Monday, January 18, 2016

January 19-22, 2016

Specials
Monday - No school!
Tuesday - 2
Wednesday - 3
Thursday - 4
Friday - 5

Upcoming Events
January 19 - PTA Meeting at 6:30
January 29 - 2nd 9 weeks Recognitions at 10AM **I will be contacting you by the end of this week if your first grader will be receiving an award for the 2nd 9 weeks.**
January 21 will be a "Save the Penguins" day in my classroom. If you are able, please consider signing up to donate a few items to make this event a success in the classroom. :) 
Click here ---> Save the Penguins Volunteer Spot

Kid-Friendly Objectives
I can read, write, and identify words with the i_e spelling pattern.
I can make connections between two informational texts.
I can organize verbs by their shades of meaning.
I can write to share information about penguins.
I can count, write, and read numbers to 120.
I can identify 10 more and/or 10 less of a given number, up to 120.

Spelling List
Wow! Your kiddos rocked out their first spelling test that included a sentence. Please continue to practice writing your spelling words in sentences to prepare for this week's test, too! 

List A (Purple Cats, Green Frogs)
fire
nice
wife
dive
bike
pile
fine
time
shine
drive

List B (Blue Dogs, Yellow Ducks)
life
drive
shine
bride
quite
write
smile
stripe
invite
admire

Week in Review!
I have been bragging about this class to everyone I meet. It is almost as if the winter break transformed your first graders into soon-to-be fifth graders! They have heard me sing their praises every day about the ways in which they are learning to problem solve, verbalize their thinking, and really begin to take care of one another. Below, you'll find pictures that show you some of the ways they've provided me with bragging rights :)
**Some of your kiddos have asked how they can have their pictures on the blog. Please don't forget that I can only post these pictures with your permission. If you are interested in seeing your kiddo at work, please sign the picture permission slip in the righthand column. Thank you!**

Wellington introduced VIP Students for the first time in its history this week! Each week, every K-5 teacher at Wellington selects two students from his or her classroom who go above and beyond expectations. Here are some of the behaviors that Carney's Firsties thought we should see from our VIPs:
(See what I'm talking about when I say they're acting like soon-to-be fifth graders? Check out those vocabulary words!)

The two VIPs get a slew of benefits. In my classroom, they get to alternate being line leaders and paper passers, they get to wear their VIP badges everywhere, sign their autograph to hang on the classroom door, use special tools that ONLY VIPs have access to, get a special plaque that remains at their desks, AND they get to eat at the Hard Work Cafe on Wellington's stage with a friend on Friday. Phew. That's a lot to take in.

We were SO PROUD of Rachel and Wyatt for becoming our class's first VIPs in the HISTORY of Wellington!!!

You should have heard the squeals when our VIPs and their chosen friends learned the Hard Work Cafe allows you to WRITE ON THE TABLES at lunch!!!

Way to go, Wyatt and Rachel! I am so proud of you!

Last week, we began our unit of research on penguins. This week, we began taking notes on specific types of penguins. We researched King, Emperor, Gentoo, and Chinstrap penguins this week. 

We learned Emperor Penguins are the largest penguins, standing at 4 feet tall! Of COURSE we had to compare ourselves. Look at that integration of Math into Reading :)

 This took us through a fun evolution of measuring penguins. Initially, our chart was by our cubbies so we could compare ourselves. We then discovered Gentoo Penguins were shorter than Emperor Penguins. Naturally, we wanted to compare their heights by marking how tall Gentoo Penguins were. By the end of the week, we were so excited about measuring the different types of penguins that we opted to put our rulers in the hallway for all of Wellington to use. You wouldn't believe the number of times we heard, "Oh wow! I'm as tall as an Emperor Penguin!" or, "Look how tiny the Chinstrap Penguin is!" outside our door. 
We were all extremely invested in our research. It's a good thing we can handle note taking while also lounging around. :)
We also had our own experience of being a penguin this week when one of our kiddos shouted, "MRS. CARNEY! THERE'S A BLIZZARD OUTSIDE!" Being the mature first graders we are, we were able to set the timer and give ourselves a brain break to watch the magic outside our window before getting right back to work. 
We continued our work with penguins by using various informational texts to help us practice identifying text features.



We discovered that verb "tense" does not mean tents full of verbs. Instead, we practiced writing and identifying verbs with regular verb tenses (-ed, -ing, and will). 

Oh my goodness, math was FUN this week! We had an absolute blast playing with alligator mouths and Base 10 blocks. There are so many fun ways for your kiddos to practice place value and comparing numbers. 
Here are two of our first graders comparing their numbers with "swishes" (tens) and "thunks" (ones. After they compared their numbers, they were able to write complete sentences to tell me which was greater than and which was less than.
 Look at that focus!
Later in the week, we discovered Mrs. Carney's fancy gems. (Also known as floral decorations from the Dollar Tree :) ). We dropped two gems onto a 120 chart, built each number with Base 10 blocks, then decided which number the alligator wanted to eat. After all of that hard work, we had to tell Mrs. Carney our number sentence (such as 22 is less than 87). 

We practiced inputting numbers into sentences to make them true. For example, this guy's working on making every sentence say, "___ is less than ___." He really had to think about how to compare his numbers to make these sentences true!
 This friend was working on More, Less, and the Same all at once!
 By the end of the week, we were comparing numbers with partners.


Here's to yet another great week! Can you believe the 100th day is almost here?

Monday, January 11, 2016

January 11-15, 2016

Specials
Monday - 3
Tuesday - 4
Wednesday - 5
Thursday - 6
Friday - 1

Upcoming Events
January 15 - Report Cards go home
January 18 - MLK Day (No school!)
January 19 - PTA Meeting at 6:30
January 29 - 2nd 9 weeks Recognitions at 10AM

Kid-Friendly Objectives
I can read, write, and identify words with oa and ow letter teams.
I can write facts about penguins.
I can use verbs correctly in past, present, and future tenses.
I can locate key facts or information using text features.
I can identify unknown words or phrases.
I can describe numbers using tens and ones.
I can compare two digit numbers using >, <, or =.

Spelling List

Please practice writing your spelling words in sentences this week. I will be selecting one of the following words on your child's spelling list to write in a complete sentence. He/she will be evaluated for capitalization, punctuation, writing every word in the sentence, and spelling the word correctly in the sentence.

List A (Purple Cats, Green Frogs)
coat
soap
soak
loan
row
tow
snow
throw
float

List B (Blue Dogs, Yellow Ducks)
throat
coach
toast
arrow
know
window
show
approach
flown

Week in Review!
Last week was a full, busy week! We hit the ground running this month with verbs, place value, and PENGUINS!

We started off by comparing penguins to other birds. We spent the rest of the week researching penguins and discussing how text features help us gather information. This week, we are diving (ha!) into different types of penguins.




We practiced using Base 10 blocks to build numbers all the way to 100! We learned how the first digit is the tens place and the second digit is the ones place. 




We used our Base 10 knowledge to help us write numbers in 4 different ways:
Standard
Expanded
Base 10
and Tens & Ones.

Here's an example:
42
40+2
IIII - -
4 tens, 2 ones

We cracked ourselves up with these fun pipe cleaner people. We chose different verbs to represent ourselves as pipe cleaner people. Check out how creative this class is. Always blowing me away. :)







Monday, January 4, 2016

January 4 - 8, 2016

Specials
Monday - 4
Tuesday - 5
Wednesday - 6
Thursday - 1
Friday - 2

Upcoming Events
January 15 - Report Cards go home
January 18 - MLK Day (No school!)
January 19 - PTA Meeting at 6:30
January 29 - 2nd 9 weeks Recognitions at 10AM

Kid-Friendly Objectives
I can read, write, and identify words with the o_e spelling pattern.
I can write facts about penguins.
I can describe what a verb is and use it correctly when writing.
I can locate key facts or information using text features.
I can identify unknown words or phrases.

Spelling List

Beginning next week, spelling tests will include a sentence writing component. More info will come next week.

List A (Purple Cats, Green Frogs)
vote
note
rose
bone
nose
joke
home
hope
stole
slope

List B (Blue Dogs, Yellow Ducks)
code
cope
hope
tote
slope
scope
stove
quote
compose
telescope

Week in Review!
I hope you had a great (and well-deserved) Christmas Break! I know it is going to take a bit of adjusting to get back into the swing of things for me! 

Before our 2-week hiatus, our class was having a blast receiving packages from our friend Globetrot Scott. He was traveling all around the world and sent us fun packages filled with information, crafts, and souvenirs to help us learn about the ways in which people from all over the world celebrate the holidays. 

When Mr. Globetrot finished his adventures, we ended 2015 with a fun movie day and Holiday party! We truly could not have had such a successful December without the help of all of your sweet families. Thank you SO much.

Early in the week, Globetrot Scott sent us a package from China! He told us that many people in China do not celebrate Christmas but celebrate Chinese New Year, instead. He sent us such a neat craft. We decorated our own red envelopes. We also chose 3 friends to write sweet messages to on our golden coins. We then snuck around the room and stuck the golden coins in our friends' envelopes. It made us think of sending Valentine cards!


 We made such a fun writing piece. We wrote to share our opinion of what we believe is the best gift of all.

Then it was FINALLY time for our Holiday Market!!
We decorated cookies like many people do in Ethiopia.


We made our own version of the poinsettias many people use to decorate in Mexico.



We traveled to Israel where we made our own paper dreidels.


We made our own drums to celebrate like people do in Uganda.



 And our friends had so much fun learning about special ways to celebrate in Japan!



Later that day, we got messy with some paint!



 and made these fun snowmen :)

Friday, we got to relax and watch The Grinch in our pajamas. But first, we couldn't resist the urge to make Max (and compare him to my Max, of course!) Check out one of our friends' cute result!

Here is to another amazing week at Wellington! :)