Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!

It was a great week in first grade as we got to celebrate Mardi Gras and the birthday of one of our favorite authors, Dr. Seuss!

We kicked off the week reading his very first book, And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street.  We also made a flip book with facts we learned about him.  On Tuesday, it was Mardi Gras time and we all enjoyed the pancakes and sausage.  Special thanks to the SMAV volunteers who helped things run so smoothly and handed out the fun beads! Then it was back to Dr. Seuss and we read The Cat in the Hat, The Sneetches, and the The Cat in the Hat comes back!  We did a fun assignment where we gave each other clues about something we put in an imaginary box (it’s harder than it sounds to give just the right clues where we might guess it, but it’s not too easy! 🙂 We also wrote about what might happen if the Cat in the Hat came to our house, and also did some opinion writing on whether we would rather be a Star-Belly or Plain-Belly Sneetch.

In Math, we are working on double digit addition with regrouping, addition/subtraction facts with missing addends (ie: We had 12 puppies and some were adopted.  Now we have 4.  How many were adopted.) We are also continuing our work in Mountain Math which includes a review of all of the math skills for 1st grade.  These kiddos are doing great and getting lots of practice with story problems as well.

Next week, we’ll be reading even more Dr. Seuss books and enjoying Love of Reading week with our visiting authors and furry friends.  It’s going to be a great week!  Enjoy your weekend!

Dates to remember: 3/7-3/11-Love of Reading Week; 3/16-Half Day Teacher In-Service; 3/17-St. Patrick’s Day; 4/8-Easter Egg Hunt; 4/11-4/15-Spring Break.

Hope you had a wonderful week!

We sure hope you’ve had a great week–time to relax and spend lots of time with family and friends. 🙂

Before the break, we got a chance to enjoy Valentine’s day together.  It was all smiles in first grade with writing about hugs or kisses, candy math and of course, our Valentine exchange and sweet treats for all.  Thanks to our rooms moms for making it extra special. ♥

We also talked about teeth–it’s Dental Health month, after all.  We wrote about why it’s important to floss, read about teeth and did our own writing about what the Tooth Fairy does “with all those teeth.”  We made a sweet little Tooth Fairy to go along with our writing.  Look for those up on the line when we get back.

In Math, we are still working our way through Mountain math, practicing adding numbers that need to be “regrouped” and reading story problems to decide whether we need to add or subtract.  We are getting really good at this!

Next week, we’ll be enjoying lots of Dr. Seuss books as we get ready for Love of Reading week and the Book Fair (3/7-3/11). We’ll kick things off with Dr. Seuss’ first book, And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street.  We’ll also be learning about him and making a flip book to show what we learned.  On Tuesday, it’s Mardi Gras!  We’ll take a day to learn why we’re eating pancakes and celebrating. :). Don’t forget that the Move-a-thon is wrapping up this week for pledges.  We are excited to welcome the kids back tomorrow.  See you soon!

Dates to remember:  ; 3/1-Mardi Gras-pancake lunch for all; 3/2-Ash Wednesday (no ashes given to students in 1st grade at school.); 3/7-3/11-Love of Reading Week; 3/16-Half Day Teacher In-Service; 3/17-St. Patrick’s Day; 4/8-Easter Egg Hunt; 4/11-4/15-Spring Break.

Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks and Love!

It was another busy week in first grade.  We started the week by sharing our penguin reports.  We were so proud of these little penguin experts!  It was fun to hear them ask each other questions about their penguins and to be so proud to tell about the “most interesting” things they learned.  After that, we learned about Ruby Bridges.  She was in first grade when she became one of the first African American children to go to a non-segregated school.  The kids were amazed that she is still alive (ha!) and we had a good discussion on whether we would be as brave as she was.  We also talked about Rosa Parks.  The kids remembered her connection to MLK, Jr. (yay!) and we did a writing project on what we admired about her. (Many noted that even as a young girl, she stood up for herself!). We hope you’ve had a chance to see those out on our line.  We finished the week writing about times we “felt loved.” and by making our sweet little valentine bags. (Thanks so much to our room moms for picking up our bags for us!)♥

In math, we got to do another Math mystery–we had to find the heartbreak hitman! 🙂 Don’t worry–by doing lots of addition, ordering of numbers up to the hundreds place, missing addends to 30 and lots more, we found her! We also started something new in math, as you have seen.  We are doing addition with regrouping!  This is a process which takes a while to “stick” so don’t worry if your child is still taking it slowly.  Most important in this process, is that they begin adding in the ones place and if the sum is more than 10, they put a one above the 10’s place to show that.  This, of course, allows us to see that they aren’t just using mental math or another strategy.  Most importantly, it prepares them for adding bigger and bigger numbers. We are so proud of how well they’re doing!

Next week, we’ll kick off the week with a Valentine’s celebration on Monday. We’ll be doing our exchange and having a special snack in the afternoon.  So fun!   Then, we’ll start talking about teeth. We’ll talk about taking care of our teeth, why it’s important to go to the dentist, and even about the Tooth Fairy.  It will be a great way to get ready for our break.  Also, don’t forget about the Move-a-thon.  This is an important fund raiser for our school, and it’s fun and easy.  Packets were sent home with the kids on Friday. Woo Hoo!  Have a happy Superbowl Sunday!

Dates to remember:  2/14-Valentine Exchange; 2/14-2/18–Move-a-thon; 2/21-2/27-No School-Rodeo Break; 3/1-Mardi Gras-pancake lunch for all; 3/2-Ash Wednesday (no ashes given to students in 1st grade at school.); 3/7-3/11-Love of Reading Week; 3/16-Half Day Teacher In-Service; 3/17-St. Patrick’s Day;

 

What a week! Penguins, Chinese New Year, and Groundhogs spotted in 1st Grade!

We kicked off the week reading, If you were a penguin, and writing what we thought sounded like a fun part of being a penguin.  We also started our penguin reports.  We shifted gears mid-week to talk about Chinese New Year.  Did you know it’s the year of the Tiger?  Our classes are filled with lots of “goats” and “horses.”  It was fun to find our animals on the Zodiac and watch a cute little puppet show about how the animals may have been chosen. We also made our predictions on whether the Groundhog would see his shadow (ugh! six more weeks of Winter!) We did some fun activities with groundhogs, too.  Then, it was back to our work with penguins.  We kept working on our reports but also read, Tacky the Penguin stories and took time to write about why it’s good to be different.  We even made our own little “Tacky,” complete with a Hawaiian shirt!  We plan to present our penguin reports in class next week–thank you for all your help from home on finishing the pictures!

In Math, we have been working our way through Mountain math.  We are also practicing adding three digits, as well as adding 2-digit numbers plus 2-digit numbers.  All of this work plus our work in place value is preparing us for an introduction to regrouping–adding numbers where sum of the ones place is more than 10.  We’ll kick that off next week, and take it very slowly so that we gets LOTS of practice.  We also took a day to enjoy working with tangrams as part of our celebration of Chinese New Year.  This is a “puzzle” using 7 flat shapes that can be put together to form pictures, or other shapes.  Our challenge was to make a square, and while it was tricky, we all had lots of fun trying!

“I did it!”

Next week, we’ll be finishing up our study of penguins, learning about Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges as part of our celebration of Black History Month, and getting ready for Valentine’s Day!  We can hardly wait. 🙂

Dates to remember:  2/14-Valentine Exchange; 2/21-2/27-No School-Rodeo Break; 3/1-Mardi Gras-pancake lunch for all; 3/2-Ash Wednesday (no ashes given to students in 1st grade at school.); 3/7-3/11-Love of Reading Week; 3/16-Half Day Teacher In-Service; 3/17-St. Patrick’s Day;

Arctic animals and oh, by the way, we’re 100 days smarter!

We kicked off the week with our study of Arctic animals.  We read about an Arctic fox and learned that their fur changes color along with the seasons.  We also read about walruses.  Did you know that they can whistle? (Some of us can, too!) Next, we read about the Snowy Owl and learned that they are one of the only owls that is not nocturnal.  We wrote facts we learned about each of these animals to follow up on our learning. We finished our study of arctic animals with the largest land predator, the Polar Bear.  We made sweet chalk polar bears to go along with our polar bear facts–hope you saw their quick display on our line. 🙂

We finished the week by celebrating the 100th day of school.  We were so excited to do all our work with a 100 theme.  We wrote about what it would be like, “When I’m 100 years old.”  We added these to our line along with a photo that helped our kids age quickly! ;). We also flipped a coin 100 times, searched for and found a whole lot of 100’s mixed in with other numbers, and enjoyed an amazing snack of 100 items!  Many thanks to all who contributed to our snack–we have lots left to repurpose for future projects, too!  Thank you!  It was a great day to celebrate!

In math this week, we have been working on adding three numbers and looking for a way to make 10.  We are also moving forward on our Mountain Math work which has us practicing all the concepts of 1st grade math weekly.  The kids are getting better at this already–great work, 1st graders!

Next week, we’ll be visiting the other pole and begin our work with penguins! Each of our students received a different penguin to study.  We’ll be doing research on these penguins in class.  Students will learn about what their penguins look like, their habitat, what they eat, and something special about their respective penguin.  The paper we sent home last week will be added to their report/presentation.  Students should do their best to make sure that their artwork matches what their assigned penguin looks like including a background that reflects the habitat of their penguin.  They may use any medium (crayon, colored pencil, etc.) and add any details they feel will enhance their picture (ie: rocks for rockhoppers, glitter for snow, fabric/paper for beaches, etc. Thanks for your help at home with this project.  They are due on Thursday, 2/3.

We’ll also be celebrating the beginning of Chinese New Year, and watching for the groundhog on Groundhog Day!  It’s going to be a busy week!  Enjoy the beautiful weather.

Dates to remember:  2/1-Chinese New Year begins; 2/2-Groundhog Day; 2/3 Penguin Art is due; 2/14-Valentine Exchange; 2/21-2/27-No School-Rodeo Break; 3/1-Mardi Gras-pancake lunch for all; 3/2-Ash Wednesday (no ashes given to students in 1st grade at school.); 3/7-3/11-Love of Reading Week.

 

“Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” ~ MLK, Jr.

We had a very busy short week in first grade studying the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We kicked off the week with some non-fiction reading about who he was and some of his ideas.  We sequenced events in his life and also did a quick word search with some BIG words.  We watched a part of his “I have a dream” speech and talked about what his dream was and wrote our own dreams for our community (school) and our country.  We read the book, Martin’s big words and made our own portraits of Dr. King and added all the facts we remembered about him.  We loved hearing the surprise and dismay from our students that anyone would be treated differently based on the color of their skin.  ♥

In math, we’ve been finding new ways to make 10 and lots of it involves playing games.  We’ve guessed how many are hiding under a cup, and how many are covered and even played making 10’s with partners (and cards.). This is in preparation for us to be adding 3 (or more) numbers and to be able to quickly add the 2 numbers that make 10 and count on.  These kiddos are getting pretty good at it.  *You can try this at home, too.  We take all the face cards out of a playing card deck, shuffle them, and deal all the cards out to the two players.  They take turns turning them over and when they find a way to make 10 first, they get to keep that set.  The winner is the player with the most sets.  Be sure to leave the cards that have been turned face up if there isn’t an immediate match to be used with a later match.  We also started Mountain Math this week which is a review of the 16 main math concepts of first grade. Nice work by all!

Next week, we’ll be shifting our focus to Arctic Animals.  We’ll be reading about the Arctic fox, snowy owl, walrus and more.  We’ll also be celebrating the 100th day of school on Friday!  (Can you believe it?) If you can help us by bringing in one of our snack items, we’d sure appreciate it.  The sign-up sheet is on our boards outside the classrooms, and we’d love to have them by Wednesday or Thursday!  Thank you!

Have a wonderful week! 🙂

Dates to remember:   1/28-100th day of School; 2/1-Chinese New Year begins; 2/2-Groundhog Day; 2/14-Valentine Exchange; 2/21-2/27-No School-Rodeo Break.

Do you want to build a snowman?

Another snow and fun-filled week in 1st grade!!

We kicked off the week reading stories about snowflakes.  Then we wrote our own “how to” on catching a snowflake on your tongue.  These look super cute up on our line–hope you love them as much as we do.  We also read stories about snowglobes, and wrote our own creative piece, “If I lived in a snowglobe.”  These have art work to go with them, as well and look great hanging in our rooms.  Feel free to come take a look.  We finished the week learning about Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley and looking at his beautiful photographs of snowflakes.  He was an amazing scientist/photographer and we loved making snowflakes ourselves to celebrate his great work and contributions. 🙂

In math, we finished up our unit on halves/quarters.  We are now working on, “how many of each/how many in all” and learning all the different ways to make a number using two unknown addends.  This continues into next week, and we are working on organizing our thinking/writing to make sure we have all the possible combinations.

Next week, we’ll be learning about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We’ll be reading stories about him, doing our own portraits, writing our own “dreams” for our community and more.  We’ll also be introducing Mountain Math to our classes next week which includes the 16 core concepts of 1st grade math all on one page.  Our goal is to help our kids understand all the concepts well enough to do this independently and successfully.  We’ll keep you posted.

Hope you enjoyed the long weekend and beautiful weather!

Dates to remember:   1/22/22-Admissions Open House (*has been rescheduled to a Spring date, TBA). 1/28-1/30 Theater Production of Frozen (*has been rescheduled to s Spring date, TBA) 1/28-100th day of School — Stay tuned for details on how you can help us celebrate!, 2/1-Chinese New Year begins; 2/14-Valentine Exchange; 2/21-2/27-No School-Rodeo Break.

Snow much fun!

It was great to be back on campus this week. We jumped right back into our regular routine, and the kids did great!

We kicked off the week talking about New Year’s and read a sweet little book called, Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution.  Then we wrote our own resolutions and were mindful that they be something we could accomplish in 2022.  We also read a classic: The Snowy Day.  We answered questions about the story to reinforce our comprehension (and listening!) skills. We read, The Mitten, by Jan Brett as well.  We took a little comprehension quiz, did some mitten measuring using non-standard units, and finished a word search too.  We rounded up the week Snowmen at Night, and wrote about what we’d do if we were a snowman at night.  We also made a sweet little torn paper art piece to go along with it.  Look for those out on the line!

In Math, we did our math mystery this week and also worked in our book on recognizing halves.  We are also working on 2-digit addition, as you’ve seen and are getting better at recognizing the 1’s and 10’s place which is foundational for us to move on to bigger numbers and to potentially regrouping.

We are excited to keep our snow study going next week as we write about how to catch a snowflake, what it would be like to live in a snow globe and learn about “Snowflake” Bentley when we meet up with our 4th grade buddies.  We’ve got a new student starting in 1B this week, so be sure to say hello to Malachi Kurth’s family as he joins our first grade family.  Don’t forget about our half day on Wednesday this week!

Dates to remember:  1/10-1/14 Conferences continue. 1/12/22-Half Day, All faculty meeting, 1/17/22-No School, MLK holiday; 1/22/22-Admissions Open House (*has been rescheduled to a Spring date, TBA). 1/28-1/30 Theater Production of Frozen

Happy New Year!

We enjoyed so many wonderful Christmas activities before we left campus, most notably a visit from none other than Santa! But, we also managed to squeeze in some work before we left.  We read lots of Gingerbread books and did some comparing and contrasting with Gingerbread Girl and the original Gingerbread man.  We also had a 5-senses experience with some gingerbread cookies–delish! We even wrote our own original gingerbread stories.  We were blown away at how great these came out.  It really showcased our growth so far this year.  Bravo, first graders!  Many thanks to Nicole and Kara (our room mamas) who made our holiday celebration absolutely perfect! (photo credits to Nicole!:)

In Math, we were busy measuring fish and comparing their lengths to determine whether or not they were “keepers.” Lots of hands on fun with measuring and determining how much longer/shorter the fish were.

When we get back, we’ll be talking about New Year’s resolutions and spending some time with snow (figuratively, we hope!). We’ll be reading lots of classics including The Snowy Day and The Mitten.  We’ll also be making some beautiful art to go along with writing about if we “were a snowman at night.”

Dates to remember: 1/3/22 Classes resume.  1/3-1/14 Conference weeks. 1/12/22-Half Day, All faculty meeting, 1/17/22-No School, MLK holiday; 1/22/22-Admissions Open House. 1/28-1/30 Theater Production of Frozen; **Please remember our parent referral program–we’d love to meet someone you think would love St. Michael’s as much as we do.**

Here are some of the photos from our visit with Santa.  Sorry that they’re a bit late, but we think they may be the perfect way to remember 2021! :).

 

On Dasher, on Dancer…

Whew! What a week!  We squeezed a whole lot of reindeer fun, our testing and our Christmas show all into one week! 🙂

We kicked off the week with the most famous reindeer of all–we listened to the story of Rudolph and did a little work putting all of the other reindeer names in ABC order.  We also made our own little reindeers and wrote about them–their names, what they like, where we found them, etc.  We read the stories, Moosestache and Mooseltoe and wrote and drew pictures of the story elements and then about a time when something wasn’t so “perfectly perfect,” and how we solved it.  We ended our busy week by reading the story, The Legend of the Poinsettia.  Then, we made our own poinsettias to decorate the church or our classrooms. 🙂

In math, we are working on measuring with different units.  We’ve used cubes, paper clips, and one inch tiles to measure all types of tools in our classroom.  Our goal is to learn to compare and understand the difference in the sizes of the measuring units, as well as being more accurate in our measuring as we begin to use standard units (ie: rulers.) It involves us moving around a lot, too–added bonus!  We also did our standardized testing in math and those results will be shared with you at conference time.

We ended our week in the merriest way by sharing our Christmas show!  We hope you loved it as much as we did.  Mrs. Scovil did a fantastic job getting our kiddos prepared to be back up on stage after a long break from performing (this was the first time for our kiddos and we think they rocked it!). We hope it got you in the holiday spirit!  Many thanks to Julia’s mom for bringing us the sweetest little show surprises! ♥

Next week, we’ll be putting the final touches on our super top-secret gifts, and reading all the Gingerbread stories we can find! We’ll compare/contrast Gingerbread boy/girl, we’ll write our own gingerbread stories, and we’ll even do a little exploring using all our 5 senses!  We can hardly wait.  Happy Weekend!

Dates to remember: 12/13 Final Day for Angel Tree donations; 12/17-Los Posadas, Pajama Day in first grade, noon dismissal (no aftercare.) 1/3/22 Classes resume.  1/3-1/14 Conference weeks. 1/12/22-Half Day, All faculty meeting, 1/22/22-Admissions Open House. **Please remember our parent referral program–we’d love to meet someone you think would love St. Michael’s as much as we do.**