Aug. 29-Sept. 3, 2016

Specials

Monday - 6 (PE)

Tuesday - 1 (Art)

Wednesday - 2 (STEM)

Thursday - 3 (Technology)

Friday - 4 (Music)

Upcoming Events & Reminders
August 29 - 1st Grade Curriculum Night. 
September 5 - NO SCHOOL!
September 6 - PTA Family Night @ Chick Fil A in the mall
September 8 - Jon Agee Author Visit 
September 9-26 - PTA Bumblebee Fundraiser
September 14 - Field Trip to Evan's Orchard (More info soon!)
September 19-23 - Bookfair. 
September 21 - All Pro Dad's Breakfast 6:30-7:15am
September 22 - Tentative Grandparents Day Lunch
October 4 - PTA family Night @ Burger - Fi!

Useful Links
First Grade Curriculum Night: Click here to RSVP! :)

 Sign up for Remind texts with this link! 

Wish List items:

*magnetic tape (it looks like a tape dispenser but the tape is magnetic!)

Teacher's App of the Week

Here is a "teacher recommended" app that will help your first grader practice a skill that we are working on this week. 

Franklin's Friends of Ten is a free app that will help your first grader practice the ways to make 10 in a fun, engaging way!

Don't worry - IT'S FREE!!!

I'll be introducing this to the class sometime this week, too! :)

Kid-Friendly Objectives
I can choose a topic.
I can read, write, and identify short i words.
I can use capital letters.
I can retell a story.
I can make 10 in many ways.

Week in Review
Now that the official business is out of the way, let's get to the FUN STUFF!

We did it: our first 5 day week of first grade. Are you feeling it? I know I did come Saturday morning! We made SO much progress towards making our way into our normal routines. Here's a glimpse into our classroom. :)

We want to become better writers. Real authors practice writing every day - and we want to be real authors! One of our daily 5 choices is Work on Writing. The best part of Work on Writing is that it doesn't have to be done at your desk!

We also continued to practice Read to Self. We made it to OVER 15 MINUTES IN STAMINA!!!!!

We were able to make our Daily 5 choices (between work on writing and read to self) for the first time on Friday!

In Writer's Workshop, we learned the three steps to writing a story:

1. Choose a topic.

Here we are gluing our heart maps into the middle of our writing journals. We use these heart maps to keep our favorite topics close to our hearts!

2. Draw a picture. Kali was drawing a beautiful picture of a field trip she took in Kindergarten!

Step 3: Write it out! (We practiced this but we'll get more into it next week). 

We got our spelling dictionaries as one step to practicing COPS. Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation and Spelling are important to keep our writing from breaking the law!

Our vocabulary word to piggyback on respect from last week was kindness. Here are some of the texts we read to help us understand it more clearly.

Lily learned that sometimes, "Today wasn't a good day. Tomorrow will be better." 

We learned everyone has an invisible bucket above their heads! Huh?!?! Ask your first grader for more details :)

Here are some of the notes that were OVERFLOWING our class bucket.

This book introduced our first grade project. We each decorated a quilt square to show how we can be kind. It will be hanging up soon!

We learned the first two choices for Math Centers. These two girls are working on putting together a hundreds chart puzzle to help them practice counting to 120.

Groups at my table worked on ways to make 6, 7, and 8 with ten frames, cubes, and rekenreks.

(This shows 4+2=6).

Sometimes Mrs. Carney takes the picture too soon...

All of the kids wanted me to pass along how to make a rekenrek at home. They LOVED it!

-foam sheet

-2 pipe cleaners

-10 blue pony beads

-10 red pony beads

Put 5 of each color on each pipe cleaner. Poke it through the foam board, secure to the back. 

by the end of the week, we were cracking up at Spill the Beans!

(2+4 = 6)

Thank you SO much for all of your kind feedback on the blog. I hope it helps you have a clear picture of what we are working on each week in the classroom. Your first graders take so much pride in their work and learning and it is my pleasure to share it with you each week. :) 

Have a great week!!

Specials

Monday - 3 (Technology)

Tuesday - 4 (Library)

Wednesday - 5 (Music)

Thursday - 6 (P.E.)

Friday - NO SCHOOL!!!

Upcoming Events & Reminders
August 18 - PTA Social at Shilitoh Park from 6-7:30pm. Please return your RSVP if you are interested in coming so PTA can best prepare for you and your family!
August 19 - NO SCHOOL! 
August 29 - 1st Grade Curriculum Night (More info on times coming soon)
September 5 - NO SCHOOL!
September 6 - PTA Family Night @ Chick Fil A in the mall

If you have not already done so, please sign up for the Remind notifications. 
Send a text to 81010 with the message @acarney. 

Also, please consider completing the picture permission slip for me to include pictures of your child working hard in our classroom!

Wish List items:

*magnetic tape (it looks like a tape dispenser but the tape is magnetic!)

*any old, used iPods/iPhones with cameras that your family is no longer using. We would love to add these to our tech collection to incorporate some more listening activities during Daily 5! 

Kid-Friendly Objectives
I can tell a story.
I can read, write, and identify short a words.
I can sort common nouns.
I can ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
I can talk about numbers.

Week in Review
Mrs. Strange did it again...she gave me the BEST group of first graders at Wellington. I am so excited to spend this school year getting to know your first graders. They are so kind and patient (and smart, to boot!). At the end of the week, we voted on a class name and it is absolutely perfect: 1st Grade Rock Stars.
Here's a recap of my crazy fast week with your Rock Stars!

The Wellington school year begins every year with an assembly on the first day of school. All Kindergarteners and First Graders listened to Mrs. Strange and Mrs. Green about some exciting new things happening at Wellington this year! For some of our first graders, this was their first time seeing Mrs. Strange and some of our Specials teachers, too!

The first day is always a whirlwind but we always make time for a special book.
One of our first graders read my mind and brought it in for us to read.

It tells a story of a girl named Sarah who does NOT want to go to school. Read the book (or ask your first grader) about the surprise ending. :)

When we were finished, we talked about what it means to have "jitters." We read a poem that introduced us to Jitter Juice. It is SO easy to make:

Fill a cup with Sprite (or any lemon-lime soda), add a spoonful of pink lemonade mix and a spoonful of sprinkles. Stir and watch it bubble to the top!

Just look at their concentration!

Everyone begged for the recipe to be sent home. :)

Dismissal can bring a lot of craziness when we're learning new procedures so we also graphed how we go home to make sure everyone gets there safely.

We are filled to the brim with bus riders this year! :)

To practice the importance of "think time" before answering a question, we played "Think, Pair, Share." This is a simple game that helps us practice thinking about our answer, greeting someone correctly, and taking turns to talk.

We'll keep practicing our handshakes but I was SO proud of our friends when they even remembered to start with, "Hi, my name is ___" the next day! 

Because we spent so much time talking about what I want/need our classroom to look like and sound like, they decided it was time to let me know what THEY want. Here's what they came up with :)

And here are some of the things I used to tell them about me! Maybe your first grader can help explain a few of them!

Oh my goodness. I have never been more impressed with beginning of the year first graders than I was on Friday. We kicked off our writing unit, and concluded our first week, with Show and Share. Corban did an AMAZING job sharing his story about the beach. I am so excited to hear more stories from our class this coming week!

Here's to another great week! :)

Allow me to introduce myself...

I am SO happy to have your first grader in my class for the 2016-2017 school year!

I wanted to take a few moments to introduce myself.

My name is Amanda Carney and this is my third year here at Wellington Elementary. I have taught Kindergarten for one year and this will be my second year as a 1st grade teacher. I live in Versailles with my husband, James, and my puppy, Max.

I graduated from Transylvania University with my BA in Elementary Education. I'm also currently going to school at the University of the Cumberlands to finish out my schooling. 

I honestly believe that first grade is the best because you will see your first grader TAKE OFF in reading, writing, and math this year...without them even knowing it because it's just so stinkin' FUN!

Our First Grade Schedule

See below for our class schedule. The morning block is subject to change but our Specials, Lunch, and Recess times are what you see below. 

Things to Know

Please use the links at the sidebar, or the links below, to complete 3 quick forms for me.

The Volunteer Application is a mandatory form that you must complete in order to volunteer in the building. Please complete this form ASAP!

The Picture Permission Slip is a quick form that lets me know whether I have your permission to take and post pictures of your child on the classroom blog. If you scroll through this blog, you'll see that I LOVE to post pictures of the fun things we do in class each week. 

The Classroom Volunteer Sign-Up Form is a form to let me know in what capacity you would like to help in the classroom. This is not a way for me to trick you into coming in every week! This is just for me to know who to call on if I find myself needing a helping hand at some point :)

You will receive SO much more information at our Welcome to Wellington Night on August 4 at Wellington Elementary.  You are welcome to come to my classroom with your school supplies any time from 11am-1pm and 5-7pm. 

Here's to a great school year!

August 31, 2015 - Sept. 4, 2015

Specials

Monday - 6

Tuesday - 1

Wednesday - 2

Thursday - 3

Friday - 4

Please refer to the First Grade Handbook for a breakdown of our Daily Specials, if needed. :)

Upcoming Events

September 1 - Curriculum Night @ 5:30pm. Please plan to meet in the cafeteria before we break into our classrooms.

September 3 - PTA Family Fun Night @ Gattitown 5-8pm

September 7 - No School/Labor Day

September 9 - School Pictures

Kid-Friendly Objectives

I can write about a small moment.

I can check my work for COPS (capitilization, organization, punctuation, and spelling).

I can read and write short i words.

I can follow agreed-upon rules for classroom discussion and when talking with partners.

I can ask and answer questions about details in a book.

I can decompose 7, 8, 9, and 10. 

I can print all uppercase letters correctly. (ongoing)

I can print all lowercase letters correctly. (ongoing)

I can define and talk about what "knowledge" means.

Spelling Words
pin
win
fit
dig
sip
spin
twin

Wish List

Used chapter books for our classroom library

Stickers

Colorful pens for the writing center

Masking Tape

The Week in Review!

 We learned another part of Daily 5 this week: Read With a Buddy!

We talked about how to sit "EEKK!"

Some of our friends showing us how to read together. :)

We read "How Full Is Your Bucket" and discussed the difference between being a bucket filler and a bucket dipper. We also introduced our Class Shout Out box where our classmates can write notes about the kind things others have done. It was FULL after only one day!

We read The Invisible Boy. Your students were so thoughtful in how we can make sure there are no "invisible" students at Wellington. They worked in pairs to create some incredibly sweet comic strips that you will be able to see at our Curriculum Night.

We worked HARD on decomposing numbers this week. Here are a few ways we practiced.

Looking forward to another great week!