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For Your Calendar:

Friday: FIrst Grade is off to the Zoo!!

    **Please dress for the weather and apply sunscreen!!

June 5: Field Day

June 6-Author's Tea at 9AM

 

ABC Countdown days for this week:

Tuesday: Red Day

Wednesday: Second Grade Fly Up Day

Thursday: Teddy Bear Day

Friday: Unique Animals of the World Day--off to the zoo!!

Countdown Fun...

Insect Day: Students learned all about different kinds of insects. 

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King Day!! Boys Rule Today!!

 

 

 

For Your Calendar:

May 28-No school Memorial Day

June 1--Field Trip to the Zoo (Permission Slips sent home today)

June 6--Author's Tea from 9-9:45

ABC Countdown days for the week:

Monday: Memory Day--students will be making a memory book about their favorite First Grade memories. 

Tuesday: Newspaper Day--students can go through the newspaper and find articles that interest them to share with the class. We will also be making our own newspaper pages to add to our student writing portfolios. 

Wednesday: Opposite Day--we will be playing a fun game in the afternoon where students need to respond using opposites

Thursday: Puzzle Day--students can bring in fun puzzles to play during fruit break. 

Friday: Queen Day--girls rule today! 

 

Math:

This is the last week we will be working on double-digit subtraction. After we finish with the Unit Test we will be reviewing for the rest of the year.

Just a note on homework: I have been noticing on some of the subtraction papers students have been turning in for homework that they have been using borrowing to solve. I will not be formally teaching borrowing in first grade. Since not all students are ready for it I generally save it for second grade. For the subtraction problems that have double digits and single digits (ie 16-8) I have taught the students to either count up, count back, or use their knowledge of doubles to find the difference. If you have worked with your child on borrowing and they understand the concept that is wonderful, but if you have found that they are struggling have no fear because they will not be formally introduced to this concept next year. 

Science:

Our last science unit is Classifying Animals in preparation for our field trip to Lincoln Park Zoo. Students will be learning about the different characteristics of mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. They will be sorting these animals into groups and comparing and contrasting traits. We will also be introducing the terms vertebrate and invertebrate. 

Writing:

In conjunction with our science unit students will be choosing an animal that can be found at Lincoln Park Zoo to research and report on. They will become a Resident Expert on the animal's habitat, diet, and appearance so that as we travel through the zoo they can share their knowledge with the group. 

For Your Calendar:

Friday: Birthday dress-down for May, June and July birthdays

Upcoming Dates:

June 1: First Grade will be going on a fieldtrip to Lincoln Park Zoo

June 6: Author's Tea

 

Abc Countdown Days for this week:

Monday: Hopscotch Day

Tuesday: Insect Day

Wednesday: Joke Day--bring a joke to share with the class!

Thursday: King Day

Friday: Lunch in the Courtyard Day 

 

Math:

This week students will be continuing to work on double-digit addition. I have heard many of them comment on how they are really enjoying these "big kid" math activities. As we get closer to the end of the week we will begin double-digit subtraction. None of the problems will involve regrouping.

Science:

Tuesday may be Insect Day but we are going to stretch this topic out as a mini unit for the week. During the spring there are lots of creepy-crawlers out and about so students will be learning about the different parts of bugs and the different kinds of habitats that they live in. They will also be watching a fun, educational video that answers all of their questions from how bees make pollen to how a firefly differs from a ligh bulb.  

Guided Reading:

We are doing a lot of writing these days as students work on poetry with Mrs. Close. We have also been working to complete the student's independent writing portfolios so that we will be ready for our Author's Tea! I will continue with reading assessments this week as we move closer towards the end of the school year. It is so much fun to see how far the students have come!

A quick peek into our ABC Countdown activities: 

Compliment Day:

  As a class we talked about what a compliment is, and how it makes you feel. Students were challenged to compliment as many people as they could during the day, and at the end of the day we met and talked about how much better we feel when people say nice things to us. 

 

For Your Calendar:

Wednesday: Art Show

Friday: Maycrowning Mass at 11am 

ABC Countdown Days this week:

D-Dance Party Day: For the last ten minutes of school both First Grade classes will convene in the gym for an end of the day dance party. 

E-Experiment Day: Students will be conducting an experiment with how many drops of water they can drop on a penny, dime, nickel, and quarter. This experiment will be incorporated into Math where students will be asked to make predictions, describe their results, and chart their findings. 

F-Favorite Book Day: Students can bring their favorite books to school. They will have the opportunity to buddy read them together in the afternoon. 

G-Game Day: We will be incorporating all sorts of games into our lessons for the day. Students are also welcome to bring in some of their favorite board games or outdoor games to play during Fruit Break. 

 

Math:

This week we will be introducing double-digit addition. Students will begin by learning to divide the problems into ones and tens columns. We will be doing a few practice pages in this format before incorporating these skills while counting money and problem solving.

Religion:

We will be discussing the meaning behind Maycrowning in preparation for the mass on Friday. Students will also be making spring rosary beads using pipe cleaners and beads in honor of Mary.

Guided Reading:

Over the next few weeks we are very blessed to have a true poet come into our classroom to work with our students during Writing time! Mrs. Close, Sophia's mother, received her PhD in Poetry and Poetics. We are very excited to have her in to help inspire and instruct the students as they read and create poems of their very own!

To go along with our poetry theme students will be attending a Second Grade Poetry Slam. I am reminding the students each day that they are getting closer to becoming Big Time Second Graders so with this in mind it would be a lot of fun for them to wittness the second grade students' hard work and writing skills in action!

Finally,  I am beginning the end of the year reading assessments. I am hoping to discuss some things that you can work on during summer reading with your child to get them get pumped and ready for second grade!

 

Happy Mother's Day to all of our wonderful mothers. You do so much to make this classroom such a wonderful place and we are so thankful and blessed!!

 

For Your Calendar:

Tuesday: Special Person's Day--all are welcome to attend our school mass at 9:45

Wednesday: 1:45 Dismissal; Box Top Dress-down day

**There will be no homework for this week. I know that many people have special visitors coming into town in honor of Special Person's Day so I told the students that their homework is to spend time with them and we will start back up with the homework folders next week. 

 

Thank you for all those who came to the Spring Sing on Sunday. The students did a fabulous job! We are really looking forward to Special Person's Day tomorrow!!

I realize that tomorrow is pizza day so although we will be providing a light lunch during the event we will offer the opportunity to get pizza if the students would like. 

I will blog later in the week with further details on upcoming events.

For Your Calendar: 

Monday: Earth Day celebrations!

Thursday and Friday: Come and enjoy the 8th Grade Play at 7pm. 

Coming up:

April 29- Preschool, Kindergarten and First Grade will perform in the Spring Sing Thing at 3:30 in the church. Please have your child at the church by 3:15 dressed in their spring finest so that we can have everyone set up and ready to go by 3:30. 

May 1: Special Person Day--all are welcome at our Mass

June 6: TENTATIVE DATE for our class Author's Tea. As we are looking ahead and making plans for the end of the year we are hoping to host our Author's Tea during the morning of June 6. Parents will be invited to come and watch as each student shares their favorite piece of writing from the year. After everyone has shared we will watch a video highlighting all of the photos and events from the year. It is a great culminating event to celebrate all of the hard work and good times 

 

Math:

This week we will be working on subtraction facts through 20 in preparation for adding and subtracting double-digits. We will be reviewing fact families, and subtraction strategies such as: using doubles, parts and wholes, and checking by using addition. As part of their homework students will be reviewing addition facts through 20. 

Science: 

We are continuing our Weather Unit as we finish up with rain and move on to clouds. We will be talking about what clouds tell us about the weather. The new vocabulary introduced will be: cirrus, stratus, and cumulus. Weather permitting we will take some time to go outside and observe the different types of clouds in action! 

 

Guided Reading:

We are finishing our stories on weather and spring in small groups. We are also working on final copies for the Autobiography Poems. In our Race to 50 books we have read and responded to twenty books so far! Keep reading and recording this week as we hope to meet our goal of fifty by Monday! 

 

Religion:

Students will be preparing for our Special Person Mass during Religion. We will be writing special intentions, talking about the readings, and practicing in the church. We welcome you to come and share with us on Tuesday, May 1! 

 

For Your Calendar:

Tuesday: Faculty Mass

A Note About...

Homework Folders: Quite a few students were missing homework folders today. This is probably due to different departure times for spring break. Please check your student's backpack as their homework did come home with them as scheduled. There are instructions to a few fun April projects that we will be doing and they will be needing your help!

Traveling Teddy: Our teddies were in all stages of completion before spring break so I decided to wait and send them out this week. Quite a few teddies were mailed out today, and the rest will go out tomorrow. Thank you for your patience. We are looking forward to the return responses!!

 

Math:

This week we will be discussing Measurement. Students will be using rulers to measure inches and centimeters. On Friday we will be making 'Gallon Man' to assist in our demonstration of gallons, quarts, pints and cups. 

 

Science:

Today we started our unit on Weather. Students will be logging and describing the weather each day. At the end of the week we will be graphing and comparing our results.  Our focus this week will be rainy weather. We will be making a class big book describing the journey of a raindrop as it travels through the water cycle, while introducing difficult vocabulary such as condensation, evaporation, and precipitation. We will also be making a fun list of things to do on a rainy day. 

Guided Reading:

April is National Poetry Month. We will be reading and responding to a collection of poems throughout the month, as well as discussing different poets as we go. Students will also get an opportunity to become poets themselves! Our first poem will be autobiographical where they will follow a set format to describe themselves.  

As part of the homework students will be responsible for sharing a different poem each week with their family to practice fluency. This week we are reading "One Inch Tall" by Shel Silverstein. We modeled and practiced how to properly read a poem by following the punctuation. We will be using this poem in the classroom during centers to practice sequencing--students will have to assemble the poem using sentence strips, and rhyme identification--students will identify the rhyming words and come up with their own words that follow the pattern.

At the end of the week we will do a poetry reading. Students are welcome to bring in other poems from home that they love to share. When we are all done the poem will go into their poetry pockets where we will be collecting the poems that we have studied. 

I am glad to have everyone back and safe after our Spring Break! I am looking forward to our last quarter together! Can you believe it?! It's going to fly!!

For Your Calendar:

Monday: Celebrate March Birthdays

Wednesday: School Mass will be Wed. rather than Tuesday

Friday: End of Quarter 3; Tangled playing after school (Admission is $1); Book Stall Book Fair

This will be the last week for After School classes

**Many of the students are talking about leaving early for spring break. If this applies to your family could you please send me a quick email so that I can plan ahead for next week. Thanks! Safe travels to everyone going on spring break! 

**An addressed envelope for Traveling Teddy is due Friday so that we can mail them out before spring break. 

**We are hoping to confirm special people before Spring break so we can send invitations out immediately after we return in April. 

Math:

This week we will be finishing our chapter on Money. Students will take the unit test on Time and Money Friday to be ready for report cards. These are both difficult topics but the students are doing well and seem to enjoy the different games and activities we have done to practice. We will continue to revisit both topics throughout the year for continued practice. 

Science:

We will be doing a few fun EGGsperiments as we move towards Easter break. The first experiment will involve soaking an egg in vinegar. The shell dissolves and students can take a look inside the egg! Students will be making predictions as to what will happen, and what they will be able to see as the shell dissolves. We will also be doing other EGGsperiments as we move into next week involving how many teaspoons of salt must be added to water to cause an egg to float, and how to guess which egg is hard-boiled or fresh by spinning--a hardboiled egg will spin while a fresh egg will not.  We will also be doing some fun money experiments on Friday as we close our Money unit. Students will have to predict how many drops of water a penny can hold. 

Religion:

This week we will be discussing Palm Sunday in preparation for this weekend. We will be reviewing the story from the Bible and the significance as we move closer to Easter. 

Guided Reading:

Students are working in small groups on a new story this week. We are starting poetry a little early this year. April is generally National Poetry Month, but since we will be gone for the first part because of spring break we are going to start reading and writing our first poems this week. To begin, students will be writing a poem about spring. We will be reviewing rhyming by sorting and writing phrases that incorporate rhyme. 

Have a great week!

For Your Calendar:

Friday: Field Trip to Botanic Gardens--all students should bring a lunch. There will be NO HOT LUNCH provided. Thanks!

**I am missing quite a few permission slips. I also have a few student permission slips that are missing the $11. I will be checking backpacks tomorrow in case they are hiding in folders or pockets, but if you have not yet sent them in please do so as soon as possible so we can get a final count on chaperones and who will be attending. Thanks!!

On March 31 Book Stall will be having a Book Fair from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm. A visitor from the store came today to speak with the students about great new books that they can find at the fair. She showed us a lot of fabulous early chapter books that would be a great-fit for the First Graders! Be sure to check it out!

Math:

This week we will be reviewing and discussing coins. I have found a lot of fun games that students can play incorporating their counting skills including Go Fish, Memory, and Tic Tac Coin. We will be using these along with regular counting activities to practice making change and identifying coin value.

Science:

In preparation for our field trip on Friday students will be studying the basic parts of a plant. We will also be reading and responding to a very funny story by Janet Stevens called Tops & Bottoms. In this story a very clever Hare tricks the very lazy Bear into sharing his crops by allowing him to take only part of his crop. The students quickly learn what kinds of vegetables we eat that grow above ground, and the kinds of vegebtables that grow below ground as Hare negotiates his plans. Students will also be sorting things we eat based on whether it is a root, flower, stem, fruit, or leaf.

Guided Reading:

Students will be continuing work on their creative writing stories as we build on setting, conflict, and resolution. After each writing session we share what the students have created and practice handing out compliments for things we notice. Students will also be starting new stories in reading groups, and reviewing pronouns, nouns, verbs and adjectives in their language handbooks. 

Religion:

We are continuing with our daily prayer and reflection time during Lent. As we draw closer to Easter we are also reviewing the Stations, and reading about the Easter story. 

 

Have a wonderful week!!

For Your Calendar:

Wednesday: Noon Dismissal (Conferences)

Thursday: Noon Dismissal (Conferences)

Friday: No School

**There will be no After School classes this week because of conferences. They will resume again next week. 

Leprechaun traps are due TOMORROW, March 13. 

If you did not turn in your conference discussion sheet please send it this week. It is very helpful when planning our short time together during conferences. Thank you!!

Math:

This week we are finishing up our discussion on time. This has been a difficult chapter, but I think the students are starting to figure it out. We will continue to loop back and review these skills as the year goes on. Our next chapter will be Money. We will be reviewing the values of coins and counting and sorting. This will be building on our previous knowledge from skip counting. 

Science:

Last week we read about Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. We talked about how an inventor is someone who creates something new, but they also oftentimes improve something that already exists. This has sparked some great discussions regarding things that the students would like to invent. The next inventors we will be reading about are the Wright Brothers. Students will complete the unit by writing up their own patent for their own invention. 

Guided Reading:

Students will be writing a new story during Writing. Our last story was about a leprechaun. During this story students will have to develop two characters. We will develop a different part of the story each day taking time to share as we go. This has been a great experience for students to share their ideas and creativity. Students will also be learning about pronouns and verbs in their Writing Handbook. 

 

I am glad to have everyone back healthier than we have been in awhile! Looking forward to seeing everyone at conferences! Have a great week!