Hello Stupendous First Graders and Super First Grade Families!
It's the first official day of winter break! I hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing break!
Thank you so much to all the parents who donated time and supplies to make our party great! Today was SO much fun! The kids had a great time at our party and they really enjoyed all of the Christmas centers. The party centers were:
1. Shoebox Snow Scene - The kids made a snow village in a shoebox! They used coconut for snow and they used candies, cakes and cookies to make houses and animals for the snow scene. They are cute and tasty!
2. Hand and Footprint Reindeer - This was a fun and MESSY center! The kids made a picture of Rudolph using one foot (covered in paint!) for the body and two hands (covered in paint!) for the antlers. They added googley eyes and a red nose. These are adorable!
3. Movable Santa and Rudolph - The kids colored and cut Santa and Rudolph pieces and put them together with brads. They look very cute!
4. Finger Puppets - The kids colored different Christmas pictures, cut them out and taped them to turn them into finger puppets. They loved this!
Mr. Johnston came to help at the party too! After the centers, he read a Christmas book to the kids. They were a very captive audience! Mr. Johnston really enjoyed his time in our class!
After lunch we read Christmas stories and listened to some great Christmas music and then the kids went to PE to get some energy out! After PE, we had recess and we played a fun girls against boys winter holidays trivia game with Ms. Olson's class.
To end the day, we had popcorn and watched The Polar Express. It was a lot of fun!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Have a wonderful break! See you next year!
Mrs. Johnston
December 16, 2010
December 13, 2010
Weekly Update, December 13 - 16
Hello Stupendous First Graders and Super First Grade Families!
The 1st grade performance at Barnes and Noble was adorable! The kids looked and sounded great!
THANK YOU to all my students and parents for your wonderful support of my marathon! The pink runner "Go Mrs. Johnston" pins are SO cute and I was so touched! A special thank you to Tristan and Jo who came out to cheer for me at mile 22 (with a fabulous bumblebee sign!) when I was SO tired. I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive class! Thank you!
It's hard to believe this is our last week before the break! The kids are so excited for our party and for the holidays. We have a lot of fun stuff planned this week!
Reminders:
* If you have not done so already, please send in a shoebox with your child. We'll use these for a fun activity at our party!
* Please send in a plastic water bottle for our upcomping weather unit.
Pajama Party Information:
* Our party is this Thursday, December 16 from 9:20 - 11:20. The children will do 4 different holiday centers.
* We are having an all day pajama party! Your child is invited to wear PJs to school.
* We will make popcorn balls and watch The Polar Express with the other first grade classes in the afternoon. It will be a fun day!
This is our second week in our Christmas social studies unit and the children are really enjoying it! Today we learned about the characteristics of reindeer. We learned the word synonym and that caribou is a synonym for reindeer. The kids worked collaboratively to write 5 reindeer facts. After they wrote their facts, they colored and cut a cute reindeer to glue on their paper. We also learned a little bit about the history of Rudolph and the kids made a darling Rudolph puppet. Tomorrow we will learn about the history of St. Nicholas. The kids will make a St. Nicholas puppet and they will write St. Nicholas facts on the back. On Wednesday we will learn about Christmas around the world! We will learn about Christmas traditions in the USA, Italy and Mexico. The kids will identify the three countries on a map, write 1 tradition from each place and write which country they would like to visit for Christmas.
The kids had a lot of fun in centers today! They visited 2 centers. The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to a cute story called "Olive The Other Reindeer," and they worked on sequencing the story by writing what happened in the beginning, middle and end.
2. Science - The kids wrote a recipe for reindeer food and they made their own special reindeer food!
3. Writing - The kids wrote a persuasive letter to Santa to convince him to bring presents to them.
4. Math - The kids made snowman math flash cards. They picked their own problems to write on the snowman's body and then they wrote the answers on the back.
5. Card Making - The kids made Christmas cards to send to our US Military to thank them for their service.
6. Art - The kids traced their hands on green paper and then glued them to a paper plate ring to make an adorable hand print wreath.
There are no new spelling words this week. Spelling will resume after break!
In writing we are working on adding details to our work. We call these detailed words "juicy words." Be sure to ask your child about using juicy words!
In math we practiced addition and subtraction facts. The kids correctly solved color coded problems to color a penguin. Tomorrow we will make a Christmas tree glyph and on Wednesday we will play Christmas bingo!
The kids had fun in computers! If you'd like to see what we did today, click on the blog posting directly below this one, "Computers, 12/13."
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
The 1st grade performance at Barnes and Noble was adorable! The kids looked and sounded great!
THANK YOU to all my students and parents for your wonderful support of my marathon! The pink runner "Go Mrs. Johnston" pins are SO cute and I was so touched! A special thank you to Tristan and Jo who came out to cheer for me at mile 22 (with a fabulous bumblebee sign!) when I was SO tired. I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive class! Thank you!
It's hard to believe this is our last week before the break! The kids are so excited for our party and for the holidays. We have a lot of fun stuff planned this week!
Reminders:
* If you have not done so already, please send in a shoebox with your child. We'll use these for a fun activity at our party!
* Please send in a plastic water bottle for our upcomping weather unit.
Pajama Party Information:
* Our party is this Thursday, December 16 from 9:20 - 11:20. The children will do 4 different holiday centers.
* We are having an all day pajama party! Your child is invited to wear PJs to school.
* We will make popcorn balls and watch The Polar Express with the other first grade classes in the afternoon. It will be a fun day!
This is our second week in our Christmas social studies unit and the children are really enjoying it! Today we learned about the characteristics of reindeer. We learned the word synonym and that caribou is a synonym for reindeer. The kids worked collaboratively to write 5 reindeer facts. After they wrote their facts, they colored and cut a cute reindeer to glue on their paper. We also learned a little bit about the history of Rudolph and the kids made a darling Rudolph puppet. Tomorrow we will learn about the history of St. Nicholas. The kids will make a St. Nicholas puppet and they will write St. Nicholas facts on the back. On Wednesday we will learn about Christmas around the world! We will learn about Christmas traditions in the USA, Italy and Mexico. The kids will identify the three countries on a map, write 1 tradition from each place and write which country they would like to visit for Christmas.
The kids had a lot of fun in centers today! They visited 2 centers. The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to a cute story called "Olive The Other Reindeer," and they worked on sequencing the story by writing what happened in the beginning, middle and end.
2. Science - The kids wrote a recipe for reindeer food and they made their own special reindeer food!
3. Writing - The kids wrote a persuasive letter to Santa to convince him to bring presents to them.
4. Math - The kids made snowman math flash cards. They picked their own problems to write on the snowman's body and then they wrote the answers on the back.
5. Card Making - The kids made Christmas cards to send to our US Military to thank them for their service.
6. Art - The kids traced their hands on green paper and then glued them to a paper plate ring to make an adorable hand print wreath.
There are no new spelling words this week. Spelling will resume after break!
In writing we are working on adding details to our work. We call these detailed words "juicy words." Be sure to ask your child about using juicy words!
In math we practiced addition and subtraction facts. The kids correctly solved color coded problems to color a penguin. Tomorrow we will make a Christmas tree glyph and on Wednesday we will play Christmas bingo!
The kids had fun in computers! If you'd like to see what we did today, click on the blog posting directly below this one, "Computers, 12/13."
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
Computers, 12/13
Free Choice Day!
Let's start by voting in this week's poll. After you vote, please come to the floor in front of the Smart Board and we'll talk about today's activity.
Today is the free choice day for the quarter!!! Use your schema about the last free choice day we had; what are some things you can do on free choice day? Let's talk about our ideas.
Let's take a look at the blog and see what it has to offer for free choice day.
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
Let's start by voting in this week's poll. After you vote, please come to the floor in front of the Smart Board and we'll talk about today's activity.
Today is the free choice day for the quarter!!! Use your schema about the last free choice day we had; what are some things you can do on free choice day? Let's talk about our ideas.
Let's take a look at the blog and see what it has to offer for free choice day.
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
December 6, 2010
Weekly Update, December 6 - 10
Hello Charming First Graders and Cheerful First Grade Parents!
The kids are really enjoying our holidays social studies unit! Today we began our study of the Christmas holiday. Today we learned about the history of Christmas. We also learned about one symbol of Christmas, the Christmas tree. The kids began a very neat Christmas writing/art project today. They each received a large Christmas tree that they cut out and colored a stem on. They wrote 3 facts on red ball ornaments and they glued them on the tree. Each day this week we will learn about a different Christmas symbol and there will be an ornament to match. The symbols we will learn about this week are: lights, presents, candy canes and stars. The kids will write facts on each ornament and, by the time the week is over, they will have a fully decorated tree filled with ornaments with great Christmas facts! They really enjoyed working on this today. The trees are hanging up all around the room and they are wonderful! This week in social studies we will also learn about needs and wants, a very timely subject!
The children had a great time in our centers today. The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The children listened to Santa's Adventure, a story about Santa and how bad weather affected his Christmas Eve travels. The children made a Somebody - Wanted - But - So graphic organizer. They wrote about what it would be like if Santa came to Tucson and there was a monsoon. Somebody (Santa) - Wanted (to deliver presents to children in Tucson) - But (there was a monsoon) - So (the children wrote their own strategies to solve the problem).
2. Social Studies - Shhh! It's a surprise! The kids are working on a gift for YOU!
3. Writing - The children wrote friendly letters to Santa on a Santa beard. They told Santa about themselves and asked him questions. After they wrote, they colored a picture of Santa and they attached it to the beard.
4. Math - The children made advent bells. They used a template to trace and cut a bell. Then the children numbered red and green strips of paper to make advent chains. They made the odd numbers green and the even numbers red to form an a-b pattern with the red and green paper loops.
5. Reading - The children read 1:1 with me. We focused on retelling and sequencing.
This week in writing we are working on fact writing and acrostic poetry. The children have had a lot of practice writing facts and they are getting quite good at this skill! The kids had a bit of practice with acrostic poetry last week and they are enjoying poetry writing.
We have new spelling words this week. The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week in working with words we will practice alphabetizing to the 1st letter.
Today in math we reviewed concepts from chapter ten (greater and less than, one more and one less, counting up and down by ten) and we will take the test later this week. We will also complete a lot of review and and complete testing to get ready for the 2nd quarter report cards.
The kids had fun in computers today! If you'd like to see what they did, please click on the blog posting directly below this one, "Computers, 12/6."
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
The kids are really enjoying our holidays social studies unit! Today we began our study of the Christmas holiday. Today we learned about the history of Christmas. We also learned about one symbol of Christmas, the Christmas tree. The kids began a very neat Christmas writing/art project today. They each received a large Christmas tree that they cut out and colored a stem on. They wrote 3 facts on red ball ornaments and they glued them on the tree. Each day this week we will learn about a different Christmas symbol and there will be an ornament to match. The symbols we will learn about this week are: lights, presents, candy canes and stars. The kids will write facts on each ornament and, by the time the week is over, they will have a fully decorated tree filled with ornaments with great Christmas facts! They really enjoyed working on this today. The trees are hanging up all around the room and they are wonderful! This week in social studies we will also learn about needs and wants, a very timely subject!
The children had a great time in our centers today. The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The children listened to Santa's Adventure, a story about Santa and how bad weather affected his Christmas Eve travels. The children made a Somebody - Wanted - But - So graphic organizer. They wrote about what it would be like if Santa came to Tucson and there was a monsoon. Somebody (Santa) - Wanted (to deliver presents to children in Tucson) - But (there was a monsoon) - So (the children wrote their own strategies to solve the problem).
2. Social Studies - Shhh! It's a surprise! The kids are working on a gift for YOU!
3. Writing - The children wrote friendly letters to Santa on a Santa beard. They told Santa about themselves and asked him questions. After they wrote, they colored a picture of Santa and they attached it to the beard.
4. Math - The children made advent bells. They used a template to trace and cut a bell. Then the children numbered red and green strips of paper to make advent chains. They made the odd numbers green and the even numbers red to form an a-b pattern with the red and green paper loops.
5. Reading - The children read 1:1 with me. We focused on retelling and sequencing.
This week in writing we are working on fact writing and acrostic poetry. The children have had a lot of practice writing facts and they are getting quite good at this skill! The kids had a bit of practice with acrostic poetry last week and they are enjoying poetry writing.
We have new spelling words this week. The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week in working with words we will practice alphabetizing to the 1st letter.
Today in math we reviewed concepts from chapter ten (greater and less than, one more and one less, counting up and down by ten) and we will take the test later this week. We will also complete a lot of review and and complete testing to get ready for the 2nd quarter report cards.
The kids had fun in computers today! If you'd like to see what they did, please click on the blog posting directly below this one, "Computers, 12/6."
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
Computers, 12/6
Christmas Comments!
Let's start by voting in this week's poll. After you vote, please come to the floor in front of the Smart Board and we'll learn about this week's activity.
It was fun learning about the history of Christmas and the Christmas tree! Today we're going to explore Christmas and practice writing comments on the blog. Go here: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/holidays/christmas/ to learn more about Christmas! We'll go to the website together to learn how it works.
After you've explored the website, you'll work with a partner to post a comment on the blog. Here is what you need to post:
1. I learned...
2. I want to know more about...
Remember to post your names!
Watch and we'll review how to post on the blog.
If you have time after you're done, you may explore the links on the website.
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
Let's start by voting in this week's poll. After you vote, please come to the floor in front of the Smart Board and we'll learn about this week's activity.
It was fun learning about the history of Christmas and the Christmas tree! Today we're going to explore Christmas and practice writing comments on the blog. Go here: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/holidays/christmas/ to learn more about Christmas! We'll go to the website together to learn how it works.
After you've explored the website, you'll work with a partner to post a comment on the blog. Here is what you need to post:
1. I learned...
2. I want to know more about...
Remember to post your names!
Watch and we'll review how to post on the blog.
If you have time after you're done, you may explore the links on the website.
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
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