples. I truly appreciate the parents who sent items or volunteered to help with our apple tasting! Your children love seeing you at school, and I love for you to come too!

This coming week brings our Burritt Barnyard field trip! YEAH! It is such a fun trip. Please check the weather that day. Your child may need a sweater. Also, your child will definitely need to wear tennis shoes. We will pet animals, learn about food chains, enjoy a picnic lunch, and so much more!

I hope you all have a well rested fall break. We are leaving early, so the class will have a sub on Thursday and Friday. Normal tests will still be given on those days. Our sub is fabulous. Her son was in my class a few years ago, and she has subbed for me a little bit (as well as for other 1st grade teachers), so I know she'll do great!

9/13-9/17

A lot of new learning took place, as always!

In phonics, we worked on adding suffixes s and ing to words. To help us, we traced our spelling words with brown beans. When it was time to add suffix -s to a word, we traced the -s with white beans. That was a center this week, and the students enjoyed it immensely! If your child has difficulty reading a word that has a suffix, try covering up the suffix, and having your child to read the base word. Then let him/her add the suffix. This helps tremendously. We also counted syllables (or word parts). We count syllables by holding our hand slightly under our chin and saying a word. Each time our chin drops to hit our hand, that is a syllable. Syllabication is very important, as it helps us to spell long words by breaking them into chunks. Call out a few words so that your child can count the number of syllables (s)he hears.

We read A Fox and a Kit from our Reading Street book, and we discussed the main idea of a story. When you read a book with your child, ask him/her what the story is mostly about. We also read LOTS of books in small groups. The progress your children are making in their oral reading is outstanding! I could not do what I do with them without your help, so please keep up the reading at home! It really pays off!

In grammar, we worked on word order in sentences and completing cloze (fill in the blank) sentences. At the vocabulary center, students had to solve jumbled sentences. I wrote about seven sentences (using story words), each on a different sentence strip, and then cut them apart and put them into their own numbered Ziploc bags. Students took turns reading their cards, and making a sentence with the cards. They loved it! After completing the sentences, students used foam letter tiles to spell each story word.

In math we continued to study place value. When a completed math worksheet comes home, please remember to review it with your child. Place value is a tricky skill that is extremely developmental. We will revisit it throughout the school year, and it will be one of the first skills reviewed in 2nd grade. Below are a few pictures of the class working with place value.

On Fridays, students love to visit math stations. There are quite a few different activities at math stations. This week students worked with pattern blocks, legos, play-doh, and dot cubes. They rotate to each station and have a blast with math manipulatives!

We talked about farm life during our unit of study. The students were read a few farm themed books. We talked about the many jobs of farmers, and they learned about habitats. They even got to watch some online videos of animals in their natural habitats. We will continue our farmlife study for a few days next week and then we will begin studying all about apples to honor Johnny Appleseed's upcoming birthday. I'm looking forward to our apple tasting on Friday!