Dr. Seuss Fun!

Greetings 1st Grade Families!

Just a short post highlighting our past Star Student, Character Champion, and Dr. Seuss Week.  Next week the library is organizing some fun Dr. Seuss Activities, including fun dress-up days! Below is the schedule:

Monday - wear green

Tuesday - wear as many colors as possible

Wednesday - crazy socks

Thursday - stripes or polka dots

Friday - cozy and comfy gear 

Meet Leah

Leah was recently our class Star Student!  Leah wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up, but I think she should seriously reconsider a field in teaching!  Leah loves the Bison and her new basement bedroom!  We loved learning all about you, Leah!

Did you hear the news?  Bo was this month's Character Champion for our class.  It is no surprise as Bo is a calm and respectful member of our classroom.  What was a surprise was that his big sister Jada was also a Character Champion this month!  What a coincidence!

Upcoming Reminders:

February 28, March 2, March 6: Parent Teacher Conferences

March 3: Buckle Up Presentation from Fargo Public Health

March 13-17: Spring Break

March 15-24: Items for our Carnival Basket (Family Fun Night Theme) can be brought in

Spring is in the air?

Wow!  It sure feels like Spring today!  I hope you are enjoying these nice days, while they last!  Winter will return at the end of the week, so please continue to send winter gear.

We had a blast on Valentine's Day with a simple day of Valentine stations, science experiments and games.  Check out the kiddos in action!

Has your first grader told you about our special classroom guests?  We welcomed Victoria Smith, an NDSU student in her sophomore year, to our classroom for a 40 hour practicum.  Ms. Smith is enjoying seeing first graders in action.  She is reading and playing math games with students.  Ms. Smith will continue to be with us on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for a few more weeks.  Students also began Junior Achievement.  This year Junior Achievement is being taught by VCSU Juniors.  We are lucky to have 3 students teaching our students each Wednesday for five weeks.

We celebrated another birthday this month!  Happy 7th Birthday, Pyper!

A Peek at the Week

Reading: This week we will finish reading about a trip to the moon.  The students will also read a biography on Mae Jemison and locate text features within the text.  Students acted as reporters last week, interviewing an imaginary astronaut.  They practiced asking and answering questions with this task.  Students will learn about compound sentences this week in grammar and /ee/ and /ea/ vowel teams in phonics.

Math: In math students are working on addition and subtraction to 20.  We recently learned the doubles, doubles +1 and making 10 strategies.  We have been caught singing our "Doubles" rap, and Mr. Carlson even came in to watch us in action!

Science: In science we are learning about the sun.  Students practiced making shadows last week with flashlights, recording their observations in their science notebooks.  Next week we will learn about sun safety.

Writing: Would you rather swim in a pool of snakes or spiders?  This is just one of the opinion questions that was posed to students during an activity titled "Would you rather?"  Students are working hard on writing a paragraph (that's right, a paragraph) piece stating their opinion with supporting reasons.  They are so proud of their 5-6 sentence paragraphs, and so am I!

Upcoming Reminders:

February 20: No School for Students

February 21: 1st Grade Flag Presentation

February 24: AMVETS Coloring Contest Due (optional)

February 28, March 2, & 6: Parent Teacher Conferences

March 3: 1st Grade Buckle Up Presentation (School Nurse)

100th Day, Kindness Week & More!

Wow!  It has been a whirlwind of a week!  We had a blast celebrating the 100th Day of School in 1st Grade.  Students participated in various stations that all revolved around the number 100.  We counted by 1's, 5's, and 10's and used our grouping strategies to make 10.  We had so much fun celebrating together!  If you haven't yet done so, check out the photos from our day in this short video!  My favorite day was once again a success!

Kindness week and Valentine's Day are just around the corner!  This year's theme is all about using superpowers to spread kindness around Washington.  Students will be introduced to the week tomorrow morning at an all school assembly.  Students are encouraged to wear silly socks tomorrow to celebrate the day!  Other events will take place during the week and I will send reminders as needed.

Our class will celebrate Valentine's Day on Tuesday, February 14.  A letter came home last Friday with our class list.  Students may bring a Valentine and small treat/toy to share with their classmates.  If you are unable to get Valentines, please let me know so I can provide your child with some.  Don't forget the special teachers in our building, especially Mrs. Hartje and Mrs. Lovelace, the wonderful paraprofessionals that work in our classroom each day.

Conference schedule forms will come home tomorrow.  It is hard to believe we will meet for the second and final time in just a few weeks!  I'm so excited to show you all of the progress your child has made!  If your time does not work, please let me know!  I am happy to schedule an alternative time.

The Reading Medalist Program continues this month.  I am so impressed with all of the reading that has already taken place.  If you are having trouble finding books at your child's level, send me a note and I'll bag up several for your child to read at home!

Over the course of the past couple of weeks, we celebrated some birthdays!  Happy Birthday Emily and Gabrielle.  Happy 1/2 Birthday Anthony!

Meet Saad

Have you met Saad yet?  Saad is a great kiddo in our classroom.  He amazes me everyday in his knowledge, especially in the four languages that he speaks (WOW!).  He loves sports and his brother and sister.  Saad has big aspirations to become an engineer someday.  Keep dreaming big Saad!  You can do anything you believe!

Saad leads calendar math.

Meet Ethan

We learned more about Ethan this past week, too!  Ethan is special because he has a twin sister, Emma, who is in Mrs. Elkins' class.  Ethan is quite the hockey player and loves showing off his big muscles in class!  He makes everyone smile and laugh with his charming personality.  Ethan's personality shines big in 1st grade!

Ethan leading show and tell!

January came to a close and we also honored Leah as the Star Student for the month.  Leah was praised with entering 1st grade daily with a smile on her face, ready to learn.  Way to go, Leah!

A Peek at Our Week

Writing: Students are working hard to wrap up our How to Writing unit.  We are using the Seesaw App to record the students reading their stories.  The recordings will be on display at conferences.  Bring a device with a QR reader to hear your child read their story!

Reading: Students are being introduced to more complex spelling patterns and verbs in reading.  This week we will learn about the verb, to be (is, are, was and were) as well as silent digraphs like gn, kn, and gh.

Math: Students will participate in several math assessments to prepare for report cards.  Following this, we will begin our next unit in math on addition and subtraction to 20.

Science: We will finish our study of matter in science this week.  Students will be challenged to change a solid (ice) to a liquid.  Did you hear about our gas experiment?  We went outside and used antacids to create gas in a bag.  

Upcoming Reminders:

February 6: Crazy Sock Day (Kindness Week)

February 8: Junior Achievement Begins (VCSU Students Lead)

February 9: Washington Spirit Day

February 10: Cozy and Comfy Day & Book Orders Due

February 14: Valentine's Day Exchange