January 29-February 2, 2018

Specials

Monday - 1

Tuesday - 2

Wednesday - 3

Thursday - 4

Friday - 5

*Reference the brochure you received on Welcome to Wellington Night to know what each day is for specials!*

Upcoming Events & Reminders
February 1 - 100th Day of School! (Your child is welcome to dress up)
February 2 - Penguin Day!
February 8 - PTA Night at Mathnasium
February 14 - Valentine Celebration
February 15 - PTA Meeting 6:30pm
February 16 - Nonrotation Day for Specials
February 19 - President's Day - No School

FYI, I will be out of the building on February 1st due to a District Meeting. 

Weekly Standards
I can read, write, and identify words with y as a vowel (y, ey). 
I can read, make, and understand compound words.
I can make connections between topics in a nonfiction book.
I can use text features to help me understand a nonfiction book.
I can write my opinion and support it with reasons.
I can tell time to the hour.
I can tell time to the half hour.

Practicing at Home

Kids will be learning to play this game this week. Have fun practicing at home, too!

Spelling Words
bumpy
puppy
funny
penny
sandy
bunny
key
monkey

Sight Words
found
hard
near
woman
would
write

Week in Review
We had a wild concert by the Wulfe Brothers!

The kids were cracking up the whole time.

We also practiced putting our opinion writing into a real world situation: nominations!

Kids had the opportunity to nominate our VIPs for next week. I'll be using these throughout the rest of the year as kids complete them in the Writing Center :)



In math, we practiced telling time to the hour. Kids worked hard together to build a life size clock!





We also practiced using hands-on activities to practice showing different times to the hour on our clocks :)

Have a great week!

January 22-26, 2018

Specials

Monday - 3

Tuesday - 4

Wednesday - 5

Thursday - 6

Friday - STEM DAY

*Reference the brochure you received on Welcome to Wellington Night to know what each day is for specials!*

Upcoming Events & Reminders
January 26- Nonrotation Day STEM Day
February 8 - PTA Night at Mathnasium
February 15 - PTA Meeting 6:30pm
February 16 - Nonrotation Day for Specials
February 19 - President's Day - No School

Weekly Standards
I can read, write, and identify words with long i spelling patterns (y, ie, igh) 
I can use prefixes and suffixes to help me understand the meaning of a word.
I can tell whether information came from pictures or the words in a book.
I can use text features to help me understand a nonfiction book.
I can write my opinion and support it with reasons.
I can create and understand a graph to help me organize information.
I can tell time to the hour.

Spelling Words
find
night
by
kind
right
my
pie
dried

Sight Words
caught
flew
know
laugh
listen
were

Week in Review
no pictures due to the shortened week

Jan. 18-19, 2018

Specials

Monday - MLK Jr. Day

Tuesday - Snow Day

Wednesday - Snow Day

Thursday - 2

Friday - 3

*Reference the brochure you received on Welcome to Wellington Night to know what each day is for specials!*

Upcoming Events & Reminders
January 19 - Student Recognition Awards for 2nd 9 weeks (I will e-mail you ahead of this date if your child is receiving an award for these 9 weeks).
January 26- Nonrotation Day STEM Day
February 8 - PTA Night at Mathnasium
February 15 - PTA Meeting 6:30pm
February 16 - Nonrotation Day for Specials
February 19 - President's Day - No School

Weekly Standards
I can read, write, and identify words with long o spelling pattern (oa, ow, oe)
I can use prefixes to help me understand the meaning of a word.
I can tell whether information came from pictures or the words in a book.
I can use text features to help me understand a nonfiction book.
I can write my opinion and support it with reasons.
I can create and understand a graph to help me organize information.

Spelling Words
*Due to the snow days, we will simply be practicing the skill, not testing on it*

Sight Words
find
food
over
start
warm

Week in Review
Thank you all for your kind words and patience while I was home sick. I'm incredibly thankful for this snowy weather because I wouldn't have been able to be back with your kids until tomorrow (Thursday) anyway! 

Having said that, here is a very teeny tiny look back at what the kids did while I was there (they certainly did more with our wonderful sub who took over for me!)

In math, we began studying the rules of measurement with nonstandard measurement. 
We discussed:

• measurement goes end to end
• you must measure in a straight line
• and you must identify the tool you are using to measure!

To help us understand these ideas, we practiced measuring in many ways and read this silly book:

  
 




In Language, we started to discuss Adjectives!


In Writing, we continued talking about opinion. By the end of the week, your child might have watched a video about Martin Luther King Jr. and shared their opinion of why they do/do not think students should learn about MLK Jr. Here's a wonderful video (that your kids have not had the chance to watch)

Have a FABULOUS week! (And stay healthy!)

Jan. 8-12, 2018

Specials

Monday - 3

Tuesday - 4

Wednesday - 5

Thursday - 6

Friday - 1

*Reference the brochure you received on Welcome to Wellington Night to know what each day is for specials!*

Upcoming Events & Reminders
January 9 - MAP test (rest up and eat a yummy breakfast!)
January 11 - MAP test (rest up and eat a yummy breakfast!)
January 11 - PTA Meeting 6:30 pm
January 12 - Report Cards go home
January 15 - MLK Day - No School
January 19 - Student Recognition Awards for 2nd 9 weeks (I will e-mail you ahead of this date if your child is receiving an award for these 9 weeks).
January 26- Nonrotation Day STEM Day
February 8 - PTA Night at Mathnasium
February 15 - PTA Meeting 6:30pm
February 16 - Nonrotation Day for Specials
February 19 - President's Day - No School

Weekly Standards
I can read, write, and identify words with long e vowel patterns  (ee, ea, ie)
I can tell or show the difference between similar words.
I can write to tell how to do something.
I can name and identify adjectives.
I can use text features to help me understand a nonfiction book.
I can write my opinion and support it with reasons.

Spelling Words
me
feed
seat
we
keep
beak
she
speed

Sight Words
because
blue
into
other
or
small

Week in Review
What a short first week back! I hope you and your family were able to stay warm at home on Friday. I know that at our house, it seems like we just can't get warm enough. We've even had to deal with the dreaded frozen pipes :( (Fingers crossed it doesn't happen again this season!)
Due to the shortened week, there are noticeably fewer pictures for the week. However, I will do my best to fill you in on what your students did in our two days back together! 

We begin every morning with a Morning Meeting. At our first meeting of the year, I asked the students to let me know everything they loved about our class. I used their answers to fill up a paper heart. After we wrote our ideas, the heart was passed around the circle and the students were encouraged to crumple, rip, kick, toss, stomp, you name it! When we were finished, the heart looked pitiful. One student even said, "Mrs. Carney! You're breaking my heart!" I challenged our two VIPs to put the heart back together and make it look EXACTLY as it did before we began. Obviously, it was impossible.

This lesson served as a great visual for our students to really think about the way their actions impact those around them. Sure, we can always say, "Sorry," when we hurt others but does it really make the pain go away? No. The students worked together and each used a piece of tape to repair our heart. Our promise to use only kindness with our classroom family is now hanging up high on our wall as a daily reminder.

We also read this book:

We talked about our own resolutions for the year! First, we identified the things that we were proud of that we accomplished in 2017 (because yes, it is okay to say what you are GREAT at!). Next, we each took a turn saying what we wanted to achieve at school in 2018 and hung it in the hallway. The kids took this job very seriously. :) 

In Math, we started to discuss measurement. The kids were asked to bring any item in the classroom to the carpet and put them in order by length. I gave them NO other direction. This opened up great conversations on starting lines. In measurement, it's like cheating if two objects don't begin from the same point!

We used this new knowledge to help us compare lengths. I brought in a stuffed Nemo that is about the same size as Baby Carney! The kids had fun finding objects that were longer and shorter than Baby Carney.








In Language, we started talking about Shades of Meaning. This lays the foundation for studying synonyms in later grades.
To get us started, we read this book:

We talked about the many different ways that animals move.  Rabbits hop, snakes slither, monkeys swing, and all of these words are shades of the word, "Move." Authors use shades of meaning to make writing more interesting. 

We learned we are beginning a study of penguins so the students came up with SHADES of the verbs "walk," "swim," and "jump," based on the way we would describe penguins moving.



We also talked about how we are going to be responsible for completing research on penguins this unit! To do that successfully, we need to understand text features. In these next few pictures, you'll see kiddos exploring nonfiction texts to locate some of our new text features!




I hope you have a fabulous (and warm) week!

January 3-5, 2018

Specials

Monday - NO SCHOOL

Tuesday - NO SCHOOL

Wednesday - 1

Thursday - 2

Friday - 3

*Reference the brochure you received on Welcome to Wellington Night to know what each day is for specials!*

Upcoming Events & Reminders
January 9 - MAP test (rest up and eat a yummy breakfast!)
January 11 - MAP test (rest up and eat a yummy breakfast!)
January 11 - PTA Meeting 6:30 pm
January 12 - Report Cards go home
January 15 - MLK Day - No School
January 19 - Student Recognition Awards for 2nd 9 weeks (I will e-mail you ahead of this date if your child is receiving an award for these 9 weeks).
January 26- Nonrotation Day STEM Day
February 8 - PTA Night at Mathnasium
February 15 - PTA Meeting 6:30pm
February 16 - Nonrotation Day for Specials
February 19 - President's Day - No School

Weekly Standards
I can read, write, and identify words with vowel patterns ai and ay.
I can tell or show the difference between similar words.
I can write to tell how to do something.
I can use text features to help me understand a nonfiction book.
I can write my opinion and support it with reasons.

Spelling Words
NONE!
Spelling Tests will resume next week

Sight Words
about
animal
eight
give
carry
our

Week in Review
Welcome back from Winter Break and HAPPY NEW YEAR! The pictures below are from our last day before Winter Break began! Enjoy a flashback :)

We read this silly book:

and imagined all of the things that we think snowmen might do when we aren't looking!
Next, we did a directed drawing of a snowman. After we finished our drawings, the kiddos got to use their magical white crayons to draw super secret hidden snowflakes falling all around!
 
\ 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 


We also completed our much anticipated book exchange!
 


To do the exchange, kiddos sat in a circle and listened to a story with LOTS of directions. Every time they heard the word "left," they passed to the left. If they heard the word "right," they passed to the right. They all did a great job and had a blast opening up a brand new book :)
THANK YOU for helping make that a memorable part of our day!

Before we cozied up with hot chocolate and a movie, the kids each wrote a thank you note to the person whose book they received. They just love sending and receiving notes (and showing gratitude!)




Finally, I shared some pretty big news with your first grader!

I filled a box with these items and let your first graders guess my super top secret information! (Don't worry - it isn't a secret anymore!). My husband and I are so excited to let you know we are expecting our first child this June! Your first grader cracked me up with some of their name suggestions for baby Carney. So far, Cupcake and Comet are our front runners :-P

Have a FABULOUS first week back from break!