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!

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! :)

First Day Jitters - we did it!

Please continue sending in any paperwork - and a BIG thank you to those of you who have already returned it. I will be contacting you within the next week if I am missing any forms from you.

Quick Reference Links:

Volunteer Sign-Ups

Blog Picture Permission

Classroom Wish List

Thanks to all of you for making our first day of First Grade a HUGE success! I am so excited to spend the year with this fun class. :) They blew me away all day long with how much they remembered from last year...they made first grade look easy.

By far, the most memorable thing that happened for your first grader today was making JITTER JUICE! If you haven't already heard since your student made it home, we read this book today:

In the book, students got to meet a girl named Sarah. Sarah begged and begged her dad to not make her go to her new school. Of course, her dad insisted she go...but there was a major twist at the end. (Be sure to ask your first grader what the big twist was!) We ended the book by talking about whether or not they were nervous on the first day of school, too. Can you believe that not one of our kiddos said they were even the tiniest bit nervous? Amaaaaaazing!

Despite our brave class having no fear, we read a poem called "Jitter Juice" (this should have come home in their blue folder today :) ). We predicted what kind of ingredients might go into a drink that claims to make the butterflies go away...and then we actually made it. Our class had so much fun that 

many of your first graders came up to me afterwards to ask, "Mrs. Carney, can you please send this recipe to my mom? I want to show her how to make it at home!" One sweet friend even said, "I hope I remember to make this the next time I feel nervous!" It is always so refreshing to hear how students plan to use their school experiences outside of the classroom (even if it's just juice).

So...without further ado...

Jitter Juice Recipe

Sprite/Sierra Mist

Pink Lemonade Mix

Sprinkles

 Step 1: Pour the Sprite/Sierra Mist into a cup (your kiddo will wait eagerly beside it!)

Step 2: Scoop a spoonful of the pink lemonade mix into the cup.

Step 3: Add sprinkles.

Step 4: Stir, stir, stir!

We will be spending the rest of the week getting back into the swing of how we "do" school. Help your first grader get lots of rest as they fill their brain with all of our new procedures this week. :)