Happy Holidays!

Have a wonderful holiday season with your family and friends. See you in the new year! 

Writing

This week, the children addressed their envelopes to Mo Willems and we placed their letters in the mail. We hope that Mo Willems writes back to us soon!

The children also learned how to write a thank you letter. Together as a class, we wrote a thank you letter to Mrs. Lane and Mrs Kelly in the office. The children thanked Mrs. Lane and Mrs. Kelly for all the wonderful things they do for us on a daily basis.

Later in the week, the children practiced writing their own thank you letters. They are doing a great job of remembering the five parts of a letter (heading, greeting, body, closing, signature).  

Social Studies 

This week, we finished our Holiday Unit. On Tuesday, after learning about Kwanzaa the children made Unity Cups and wrote a Harambee paper. They learned that “Harambee” means “let’s pull together.” The children each wrote about how they pull together with their friends and family. 

We concluded the unit by reading, Festival of Lights. The children discussed how all of the holidays we learned about use light to celebrate. The children wrote about how they use light to celebrate at their house. They each created a festival of lights craft to go along with their writing. 

First Grade Musical

On Wednesday, the children did a fantastic job at their musical. Students, staff, and parents joined in and enjoyed singing along to some holiday classics as well as listening to some new songs. I am so proud of your hard work,  great job boys and girls!

Star Student

Nikolas was our star student this week. Thanks Nikolas for sharing all about you!

Royal Reader

A special thank you to Nikolas’ Mom, she joined us this week as our Royal Reader. The children enjoyed listening to the book that Mrs. Bukranova read, Mooseltoe. 

Happy Birthday

We celebrated three birthdays this week. On Monday, we celebrated Jack's birthday and on Thursday, we celebrated Cathryn's and Riley’s birthdays. Happy Birthday to Jack, Cathryn, and Riley!

Our weekly updates will return in the new year. Check back in to see new photos and read about all the wonderful things we are learning! 

News You Can Use!

Literacy

This week, the children worked with blends (bl, cl,gl,fl,pl, sl). Our close reading lessons focused on books about Hanukkah. While reading the books, the children worked with visualizing and sequencing the events of a story. We discussed how when you visualize you make a movie in your mind. The children learned that one event can have many details. The children worked on including all the details in their visualizations. They drew illustrations of their visualizations and discussed what they saw, felt, heard, smelled, or tasted. 

Grammar Packets:

The children worked with proper nouns again this week. They learned that days, months, and holidays are proper nouns. All proper nouns begin with capital letters. 

Writing:

This week, we continued working on our letter writing unit. The children each wrote a friendly letter to author Mo Willems. Their letters included titles of their favorite books, their favorite characters, and questions for Mr. Willems. Some of the children even included some ideas for new books that Mr. Willems should write. We will send the letters to Mr. Willems next week. We really hope to hear back from him soon!

Reindeer Application:

After listening to the book, Who Will Guide My Sleigh Tonight?, the children were very excited to learn that Santa was in need of a new reindeer. Each child applied to the position by filling out a reindeer application. They wrote about why they would make a good reindeer. To go along with their writing the children also turned themselves into a reindeer, complete with antlers and a shiny red nose. 

Math 

On Monday, the children enjoyed learning about time lines. Together, we created a timeline of our school year so far. We ordered important events on the timeline. 

On Tuesday, the children started a number scroll, they will work on it throughout the year. The children worked on the first two pages of their scroll, writing the numbers 1-210. They also set goals for how high they would like their scroll to be at the end of the year.  

On Wednesday and Thursday, the children worked on addition facts. We discussed fact power and how the more you practice, the more success you will have with addition math facts. The children learned about turn-around facts, doubles facts, and ways to make 10. 

The children enjoyed playing the game, High Roller to practice addition facts.

Today, the children took their Unit 4 math test. I am proud of how hard the children worked at using the math strategies they have learned to successfully solve the math problems. I will send the tests home next week.

Social Studies

This week, we continued our Winter Holidays unit. The children learned about how people celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas. We read several books, used a holiday PowerPoint, and Pebble Go to research each of the holidays. 

On Monday, after learning about Hanukkah, the children enjoyed making a dreidel. While making the dreidel, they listened to and learned the dreidel song. The children also learned how to play the dreidel game.  

On Wednesday after learning about Christmas traditions, the children made Christmas trees. They also wrote a paper titled, How To Decorate A Christmas Tree. 

Star Student

Zach was our star student this week. Thanks Zach for sharing all about you!

Royal Reader

A special thank you to Zach’s Mom, she joined us this week as our Royal Reader. The children loved listening to the two stories that Mrs. Misner read, Frederick and The Fungus That Ate My School.

Happy Birthday!

On Thursday, we celebrated Martha's birthday. Happy Birthday Martha!

Notes:

-We will be taking a break from grammar and spelling next week to review the patterns and skills we have learned so far. There will be no spelling test! 

-The First Grade Musical is this Wednesday, December 18th at 2:30pm  and 7:00pm. I hope to see you there!

-Friday, December 20th is pajama day, wear your cozy pajamas to school and bring your slippers. What a great way to kick off the Winter Break!

Have a great weekend! 

News You Can Use!

We had a wonderful week here in 1-1. Read all about it below!

Literacy

This week, the children worked with the short /u/ sound. Our close reading lessons this week focused on two books, Night of the Moon and Celebrate Diwali. After listening to Night of the Moon, the children worked on retelling the story including key details. Before, during, and after the reading of, Celebrate Diwali, the children worked with generating questions. They created a long list of questions they had about Diwali. During our second reading, the children answered the questions they had created. They were able to support their answers with evidence from the text. 

Grammar Packets:

The children worked with proper nouns this week. They learned that a noun that names a special person or place is called a proper noun. A proper noun begins with a capital letter. 

Writing:

This week, we started our letter writing unit. The children learned the five parts of a friendly letter: heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature. They learned a song to help them remember the parts, ask your child to sing you the song (it’s to the tune of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes). As we read the story, Dear Mr. Blueberry, the children worked together to identify the different parts of a friendly letter. On Wednesday, we wrote a friendly letter to author, Audrey Penn, author of The Kissing Hand. The children came up with lots of great ideas to include in the letter. On Thursday, each child wrote their own friendly letter to author Mo Willems. The children will mail their letters at the end of next week. The children are very excited about their letters to Mr. Willems and many checked his books out from the library. We also read a few of them in class this week. He has a wonderful web site, you can visit it at: http://www.mowillems.com

Snow Globes:

Today, the children listened to the book, The Snow Globe Family by Jane O’Connor. After, they wrote their own story about what they would do if they lived in a snow globe. The children wrote some very creative stories about life in a snow globe. They also created their own snow globe to attach their writing to. Our room now sparkles with beautiful snow globes hanging from the ceiling. 

Math 

In math, the children worked with measuring to the nearest inch using their 6 inch ruler. They recorded their measurements using approximation language. The children also worked on writing addition number models using their dominoes. 

On Tuesday, the children worked on measuring with a tape measure. They measured different body parts to the nearest inch. 

On Wednesday, the children enjoyed 3 Explorations: measuring and plotting their height, Wild About Measurement (measuring to the nearest inch), and building structures with base ten blocks. 

On Thursday, the children worked on telling time to the quarter-hour. The children also had to tell and record different times using pictures of a variety of analog clocks. 

  

Social Studies

This week, we started our Winter Holidays unit. The children learned about how people celebrate Diwali, Eid, and Hanukkah (we will finish learning about Hanukkah next week). We read several books, and used Pebble Go to research each of the holidays. After learning about the traditions and celebrations for each holiday, the children worked together to fill in a holiday celebrations chart. 

On Tuesday, after learning about Diwali the children decorated Rangoli. We hung them on our classroom door to welcome friends and relatives into our classroom.

Notes:

-Now that the weather has turned cold, be sure to send your child to school each day with a warm jacket, hat, and gloves. On snowy days, please remember to also send snow pants and boots. The children will continue to go outside for recess each day, unless it is to cold. Be sure to label your child’s hat, gloves, and boots. Many children have similar items and labeling them helps to make sure each child keeps their own!

-The first grade musical is quickly approaching! The children are hard at work practicing and getting ready to wow you with their performance! Please mark your calendars for December 18th at 7pm. I hope to see you there!

Have a great weekend!