Room 11's Favorite Colors!

To kick start our graphing chapter in Math we graphed our favorited colors! Each student chose their favorite color, and we posted them on the graph. We know that EVERY graph must have a title. The title tells us what the graph is about - what information will we learn from the graph? We found out that red and green are our top two favorite colors and the same amount of first graders chose pink as purple.

Today we went to the Food Power Exhibit during PE! In your child's Take Home Folder you will find a brochure from this AWESOME exhibit. Ask your First Grader about the cool activities they participated in and all the interesting things they learned!

Your child's graded IR, UR, ER Spelling test will come home on Monday.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! The weather is supposed to be BEAUTIFUL so I hope you get a chance to do something fun outside!

IR, ER, UR Blind Sort!

Today during Spelling we are working with a partner to HEAR the IR, UR, ER sound in words. First we highlighted the IR, UR, or ER in each word and cut the words out. Then we take turns saying a word to our partner WITHOUT letting them see the word. It's their job to know which column that word fits in - IR, UR, or ER. They all SOUND the same, so it's important we just KNOW if it is an IR, UR, or ER word!

And the WINNER is.....

CARRIE! She found 33 IR, UR, and ER words using her Just Right books and classroom library books! As a reward for her WONDERFUL WORD HUNT Miss Carrie got a super cool flower pencil! WAY TO GO CARRIE!

We're Goin' on a WORD HUNT!

Today's Spelling Challenge - Find the most UR, IR, and ER words in our Just Right books AND classroom library. Who will be the winner?! STAY TUNED!

Becoming a Microsoft Word WHIZ!

We continue to practice typing in Microsoft Word today! Using shift to capitalize letters, right clicking to fix misspelled words, and opening a Word Document without help are our three main focuses. It is important we can successfully open a Word document INDEPENDENTLY before we can use Microsoft Word to publish stories or practice spelling words. Check your child's Take Home Folder for their Word Document practice page from today! Next week we will begin learning how to save our work!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back Fantastic First Grade Families!

I hope everyone enjoyed their five day Thanksgiving Break!

Our Spelling Principle this week is Bossy R. When Bossy R comes after a vowel, he BOSSES the vowel around and doesn't let it say its name OR sound. This makes it hard to spell words that have a Bossy R, but the more we practice, the better we'll get! This week we are focusing on IR, ER, and UR - they all LOOK DIFFERENT, but they SOUND the SAME. Today we brainstormed words that have the IR, ER, or UR sound and made sure each word had either IR, ER, or UR (even if we weren't sure which one, we knew it had to be ONE of them!) Here is the beginning of our list...we will add more words as we think of them!

We will take our Chapter 8 Math test on Wednesday and begin Chapter 9 - Graphs and Tables - on Thursday. In this chapter we will sort, classify, make graphs (picture AND bar), tally, and answer questions about graphs. This chapter will take us a little longer than most because there is A LOT to cover.

In Social Studies we have begun our Then and Now Unit. We will spend time learning about schools, transportation, and homes from the past and comparing them to our current schools, transportation, and homes. This afternoon we compared desks from the past and our desks we use today - ask your child how they are the same and different!

I hope everyone has a great, FULL week back at school and work! 

Microsoft Word!

Today during our laptop time we are learning how to use Microsoft Word! Using a story we have already written, we are practicing:
Using SHIFT to capitalize letters at the beginning of sentences
Periods at the end of sentences
Right clicking a word when we see a red squiggly line (that means the computer knows it's wrong so we need to fix it!)

Many of the First Graders told me they have computers at home that Mom and Dad let them use. I encourage you to let your child practice typing over Thanksgiving Break!

11-16-12

Happy Friday Fantastic First Grade Families!

Room 11 is doing an AWESOME job with Adopt a Family! So far we have donated 105 items! Today was Jingles for Jammies and I am BLOWN AWAY by our donation of change...$77.32!!! WAY TO GO FIRST GRADERS! Not only did we give a huge donation, we also worked together to count ALL the change we donated! We separated into four groups, sorted the coins, and then counted them. Talk about team work! Thank you to everyone who has participated in this important program at such a tough time of year for some families. It's truly amazing to see our Concord community come together to help those less fortunate than us. Next week's theme is cleaning supplies. If you would like to donate please send in items such as bleach, windex, detergent, Clorox wipes, etc. Every single donation helps!

This week we began Chapter 8 in Math. We continue to practice subtraction strategies like counting back, using a number line, and drawing a picture. Of course, "just knowing them" is the best strategy of all! We have started learning about Fact Families and will continue that into next week. A fact family is made up of four related facts - two addition and two subtraction - that share the same three numbers. Here is an example:
2+4=6
4+2=6
6-4=2
6-2=4
Although we've just started, ask your child if they can explain what a Fact Family is or give you an example of a Fact Family!

This week in Writing we have started writing Thanksgiving stories. We've brainstormed Thanksgiving words, discussed what we're thankful for, and shared different things we do with our families on Thanksgiving. We will continue this through our short week next week.

On Wednesday we met with our third grade buddies from Miss Rauschenbach's class! We worked together to make turkeys using our hands and feet. Check out the pictures!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I will be running the Girls on the Run 5k with the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders tomorrow morning downtown! I hope it's a beautiful morning and not too cold! :)

We are thankful for our 3rd Grade buddies!

A Constant Reminder of The VOWEL RULES!

We always refer to the Vowel Rules when reading AND spelling, so it is important to have a visual reminder!

The 3 Sounds of 'ed'!

This week in Spelling we are practicing adding endings to small words we know. Today we focused on the three sounds of 'ed':

'ED' like waited
'D' like played
'T' like missed

As readers, we automatically make the correct sound at the end of 'ed' words because it SOUNDS right. Now we are practicing SPELLING 'ed' words correctly. For example, even though we hear a T sound at the end of 'skipped,' we know there is an 'ed,' NOT a T!

November 9, 2012

Happy Friday Fantastic First Grade Families!

What a short, FUN week! Our School Wide Service Learning Project for Cystic Fibrosis was a HUGE success – we raised over $1,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation! Thank you to everyone who donated money to this important cause!

This morning we had our Veteran’s Day assembly and breakfast. Our celebration was filled with songs, poems, and speeches. Thank you to the family members of our students who have served in the Armed Forces!

In Writing, we continue to write stories using order words. We have started adding details to our stories to make them more exciting. We still practice capital letters, periods, and sight word spelling in our writing.

In Math, we continue to build upon our knowledge of subtraction. This week we practiced using a number line to count back – start with the BIG number and COUNT BACK!

Don’t forget:

Wednesday, November 14 is an EARLY RELEASE DAY. If your child’s transportation home is different, please send a note with them on Wednesday morning.

Have a WONDERFUL weekend!

We are working on adding details to our stories. Which story do you think is better?!

What a CRAZY Week!

Happy Friday Fantastic First Grade Families!

A HUGE thank you to Carrie's mom who planned the Halloween party and Levi's mom who took over as party planner when Carrie's mom couldn't make it! It was a GREAT time! Another BIG thank you to Sierra's dad for being our official Room 11 photographer! Below are just a few of the 70+ pictures he took! Also, thank you to all the parents who attended the Halloween party! It’s awesome to have so many involved parents!

Busting out of my mummy wrapping - pretty scary!!!

This morning Mrs. Koetting came to explain the Adopt-a-Family program that begins next week. Check your e-mails for a note from her explaining the details.

Every student at Concord participated in Kids Voting today. This morning our class went to the library to vote on the president, senator, and governor. The First Graders enjoyed the chance to cast their ballot! Prior to going to the polls we discussed voting:

Why do we vote?

Who can vote?

Who is running for president?

How long is a president’s term?

We took our Chapter 4 Math test this morning and everyone did FANTASTIC! We have now finished Unit 1: Addition and Subtraction Concepts. Next week we will begin Unit 2: Addition and Subtraction Facts to 10. We will continue to learn and practice subtraction strategies.

We also took our MONSTER Sight Word Spelling test this afternoon. It was definitely a MONSTER test – 52 words! It was long, but we got through it quickly because these are words we have been practicing over and over.

This year, Concord’s school wide service learning project will be Cystic Fibrosis. Next week we will be raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Each day of our short week will have a different theme. The children are encouraged to bring $1 each day to donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Wednesday, November 7 – Read-a-thon Day

Thursday, November 8 – Pajama Day

Friday, November 9 – Choose your own Block Day (During our regularly scheduled Block time the students will get to choose their favorite – Art, Music, or P.E!)

Don’t forget:

NO SCHOOL MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5

NO SCHOOL TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6

ADOPT-A-FAMILY BEGINS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7

I hope everyone has a wonderful FOUR day weekend!