February Here We Come!

Can you believe tomorrow is February?  January flew by in 1st grade with lots of intentional learning taking place!  Last week was our first week with the Journeys Reading Curriculum and the students did great.  A few practice pages came home so you can see what they have been learning in school.  We have been working on the diagraph /th/, possessive nouns, and root words with -es, -ed, -s, and -ing endings in the grammar and phonics portions.  We read the stories At Home in the Ocean and Water and students determined the main idea and key details along with comparing and contrasting the texts.  They took a short, 10 question comprehension test on Friday that will be sent home on Monday.

There is a lot going on in the school and classroom right now!  I wanted to provide you with some reminders and requirements for the upcoming events.

Reading Trophy is well on its way!  We are one month into our program and three students have already earned their trophy by reading  at least 50 books.  If you haven't begun with your child, please help him or her choose, read and record books on his or her log for the program.  This is a Washington tradition, and I know that we will have some sad first graders if they do not earn a trophy at the award ceremony.  If you have misplaced your reading logs, please let me know and I can get you a new copy.  If you are having a hard time finding books your child can read, please let me know and I can pull some books at his or her level.

The 100th Day of School is on Thursday, February 4.  Thank you to all of the families that donated supplies for the day.  We have so much fun planned for the day.  If you haven't already done so, please help your child count out 100 of one small food item such as raisins, m&ms, tootsie rolls, etc. to bring to school.  The items will be on displayed on our "What Does 100 Look Like" bulletin board and then finally used for our 100th Day buffet, YUM!

Valentine's Day will be celebrated in our class on Friday, February 12.   We will have a short celebration from 2:00-3:00 that day.  Students can bring Valentines for their classmates between February 8-12.  Please remember, if a student chooses to bring Valentines, he or she must bring one for all students in our class.

Reading Month will begin on Monday.  The school library is hosting an optional reading incentive program that your child is welcome to participate in.  More information will be sent home on Monday from Mrs. Cain and Mrs. Kiser.  This incentive program involves the reading "minutes" that students read.  Don't do extra work at home for this program!  Simply set the timer when your child reads books for his or her reading trophy.

I'll leave you with a couple of photos of students playing two new math games we learned this week!  Both games require a regular deck of cards with the face cards removed.  Ask your child to teach you how to play One More, One Less or The Difference Game (requires 40 pennies too).

Get Munch'n?

Good Morning 1st Grade Families,

We had another exciting week in first grade this week as we wrapped up our Goods and Services Unit.  Students explored businesses that offer goods and services and made their own business out of paper bags.  We don't always have time to do a lot of art in class, so it was nice to take about 30 minutes out of our day to let the students get creative with a box of supplies.  Students then shared if their business offered a good or a service.  I especially loved that many of the students named the businesses after themselves!

On Friday our culminating project was to produce a product for a consumer.  I wrote 19 simple job descriptions including a producer, packager, product designer, quality control and our factory manager, aka, the boss!  After choosing their jobs and reading the responsibilities, the students got busy!  Our production line had to ensure that the products they put in the tray were whole as well as count the appropriate amount.  Don't worry, the Quality Control Specialist was there to make sure no one licked their fingers!    Below Olivia and Nico placed their products in the trays.

Here Conoor, our packager, pour the contents into a bag.

Next it was on to our design team.  Our Design Manager, Sonja, did a great job delegating and working with the team to develop the product name "Get Munch'n."  They designed large labels and then priced the product at .10.

Finally the packaging department placed the labels on the product so they were ready for consumers. Each product was uniform, containing the same number of treats in each bag.  Look at the finished product below!  And the best news for the employees, their Factory Manager, Aiden, decided he would use his salary to purchase the entire class their own "Get Munch'n" snack bags!  We had so much fun with this exercise.

This week we also celebrated another birthday!  Happy 7th Birthday Olivia!  Those Frozen cupcakes were delicious!

Upcoming Reminders:

January 25: Nonfiction Photographs Due (if possible)

January 28: Ben Franklin Band/Choir Concert at 10:00 a.m.

February 4: 100th Day of School (Parent Letter to be sent home on Monday)

February 11: Field Trip to Ben Franklin for Emperor's New Clothes

Science Investigation

Good Afternoon!

Things have been busy in 1st grade since the winter break.  It doesn't help that it has been cold and the students haven't been able to get sufficient recess breaks.  We are still the same wonderful class, just a bit more chatty!  It is fun to hear their stories and tales!  We began the winter assessment period district wide last week.  The older students began MAP testing, but at the younger, grades it means a few different assessments.  Students participated in AIMSweb reading assessments last Friday and I am performing a number of assessments in the classroom as well.  This may be why you haven't seen as many guided reading books coming home, as I am assessing during my small group block, as most assessments are to be given 1:1 at the 1st grade level.  I actually love assessing the students as their growth is amazing!  It is normally around January of 1st grade when reading takes off and everything they have learned starts falling into place.

We also began our new science curriculum this week.  As you may remember, our 1st grade team is the pilot team for the district for new science curriculum.  Our new curriculum is published by TCI and is called Science Alive.  Our first unit is "Objects in the Sky" and students are learning about the sun, moon and stars.  We conducted our first investigation today on the path of the sun in the sky.  Students had to construct a house and then put 3 windows in their house which would provide optimal light based on the position of the sun in morning, midday and afternoon.  The discussion with science partners was amazing.  They were testing their predictions and some great work took place.  I think so far, they are really enjoying this new program, and so am I!

Here a student records data in his science journal.

Aubrey and Brookelyn add windows to their house before testing.

Hazel and Tinah are testing their house.  They later determined they needed a window on the roof.

Next week I will be attending a training with the 1st grade team with the publishers of our new reading curriculum on Tuesday morning.  I will return at lunch.  In addition to science, we will begin piloting the new reading curriculum next week.  The program is Journeys and I am eager to learn more about it.  Students will enjoy several Martin Luther King Jr. activities on Tuesday morning with a substitute teacher. 

All students in our class will be participating in the North Dakota Young Writer's Challenge.  Students in first grade are to select a past president and then create a campaign button and slogan as to why he would make a good president today.  We will be researching using PebbleGo in the computer lab and spending a few days perfecting our buttons.  Submissions will be sent to the local Valley Reading Council to be judged.  Perhaps a winner will be chosen from our classroom!

Just a reminder, the Reading Trophy program has begun!  Please return full sheets at anytime and your child will be given a new sheet.  A goal should be to read at least 15 books per month to meet the goal of 50 books by the end of April.  A classroom display will soon be up to highlight student accomplishments.  This really motivated students last year and I hope it will be equally successful!

This week we celebrated a birthday in 1st grade!  Preston turned 7!  Happy Birthday Preston!

Upcoming Events:

January 18: No School for Students