Sterling's Snippets: Thankful for Firsties!

Good Afternoon! I can't believe Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I have so much to be thankful for again, both personally and professionally. Today we were able to take some time to share all that we are thankful for in 1st grade. The "tablecloths" made great canvases for some thankful writing and drawing. Look for a Thankful Turkey that should have made it home today.

We had so much fun at our Thanksgiving Feast, inspired by Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. Keeping with the theme, we had our own feast filled with pretzels, popcorn, jelly beans, punch and of course, buttered toast! Check out some photos of our fun-filled day in 1st grade!

Decorating our Thankful Tablecloth

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Our feast of buttered toast, jelly beans, pretzels, popcorn and punch!

The coming weeks will be VERY busy in 1st grade. We will attend a class favorite field trip to the Plains Art Museum for the gallery tour as well as Creative Art Studio where students will make their penguins. Watch for photos on Tuesday on Seesaw! I'll be sure to snap the cuties in action! Just a heads up that I will be absent on Thursday and Friday (November 30-December 1) for a funeral. Mrs. Pochmara will be there, so rest assured that all will flow as usual. Beginning on December 4, our class will be ringing the bell for the Salvation Army. Send you spare change and try to swing in when your kiddo is ringing the bell. A schedule came home last week, but I will also list the schedule on the December calendar that will come home next week. If your child is unable to ring the bell on his or her assigned date, I will do my very best to reschedule. December will also bring our study of holidays around the world. This is a HUGE highlight for our students as the packages begin to arrive from all around the world. I'll be sure to post highlights from the event. Looking ahead, on December 22 we will celebrate in our classroom with Grinch Day! More information will come for that fun celebration.

All About Eva

Eva is full of smiles and kindness in 1st grade. She brought the most adorable book to share with the class called The Twelve Dogs of Christmas. If you haven't read it yet, it is adorable. Eva loves dolls and My Little Ponies. The students enjoyed seeing her pony that could flip on her show and tell day. We are so lucky to share Eva in our classroom!

Another 1st grader has turned 7! Happy Birthday, Daphne!

A Peek at Our Week

Reading: Things are moving along nicely in reading. Students are busy learning about main idea and supporting details. In phonics students are learning about initial and consonant blends in words like spin, past, plan, frog, etc. We had lots of fun practicing our words on our Boogie Boards. In grammar students will learn about plural nouns next week.

Writing: We have almost finished our third writing unit on procedural nonfiction texts. Students will learn to add introductions and conclusions to their writing pieces as well as publish their favorite piece. Students will work with their writing team to share and record their writing during a writing celebration. I'll apologize now, the camera work may be a little shaky, but the students will take great pride in completing the recordings on their own.

Math: We will begin learning about plane the three-dimensional shapes next week in math. Students will also be introduced to the fractions half and fourth. Math Workshop continues to be a favorite part of our day. I enjoy meeting with students in small groups daily.

Social Studies: We will finish our study of USA next week. Students will learn about voting after reading Duck! Rabbit! and then voting in a mock election. They will also learn about the final US symbol by making torn paper flags.