Peeps and Jelly Beans

We wrapped up our short week with some Peeps fun!  The students were each given two characters (Peeps) to create a story with.  It was suggested that their Peeps go on some sort of adventure or journey.  These writers had great imaginations.  We had Peeps going down rivers, in enchanted forests and even in jail!  A second grade teacher stopped by and commented that "this is some of the best 1st grade writing I have ever seen!"  All of their hard work during Writer's Workshop is paying off!  Our most recent focus has been on Author's Craft, and they are really making their wiring exciting for their readers.

This afternoon we also did "Jelly Bean Mystery Math" which was just my fancy way of making math with jellybeans exciting!  The students counted, sorted, graphed and interpreted their data.  They then practiced some addition facts with their jellybeans.

We celebrated two birthdays this week in 1st grade too!  Happy Birthday David and Nico!  We sure enjoyed your treats!

 Upcoming Reminders:

March 25-28: No School, Spring Break 

April 1: Operation Big Band-Aid Field Trip (9:45-11:45) at Essentia Health

April 8: All Star School Carnival

Shaving Cream, Bubble Gum and Rainbows....Oh My!

Have you heard the news?  Bubble Gum Math is a hit in 1st grade!  I decided to try something new this year to improve the student's fact fluency.  While the students have learned many strategies to add and subtract, they aren't yet speedy.  Now I know, this isn't the most important thing, yet I also know that our teachers appreciate students knowing their math facts prior to 2nd grade.  So that's how Bubble Gum Math came about!  We spent a full week learning the rules and routines.  I modeled the process and we hit a few bumps in the road as we practiced.  This week has been our first full week of implementation.  Students work with a partner to take their test.  The partner times, supervises, and grades the test using an answer key.  You may see some errors on the correcting, but I am working with them on how to fix the mistakes with a simple "ok."  Independence is key as I am working with small groups on a math lesson during this time.  After the test, the students graph their results on their individual graphs, and if they score twelve or more correct in one minute they earn a gumball sticker to add to their machine!  On every third test passed they earn a penny for my real gumball machine and a piece of gum.  When they have mastered all of their addition facts through twelve they will earn a larger gum prize and then they will begin the subtraction facts.  Who would have thought one minute time tests could be so fun?  If a student is stuck on a test, a set of flashcards for that specific test will be sent home to practice.  Please watch for these and practice with your child if necessary.

We had fun with shaving cream this week too as we practiced words that end with /ng/ and /nk/.  The students did a great job following the number one rule for shaving cream, only one hand in the cream!  

The first graders were a little disappointed that the leprechauns didn't visit our classroom.  My teacher heart sank a bit, but knew we had other fun in store!  We made rainbow pots of gold earlier in the week that turned out darling!  Today we made St. Patrick's Day Rainbow kabobs that we could eat, YUM!  Even though the leprechaun didn't visit our room, we still had fun together!

St. Patrick's Day also included a birthday in our classroom!  Happy 7th Birthday to Tinah!  

Upcoming Events:

• Please keep bringing items for our Carnival Basket.  Our theme is "Summer Fun!"
• March 24: Family Interview/Recipe Due (Letter to come home tomorrow)
• March 25-28:  No School Spring Break
• April 1: Operation Big Band-Aid Field Trip to Essentia Health

Seusstastic Fun!

Good Afternoon 1st Grade Families,

We had a Seusstastic week in 1st grade this week!  We took some time each day to celebrate reading and Dr. Seuss by sharing some favorite books and completing a few projects.  We began by reading Green Eggs and Ham.  The students loved the rhyme and repetition and were also excited to be told they could read many Dr. Seuss books independently due to his use of high frequency words!  The students sampled some "Green Eggs and Ham" and then made their own eggs writing a sentence them. I've made several versions of green eggs and ham over the years, but this year I thought I would go for a version I thought most students would like!

Here Tinah makes her own green egg.

We then read the story, One Foot, Two Foot, Red Foot Blue Foot.  Students put their sorting and graphing skills to work with a fun Goldfish Cracker math activity.  We also practiced estimating a bag full of gummy fish.  Lucky for us, the student that guessed closest and won the fish decided to share them with his classmates.  How sweet!

Here Preston works on graphing with his Goldfish Crackers.

There were 38 gummy fish.  David guessed closest with 34. 

We wrapped up the week reading The Lorax.  Students then made Truffula Tree Pencil toppers, though I neglected to take any photos!  Oops!  Perhaps the students will bring these home for you to see how cute they turned out!

Students also participated in the Washington All School Read-a-thon on Wednesday afternoon.  I again, failed to take photos as I was enjoying reading with my students.  It is always important to model reading for the students, so I brought a novel I am reading into the gym and enjoyed 20 minutes of silent reading with the students.

This week in math, we began learning about Equivalency.  What a big word for 1st graders!  Students learned that there are many different ways to represent a number.  They worked collaboratively to create a poster and presentation to share with their class.  I'll be honest, this was hard for the students!  We will need to practice more with collaboration and teamwork.  Some strong personalities took over whereas others sat back and didn't engage too much in the activity.  In the end, I still felt successful about what they had completed because they seemed to grasp the concept well!  Below are the three teams in action!

There are just over 7 weeks left to participate in the Reading Trophy Program.  Has your child already earned his or her trophy?  All reading logs are due on Wednesday, April 27.  It seems far away, but the days will creep up on us quickly this spring.  Please help your child achieve the goal of reading 50 books, independently!  Have you marked your calendar?  The trophy presentation and 1st grade music concert will take place at 1:15 on Friday, May 13.

Upcoming Reminders

March 7: Homework to begin in class

March 8: March book orders due!  This is a quick turn around to ensure delivery prior to Easter!

Homework at School?!?!

Good Evening 1st Grade Families,

We had another great week at school building our independence and preparing for 2nd grade.  A few new word work stations were added to our Daily 5 Menu including Bead-It, Desk Write and Roll and Record. I am always on the hunt for fun and exciting ways to practice our sight words in class and this year, it is proving to be very beneficial because the students are master sight word readers and spellers!  Check out a few of the new stations in action!

Preston writes on his desk to practice his words.

Hazel builds CVC words at the roll and write station.

Olivia uses beads (teeny tine ones!) to build words on pipe cleaners and then records on a recording form.

I enjoyed visiting with many of you this week at Parent Teacher Conferences.  It is such a fun time of celebrations as we look at the year's accomplishments.  With only three months left of 1st grade, it is time to praise your child for all of their hard work and encourage them to keep working hard for the remainder of the year.  I look forward to visiting with a few more families on Monday evening.

We celebrated the students in our classroom again at this month's Character Champion Assembly.  This month's Character Champion was Olivia.  Olivia was chosen for her ability to show kindness and friendship to all students.  Way to go, Olivia!

The first graders have worked so hard this year on the nightly homework.  We will have one more week of regular homework (Days 116-119) and then beginning on March 7 (Day 120), students will be given the last 12 minutes of the school day to complete the homework independently.  I won't be able to support them on the homework, like you can in a one on one setting, but I will be available for individual questions.  If students finish their homework, they can turn it in.  If they can't quite get it done in that time, they will bring it home to finish with you.  My goal is that by Day 140, they will have mastered enough independent work skills to take with them to 2nd grade.  Then (Shhhhhh, don't tell!  It is a surprise!) on Day 140, homework is done for the year!  Their only homework for the remainder of the year is to read and play outside!  It will be just in time for spring and nice weather, so enjoy the break!

Upcoming Reminders:

February 29-March 3: Read Across America Week (Dr. Seuss Fun in Class)
March 2: Read-A-Thon in the Gym (Students may bring blankets and pillows)

Friday, March 4: No School

Conferences Next Week

Good evening 1st grade families!  I am excited to visit with all of you in the upcoming weeks!  Conferences will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and the following Monday and I am looking forward to sharing your child's progress as well as goals for the remainder of the school year.  It is hard to believe, but we only have about sixty days left of 1st grade.  Reminder notices will go home on Monday with your scheduled conference time.  If something has changed and your time no longer works, please send me a quick email and I will do my best to reschedule on an alternative day.
Last week we had a visit from the AMVETS organization.  Information should have come home with your child along with a flag for them to keep.

This week we earned a classroom celebration for good behavior in the classroom.  The students voted and decided on a pajama day with popcorn and a movie.  In true democratic form, we also voted on the movie to watch and they selected!  We had a cozy and comfy day!  Students ended the day watching the 4th and 5th grade talent show.

The school carnival is just around the corner.  Each classroom is responsible for collecting items for a basket that can be raffled off at the carnival.  Our classroom's theme is "summer fun!"  I'm hoping to fill our basket with bubbles, chalk, water toys, or anything else that reminds us of summer.  Items can be brought in during the month of March.  Thank you for your support.

We celebrated several birthdays in the past two weeks.  Unfortunately, my camera has been acting fussy and some of the photos were blurry!  Brookelyn humored me and allowed me to take a new photo a few days late.  Happy Birthday Colton, Brookelyn and Adrien!

Upcoming Reminders:

February 21-25: Kindness Week/Coins for Caring

February 21: Secret Service Dress-Up Day (Wear black)

February 23: Hat Day

February 24: Crazy Shoe/Sock Day

February 25: Spirit Day & Character Champion Assembly

Student Engagement

I wanted to share a bit about a huge component of our day, Daily 5 Reading.  In our classroom, I teach reading for about 45 minutes to the class as whole group, broken into smaller segments.  This is a time when I can cover key concepts, model fluency and phrasing, and engage students in meaningful, comprehension conversations and discussions about literature.  It is during this time that we also enjoy some great stories.  This is not the only time, however, that I teach the students the skills they need to decode and comprehend stories.  I do this, during my small group reading block which totals 60 minutes, broken into 3, 20 minute chunks.  During these "rounds" I am able to see three guided reading groups per day.  There are 3-5 students in each group, so you are probably wondering, "What is the rest of the class doing?"

The students have worked so hard all year on their Stamina, or ability to work independently while engaging in meaningful literacy activities.  They must be fully engaged and purposeful in their work, and they must have choice and ownership on what they are working on.  The students choose if they would like to dive into a good book, many are exploring chapter books at this point of the year, during Read to Self time.  Other students may choose Word Work where they can use magnets, salt tubs, beads, whiteboard, etc. to practice the weekly sight words.  In Work on Writing, which we call WOW, students can write in their journal, a short story, letter, list, or card for a friend or family member.  Students love two different technology centers: Listen to Reading and Computers, where they get to listen to stories electronically to hear a fluent reader.  Soon I will be introducing Read to Someone where students will get to share a story with a friend in the classroom. I think they are ready for it as their stamina is really strong!  Check out some photos of the kiddos in action during Daily 5!

Ella practice her spelling words at the Chart Paper Word Work Station.  David searches for new words with Boggle.

Aiden, Coby and Colton are cozy while they Read to Self.

Nico, Chace and Isaac are using Tumblebooks to Listen to Reading.

Carter uses magnets to build and then a marker to write his sight words during Word Work.

Speaking of reading...have you checked out this months Book Orders?  Wow, there are some great titles listed this month!  I encourage you to check out some of the chapter books specifically for 1st graders!  The students are always eager to read chapter books at this point in the year!  Some great series for our growing readers are:

Freckleface Strawberry

The Princess in Black (We read the first one in class and they loved it!)

Chicken Squad (A bit harder, but a fun series)

The Owl Diaries (We read the first one in class of this one too!  It is a cute comic style.)

Fly Guy

Flat Stanley

Junie B. Jones

Princess Posey

Magic Treehouse

Remember, you can order online or with the flyer that was sent home.  Book orders are due on Tuesday.

We celebrated a 1/2 Birthday on Friday for Chace!  Happy 1/2 Birthday, Chace!  You will be enjoying the sunshine on your actual birthday in August, but we hope that you enjoyed your special day in February!

Upcoming Reminders:

February 9: Book Orders Due

February 11: Field Trip to Ben Franklin for Emperor's New Clothes

February 12: Valentine Exchange (You can send Valentine's anytime prior)

February 15: No School for students

100th Day

Hip Hip Hooray for the 100th Day of 1st Grade!  We had an awesome day full of fun.  I am exhausted, so I know it was a successful day!  Some comments were: "Best day ever!" and "Epic!" which made me smile!  As the students walked out, one reminded them that "Today was fun, but it is back to work tomorrow!"  I took lots of photos and was able to grab a cute photo to put in their memory book for each of them.  Enjoy the video of our fun by clicking below!
100th Day

We will have a small Valentine's Day Party on Friday, February 12.  Students can bring Valentine's for their classmates beginning on Monday.  We will be making Valentine's for loved ones with our 4th Grade buddies next week as well!

We are just over a month into our Reading Trophy Program and still have a few students who have not began.  Please help your child record the books he or she reads at home.  Guided reading books as well as books from the library count towards their goal of 50 books by the end of April.

Upcoming Events:

Thursday, February 7 : Field trip to Ben Franklin for Emperor's New Clothes  (leaving promptly at 9:00 a.m.)

Tuesday, February 9: Book Order's Due (stock up on books to read for Reading Trophy)

Friday, February 12: Valentine's Party

Monday, February 15: No School - President's Day