August 21 - 25, 2017

Specials

Monday - NO SCHOOL

Tuesday - 3

Wednesday -4

Thursday - 5

Friday - 6

Upcoming Events & Reminders
August 21 - NO SCHOOL
August 21 - Puccinis Family Night! Take the flyer to Puccinis on Monday and money will be donated to Wellington Elementary!
August 28 - September 29 - window for MAP testing
August 29 - 1st grade Curriculum Night 6pm (more info soon)
September 4 - Labor Day. No School.
September 7 - PTA Ice Cream Social at Shillito Park 6-8pm!
September 18-22 - Book Fair and Grandparents Lunches (more info soon)
September 26 - KY Kids Day
October 5-6 - Fall Break
October 27 - School is now IN session

Please be sure to complete and return all paperwork ASAP! :)  I will contact you if I am missing any.

Weekly Standards
I can identify letter sounds.
I can count to add 1 more and 2 more.
I can tell a story.
I can sort and identify attributes.
I can compare two stories.

Week in Review
I am sure your kids have come home and told you about all of the compliments they've received this week. It seems like anywhere I took these kids in the building, other teachers were quick to point out how wonderful of an example they were setting. I am so proud of them! 

In this part of the blog, I love to show you pictures of some of the things we have been up to! 

Wondering why your first grader isn't pictured? Fill out the picture permission slip for the blog! 


On our first day, we read 

and cracked up when we realized the person who was scared to go to school was the TEACHER!

To help our jitters fly away, we made Jitter Juice.
*Sprite
*Pink Lemonade Mix
*Sprinkles

I introduced myself with my Meet the Teacher bag. These are some of the things I pulled out to tell the kiddos about me. Have your first grader help you explain some of the items!

We learned about Morning Work in First Grade! Morning Work in First Grade is extremely hands-on, interactive, and FUN! This week, we practiced with pattern blocks, unifix cubes, and playdoh. I can't wait to see your kiddo's reaction to next week's tubs!

One of our clever girls made an emoji!

Another student made a church!

And a sweet little cat :)

We read 

 and talked about what would happen if you gave a first grader a book!

Then we wrote about it! Soon, our writing will go in the hallway with pictures of us reading.

Of course, I had to give the first graders a book and see what would really happen! In first grade, we spend our morning in Daily 5. Daily 5 is a set of 5 rotations (read to self, read to buddy, work on writing, technology, and word work). Daily 5 takes about 20 days to roll out completely. I have never introduced Daily 5 in the first week of school but these kids have got it goin' on!

On Friday, we talked about how you can ALWAYS read a book in one of three ways. The two ways we practiced were: 
Read the pictures
Read the words

Most importantly, we talked about our hopes and dreams for the year.
We read this book:

We talked about the kids' dreams in the book before we talked about our own dreams for the year. We discussed how researches have evidence that writing your goals down can help your goals come to life. I can't wait to hang these in the classroom!

We also just had fun being with our friends! :)

I hope you have a FABULOUS week!

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!!