News You Can Use!

 Read all about our third week of school! 

Reading

I have now had time to meet individually with all of my first grade readers and assess them using Fountas and Pinnell running records. The running records along with AIMSweb scores help me to understand where each child is as a reader and to create meaningful guided reading groups. We will begin guided reading groups in about two weeks after our introduction to the Daily 5. I will post information about each area of the Daily 5 as we learn the routines in class. 

Writing

This week, we continued working on our first writing unit, Autobiographies. The children wrote about their favorite toy or game, their favorite thing to do, and their favorite place to go. They are working very hard at using the writing process: Think, Draw, Label, and Write. I am proud of our authors for using their “brave spelling” to stretch out sounds in tricky words. 

The children also began practicing Work on Writing and Word Work this week. These are two parts of the Daily 5. The children will learn more about these procedures in the next two weeks. This week they learned about journal writing, the children received a journal prompt and then decided how they wanted to respond. The children wrote about something special about themselves. They will keep their journal writings in their writing binder. In word work, the children learned about rainbow words, spelling code, and spelling shapes. When we begin spelling, these are some of the ways the children will practice their words in class. Currently, the children are reviewing the kindergarten sight words. 

Math 

In Math, the children continued working with number sense. This week they compared numbers, practiced writing numbers correctly, practiced representing numbers using tally marks, and used the calendar to answer questions about days, weeks, months, and dates. The children were excited to create a Tally Chart to organize data. They created a class pet tally chart on the mimio. 

The children enjoyed playing two games this week, Top-it (to compare numbers) and Dice-Roll and Tally. Before we started Dice-Roll and Tally, each child predicted which number they thought would be rolled the most times. After, they compared it with the number that did get rolled the most. They had a great discussion about their observations. 

Everyone did a great job of returning their first three home links this week! We will begin having home links next week on Monday- Thursday. Please return the next day unless otherwise noted. 

Social Studies

We finished our first social studies unit this week on Communities. The children learned about how firefighters help our community. They listened to a book about firefighters and then brainstormed ideas about how they help our community. The children completed their community helpers packet and brought it home to share with you on Friday.

The children were also excited to complete a My Community Scrapbook. They wrote and illustrated about places in their community that they enjoy visiting. They also wrote about some community helpers they know. Some of the children did not have time to complete all the pages, I encouraged them to complete their book at home. They do not have to return their book to school.

Next week, we will begin our next unit on Maps. If you have any relatives or friends that live in other states or countries please encourage them to visit our blog. The children will learn about ClustrMaps and Live Traffic Feed on our blog. They will be excited to check in during our Map unit and see all the places that people are visiting us from.  

Fire Safety Presentation

On Tuesday, Fireman Andrew from the Arlington Heights Fire Department visited our classroom. He shared a short fire safety video with the children. Then, he talked to the children about important fire safety rules to follow at home and at school. 

The children were excited to learn about his fire safety gear. He told the child that he has to be able to get into his gear in 1 minute when called for an emergency. After, he showed the children what he looked liked when fully dressed in his fire safety gear. They also had a wonderful question and answer session before he left. A special thank you to Fireman Andrew for teaching us about fire safety!

Patriot Day

On September 11th, we celebrated Patriot day in our classroom. We read the story, America Is... After, we had a discussion on what America means to each of us. The children, created heart shaped flags and on the back they finished the sentence starter, America is... Some of the finished sentences were: America is a safe place to live. America is freedom. America is beautiful. America is my home. America is my family. America is a wonderful place to live. 

International Dot Day

This coming Monday, the children will celebrate International Dot Day. The children will hear the story, The Dot, by Peter Reynolds and have a chance to create their own dot art. The importance of this day is for the children to learn that each person matters, has genius, and has the potential to make a positive impact on the world. For more information on International Dot Day, please visit: http://fablevisionlearning.com/dotday/

Birthday
On Friday, we celebrated Tyler's birthday. We hope that Tyler has a great birthday over the weekend!

Notes:

-Please be sure to check your child’s red take home folder nightly. Encourage your child to show you the work they are bringing home. 

-If you have not done so already, please send in a spiral notebook labeled with your child’s name. We will begin using this notebook soon to create an interactive grammar notebook. They children will use their grammar notebook all year long. Thank you!

Happy Sunday! Have a great rest of the weekend!

News You Can Use!

This week the children were very busy despite our short week! Read all about our learning adventures below.

Curriculum Night

It was nice to see all of you this week at Curriculum Night, thank you for coming out. I hope you enjoyed hearing about all the wonderful adventures that we are going to have this year! The children were very excited to read the notes you had left on their desks. If you missed the presentation I have posted a link on the right side of our web site titled, Curriculum Night Presentation.

Writing

This week, we started our first writing unit, Autobiographies. The children learned that an autobiography is a writing about the author. They each have started their own mini autobiography. The children began their book by writing about their favorite pet or animal.

While writing, the children practiced using the writing process that they learned about last week: Think, Draw, Label, and Write. They also had the opportunity to share their writing with a partner to see if they could add any additional details to their illustrations, labels, or writing. 

 

Math 

We continued our first everyday math unit this week. The children were introduced to their math tool kit and their math journal. They also played two math games this week: Bunny Hop and the Penny Dice Game. 

 

 

Social Studies

We worked on our first social studies unit this week on Community Helpers. The children are each creating a nonfiction book titled, Community Helpers. This week, the children learned what makes teachers, police officers, and doctors community helpers. We read a book about each of the community helpers. Then, the children each wrote a fact about what makes that person a community helper in their Community Helper Book.  

Thank You!

A special thank you to Mrs. Beane! She visited our classroom to read, Only One You. The children enjoyed listening to the story, thank you for reading it to us! After her visit the children each created a beautiful fish to showcase their interests. Their fish are on display in the hallway outside of our classroom. 

Notes:

-If you have not done so already, please send in a spiral notebook labeled with your child’s name. We will be using these notebooks throughout the year to create an interactive grammar notebook. 

-Your child’s first library book is due this upcoming Friday, September 12th. They may return their book to school sooner if they have finished reading it. 

Our First Week!

Our Class

First Day Photos

                               

We had a great first week in 1-1! The children enjoyed getting to know one another through the sharing of their "All About Me" bags. There were big smiles and lots of excitement when the children shared an interest that others also had. The children also were enthusiastic to get to know one another through the use of our Find A Friend activity. 

Routines

The children did a wonderful job this week learning our classroom routines and procedures. They can now go through: arrival, lunchtime, and stack and pack routines with few reminders of what they need to do. 

Classroom Rules

As a teacher, one of my goals is to create a classroom environment where all students feel safe and valued. This week we worked together as a team to come up with our classroom rules. Discussing the rules together gives the children ownership and lets them actively decide what they want our classroom community to look like. The children did a wonderful job of coming up with rules that will make our classroom a safe and happy learning environment. 

Our Classroom Rules:

1. Be Kind.

2. Be respectful to others and their property.

3. Use nice manners at all times.

4. Be safe.

5. Work as a team!

Reading

This week, the children listened to the story: First Day Jitters. The children engaged in discussions about the emotions they felt about starting first grade. It made the children feel better to know that other children and even the teacher had some jitters before starting school!

We also read the book, Have You Filled A Bucket Today? The children learned that everyone carries around an invisible bucket and that we can fill others' buckets and our own bucket by being kind and considerate. The children shared examples of ways that they fill buckets while at school and at home. They worked together to create a class book titled, Our Bucket Filler Book. We will keep this in our classroom all year long for the children to enjoy. 

Later in the week, the children listened to, A Bad Case of The Stripes. After, they created a picture of themselves with a bad case of something they love. Their projects are hanging up in our classroom for you to enjoy on curriculum night.

Next week, I will begin assessing the children using Fountas and Pinnell running records. This will help me get to know the children as readers. I will continue working on these assessments until I have had time to read with each child.

Writing

This week, the children were introduced to Writer’s Workshop. After, listening to the book, Library Mouse, they discovered that they are all authors! We talked about how good writer’s: Think, Draw, Label, Write. They practiced these steps by writing down a hope or dream that they have for this year. Then, the children turned their writings into a cute bulletin board at the back of our classroom.

On Friday, the children worked together to brainstorm a long list of things that they need to be successful as first graders. After, the children each created a paper backpack. In it they placed their own personal list of what they need to be successful. You can see their backpack display hanging up in the hallway outside our classroom.

Math 

We began our first Everyday Math unit this week. To start the unit the children brainstormed a list of what they think they will do as Mathematicians this year. Then, they created a mathematician project.

Our first lessons focused on learning about our math routines. The children were also introduced to our calendar procedures. They enjoyed using the number line to play the game, Monster Squeeze. 

Notes:

~ Thank you for all your support at home and your help in making the start of this school year a great one! Please let me know if you have any questions. 

~AHML Library Card Note: Parents, if your child does not have a library card, now's the time to drop by the Memorial Library and get one! Students can now use their library cards at school to access the Memorial Library's online resources. Stay tuned for the next steps in putting these library cards to use! 

~There is no school on Monday, September 1st due to Labor Day. Classes will resume Tuesday, September 2nd.

~I look forward to seeing everyone at Curriculum Night on Wednesday at 6:00.

Have a great rest of the long weekend!

Reminder!

It was nice to meet many of you on Thursday night. Thank you for coming to visit our classroom! I look forward to meeting those of you who could not attend tomorrow morning. I can't wait to see everyone tomorrow for our first day of school. We are going to have a fun filled day.

Just a quick reminder: 

Don't forget to bring your "All About Me" bag to school tomorrow. Fill your brown lunch bag with three items that tell us about you. It could be a picture, a book, a trophy, whatever you wish! Remember to write your name on the front. We will spend some time looking at each other's items and getting to know one another. I will send the bags home as we finish sharing. We may only get through a couple a day, the bags will come home slowly over the next week!

See you tomorrow! 

Hello First Graders!

Welcome to First Grade!

My name is Mrs. Johnson, and I will be your first grade teacher this year at Dryden! I can't wait to meet you this Thursday, August 21 at the Ice Cream Social. I am very excited for you to see our first grade classroom. I have been hard at work setting up our room and decorating it for this year. I hope you’re as excited as I am! I know you are going to love first grade. You will leap into learning about things like collections, measurement, weather and so much more. We will also read fascinating stories, solve challenging math problems, and write. This year you will learn and grow so much! I can’t wait to meet you and your family!  We are going to have a frog-tastic year!

Have A Great Summer!

Thank You

I can't believe that today is the last day of school. The year has gone by so quickly. I have enjoyed working with your children each and every day this year! Thank you for making this year a wonderful year. I appreciate all of our parent volunteers, you made the year extra special! I wish all of you a happy, relaxing, and safe summer! Please stop by and say hello next year!

A Year In First Grade

I have put together an end of the year gift for you, a video memory book of our year. It has highlights from our year together. I hope that it will remind you of all the great memories you made in first grade.

Love,

Mrs. Johnson

                     
A Year In First Grade -Large from Melissa Johnson on Vimeo.

Congratulations! You are officially 

Second Graders!

News You Can Use!

Art Appreciation

Today, Mrs. Kaddatz, Mrs. Misner, and Mrs. Wascher came in and led the children in their last Art Appreciation activity. The children learned about the painting, “Peaceable Kingdom,” by Edward Hicks. After discussing the painting, the children created their own “Peaceable Kingdom” using stuffed animals they had brought to class. They created two different scenes with their animals. After, the children voted on their favorite painting from the year. Thank you, Mrs. Kaddatz, Mrs. Misner, and Mrs. Wascher. The children enjoyed your visits this year!

 

Happy Birthday

On Monday, we celebrated Xander’s bithday. Happy Birthday Xander!

Today, we celebrated all of our June and July birthdays. Happy birthday to Gabi, Nate, Nikolas, and Elena. We hope that you all have very happy birthdays in June and July!