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.**

 

 

We kicked off a fun week reading, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  We wrote “I feel like a Grinch when…” stories and some of us even drew our very own Grinch.  Next, we read elf stories and wrote what type of elf we’d be if we worked in Santa’s workshop.  We sure hope you got to see these cuties and how everyone looks in their elf-gear up on the line outside our classrooms.  We read, Santa’s Stuck and did our own problem solving on what we’d do if Santa were stuck in our chimneys.  We also did a hidden picture to go along with these.  We even squeezed in time to write letters to Santa.  We made sure to use words like, “May I have,” and “please,” with the hopes that Santa will read them.

In Math, we got lots of practice solving another math mystery.   We did work on time, skip counting, adding three numbers and more to see who was stealing all the Christmas cookies.  Math detectives to the rescue!  We are also working on comparing items by their length, using words like longer and shorter and using some non-standard measuring units like cubes.  We had fun moving around the room to find things that were longer/shorter than our 10-cube measuring unit.

On Friday, we received a visit from St. Nicholas!  In case you didn’t see the photos, here’s a peek:

We also got a chance to visit with our 4th grade buddies!  We read Christmas stories, drank hot chocolate, made a candy cane ornament and even sang some Christmas songs while Ms. Hart played guitar! Best day ever. 🙂

And here are a couple of videos to make you smile and get into the Christmas spirit…:)

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Next week, it’s all about the reindeer (with a moose, or two thrown in!). We’ll also be doing our standardized testing for this period, getting ready for our Holiday program, and finishing up our work on our super top-secret gifts!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Dates to remember: 12/10-Lower School Holiday Program 2:00-3:00; 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.**

We wish you such a wonderful Thanksgiving break–full of fun times and so many great memories! Happy, happy holiday!

We had a busy week in first grade–finishing our Wampanoag board, making our Thanksgiving placemats and more!  Special thanks for supporting our annual food drive for the St. Michael’s pantry and the Community Food Bank.  We appreciate the support. ♥

In Language Arts, we read, A Turkey for Thanksgiving, and did our word search.  We read, How to Catch a Turkey, and shared our amazing Turkeys (in disguise!). Good reading, everyone! 🙂 We also read, The Very Stuffed Turkey, and sorted out facts and opinions.  We also took time to make our Thanksgiving placemats–another first grade staple!

We finished up the Wampanoag Village this week (had to add a few more fish!) and it will be up for you to see on Monday morning.  This is a first grade tradition and we are so thankful to be able to share it once again.  We hope that you can see how much effort each of our kiddos put into making their Wampanoag, or an animal, or a canoe, or a wetu…  Great work by everyone!  We also played some Native American games on Friday–the crab walk race, the bear walk race, kick the stick relay, etc.  The kids loved this and we’ll be making time to play again and add some games next week before the break.

In math, we have been filling in the 120 chart–this means really knowing our numbers up through 120 and is great practice for writing numbers in the correct order for place value.  We also did our first Math Mystery!  This is a one day at a time project where we get to cross off things that don’t belong based on the clues we reveal with our good math detective work.  Woo Hoo! We solved the mystery of the Gobbler’s Curse!

Next week, we’ll be focused on things for which we are thankful.  We won’t have our regular spelling/homework so we hope you’ll enjoy the nice break.  Wishing you all a beautiful and restful Thanksgiving break.  We count you all among our blessings this holiday.

Important dates:

11/24-11/26-No School, Thanksgiving Break, 12/10-Lower School Holiday Program 2:00-3:00; 12/17-Los Posadas, Pajama Day in first grade, noon dismissal (no aftercare.)

This week was a busy one getting our Wampanoag board ready to share, and learning about the first Thanksgiving.  This is a first grade highlight, and hopefully your kids are telling you all about the Wampanoags and the Pilgrims.

We read lots of non-fiction Thanksgiving stories this week, and learned about the voyage of the Pilgrims.  We learned that it wasn’t a great trip, but thought about what we might bring with us if we had a chance to go on the Mayflower.  We also did some comparing of the Wampanoags and the Pilgrims–what things were the same, and what was different about each group.  We even got a chance to decide if we’d rather “be a Wampanoag or a Pilgrim,” and write three reasons why.

We’ve made our Wampanoags, wetus, animals and canoes.  We’ve gathered outdoor items we can use for trees.  So, this week you’ll get to see what all of our learning looks like on the big board.  We can hardly wait to share it with you.

In math, we have been working on more ways to make numbers, and the vocabulary words of perimeter, area, and length.  We got a chance to trace our shoes and fill them in with different items (ie: square tiles) to see how many items it might take to fill them in.  We also tried it with round counters to see if it would take more/less.  We are also counting on number strips starting with numbers other than one. We are working on writing, and producing all the numbers up to 120.

Next week, it’s all about turkeys!  We will be reading lots of turkey stories–and some non-fiction passages, too. We can’t wait to see the Turkey in Disguise project that went home this week. These are always a highlight for us and we will share them on our half day – Wednesday! It’s beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving. :). Please remember that the food drives ends this Friday morning.  We are trying to fill our St. Michael’s pantry and support the Tucson Community Food Bank to make sure everyone can have a good holiday.  Food and/or donations can be delivered right to our classrooms.

Important dates:

11/15-11/19-Thanksgiving Food Drive; 11/17-Half day -11:50 dismissal (staff development); 11/24-11/26-No School, Thanksgiving Break, 12/10-Lower School Holiday Program 2:00-3:00; 12/17-Los Posadas, Pajama Day in first grade, noon dismissal (no aftercare.)

What a fun week in first grade–our first field trip AND our Halloween party/parade!  Woo Hoo!

We started the week by writing clues about ourselves to go with our little “ghosts” on the line.  Were you able to find your kiddo? 🙂 Next, we read the story, Crankenstein and made a little tri-fold to re-tell the beginning, middle and end of the story.  We also read, Room on the Broom, and make our cute witches with a watercolor background as well as ordering the animals that got on the broom.  We read Creepy Carrots and wrote about how we would get away from them.  We also did a directed draw of Jasper the rabbit!  Of course, Mrs. Moseley read her traditional Halloween story about the little witch, and the kids loved the surprise ending. So fun!

Our field trip was a great success–tons of fun activities and fresh air.  We learned about worms, chickens, grains, how to plant and even pulled some potatoes to make room for more planting.  We finished it off with a sack lunch at Brandi Fenton Park and ran off more energy (than you might imagine they had left!) It was a great day, and we could not have done it without all of our amazing drivers.  Thanks so much for taking time out of your week to join us.  We appreciate you!

In math, we are busy figuring out “how many of each,” identifying all the possible combinations of red and blue balloons, peas and carrots and apples and bananas.  It’s great practice for us on organizing our thinking and ways to make numbers. Next week, we’ll be adding with three addends, writing all the ways to make numbers, and practicing reading and applying what we know in story problems.

Of course, the highlight of the week was our Halloween Party.  MANY, MANY thanks to our room mamas Kara & Nicole (and their amazing helpers) for making it such a fun event for the kids.  Absolutely perfect amount of games, snacks and fun!

Hope your Halloween is all treats and no tricks!

IMPORTANT DATES: 11/5 – Field Day half-day 11:50 dismissal; 11/8-No School, grading day; 11/15-11/19-Thanksgiving Food Drive; 11/17 – Half day -11:50 dismissal (staff development); 11/24-11/26-No School, Thanksgiving Break

We spent the week learning all about bats. We read Stellaluna, a story about a bat who is adopted by a bird family when he becomes separated from his mom. Later in the week, we read the story Night Song about a little bat that discovers he can “see” using echolocation. After this, we did a listening activity in the park which mimics the way bats would use echolocation to find their food. The kids closed their eyes for 2 minutes and wrote down everything they heard. It was interesting to make note of all the sounds we hear in a day without realizing it. We read several non-fiction bat facts and wrote bat facts. The kids voted on whether they thought bats were cute or creepy (cute won out) and on Thursday we made bat fliers and went to the park to watch them fly.
On Friday, we got together with our 4th grade buddies and make pumpkin catapults! The kids and their buddies were given 10 popsicle sticks, 6 rubber bands, a spoon and a candy pumpkin. They had 10 minutes to create their catapults and then tried to launch their pumpkins. They took measurements of how far the pumpkins went and added the distances up to find an average. Such a fun activity for all of them and having those older buddies help us with the bigger math problems was a perfect match.
In math we continue with our unit, “How many of each/ How many in all”. We are learning there are mulitple addition sentences that can equal the same number. For example, if we have 15 balloons and some are red and some are blue how many combinations could we have. The kids have to come up with all the ways they can make 15, very helpful as we are always trying to lock in those number facts.

This week we will going on our first field trip!! Please remember that the kids need to be in St. Michaels uniform (red shirts and khaki bottoms) and need to bring a bagged lunch as we will be eating at Brandi Fenton Park after the field trip.

Dates to remember: ( please note that half day dismissal times have changed for lower school)

10/28 – Field Trip – Tucson Village Farms 9:30 – 11:30; 10/29 – Halloween Party/ Parade 1:00 – 3:00; 11/5 – Field Day half-day 11:50 dismissal; 11/8 – Grading Day – No School; 11/17 – Half day -11:50 dismissal (staff development)

We had a ton of fun learning about pumpkins this week. We kicked off the week with a story called, Runaway Pumpkin, and did some work with rhyming words and ABC order.  Next up was a class favorite, Spookley, the square pumpkin, we wrote about how his character changed from the beginning to the end of the story.  We also read some nonfiction books about pumpkins and then wrote facts we learned–did you know that pumpkins may have been dried and used as bowls by the Native Americans and Pilgrims?  Look for those up on our line along with some beautiful pumpkin art!  Finally, we read, Pumpkin Town, and wrote about the story elements of character/setting and then retold the beginning, middle and end of our story.  We were a busy group!

Of course, our big highlight of the week was Pumpkin Day!  We are so grateful to those of you who could join us for an afternoon of all things pumpkin!  Special thanks to our photographer, Eric (aka Oliver’s dad!) for all the great pictures you see in our post.

In math, we are moving on to a unit called, How many of each/How many in all.  We are working on strategies for deciding how many of each right now–example: I have 7 things on my plate, some are peas, some are carrots.  How many of each could I have?  This is a great way to expand our thinking and move beyond one answer, as well as finding a strategy for how to know when you’ve completed the task.  We’ll be working more on that after break, as well.

When we get back from break, we’ll be “going batty” so to speak and learning all about these helpful flying mammals.  We hope you have a wonderful break.  Enjoy the beautiful weather headed our way!

Dates to remember:

10/28-Field Trip-Tucson Village Farms-9:30-11:30; 10/29-Halloween Party/Parade-1:00-3:00; 11/5-Field Day-Half Day-noon dismissal; 11/8-Grading Day-no school, 11/17-Half Day-noon dismissal-Staff Development

 

We had lots of fun this week studying spiders.  We kicked off the week with a fun book called, Arrgghh, Spider! that tells the story of a little spider who just wants to be someone’s pet.  We graphed how many of us thought it would make a good pet (more than you’d guess!) and how many thought it would not.  Then we wrote reasons to justify our answers.  We read some nonfiction books, and labeled spiders.  We also did some investigating into their adaptations–did you know that spiders use the hairs on their body to sense danger (and a potential snack?). We learned about their life cycle, and even did a fun little spider circle book. But…the big highlight to our week was having Fiona’s tarantula, Dolly, come for a visit!  She was a very well-behaved guest and we loved being able to touch her, and watching her up close!  Thanks so much to the Faller family for letting her visit!

In math, we are finishing up our unit on shapes.  We made shape posters and talked about how to put shapes into different groups by studying their attributes–ie: number of sides, number of vertices (or corners,) straight lines, etc.  We also learned some new vocabulary including “quadrilaterals” (4-sided shapes.)  Our next unit is “how many of each, and how many in all” which includes a review of counting on, and counting back.

Next week, it’s all about pumpkins!  We’ll be reading some of our favorite pumpkin stories and make some connections, write about how pumpkins grow, and of course enjoy Pumpkin Day!  We can hardly wait.  Be sure to join us if you can, or sign up to chaperone our trip to Tucson Village Farms! Enjoy the first full week of fall–there’s just a bit of a cool down in store for us.  Have a happy week!

10/5-Vision Screening with Nurse Huff; 10/7-Pumpkin Day-1:30-3:00 in the first grade classrooms; 10/11-10/17-No School-Fall Break; 10/28-Field Trip-Tucson Village Farms-9:30-11:30; 10/29-Halloween Party/Parade-1:00-3:00

We had another great, fall-themed week in first grade studying Johnny Appleseed.  We started by learning some facts about Johnny, and making our own little time lines and mini books.  We also did some labeling as we continued to learn more about him.  We looked at a map, and made notes on where he traveled (walked!)  We even got to watch a cute movie about his life and how much he loved apples–he thought they were like medicine!  Then we wrote our own facts, and made a directed draw of Johnny.  Look for those out on our line!  So, so cute.  We sure hope you had a chance to see us in our hats…but, just in case:

We did our first round of Renaissance testing this week–one test for math, and one for language arts.  These are great because they are somewhat intuitive, meaning that there is no ceiling on how high the kids can go but also that if they get answers incorrect it will bring it back down to a level where they can be successful.  Good job, first graders!

In math, we are still working with shapes.  We are exploring how two (or more) shapes put together can make another shape.  We are also learning more about using more/fewer shapes to fill a space.  We have a bunch of “builders” in first grade and they seem to be having fun with these “hands on” experiences.

Next week, it’s all about spiders! Eeek! It’s the perfect way to welcome October (and, of course, Halloween!)  We’ll learn lots about their adaptations, their life cycle, and even ponder whether they’d make a good pet!  Please note our field trip date below–please join us as a driver and/or join us for the Halloween event.  We’d love to have you. Enjoy the cooler weather this week! :).

Dates to remember:

10/7-Pumpkin Day-1:30-3:00 in the first grade classrooms; 10/11-10/17-No School-Fall Break; **A reminder that Grandparent’s Day has been moved to the Spring**10/28-Field Trip-Tucson Village Farms-9:30-11:30; 10/29-Halloween Party/Parade-1:00-3:00