STEAM Fun!

May is upon us and it will be busier than ever!  Did the May calendar make it home with your firstie on Friday?  If not, let me know and I'll send an extra home.  It is jam packed with school and classroom events, field trips, and birthdays!  I'll send reminders as events get closer if they need your attention. Are you hoping to to avoid the "Summer Slump?"  If so, we will be offering a Summer Bridge packet for interested families to keep your student's mind sharp over the summer!  If you are interested in a packet, please send me an email by Thursday, May 4 and I'll order one through our print center.

Our materials for the STEAM Bins have been arriving.  With new materials comes the challenge of figuring out how and where to store everything!  I went in this weekend with my trusty assistants (Carson and Cameron) to figure out the best method for storage.  After some careful arranging, I think I have a plan!  I'm working on the STEAM Bin labels and am hoping to have things up and running in a week or so.  More photos to come....for now, check out some photos of the students exploring the materials.

Meet Pyper

In our final installment of "Star Student" we have Pyper!  Pyper is such a special gal as she is hard working, generous and kind to everyone.  Speaking of hard working, I was amazed to hear that Pyper is in charge of keeping her entry way clean and vacuuming her house.  Wow Pyper, you never cease to amaze me!  

We also celebrated another Character Champion in our class!  It is no surprise, Trevor was this month's champion.  He was noted for being hard working and leading by example in the classroom.  Keep up the great work, Trevor!

Finally, we celebrated a birthday this past week!  Happy Birthday, Sam!  Those ice cream bars were a huge hit!

A Peek at Our Week

Reading: We are wrapping up our final unit in Reading.  In the coming weeks, we will explore two supplemental extension units that accompany our reading curriculum.  Each of these provide the students with their own copy of the mentor text, allowing students to really engross themselves into the content.  I have never taught these extension pieces, so I am excited to try them with this group of students!

Math: This week students will complete their final year end math assessments.  These will help measure their learning and growth from point A (August) to point B (the end of the year).  I am looking forward to seeing their growth!  When we complete these assessments we will send the last couple of weeks with Unit 11: Addition and Subtraction Strategies in math.

Writing: We are working very hard on our nonfiction writing.  Students have already learned to group their content, utilized important words, and incorporate exciting adjectives.  This week students will learn to add illustrations, labels, headings and a table of contents to their pieces.

Science: I'm sure you have heard the buzz already, but our first graders are becoming master programmers!  That's right, Mrs. Cain, our school librarian, and I are team teaching several coding lessons through Kodable.  Students are led through the "I do," "We do," and "You do" process of coding.  Following each lesson, students put their minds to the test while they practice their own coding exercises on the computer.  This is a new, pilot program we are trying out and are excited to see the amazing communication, collaboration and creativity among our students. 

Upcoming Reminders

May 4: Operation Band-Aid Field Trip

May 5: No School (Storm Make-up Day)

Happy Easter!

Greetings on this glorious Sunday!  I hope you are enjoying some much needed time off from school with your families.  This blog post will be jam packed with photos, happenings, upcoming events/dates, and important information.  I'll apologize now for the length as I know I have a lengthy list of things to include.

The Reading Medalist program has really been a success this year.  All forms are due on Wednesday, April 26.  If you have a form partially filled out, please include that as all forms will be reviewed and then totals will be submitted to our vendor to order the medals at the end of the week.  Almost all students have met the 50 book total which will earn a class celebration.  Keep reading for these last few days!  Just a reminder that the Reading Medalist Program will take place on Friday, May 19 at 1:15.  The program will pair with Mr. Underwood's Music program making it a fun, family event.

The 1st grade team has been busy planning and tweaking our 2nd Annual Camp Learned-A-Lot Week which will take place May 22-26 in 1st grade.  Students will experience "camp" while at school in a fun filled week of reading, science, art, team building and much more!  On Tuesday, a green form and envelope will come home inviting you to purchase a Camp T-Shirt.  Shirts will be $6.00.  I have sample sizes in the classroom available for trying on if you are unsure of the size.  Feel free to let me know if you would like me to do the checking for you!  Last year we ended up just trying them on to get the best fit for the kiddos. 

We said farewell to our amazing practicum student, Ms. Smith.  We will miss her in the classroom and I will miss all of her help in preparing activities for the students!  Thanks for your hard work, Ms. Smith!

Meet Gabrielle

We are wrapping up our "Star Student" showcase of amazing students.  Gabrielle is one of our last students and she is as sweet as can be!  Gabrielle has a heart of gold and is an excellent big sister.  In addition, Gabrielle loves wearing fancy dresses that shimmer and shine in class!  

We recently celebrated two special birthdays in our classroom!  Happy 7th Birthday to Tarin and Bo!  

A Peek at Our Week

Reading: In reading we have been working hard on some more complex blends and vowel teams.  This past week we learned about R controlled vowels.  When practicing the /ar/ sound, we went on a treasure hunt with pirate eye patches searching for various "X's" around the school.

Math: In math we recently finished our data and graphing unit.  We practiced reading and creating several types of graphs including line, bar, picture, tally and circle graphs.  Students worked collaboratively to create and analyze a line graph with data collected as a class.  We also practiced some new Daily 5 Math choices this week.

Science: In science we used our 5 senses to explore Peeps Marshmallows.  We tasted, heated, and froze the Peeps in our investigation.  We also put our Peeps in six different liquids to observe change.  Peeps science was a blast!

 Upcoming Events

April 18: Camp T-Shirt Order Forms Home (Due April 28)

April 20: Art Night

April 21: Mrs. Sterling Gone (Guest Teacher)

April 25: Spring AIMSweb Assessments

April 26: Reading Medalist Forms due

May 4: Field Trip Operation Band-Aid Essentia Health

May 5: No School (Storm Make-Up Day)

Happy Easter from my family to yours!

Welcome Sunshine!

The sunshine and warm temperatures made it a great week to grab a couple extra recess breaks for the kiddos!  It is so nice to get outside.  I have stocked up on chalk and we hope to take some of our learning outdoors in the coming weeks!  Who says you can't practice math facts and spelling outside?

It was great seeing so many of you at the school carnival.  What a blast!  Thank you all for donating to our class basket.  I hope whoever wins it enjoys lots and lots of evenings of family game night!

Meet Morgan

Need a smile or a hug?  Morgan is your gal! She is always looking to help others through special notes and cards as well.  Morgan loves Ramen Noodles so much that she even wrote a story about them!

Meet Anabelle

You will find Anabelle wearing adorable cat dresses or headbands most days in 1st grade!  Anabelle loves everything about cats including, Koo Koo Kangaroo's "Cat Party" song!  Anabelle loves school and sharing her smile and personality with all that she meets!

We honored some special guests at this month's Character Champion Assembly.  Most importantly, Saad was honored as our Character Champion.  Saad was featured for his eagerness to push himself in class and complete extra work to achieve his dreams of being an Engineer.  Way to go, Saad!

A Peek at Our Week

Reading: This week we practiced identifying the cause and effect in a story titled "Little Rabbit's Tale"  Students then practiced writing the story from a different character's point of view.  Wow, did they come up with some great stories!

Writing: We are working hard in writing using everything we have learned about opinion writing to produce book reviews.  Students continue utilizing their story web to brainstorm their ideas before generating a formal paragraph.

Math: In math we just began a new unit on data and graphing.  We began by exploring shape attributes with a simple sorting activity in their interactive notebooks.  During my weekly Amazon hunt, I found a new math game Blink, where players race to discard all of their cards by sorting by number, shape and color.  I'm excited to let the students practice during Daily 5 Math.  Speaking of math games, I also found an awesome new game called 10 to the Top.  That cutie below is my own 1st grader, Carson, testing it out with me!  What a fun way to practice addition!

 Science: In science we are busy learning about simple machines.  The students have had a lot of fun (and lots of giggles) trying to lift and pull Mrs. Sterling.  Simple machines made it a lot easier!

Upcoming Reminders

April 13: Book Orders Due

April 14-17: No School, Easter Break