Lots of Updates and Pictures!

WOW! That's the first word that comes to mind when I think about what these First Graders have been up to lately! We've been VERY busy in Room 11 so I apologize for the amount of time since the last blog update.

Last week our Animal Projects were due and all I have to say is AWESOME! Every single student did a FANTASTIC job and went ABOVE AND BEYOND with their research. A big thank you to each and every parent for working with your child to complete the project. Home involvement is a CRUCIAL factor in your child's learning so it is amazing to see so many dedicated parents. We took time to present our Animal Projects to the class so check out the pictures below!

In preparation for the MAP test in April, Concord is practicing two MAP words each week - a literacy MAP word and a math MAP word. Even though we won't be taking the MAP quite yet, it is still important for First Graders to know and understand these words. Last Wednesday we met with our buddies in Miss Rauschenbach's class who taught us about the Math MAP word - congruent. We learned that congruent means SAME SIZE, SAME SHAPE. We practiced drawing examples of congruent shapes and incongruent shapes. Check out the pictures below!

THANK YOU to everyone who sent in Valentine's Day treats last Thursday for our celebration in Room 11 - it was a great time!

We've transitioned into Geometry in Math. We are working with plane shapes and solid figures, and learning about sides, vertices, and faces. We know that shapes have DEFINING ATTRIBUTES and NON-DEFINING ATTRIBUTES. Defining attributes are IMPORTANT things about shapes such as number of sides, line size, number of vertices, straight or curvy lines, and if it is a closed or open shape. Non-defining attributes are UNIMPORTANT things about shapes such as size, color, slides, flips, and turns.

I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week - stay warm!

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday Fantastic First Grade Families! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and had fun watching the Super Bowl!

Today was a great (FAST!) day! We spent all morning at the Botanical Garden learning about different kinds of plants. Thank you to our WONDERFUL mom volunteers who helped supervise our field trip. We were split up into several small groups and the groups led by those moms were given AWESOME reports. Thanks to the First Graders for making good choices, being respectful and responsible, and having FUN! Ask your child to tell you about our field trip - we saw some very interesting plants that they'd love to share with you. We even planted lettuce seeds! Each child brought home a small pot full of soil and seeds. Keep me updated on your plant's progress!

In your child's backpack you will find information about our ANIMAL PROJECT! This is an AT HOME project your child will complete using their library book plus additional research (other books, Internet, etc.) if they would like. An outline of the project, grading rubric, and template were sent home in your child's Take Home Folder. This project is due next WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13. We made sure each animal group (mammal, bird, fish, reptile, amphibian, and insect) was represented so we have a wide range of animals! Check out the list below to see which animals we chose! If you have any questions or need clarification, please send me an email. I am happy to help!
Ally - whale
Tyler - polar bear
Thomas - lizard
Kamal - owl
Emma - sea turtle
Ty - sea snake
Mollie - penguin
Jack - salamander
Peter - ant
Carrie - clownfish
Claire - butterfly
Kavan - boa constrictor
Sam - badger
Brenden - gecko
Mila - seal
Alex - barn owl
Riley - parrot
Levi - frog

This year we will NOT have a school-wide, parent organized Valentine's Day party. However, we will still be celebrating in Room 11! At the end of the day on Valentine's Day we will have a small celebration and time to pass out Valentines. If your child chooses to bring in Valentines, I ask that there is one for each child. We have 19 students in our class - 12 boys and 7 girls. If you would like to send in Valentine's Day treats such as candy, pretzels, cookies, cheese its, etc. I would greatly appreciate it. Please send me an an email letting me know what exactly you will be sending in to avoid duplicates or too much of one thing.

I hope everyone has a great week!

The 100th Day of School!

Whew! It was a BUSY week and a VERY busy day! I cannot believe we have celebrated our 100th day and are already MORE than half way finished with first grade. I guess the saying is true - time flies when you're having fun!

Writer's Workshop is really starting to take off! We are learning what it means to revise writing pieces and we've even started practicing revising our OWN writing pieces! We know that when we REVISE we are checking if our story SOUNDS right and MAKES SENSE. We aren't looking for spelling mistakes, capital letters, or periods yet. We'll look for those when we EDIT!

Today we finished up Chapter 11 in Math and will begin Chapter 12: Number Patterns on Monday! In this chapter we will practice counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s, learn about even and odd numbers, and continue working with tens and ones.

Science is one of our most exciting parts of the day! We have begun classifying animals and learning about their different characteristics. This week we learned about the difference between cold blooded and warm blooded animals. We know that humans are WARM BLOODED - our bodies work to keep us warm when it's cold and cool us off when we get too hot.

Our 100th Day celebration was a success! We talked about tens and the number 100 A LOT today. First we worked together in groups to count out EXACTLY 100 Legos then used teamwork to build something with the 100 we chose. This afternoon we created 100th Day crowns! We knew it would be VERY time consuming to glue 100 strips of paper to our crown, so instead we used 10 strips with 10 shapes on each strip. We know the number 100 has 10 tens, so 10 strips with 10 pictures on each equals 100! Thank you to everyone who sent in 100th day snacks! Again, counting out 100 M&Ms would take TOO long and we would need TOO many, so instead we grouped our snacks into 10s and pretended each one was worth 10 instead of 1. When we used our imagination it was like we had 100 of each! :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful, RESTFUL weekend. We have A LOT of germs floating around Room 11 - coughing, sneezing, and runny noses are very common around here. I hope everyone can get some good rest and come back on Monday feeling healthy and ready for day 101 and beyond!

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday Fantastic First Grade Families!

Words Their Way has begun! I hope you found the letter explaining the program in your child's backpack over the weekend. This week will look a little different than most weeks because each group is just getting started with their first set of words. By Friday we will be in our routine! If you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to call or send me an email. I am more than happy to clear things up for you!

Writer's Workshop is starting to take shape in Room 11! We have begun learning about the SIX steps of Writer's Workshop:
1. Brainstorm
2. Draft
3. Edit
4. Revise
5. Teacher Conference
6. Publish
We've been brainstorming and drafting since the beginning of the year, so we are PROS at those two steps. One important thing to remember about Writer's Workshop is that we ALWAYS USE PEN! When we are brainstorming, drafting, and publishing we use BLUE pens and when we are editing and revising we use RED pens to make corrections or add details. These two supplies were on the list at the beginning of the school year, but many students are missing blue pens. Please make sure your child has at least two blue and two red pens at school for Writer's Workshop.

In Science we have shifted gears from plants to ANIMALS! We know that animals can be classified into SIX different groups: fish, insects, mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians. We will be learning about the different characteristics of all these groups.

Today we started Chapter 12 in Math. In this chapter we will be comparing numbers using >, <, and =. Today we learned that the alligator mouth always wants to eat the BIGGER number. Check your child's Take Home Folder for a blue parent letter explaining the chapter. Your child's graded Chapter 11 test will be coming home tomorrow in their Take Home Folder.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Stay warm!

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday Fantastic First Grade Families! I hope everyone had a restful weekend.

In Math we continue with place value, tens, and ones. Today we separated into groups and counted blocks by tens and ones. We know that the number 87 is 8 tens and 7 ones! Our Chapter 10 test will be THIS FRIDAY 1/11/13.

In Spelling we are practicing -IGH words. When we are writing AND reading, we know that -IGH says 'I'. In addition to our 10 class principle words, each student has THREE Star Sight Words for our FRIDAY 1/11/13 test.

Today marked the beginning of our Living and Nonliving Science unit. A living thing reproduces, needs food, water, and air, grows and changes, and can move on its on. A nonliving thing cannot reproduce, does not need food, water, or air, does not grow, and cannot move on its own. We practiced sorting living and nonliving things today. Ask your child to give you an example of a living and nonliving thing tonight! BONUS: What makes it living or nonliving?

DON'T FORGET:
This Wednesday 1/9/13 is an EARLY RELEASE DAY. Students will be dismissed at 1:40. Please send a note if your child's transportation home will be different.
We will have our January Character Assembly on FRIDAY 1/11/13. If your child has hit a GRAND SLAM FOR CHARACTER remember to send a baseball cap with them to school!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back Fantastic First Grade Families!

It's been a SHORT week, but PART TWO is underway!

In Math we have started Chapter 10 - Place Value to 100. A Parent Letter explaining the chapter was sent in your child's Take Home Folder yesterday. We continue to push our brains with Timed Tests and these First Graders are AWESOME! Keep a look out for Timed Tests in your child's Take Home Folder - if you do not see PASS at the top, they will retake that test until it is passed.

During Daily 5 we continue to Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, Listen to Reading, do various Word Work activities, and of course meet in small groups with myself or Mrs. Marting. Daily 5 is an EXCELLENT example of our classroom's use of technology, and the iPads have raised the bar even higher! We use the iPads to play word games, practice sight words, listen to stories, and even practice our handwriting! Check out the pictures below for some recent examples!

As we dive into Third Quarter, we will be writing some AMAZING stories. We've been "drafting" since the beginning of the year, but we will take writing to a whole new level as we begin to EDIT, REVISE, and PUBLISH our writing pieces. Writing is already a favorite time of day for many, but it's about to get EVEN BETTER!

I hope everyone has a wonderful, restful weekend and comes back READY TO LEARN for a WHOLE week on Monday morning!