Sterling's Snippets: Collaboration, Communication & 4th Grade Buddies!

Good evening! I hope you have had a joyous holiday celebrating togetherness with your loved ones. A lot of exciting things have been happening in 1st grade lately, but if your kiddo is anything like mine, you hear nothing about school! I feel like I am pulling teeth to hear what my son ate for lunch! Perhaps this post will help generate conversation with your firstie!

Meet Sam!

Have you met Sam yet? Sam has a pretty neat hairstyle that all of the 1st graders love to touch! Thanksgiving must be the perfect holiday for Sam because he loves Deviled Eggs! Sam has two big brothers and is an amazing friend. Coincidentally, Sam was also this month's Character Champion! Sam was caught helping numerous peers without being asked. He always demonstrates the character traits that Mr. Carlson so passionately promotes at Washington. It is students like Sam that make this school the great place that it is! Keep up the great work, Sam!

It was also Ethan's big day on Thanksgiving! Happy Birthday, Ethan!

Last week the 1st graders got a first hand experience in 21st Century skills with Mrs. Cain in the library! Following several stories, students were greeted in the library to find out that their book for the day was locked in a box! They had to communicate and work collaboratively to solve five clues to open the box. The clues eventually opened 5 locks, and the students found their final book, The Reader. Thanks Mrs. Cain for this awesome experience.

The excitement continued when the 1st graders were introduced to their 4th grade buddy class. This year, our class has joined forces with Mrs. Clarey's class for some activities to promote friendship. Our first activity allowed for students to meet their buddy as well as read to one another. It is so fun to see so many of my former students and how they have changed over the past four years. I had this bunch of kiddos in kindergarten!

A Peek at Our Week

Reading: Students have been working hard to stretch and segment words to hear consonant blends. We practiced our blends by playing "Blend It" with a partner. Students are also learning about subjects and predicates and sentence structure.

Math: In math students are working hard on addition number sentences. Students are learning a variety of efficient strategies to solve their number sentences. Our goal is fact fluency to 10 and an understanding of addition to 20. We will begin subtraction soon!

Science: We will begin a study of the seasons next week. Students will work in their science journal and a flip-book to draw, write and describe the seasons.