Happy New Year!

We had such a busy December with field trip fun, birthdays, art projects, and a holiday party!  Check out this photo slideshow of Bell Ringing and Grinch Day by clicking the link! 

We traveled to the Plains Art Museum for our annual clay project.  We began our trip with a tour of the museum.  The students were entranced as they listed to the presenter speak about each piece.

Students then went to the studio to make their penguin.  The timing was perfect as students had recently learned about three-dimensional solids in math.  The instructor  based all of her instructions on these three-dimensional solids, making it easy for the students to connect their knowledge to the art.  I hope you enjoyed seeing these adorable penguins!

We enjoyed learning about holidays around the world by receiving a package from a different country each day in December.  In the hustle and bustle of the crafts and snacks, I didn't seem to take as many pictures as normal...oh well, fun was still had by all!

Star Students

We had a great time getting to know William this month.  William always has a smile on his face and jokes to tell in 1st grade.  He's a great helper in class and to his little brother at home.  The students were very excited to see his cool robot he brought for show and tell.

We learned more about Jason in December too!  We also celebrated his birthday on Grinch Day and enjoyed some delicious Green cupcakes!  Thanks for the party bags, Jason!  Jason is a kind and caring fellow and always happy to be in 1st grade.  

Another birthday and Star Student for the month of December!  Charlie turned 7 over the holiday break but we had to get to know him more before the break!  Charlie is kind and caring and quite the athlete.  I enjoyed playing "Christmas Party" with him in gym but had a hard time catching him!

Upcoming Reminders

January 2: School Resumes

January 7: 1st Grade Reading Medalist Program Begins (Letter to come home soon)

January 10: Book Orders Due!

January 11: No School - Professional Development

Globe Trot Scott Returns

Hello!  I can't believe it is December already and we are already thinking about Christmas.  On Friday, we received a message from Globe Trot Scott (my fictitious friend from Orlando).  Scott informed us that he would again be traveling the world to help us learn about different cultures and celebrations.  We're not sure when our first package will arrive from Scott, but sure are excited to see what is inside!  I'll be sure to post via Seesaw so you can share in the joy with our class!

Have you heard about the Raider Reward?  Last week we implemented a School Wide Positive Behavior program with our classrooms.  Essentially, all staff will be on the look out for students demonstrating our three rules: Be Safe. Be Respectful. Be Responsible.  When we catch students doing any one of these things, they will receive a Raider Reward slip.  Students write their names on the slips and put them into our class bucket.  Once our bucket is full, we will earn a celebration.  I explained to students that they should work hard to be "Bucket Fillers" not "Bucket Dippers."  The school wide component is huge as the students know that positive behavior can be awarded anywhere!  Ask your child if they have received any Raider Rewards yet and how they demonstrated our school rules.

Our class participated in a Global Read Aloud with Mrs. Cain in the library.  We have spent several weeks corresponding with a 1st grade class in Chicago.  We were so excited to visit live with the class using Google Hangouts!

We were invited to our 4th Grade Buddies Hunger Fair where students learned more about hunger around the world and our community.  The 4th grade students to an amazing job sharing their learning and their 1st grade buddies were excited to see their new friends.

Star Student

We were excited to have a Star Student again this week.  Ella is a natural when it comes to leading calendar and acting as my assistant.  The class absolutely loved hearing Ella's favorite book, The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak.  I think you could hear laughter down the hall!  She also spoiled the class with Sushi on Friday as her special treat.  I was amazed to see fourteen students try the Sushi and ten of them liked it!  

A Peek at Our Week

Reading: This week in reading we will read A Cupcake Party.  This darling story will provide a great opportunity to revisit story structure: characters, setting and plot.  Students will utilize a graphic organizer to record their thinking.  We will learn about articles/determiners in grammar and how to utilize the words a, an and the in our writing.  

Writing: The 1st grade authors have been busy writing their first teaching books.  Last week we worked on introductions.  This week we will add conclusions as well as begin revising and editing a piece for publishing.  The students are learning to move through the writing process independently as their writing stamina grows.

Math: On Monday students will take their Unit 4 math test.  Be sure to watch for this to come home for your signature.  We will begin learning about data and measurement in math next.

Spelling: Last week in spelling we began rotating 1st grade classrooms.  It will take some time for students to adjust to different classroom routines and procedures, but we feel it is a great opportunity to not only differentiate the learning but to also allow for new learning partnerships.  The picture sorts proved to be a bit confusing for everyone, so we will move all students to a word sort next week.  This will make homework and testing a bit easier.  

Social Studies: We just finished our study of the USA in Social Studies.  This came just in time as our packages are about to arrive this week!  Shhhh, don't tell!  We are excited to learn about holidays and cultures around the world.

Upcoming Reminders

December 3: Field Trip to Plains Art Museum (Penguins Project)

December 3-7: Mrs. Sterling's Class Rings the Salvation Army Bell 

December 7: Scholastic Book Orders Due (Books make great Christmas presents!)

 

Welcome Winter!

Winter weather is officially upon us!  I'll be honest, I don't love the snow.  For me it means wet shoes, heavy backpacks, and freezing temperatures, yuck!  1st graders, on the other hand, seem to enjoy playing in the snow!  Don't forget to send appropriate winter gear for recess.  We go outside unless it is -15 (temperature or wind chill) outside. 

November began with a series of assessments to measure growth during the 1st trimester of the school year.  All I can say is WOW, and I think you will too when I share their progress at conferences.  While all students learn at different paces, everyone grows as a learner.  I can see more confidence in their writing and more fluency in their ability to solve addition and subtraction problems.  

We had a blast at our pumpkin party!  Thank you for bringing donations to help make this event successful.  The morning began with all things pumpkins: books, carving, seed counting, taste test, and more!  In the afternoon we had a short party where we decorated cookies, played bingo and played the doubles saran wrap game.  I'll admit, I was worried as I began wrapping prizes and candy in the saran wrap that one student would get it all.  We managed to pass the ball around the circle two full revolutions, ensuring everyone got enough prizes and candy!  Part of our party still remains, Pumpkin Jack.  Ask your 1st grader about our pumpkin and how we are observing it over time.  

Star Students

Don't worry, Lewie was all smiles when he was our Star Student.  Lewie is a huge Bison fan, and I can't help but get a little (just a little) excited for him each week when the Bison play.  The class was amazed to learn he was even born with six fingers!  They thought that was super cool!

We love when we can celebrate birthdays as the Star Student!  Griffin was not only our Star Student, but also turned 7 on Halloween!  He shared that he enjoys having his birthday on a holiday as it is always fun!  Griffin is an excellent writer and often shares his writing skills in class by making cards for his classmates.

Zeke was this past week's Star Student.  He also celebrated a birthday and turned 7.  If you can't tell by the photo, Zeke loves Star Wars.  He taught the class a little bit about the different robots this week.  Classmates of Zeke would say that he always makes other people smile.  They especially like his special birthday song!

A Peek at Our Week

Reading: This week students will read A Musical Day in class.  They will work to analyze and evaluate a text by thinking about character traits of the characters in the story.  We will take some time to explore musical instruments as well.  In grammar students will learn about different sentence types.  This week we will focus on statements.  

Spelling: An informational letter will come home this week regarding spelling.  It will be attached to this week's homework and spelling sort.  Please note, this is a "practice sort" and all students will be completing the same spelling list.  Beginning after Thanksgiving, students will work in spelling groups within 1st grade.  Some students may participate in spelling in Mrs. Volrath or Mrs. Braaten's classrooms.  Spelling is just another way we can differentiate the learning in 1st grade.  Please help your child practice his or her sort using the homework menu as your guide.  We will take spelling tests every Friday.

Writing: Last week we made trail mix as an introduction to How to Writing.  I modeled writing a simple how to story for students including each step in the process.  Students then worked to generate a list of activities that they are good at.  Some examples include tying shoes, riding a bike, throwing a football, making a bed, and more!  This week students will learn how to begin drafting a how to story.

Math: Last week we took our Unit 3 math test on subtraction.  I will get these graded and home for you to review this week.  We also learned how to access the Everyday Math games on the iPad.  We took some time to practice the partner games on Friday.  This week we will begin our next unit on geometry where students will learn about 2D and 3D shapes.  

Science: We wrapped up our STEM unit on motion with our final STEM challenge.  Students were challenged with building a miniature playground slide that was not only functional, but also fast.  Students worked through the STEM design look to plan, design, engineer, and test their models.  Students did considerably better than our last challenge.  

Upcoming Reminders

November 13, 15, 19: Parent Teacher Conferences

November 21-23: Thanksgiving Break

November 26: Ringing the Bell for the Salvation Army begins

Fall Greetings

It has been a great month so far!  Students attended their first field trip to MSUM for their Learning Bank field trip.  At MSUM, students enjoyed a performance by MSUM's band, Fuego Tropical.  The students learned about many instruments and enjoyed the performance.  It is always fun to go on a bus ride too!

Conferences are just around the corner.  Thank you for returning your conference slips promptly.  If anything should change with your scheduled time, don't hesitate to contact me.  This first conference will provide a great opportunity for us to visit about your child's strengths and set goals for the remainder of the school year.  Watch for a pre-conference survey to come home soon.

We will have a Pumpkin Party on Wednesday, October 31.  The day will focus around pumpkins as students participate in literacy, math, science and writing activities.  In the afternoon, students will have a short celebration with games and a snack.  Just a reminder, students should not wear or bring costumes to the party. 

Star Student

We had a lot of fun getting to know more about James in our classroom.  James is one of the hardest workers in 1st grade, always persevering!  We had fun celebrating his 7th birthday at school too!  

A Peek at Our Week

Reading: This week in reading we will learn about another Notice and Note Signpost: Aha Moment.  Students will hear the story I Want My Hat Back and try to determine when a character has a "light bulb" moment.  They will also work to summarize the main idea of a story.  In phonics we will practice using double consonant blends such as ll, ss, and dd.  We will also practice using final ck blends.  

Math: Math workshop began today!  Students began math with a whole-group mini lesson on subtraction.  Following the lesson, students rotated through four stations: Math with Teacher, At Your Seat, Technology and Hands on.  During each station, students had the opportunity to reinforce our new skill.  The students are very excited to try out their independence during math.  Ask your child what his or her favorite part of Math Workshop is!  Below is our Math Workshop rotation board.

Writing: Students are busy working through the writing stages.  Today we learned that some students may be planing where as others are drafting or revising.  No matter what stage of writing students are in, the most important thing is that they are writing.  We've enjoyed examining several personal narrative texts such as The Night of the Veggie Monster and Fireflies.  By examining real mentor texts, students are able to imagine themselves as real authors!

Science: We are busy being engineers during our first STEM unit of the year.  Today students explored the STEM design map by imagining, planning, designing and experimenting with their STEM teams.  Students built beanstalks using only tape and index cards.  In the end, team four managed to build a beanstalk that was 27 inches tall.  All teams worked hard to collaborate and communicate through this challenge!

Upcoming Reminders

October 24: 4th Grade Buddies (Mrs. Krueger's class)

October 31: Pumpkin Party

November 6: Picture Re-Take Day

November 9: Book Orders Due

Washington Walk-a-thon!

Wow!  We had a fabulous, first annual Walk-a-thon at Washington on Friday!  I saw so much excitement, joy and pride in the 1st graders as they walked and ran 207 laps on a chilly day outside.  Thank you so much to the families and friends that attended, donated and supported from afar.  Our students and school greatly appreciate the donations.  As of Friday, our school total was just over $17,500!  WOW!  We are eager to use the funds to boost our book room supply of quality literature as well as purchase STEM materials for our school.  Additionally, these funds help support our first grade reading medalist program that occurs each spring!

Star Students

Cole was our Star Student and we enjoyed getting to know him!  He really enjoys recess and gym at school and shared that he can even do a front flip.  We enjoyed reading a sweet letter from his big brother to the classroom.  He beamed as he heard just how special he was!

Asher was not only our Star Student but also celebrated a birthday!  Asher is a great kiddo that is kind to his classmates at school.  He enjoyed bringing his superheros to school for show and tell.  We loved learning more about Asher and I found out that he has a sweet tooth like me! 

A Peek at Our Week

Reading: We have been busy with small group reading for the past two weeks.  Thank you for taking time to read the guided reading books with your students at home.  Remember, you can jot these books down the Book-It log as well!  This week in reading we will learn more about story structure, which includes character, settings and plot, while reading Gus Takes the Train.  We will continue to practice using nouns, verbs and adjectives in our speaking and writing.  Below we practiced labeling Jackson with adjectives that describe him!  What a great sport he was!

Writing: In writer's workshop students will participate in their first reading celebration of the year.  Students will share their published writing with peers, showcasing their amazing pieces.  We will move into our first structured writing unit where students will learn about personal narrative stories.  Students will work hard to write about a small moment that has happened in their life.  I will use a one on one conferencing model to share students strengths and personal goals when writing.

Math: In math students are busy learning about addition to 10.  Students have practiced strategies such as counting on and arranging the order.  We have also learned how to use part-part-total diagrams to help with addition.  We will take our unit 2 test this week in math.  Please watch for it to come home and as usual, review, sign and return to school.  In preparation for Math Workshop to begin, students have learned how to work independently as well as with partners by playing games.  We even practiced missing addends with a fun write the room activity!  I look forward to beginning my work with small groups next week!

Science: Our plant life cycle exploration is in full force!  Students experimented with plant needs by giving some seeds water, shade and little oxygen.  All students planted carrots or sugar snap pea seeds and luckily, they all seem to be growing nicely on our windowsill.  By using clear cups, students are able to see the complex root growth occurring throughout the soil.  Students also created animal habitat dioramas after discussing the differences among various environments.  

Upcoming Reminders

October 11: Scholastic Book Fair (Please feel free to send cash with your child to shop during school.   All cash should be labeled in an envelope or baggie.)

October 12: Scholastic Book Orders Due (Don't forget to select your FREE book!)

October 15: Field trip to MSUM for Steel Drum Show 10:00-11:30 (Please note, this is not on the calendar)

October 18-19: No School