April 4-8, 2016

Specials

Monday - 1

Tuesday - 2

Wednesday - 3

Thursday - 4

Friday - 5

Upcoming Events

April 5 - PTA Family Night at Puccini's Boston Road

April 6 - Spring Pictures for all students

April 8 - Snow Makeup Day
April 8 - Report Cards go home

April 11-15 - Book Fair

April 11 - May 13 - FAST Testing Window (This just means we will be taking our final FAST Assessment sometime in this window)

April 13 - All Pro Dad's Breakfast

April 14 - Celebrate the Arts Night

April 15 - Student Recognition awards (10AM in the gym)
May 5 - 1st grade Field Trip to Cincinnati Zoo (Thanks to those who have sponsored so many kiddos!!! If you have not yet returned your permission slip, please do so ASAP!)
May 14 - PTA Spring Carnival 2-7pm
May 16 - 1st Grade Musical (1:00 and 5:30 in the gym)
May 17 - No school (Election Day)

May 26 - Last Day :( 

Kid Friendly Objectives

I can tell whether two parts of a shape are equal or unequal.
I can read, write, and identify fractions of a shape as halves or quarters.
I can read, write, and identify words with ir, er, and ur.
I can correctly use commas in a series.
I can write a fictional narrative.
I can compare and contrast events and characters in a story.

Spelling Lists

A

bird
dirt
shirt
germ
fern
curb
burn
hurt
water
baker

B

first
bird
third
shirt
germ
clerk
nurse
purse
blurt
water

Wish List

Pink Erasers

Week in Review
Ahh...the week before Spring Break. It means we slowed down and relaxed, right? Not so much! We kept it cranking the whole week through. :)

For starters, I let this week's VIPs lead pretty much...everything. They're almost second graders now so they can handle it! One of our VIPs helped us on the first day of contractions by calling on people to predict what two words become when they are smooshed into a shorter way of saying it.

We also did some serious group work to help us perfect our fictional narrative concepts. 

Sometimes we crack ourselves up with our stories! :)

 We use our friends to help us think through our stories, too.

Another way to help us focus our writing is to use other writer's examples. This week, we focused on Cinderella and its many different versions. We became experts at finding the ways these stories were similar and different.

In math, we continued our work with attributes and carried it into composing shapes.

Here are some of the ways we mastered that skill this week!

 We reviewed attributes by sorting "Woozles" and making our own Woozle family! We noticed that all of our families have one thing in common (maybe we all have brown eyes, or black hair, or we share the same last name). We used those similarities to help us think of an attribute our Woozle families could have in common.

Then we used our Woozles to sort them in our Woozle town!

If you can't tell, we LOVE Math in First Grade! :) Have a great week!

March 21-25, 2016 (AKA Week before Spring Break!!)

Specials

Monday - 2

Tuesday - 3

Wednesday - 4

Thursday - 5

Friday - 6

Upcoming Events

March 28 - April 1 - Spring Break!
April 5 - PTA Family Night at Puccini's Boston Road

April 6 - Spring Pictures for all students

April 8 - Snow Makeup Day
April 8 - Report Cards go home

April 11-15 - Book Fair

April 11 - May 13 - FAST Testing Window (This just means we will be taking our final FAST Assessment sometime in this window)

April 13 - All Pro Dad's Breakfast

April 14 - Celebrate the Arts Night

April 15 - Student Recognition awards (10AM in the gym)
May 5 - 1st grade Field Trip to Cincinnati Zoo (Thanks to those who have sponsored so many kiddos!!! If you have not yet returned your permission slip, please do so ASAP!)
May 14 - PTA Spring Carnival 2-7pm
May 16 - 1st Grade Musical (1:00 and 5:30 in the gym)
May 17 - No school (Election Day)

May 26 - Last Day :( 

Kid Friendly Objectives

I can compare and contrast adventures and experiences of characters. (This week is all about Cinderella!)

I can identify and write contractions.

I can read, write, and identify words with or, our, and oar spelling patterns. (Use your oar to sail to shore).

I can compose shapes by using other familiar shapes. 

^ We will talk about why squares can't be used to make circles and how attributes of shapes can help us determine which shapes to use when composing new ones.

I can write a fictional narrative.

Spelling Lists

A

fork
corn
cord
North
horn
worn
tore
store
storm
snore

B

oar
orca
orange
horse
sports
storm
core
snore
sailor
decoration

Wish List

Chalk

Bandaids

Skinny Dry Erase Markers

Week in Review
As I sit here and write, we only have 43 more days of first grade. How on Earth is that possible? That explains how I ended up with so many photos of the work we've jam-packed into a single week. :)

We read all kinds of versions of the 3 Little Pigs.

We mastered those pirate letters!

We worked insanely hard on mastering compound words this week. We liked the idea that compound words were two words "built" together to make a new word and a new meaning. We went with it and did compound "construction" all week long.

First up: PUZZLES!

Some of us were REALLY motivated :)

 Sweet, sweet, victory!

Next: the Compound Word Egg Hunt!

Each first grader received half of an egg while I hid the other half around the room. They were responsible for finding the missing half and completing their compound word!

 So proud :)

 We recorded a list of the words our friends made.

Finally: the CUP STACK.
Each table worked together to complete 10 cup towers. They had to find the pairs of cups with words and then identify the matching picture to complete the tower. 

 Some reason, compound words really make us want to climb on tables...

We were able to begin conferences for our fictional narratives. Some of these stories have been cracking me up!

Our VIPs were in charge of teaching calendar.

To study attributes, we used BUTTONS! We read a story from Frog and Toad about a lost button. In the story, Frog and Toad use the attributes of the missing button to help them find it. SO...we spent a few days "playing" with buttons in class. On day one, we simply sorted our buttons into whatever attributes we could think of. On day 2, we described our own buttons' attributes and then compared them. 

On day 3, we played "Guess My Rule." We took turns making groups of shapes based on their attributes. It was then our job to "guess the rule" the shape master chose.

 Can you guess their rules? :)

 (shape - square)

(color - yellow!)

(color - blue!)

Have a great week! 

March 14-18, 2016

Specials

Monday - 3

Tuesday - 4

Wednesday - 5

Thursday - 6

Friday - 1

Upcoming Events

March 15 - PTA Meeting at 6:30 in the Library

**1st Grade Literacy Night 5:30-6:30 in the first grade hallway**

March 18 - Snow Makeup Day

March 28 - April 1 - Spring Break! (This isn't an April Fool's Joke - it's that soon!) :)

April 6 - Spring Pictures for all students

April 8 - Snow Makeup Day

April 11-15 - Book Fair

April 11 - May 13 - FAST Testing Window (This just means we will be taking our final FAST Assessment sometime in this window)

April 13 - All Pro Dad's Breakfast

April 14 - Celebrate the Arts Night

April 15 - Student Recognition awards (10AM in the gym)

Kid Friendly Objectives

I can identify the character telling the story at any point.

I can identify and write compound words.

I can read, write, and identify words with the ar spelling pattern. (Carney is a great way to remember this one :D)

^ This is how we are remembering it in class. These are our Pirate Letters!

I can solve double digit subtraction (equations and word problems).

I can relate addition and subtraction (fact families). 

I can sort and identify shapes based on their attributes.

I can create and write a problem and solution for a fictional narrative.

Spelling Lists

A

far

jar

hard

yard

March

part

star

party

charm

Target

B

star

scar

charm

starve

large

sharp

Target

market

garden

farmer

Wish List

Chalk

Bandaids

Skinny Dry Erase Markers

Week in Review

Last week marked the end of our nonfiction studies and the beginning of something TOTALLY different. We are beginning to study Fairytales! How fun is that?!

The first fairy tale we dove into was "Jack and the Beanstalk."

Most of us had heard this story before. This version is in the 3rd person point of view. Your first grader should be able to tell you now that this pretty much just means that the narrator is telling a story. Most traditional fiction stories are told in 3rd person. 

But first graders don't stop at learning just ONE point of view in a week! Of course we had to study what the 1st person point of view means, too! We learned that this basically means that someone in the story (a character) is telling their version of events. The big clues for this POV are words like "I," "my," and, "we." We gave Jack AND the Giant a chance to clear up their sides of the story. 

By the end of the week, we even heard a version of the story as a "Fractured Fairytale." We cracked up comparing this version of Jack and the Beanstalk to the original. 

You don't even want to know what the Giant used for his magic in THIS wacky fairytale. 

We are having SO much fun using these fairytales to inspire us to write our own fictional narratives.

First, we refreshed our brain on what settings are. Next, we did "graffiti walls" to work with our tables in identifying characters that "fit" those settings. For example, we don't want to have a story about fire fighters set in the ocean! 

We spent the rest of the week nailing down our setting and characters. This week, it's all about nailing down our problem, solution, and 3 major events. Those creative juices are really flowing. :)

We also learned about pronouns last week. One of our favorite ways to practice new content is by playing "Quiz, Quiz, Trade." This lets everyone in the room be an expert and quiz their friends.

We also got to celebrate SPRING!!!! We couldn't wait and went outside to enjoy DEAR (Drop Everything and Read).

Have a great week! :)