Hello Stupendous First Graders and Super First Grade Families!
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! Thank you Mrs. Stucky and Mrs. Fox!
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! Thank you Mrs. Wernett and Mrs. Baaken!
3. Movable Santa and Rudolph - The kids colored and cut Santa and Rudolph pieces and put them together with brads. They look very cute! Thank you Mrs. Abraham!
4. Finger Puppets - The kids colored different Christmas pictures, cut them out and taped them to turn them into finger puppets. They loved this! Thank you Mrs. Johnson!
After lunch we decorated cookies, saw the kindergartners perform "The Nutcracker" (it was adorable!) and had hot chocolate while watching The Polar Express. Thank you Mrs. Denotti and Mr. Abraham!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Have a wonderful break! See you next year!
Mrs. Johnston
December 16, 2011
December 12, 2011
Weekly Update, December 12 - 16
Hello Stupendous First Graders and Super First Grade Families!
The 1st grade play and the performance at Barnes and Noble were adorable! The kids looked and sounded great!
It's hard to believe this is our last school week of 2011! The kids are so excited for our party and for Christmas. We have a lot of fun stuff planned this week!
Supplies
* Please send in a shoebox with your child by this Thursday. We'll use these for a fun activity at our party!
* Please send in an empty plastic water bottle with the cap and a plastic hanger for our upcoming weather unit.
Christmas Pajama Party Information
* Our party is this Thursday, December 16 from 9:00 - 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 have popcorn and watch The Polar Express in the afternoon. We will also see the kindergarten Christmas performance. It will be a fun day!
This is our second week in our Christmas social studies, guided reading and writing 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. On Thursday we will learn about needs and wants. The kids will learn the importance and difference of each, and they will sort various items into the correct category.
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. Art - The kids made a darling angel ornament.
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. Reading – The kids did a Christmas word find and sorted Christmas words into word families.
6. Card Making - The kids made Christmas cards to send to our US Military to thank them for their service.
7. 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.
8. Art – The kids made a stand up Santa. It is a darling Christmas decoration!
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! The kids are learning to write so that their writing gives the reader a clear picture in his/her head.
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!
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
The 1st grade play and the performance at Barnes and Noble were adorable! The kids looked and sounded great!
It's hard to believe this is our last school week of 2011! The kids are so excited for our party and for Christmas. We have a lot of fun stuff planned this week!
Supplies
* Please send in a shoebox with your child by this Thursday. We'll use these for a fun activity at our party!
* Please send in an empty plastic water bottle with the cap and a plastic hanger for our upcoming weather unit.
Christmas Pajama Party Information
* Our party is this Thursday, December 16 from 9:00 - 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 have popcorn and watch The Polar Express in the afternoon. We will also see the kindergarten Christmas performance. It will be a fun day!
This is our second week in our Christmas social studies, guided reading and writing 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. On Thursday we will learn about needs and wants. The kids will learn the importance and difference of each, and they will sort various items into the correct category.
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. Art - The kids made a darling angel ornament.
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. Reading – The kids did a Christmas word find and sorted Christmas words into word families.
6. Card Making - The kids made Christmas cards to send to our US Military to thank them for their service.
7. 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.
8. Art – The kids made a stand up Santa. It is a darling Christmas decoration!
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! The kids are learning to write so that their writing gives the reader a clear picture in his/her head.
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!
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
December 9, 2011
Computers, 12/9
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/
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/
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
December 5, 2011
Weekly Update, December 5 - 9
Hello Charming First Graders and Cheerful First Grade Parents!
The kids are really enjoying our holidays social studies and guided reading/writing 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!
In reading we are working on reading about common subjects, such as Christmas, to learn new information and make connections.
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 a Somebody - Wanted - But - So to organize the events of the story.
2. Art - 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 assessments for reading level and sight words.
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. In making words we are working on words with long o and long u sounds.
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 complete testing to get ready for the 2nd quarter report cards.
We have a fun activity planned for computers on Friday! If you'd like to see what the kids will do, please check back at the end of the week for the blog posting called “Computers, 12/9.”
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
The kids are really enjoying our holidays social studies and guided reading/writing 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!
In reading we are working on reading about common subjects, such as Christmas, to learn new information and make connections.
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 a Somebody - Wanted - But - So to organize the events of the story.
2. Art - 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 assessments for reading level and sight words.
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. In making words we are working on words with long o and long u sounds.
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 complete testing to get ready for the 2nd quarter report cards.
We have a fun activity planned for computers on Friday! If you'd like to see what the kids will do, please check back at the end of the week for the blog posting called “Computers, 12/9.”
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
December 2, 2011
Computers, 12/2
Kwanzaa KWL
Let's start by voting on 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 Kwanzaa this week! Kwanzaa was unfamiliar to many of you and when we learn about something new, it's good to make a list of questions so we can answer them to keep track of our learning.
Today we're going to make a KWL chart! This stands for Know, Want to know, Learned. You'll work with a partner to create this word document. Watch and I'll show you how! You'll work with a partner to complete your chart.
After you finish the Know and Want to know section, it's time to see what you can learn! Go to Scholastic's website: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/holidays/kwanzaa to read to find out! After you've read and listened, see if you can add anything to the Learned section of your chart!
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
Let's start by voting on 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 Kwanzaa this week! Kwanzaa was unfamiliar to many of you and when we learn about something new, it's good to make a list of questions so we can answer them to keep track of our learning.
Today we're going to make a KWL chart! This stands for Know, Want to know, Learned. You'll work with a partner to create this word document. Watch and I'll show you how! You'll work with a partner to complete your chart.
After you finish the Know and Want to know section, it's time to see what you can learn! Go to Scholastic's website: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/holidays/kwanzaa to read to find out! After you've read and listened, see if you can add anything to the Learned section of your chart!
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
November 28, 2011
Weekly Update, November 28 - December 2
Hello Awesome First Graders and Amazing First Grade Families!
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving break! Parents - I hope you enjoyed your child's Thanksgiving decorations!
This week and for the rest of December, we will study holidays for social studies, guided reading and writing. This week we began a unit on Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. Today we learned about the celebrations, traditions, and symbols of Kwanzaa. The children wrote about their favorite family holiday tradition. Tomorrow we will learn about a special Kwanzaa symbol, the mkeka (a placemat) and the children will write Kwanzaa facts and create their own mkekas. On Wednesday we will learn about how some holidays share similar symbols and transition to our Hanukkah study. The children will create a menorah. On Thursday and Friday, we will learn about the history and symbols of Hanukkah and the children will write a Hanukkah fact on each of the candles of the menorah.
In reading we are learning about different holiday traditions. We reviewed the words compare and contrast and we are comparing and contrasting different holiday celebrations.
The children enjoyed our holiday centers today! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The children listened to "The Magic Dreidels," and they wrote about their favorite part of the story. After they wrote they created their own dreidel.
2. Science - The children enjoyed making their own butter last week and this week they got to do even more! The children followed a recipe to make their own potato latkes! The children measured, mixed and shaped the pancakes and the parent helper cooked it so they could try it.
3. Writing - The children practiced writing an acrostic poem with the word Hanukkah. This was a challenging activity and the kids did a great job!
4. Math - The children practiced counting by 10s into the hundreds in the shape of a dreidel. The children followed directions to play a dreidel counting game. This was a lot of fun for the kids!
5. Reading - The children read in small groups with me. We focused on sequencing and retelling with detail.
The children came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. There are some challenging holiday words this week! Kids - be sure to tell your parents about high-medium-low and grapevine. Practice these at home; they will really help you! In making words we are working on spelling words with the long i (as in both ride and high).
We created a gingerbread glyph in math today. We collected data in a new way today; we worked collaboratively as a whole class to collect our data and record it in the form of a bar graph. This was a challenging activity and the kids did well!
We are working in chapter 10 in math. This is a very challenging chapter focused on greater than, less than and equals. The children are working with their greater than and less than signs with pipe cleaners and practiced comparing numbers with their pipe cleaners.
There is a fun activity planned for computers on Friday. If you’d like to see what we’ll do, check back on Friday for the blog post called “Computers, 12/2.”
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving break! Parents - I hope you enjoyed your child's Thanksgiving decorations!
This week and for the rest of December, we will study holidays for social studies, guided reading and writing. This week we began a unit on Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. Today we learned about the celebrations, traditions, and symbols of Kwanzaa. The children wrote about their favorite family holiday tradition. Tomorrow we will learn about a special Kwanzaa symbol, the mkeka (a placemat) and the children will write Kwanzaa facts and create their own mkekas. On Wednesday we will learn about how some holidays share similar symbols and transition to our Hanukkah study. The children will create a menorah. On Thursday and Friday, we will learn about the history and symbols of Hanukkah and the children will write a Hanukkah fact on each of the candles of the menorah.
In reading we are learning about different holiday traditions. We reviewed the words compare and contrast and we are comparing and contrasting different holiday celebrations.
The children enjoyed our holiday centers today! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The children listened to "The Magic Dreidels," and they wrote about their favorite part of the story. After they wrote they created their own dreidel.
2. Science - The children enjoyed making their own butter last week and this week they got to do even more! The children followed a recipe to make their own potato latkes! The children measured, mixed and shaped the pancakes and the parent helper cooked it so they could try it.
3. Writing - The children practiced writing an acrostic poem with the word Hanukkah. This was a challenging activity and the kids did a great job!
4. Math - The children practiced counting by 10s into the hundreds in the shape of a dreidel. The children followed directions to play a dreidel counting game. This was a lot of fun for the kids!
5. Reading - The children read in small groups with me. We focused on sequencing and retelling with detail.
The children came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. There are some challenging holiday words this week! Kids - be sure to tell your parents about high-medium-low and grapevine. Practice these at home; they will really help you! In making words we are working on spelling words with the long i (as in both ride and high).
We created a gingerbread glyph in math today. We collected data in a new way today; we worked collaboratively as a whole class to collect our data and record it in the form of a bar graph. This was a challenging activity and the kids did well!
We are working in chapter 10 in math. This is a very challenging chapter focused on greater than, less than and equals. The children are working with their greater than and less than signs with pipe cleaners and practiced comparing numbers with their pipe cleaners.
There is a fun activity planned for computers on Friday. If you’d like to see what we’ll do, check back on Friday for the blog post called “Computers, 12/2.”
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
November 23, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! The kids had so much fun today! THANK YOU so much to all the parents who donated their time and supplies to help make our day special for the kids. The kids and I appreciate you!
This morning we heard a great story called, "The Night Before Thanksgiving," and then it was time to get our Thanksgiving Party Centers started! The Thanksgiving centers were:
1. I Am Thankful Turkey - The kids colored and cut a turkey body. They took colored paper feathers and wrote different things they were thankful for this Thanksgiving.
2. Potato Turkey - The kids colored and cut a turkey head, wings and tail feathers. I helped them attach the pieces to toothpicks and stick the toothpicks in the potato to make a darling turkey decoration.
3. Tabletop Turkey - The kids measured rice to fill a plastic bag. They put the plastic bag in a paper bag and used pieces of the paper bag and other papers to make a head, wings, a tail feather, and legs for the turkey. They finished their turkeys with a recipe to use with your leftover turkey!
4. Butter Making - The kids made their own butter using just heavy cream and arm strength! The kids were amazed that butter could be made by simply shaking a jar of cream! They topped cornbread muffins with butter and honey.
After lunch the kids used Greedy The Greater Gator to compare turkeys, counted Pilgrims and Indians with the book "One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims" and made a movable scarecrow.
The kids had a great day!
Enjoy your time off and have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends! I am cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner; I anticipate that it will be quite an adventure!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Mrs. Johnston
This morning we heard a great story called, "The Night Before Thanksgiving," and then it was time to get our Thanksgiving Party Centers started! The Thanksgiving centers were:
1. I Am Thankful Turkey - The kids colored and cut a turkey body. They took colored paper feathers and wrote different things they were thankful for this Thanksgiving.
2. Potato Turkey - The kids colored and cut a turkey head, wings and tail feathers. I helped them attach the pieces to toothpicks and stick the toothpicks in the potato to make a darling turkey decoration.
3. Tabletop Turkey - The kids measured rice to fill a plastic bag. They put the plastic bag in a paper bag and used pieces of the paper bag and other papers to make a head, wings, a tail feather, and legs for the turkey. They finished their turkeys with a recipe to use with your leftover turkey!
4. Butter Making - The kids made their own butter using just heavy cream and arm strength! The kids were amazed that butter could be made by simply shaking a jar of cream! They topped cornbread muffins with butter and honey.
After lunch the kids used Greedy The Greater Gator to compare turkeys, counted Pilgrims and Indians with the book "One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims" and made a movable scarecrow.
The kids had a great day!
Enjoy your time off and have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends! I am cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner; I anticipate that it will be quite an adventure!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Mrs. Johnston
November 21, 2011
Weekly Update, November 21 - 23
Hello Terrific First Graders and Tremendous First Grade Families!
Homework Information
There are no new spelling words this week. Spelling will resume next week. There will be a modified reading log this week along with some practice math homework. Kids – remember to be responsible and turn in your homework! Normal homework will resume next week.
Thanksgiving Information
We have a short week this week! Our class party is Wednesday, November 23 from 9:00 – 11:00. Parents are welcome to attend! Check the blog on Wednesday for a wrap up of our fun party day!
Pajama Day
This Wednesday, November 23 is pajama day for the whole school! Be sure to wear your pajamas!
We had a wonderful week last week learning all about Thanksgiving. We began work on persuasive writing. The kids wrote from the point of view of a turkey and persuaded the reader not to eat them! The kids really enjoyed writing these persuasive essays and they came out great!
This week is a short week in first grade and there are a lot of exciting Thanksgiving activities planned, including our party on Wednesday! This week we are doing several hands on activities to learn more about Thanksgiving. Today and tomorrow, the kids will go to 3 centers! They LOVED going to 3 centers today! The centers for today and tomorrow include:
1. Thanksgiving Finger Puppets - The kids color pictures of Pilgrims and Indians, cut them out and use them for finger puppets. They are so cute!
2. Turkey Hands - The kids paint their hand prints to make an adorable turkey.
3. I Am Thankful - The kids write a short story about all the things they are thankful for this Thanksgiving.
4. Turkey Counting - The kids make a paper plate turkey. The feathers are numbered and to put them on in the correct order, the kids must count by 10s.
5. Happy Thanksgiving Turkey - The kids make a turkey and attach it to a sign that says Happy Thanksgiving.
6. Movable Turkey - The kids received a picture of a turkey (head, body, feet and feathers) and they colored them and cut them out. The pieces are attached with brads so the turkey can move.
This week in writing we are working on thank you notes and the kids are so good at these! The kids get to choose someone who has helped them recently and write a thank you note. We will also make another class book, "We Are Thankful." We already have several class books (we do one each week to correspond with our current unit of study) and the kids really enjoy reading these.
This week in math we began chapter 10, a challenging chapter about greater than and less than. The children made greater than/less than signs with pipe cleaners to help with this difficult concept. We reviewed the concepts in this chapter and the kids took a test today. Tomorrow we will make a turkey glyph.
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
Homework Information
There are no new spelling words this week. Spelling will resume next week. There will be a modified reading log this week along with some practice math homework. Kids – remember to be responsible and turn in your homework! Normal homework will resume next week.
Thanksgiving Information
We have a short week this week! Our class party is Wednesday, November 23 from 9:00 – 11:00. Parents are welcome to attend! Check the blog on Wednesday for a wrap up of our fun party day!
Pajama Day
This Wednesday, November 23 is pajama day for the whole school! Be sure to wear your pajamas!
We had a wonderful week last week learning all about Thanksgiving. We began work on persuasive writing. The kids wrote from the point of view of a turkey and persuaded the reader not to eat them! The kids really enjoyed writing these persuasive essays and they came out great!
This week is a short week in first grade and there are a lot of exciting Thanksgiving activities planned, including our party on Wednesday! This week we are doing several hands on activities to learn more about Thanksgiving. Today and tomorrow, the kids will go to 3 centers! They LOVED going to 3 centers today! The centers for today and tomorrow include:
1. Thanksgiving Finger Puppets - The kids color pictures of Pilgrims and Indians, cut them out and use them for finger puppets. They are so cute!
2. Turkey Hands - The kids paint their hand prints to make an adorable turkey.
3. I Am Thankful - The kids write a short story about all the things they are thankful for this Thanksgiving.
4. Turkey Counting - The kids make a paper plate turkey. The feathers are numbered and to put them on in the correct order, the kids must count by 10s.
5. Happy Thanksgiving Turkey - The kids make a turkey and attach it to a sign that says Happy Thanksgiving.
6. Movable Turkey - The kids received a picture of a turkey (head, body, feet and feathers) and they colored them and cut them out. The pieces are attached with brads so the turkey can move.
This week in writing we are working on thank you notes and the kids are so good at these! The kids get to choose someone who has helped them recently and write a thank you note. We will also make another class book, "We Are Thankful." We already have several class books (we do one each week to correspond with our current unit of study) and the kids really enjoy reading these.
This week in math we began chapter 10, a challenging chapter about greater than and less than. The children made greater than/less than signs with pipe cleaners to help with this difficult concept. We reviewed the concepts in this chapter and the kids took a test today. Tomorrow we will make a turkey glyph.
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
November 18, 2011
Computers, 11/18
Thanksgiving Web Quest!
Let's start by voting on this week's poll. After you vote, please come to the floor in front of the Smart Board and we'll learn about today's activity.
It was fun learning about Thanksgiving this week! What could you do if you wanted to find out more about Thanksgiving? READ TO FIND OUT!!! Today we will do a Web Quest to find out more about Thanksgiving!
Go to: http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/feast/webquest.htm to play the Thanksgiving Web Quest. You'll work with a partner to complete this activity. There are several questions to answer. You can answer them in two ways: you can use your schema about Thanksgiving to answer the question, or you can do the webquest! If you don't know the answer, click the button that says "Visit the Web site to find out." This game is a lot of fun! Watch and I'll show you how to play!
After you play the Web Quest you can explore the websites on the links section of my blog.
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
Let's start by voting on this week's poll. After you vote, please come to the floor in front of the Smart Board and we'll learn about today's activity.
It was fun learning about Thanksgiving this week! What could you do if you wanted to find out more about Thanksgiving? READ TO FIND OUT!!! Today we will do a Web Quest to find out more about Thanksgiving!
Go to: http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/feast/webquest.htm to play the Thanksgiving Web Quest. You'll work with a partner to complete this activity. There are several questions to answer. You can answer them in two ways: you can use your schema about Thanksgiving to answer the question, or you can do the webquest! If you don't know the answer, click the button that says "Visit the Web site to find out." This game is a lot of fun! Watch and I'll show you how to play!
After you play the Web Quest you can explore the websites on the links section of my blog.
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
November 14, 2011
Weekly Update, November 14 - 18
Hello Super First Graders and Spectacular First Grade Families!
I hope everyone had a nice weekend! The kids are still talking about our Awesome America week! They really enjoyed this unit and they LOVED meeting Major Russell! The kids loved listening to him talk, asking questions and learning about his uniform. They did an excellent job of writing thank you notes to him. They thanked him for visiting our class and they asked a lot of good questions in their notes too! It was a fun day!
Today we began our social studies and guided reading/writing unit on Thanksgiving; we are learning about the Pilgrims and Indians. There are several fun projects planned and the kids will come home with a lot of cute Thanksgiving decorations. Today we read a neat story called "The Tale of the Bear's Tipi." The kids learned about tipis and learned that there are two ways to spell it: tipi and tepee. After the story, the kids made their own tipis and wrote about what it would be like to live in a tipi. This was so much fun! On Tuesday we will read "The North Wind and the South Wind" to learn about pueblos and the kids will make their own pueblos. On Wednesday we will learn about the history of The First Thanksgiving and the kids will create their own cornucopia and write about what they are thankful for this year. Our studies on Thursday and Friday will focus on Pilgrims. On Thursday the kids will learn about how Pilgrims had a very different life than we do. The kids will compare and contrast elements of our lives to those of the Pilgrims. On Friday the kids will learn about what it was like to be a Pilgrim kid. They will decorate their own pilgrim kids to bring home.
The kids had a great time with the Thanksgiving centers today. The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to a story called Giving Thanks, written by an Indian Chief. They created a traditional Native American story sack. They decorated the bag with symbols and then filled it with found objects. To use the story sack, the kids pull an object from the bag and tell a story about it. They had so much fun gathering objects and sharing their stories!
2. Art/Social Studies- The kids used the inside of a paper grocery bag to write an Indian symbol story. The kids received a page of symbols and then they used them to tell a story. They could only use the symbols (no words).
3. Writing - The kids did a neat color poem. They colored a picture of pottery and then used the colors they chose to write a poem about it.
4. Math - Pottery geometry and Indian Symbol addition. The kids created patterns with pottery and they used symbols to write number sentences.
5. Reading - The kids read Thanksgiving books and did a Thanksgiving word sort.
The kids have new spelling words this week. In addition to our spelling words, we have Thanksgiving theme words. The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. In spelling and making words we are working on long vowel sounds. The kids have a new spelling challenge this week! If the whole class spells Thanksgiving and turkey (another alliteration test!) correctly, the class will get a prize.
We took our chapter 8 test in math today. There were some difficult concepts with related facts and fact families, so we spent a little extra time to cover the material. We will begin chapter 9 later in the week. This chapter focuses on groups of 10 and place value. The kids will practice counting in 10s and adding on by 1s, writing number sentences and identifying numbers by looking at pictures of groups of 10s and 1s.
We have a fun activity planned for computers later this week. If you'd like to see what we’ll do, stop back at the end of the week to view the blog posting called “Computers, 11/18.”
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
I hope everyone had a nice weekend! The kids are still talking about our Awesome America week! They really enjoyed this unit and they LOVED meeting Major Russell! The kids loved listening to him talk, asking questions and learning about his uniform. They did an excellent job of writing thank you notes to him. They thanked him for visiting our class and they asked a lot of good questions in their notes too! It was a fun day!
Today we began our social studies and guided reading/writing unit on Thanksgiving; we are learning about the Pilgrims and Indians. There are several fun projects planned and the kids will come home with a lot of cute Thanksgiving decorations. Today we read a neat story called "The Tale of the Bear's Tipi." The kids learned about tipis and learned that there are two ways to spell it: tipi and tepee. After the story, the kids made their own tipis and wrote about what it would be like to live in a tipi. This was so much fun! On Tuesday we will read "The North Wind and the South Wind" to learn about pueblos and the kids will make their own pueblos. On Wednesday we will learn about the history of The First Thanksgiving and the kids will create their own cornucopia and write about what they are thankful for this year. Our studies on Thursday and Friday will focus on Pilgrims. On Thursday the kids will learn about how Pilgrims had a very different life than we do. The kids will compare and contrast elements of our lives to those of the Pilgrims. On Friday the kids will learn about what it was like to be a Pilgrim kid. They will decorate their own pilgrim kids to bring home.
The kids had a great time with the Thanksgiving centers today. The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to a story called Giving Thanks, written by an Indian Chief. They created a traditional Native American story sack. They decorated the bag with symbols and then filled it with found objects. To use the story sack, the kids pull an object from the bag and tell a story about it. They had so much fun gathering objects and sharing their stories!
2. Art/Social Studies- The kids used the inside of a paper grocery bag to write an Indian symbol story. The kids received a page of symbols and then they used them to tell a story. They could only use the symbols (no words).
3. Writing - The kids did a neat color poem. They colored a picture of pottery and then used the colors they chose to write a poem about it.
4. Math - Pottery geometry and Indian Symbol addition. The kids created patterns with pottery and they used symbols to write number sentences.
5. Reading - The kids read Thanksgiving books and did a Thanksgiving word sort.
The kids have new spelling words this week. In addition to our spelling words, we have Thanksgiving theme words. The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. In spelling and making words we are working on long vowel sounds. The kids have a new spelling challenge this week! If the whole class spells Thanksgiving and turkey (another alliteration test!) correctly, the class will get a prize.
We took our chapter 8 test in math today. There were some difficult concepts with related facts and fact families, so we spent a little extra time to cover the material. We will begin chapter 9 later in the week. This chapter focuses on groups of 10 and place value. The kids will practice counting in 10s and adding on by 1s, writing number sentences and identifying numbers by looking at pictures of groups of 10s and 1s.
We have a fun activity planned for computers later this week. If you'd like to see what we’ll do, stop back at the end of the week to view the blog posting called “Computers, 11/18.”
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
November 7, 2011
Weekly Update, November 7 - 10
Hello Awesome First Graders and Amazing First Grade Parents!
The kids are still batty for bats! They are still talking all about bats and sharing what they learned. It is so great to see! Be sure to check out the links section of my blog for the echolocation video that we watched in class. We watched this again today and the kids LOVE it! Kids - watch the video and sing the song to your parents. You can show them how much you know about echolocation and bats!
Our patriotic week is off to a great start! Reminder: there is no school this Friday, November 11 in honor of Veterans' Day. Our spelling test will be on Thursday.
This week we are doing a social studies unit on Awesome America. Kids - we did Outstanding Owls, Perfect Pumpkins, Brilliant Bats and now we are doing Awesome America. What is this called??? Today the kids had a guest teacher. Mrs. Seiferth taught the kids what the word pledge means. They studied The Pledge of Allegiance and the kids learned the meaning of all of the words. They also wrote a pledge to themselves. The rest of the week we will learn all about the things that make America great. On Tuesday and Wednesday we will learn about the symbols of our country, we will learn about and make a flag and have a parade with patriotic music. We will learn about the reason we don't have school on Friday: Veteran's Day. A member of the military, Craig Russell (Ryan’s dad) will come to our class to talk with the kids on Thursday.
In reading we are working on reading for meaning. We will explore commonly read and used words and dig deeper into their meaning to read for understanding and comprehension. We are working on reading and making words with the “in” chunk, as well as the digraphs “sh” and “ch.”
The kids had a great time with our patriotic centers today. The kids went to two centers today! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to a CD of patriotic American songs. While they listened, they drew pictures of what they heard in the song. They also wrote their favorite parts of the music.
2. Science - The kids looked at different symbols of The United States. They looked at pictures of astronauts and they discovered that American astronauts often take a symbol of our country, the flag, with them. The kids used various items to make their own space shuttles. The kids loved this center!
3. Writing - The kids wrote about promises. They wrote about a promise they made and a promise someone made. They wrote about what the promise was and how they felt about it.
4. Math - The kids looked at a flag and they estimated how many stars and stripes are on the flag. After they estimated, they discussed the best strategies to find the number of stars and stripes on the flag. After they talked about their strategies, they counted the stars and stripes on the flag.
5. Reading - The kids read 1:1 with me.
We have new spelling words this week. In addition to our spelling words, we have America - theme words. The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. Since the kids did so well with their challenge last week, I gave them a new and more difficult challenge. There is a bonus word this week, allegiance. If the whole class spells the bonus word allegiance correctly, the class will get a prize.
We began chapter 8 in math today. This chapter focuses on more difficult concepts of subtraction: counting down, vertical addition, related facts and story problems. Your child came home with a parent letter that provides information on this chapter. The kids did very well with the subtraction and they got some good practice learning about related facts. This is a tough concept and the kids are doing a nice job.
Have an A+ Week!
Mrs. Johnston
The kids are still batty for bats! They are still talking all about bats and sharing what they learned. It is so great to see! Be sure to check out the links section of my blog for the echolocation video that we watched in class. We watched this again today and the kids LOVE it! Kids - watch the video and sing the song to your parents. You can show them how much you know about echolocation and bats!
Our patriotic week is off to a great start! Reminder: there is no school this Friday, November 11 in honor of Veterans' Day. Our spelling test will be on Thursday.
This week we are doing a social studies unit on Awesome America. Kids - we did Outstanding Owls, Perfect Pumpkins, Brilliant Bats and now we are doing Awesome America. What is this called??? Today the kids had a guest teacher. Mrs. Seiferth taught the kids what the word pledge means. They studied The Pledge of Allegiance and the kids learned the meaning of all of the words. They also wrote a pledge to themselves. The rest of the week we will learn all about the things that make America great. On Tuesday and Wednesday we will learn about the symbols of our country, we will learn about and make a flag and have a parade with patriotic music. We will learn about the reason we don't have school on Friday: Veteran's Day. A member of the military, Craig Russell (Ryan’s dad) will come to our class to talk with the kids on Thursday.
In reading we are working on reading for meaning. We will explore commonly read and used words and dig deeper into their meaning to read for understanding and comprehension. We are working on reading and making words with the “in” chunk, as well as the digraphs “sh” and “ch.”
The kids had a great time with our patriotic centers today. The kids went to two centers today! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to a CD of patriotic American songs. While they listened, they drew pictures of what they heard in the song. They also wrote their favorite parts of the music.
2. Science - The kids looked at different symbols of The United States. They looked at pictures of astronauts and they discovered that American astronauts often take a symbol of our country, the flag, with them. The kids used various items to make their own space shuttles. The kids loved this center!
3. Writing - The kids wrote about promises. They wrote about a promise they made and a promise someone made. They wrote about what the promise was and how they felt about it.
4. Math - The kids looked at a flag and they estimated how many stars and stripes are on the flag. After they estimated, they discussed the best strategies to find the number of stars and stripes on the flag. After they talked about their strategies, they counted the stars and stripes on the flag.
5. Reading - The kids read 1:1 with me.
We have new spelling words this week. In addition to our spelling words, we have America - theme words. The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. Since the kids did so well with their challenge last week, I gave them a new and more difficult challenge. There is a bonus word this week, allegiance. If the whole class spells the bonus word allegiance correctly, the class will get a prize.
We began chapter 8 in math today. This chapter focuses on more difficult concepts of subtraction: counting down, vertical addition, related facts and story problems. Your child came home with a parent letter that provides information on this chapter. The kids did very well with the subtraction and they got some good practice learning about related facts. This is a tough concept and the kids are doing a nice job.
Have an A+ Week!
Mrs. Johnston
November 4, 2011
Computers, 11/4
Bat Facts!
Let's start by voting on 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.
It was so much fun learning about bats! What is your favorite bat? What is your favorite thing you learned? What would you want to tell someone about bats?
Today we are going to practice writing...on the computer! Watch and I'll show you how to write in a word document. You will work with your bat partner to complete your task. Here are your jobs once you open a word document.
* Write your names (then skip a line).
* Write your favorite bat (then skip a line).
* Write your favorite thing you learned.
Print your paper and turn it in to me! Watch and I'll show you how to print.
When you're done, you may go to one of the links on my website.
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
Let's start by voting on 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.
It was so much fun learning about bats! What is your favorite bat? What is your favorite thing you learned? What would you want to tell someone about bats?
Today we are going to practice writing...on the computer! Watch and I'll show you how to write in a word document. You will work with your bat partner to complete your task. Here are your jobs once you open a word document.
* Write your names (then skip a line).
* Write your favorite bat (then skip a line).
* Write your favorite thing you learned.
Print your paper and turn it in to me! Watch and I'll show you how to print.
When you're done, you may go to one of the links on my website.
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
October 31, 2011
Weekly Update, October 31 - November 4
Happy Halloween, Super First Grade Families and Spectacular First Graders!
Wow! It's hard to believe tomorrow will be November 1! It feels like October went by in the blink of an eye! I move the desks around on the first of the month and the kids look forward to working with new friends. Kids - be sure to tell your parents who is in your table group tomorrow!
This week we are doing a science, guided reading and writing unit on bats. Each day we will learn about a different type of bat, do a bat experiment or activity and write facts on the wing of a construction paper bat. Today we learned about the bumblebee bat; the kids loved this! The kids learned that the bumblebee bat weighs less than a penny. The kids felt a penny in their hands and then they chose objects from around the room to compare them with the weight of a bumblebee bat. Tomorrow we will learn about the fruit bat! I have a very fun activity planned to help the kids learn what it would be like to be a fruit bat. Be sure to ask your child about it tomorrow! We will also learn about the little brown bat and vampire bat. On Friday, we will have a visit from Mrs. Tyburec, the aunt of one of my students from last year. She is a bat biologist and Director of Education at Bat Conservation International in Austin, Texas. This should be a great day for the kids!
In reading we are working on making, reading and writing words with long and short “o.” The kids really enjoy our making words activities and these help them tremendously in their reading. We continue to focus on reading with expression and making predictions.
The kids had a fun time with our "batty" centers! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to Bats Around the Clock and then they completed a cloze passage with bat vocabulary.
2. Science - The kids did experiments to simulate bat echolocation and vibrations. They used rubber bands to see and hear vibrations and they also made different call sounds and tapped their throats. This was a lot of fun!
3. Writing - The kids made a book of nocturnal creatures. Some of the nocturnal creatures were review and others were new to the kids.
4. Math - The kids identified bats by their wingspans. The kids were given clues about bats and then they looked at construction paper bats and they identified them based on the clues. After that, they estimated the wingspan of each bat and then they measured the wingspan of each bat. There were some surprises! The kids were surprised to learn that some fruit bats can have a 6 foot wingspan!
5. Reading - The kids read bat books and they also read 1:1 with me. The kids have made a lot of progress with their reading during the month of October!
We have new spelling words this week. This week in addition to our spelling words, the kids have bat theme words. They loved this! The kids brought home Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. I gave the class a special challenge for this week's test. We have used the word nocturnal a lot and it is a tough one to spell! Since it is a spelling word this week, the kids and I made a deal! If everyone spells the word nocturnal right on the test, the class will get a special prize!
We began chapter 7 in math today. Chapter 7 focuses on subtraction strategies. Today we worked on counting back 1, 2 and 3. The kids learned to count back using clapping strategies and a number line. The kids did a great job with this! Your child came home with the parent letter that provides information about this chapter.
We have a neat bat activity planned for computers on Friday to practice writing in a word document. If you'd like to see what the kids will do, stop back on Friday and look for the blog posting called “Computers, 11/4.”
Have an A + week!
Mrs. Johnston
Wow! It's hard to believe tomorrow will be November 1! It feels like October went by in the blink of an eye! I move the desks around on the first of the month and the kids look forward to working with new friends. Kids - be sure to tell your parents who is in your table group tomorrow!
This week we are doing a science, guided reading and writing unit on bats. Each day we will learn about a different type of bat, do a bat experiment or activity and write facts on the wing of a construction paper bat. Today we learned about the bumblebee bat; the kids loved this! The kids learned that the bumblebee bat weighs less than a penny. The kids felt a penny in their hands and then they chose objects from around the room to compare them with the weight of a bumblebee bat. Tomorrow we will learn about the fruit bat! I have a very fun activity planned to help the kids learn what it would be like to be a fruit bat. Be sure to ask your child about it tomorrow! We will also learn about the little brown bat and vampire bat. On Friday, we will have a visit from Mrs. Tyburec, the aunt of one of my students from last year. She is a bat biologist and Director of Education at Bat Conservation International in Austin, Texas. This should be a great day for the kids!
In reading we are working on making, reading and writing words with long and short “o.” The kids really enjoy our making words activities and these help them tremendously in their reading. We continue to focus on reading with expression and making predictions.
The kids had a fun time with our "batty" centers! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to Bats Around the Clock and then they completed a cloze passage with bat vocabulary.
2. Science - The kids did experiments to simulate bat echolocation and vibrations. They used rubber bands to see and hear vibrations and they also made different call sounds and tapped their throats. This was a lot of fun!
3. Writing - The kids made a book of nocturnal creatures. Some of the nocturnal creatures were review and others were new to the kids.
4. Math - The kids identified bats by their wingspans. The kids were given clues about bats and then they looked at construction paper bats and they identified them based on the clues. After that, they estimated the wingspan of each bat and then they measured the wingspan of each bat. There were some surprises! The kids were surprised to learn that some fruit bats can have a 6 foot wingspan!
5. Reading - The kids read bat books and they also read 1:1 with me. The kids have made a lot of progress with their reading during the month of October!
We have new spelling words this week. This week in addition to our spelling words, the kids have bat theme words. They loved this! The kids brought home Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. I gave the class a special challenge for this week's test. We have used the word nocturnal a lot and it is a tough one to spell! Since it is a spelling word this week, the kids and I made a deal! If everyone spells the word nocturnal right on the test, the class will get a special prize!
We began chapter 7 in math today. Chapter 7 focuses on subtraction strategies. Today we worked on counting back 1, 2 and 3. The kids learned to count back using clapping strategies and a number line. The kids did a great job with this! Your child came home with the parent letter that provides information about this chapter.
We have a neat bat activity planned for computers on Friday to practice writing in a word document. If you'd like to see what the kids will do, stop back on Friday and look for the blog posting called “Computers, 11/4.”
Have an A + week!
Mrs. Johnston
October 28, 2011
Halloween Party Fun!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
Reminder:
Please remember to bring your penny to school on Monday!
What a fun week we had! The kids enjoyed learning about pumpkins, carving a pumpkin and planting their pumpkin seeds!
Our Halloween Party was a blast! THANK YOU so much to all the parents who donated their time and supplies to make the party great! We had 4 Halloween centers at our party! The centers for the party were:
1. Spider Glyph - The kids make a spooky spider glyph. They turned out so cute!
2. Grapefruit Carving - The kids carved grapefruits with plastic knives to turn them into Jack - O - Grapefruits.
3. Owl Puppet - The kids colored an owl pattern, cut it out and glued it on a paper bag to make a cute puppet.
4. Mini Pumpkin Decorating - The kids decorated mini pumpkins with googly eyes, gems, colored cotton balls and markers.
In the afternoon we played a mummy wrapping game, made a book about the life cycle of a pumpkin, decorated cookies and watched a Halloween movie!
The Halloween parade was so much fun! Everyone looked so great in costume! The kids had such a great time with this!
Get excited for next week...we are learning about brilliant bats!
Have a great weekend and Happy Halloween!
Mrs. Johnston
Reminder:
Please remember to bring your penny to school on Monday!
What a fun week we had! The kids enjoyed learning about pumpkins, carving a pumpkin and planting their pumpkin seeds!
Our Halloween Party was a blast! THANK YOU so much to all the parents who donated their time and supplies to make the party great! We had 4 Halloween centers at our party! The centers for the party were:
1. Spider Glyph - The kids make a spooky spider glyph. They turned out so cute!
2. Grapefruit Carving - The kids carved grapefruits with plastic knives to turn them into Jack - O - Grapefruits.
3. Owl Puppet - The kids colored an owl pattern, cut it out and glued it on a paper bag to make a cute puppet.
4. Mini Pumpkin Decorating - The kids decorated mini pumpkins with googly eyes, gems, colored cotton balls and markers.
In the afternoon we played a mummy wrapping game, made a book about the life cycle of a pumpkin, decorated cookies and watched a Halloween movie!
The Halloween parade was so much fun! Everyone looked so great in costume! The kids had such a great time with this!
Get excited for next week...we are learning about brilliant bats!
Have a great weekend and Happy Halloween!
Mrs. Johnston
October 24, 2011
Weekly Update, October 24 - 28
Hello Spooky First Graders and Scary First Grade Parents!
Reminders and Updates:
* Our Halloween party is this Friday in the morning. We will have our normal activities for the first part of the morning and then the party is from 9:00 - 11:20. The Halloween parade is from 2:15 - 2:45. Kids will wear their costumes all day. Parents are invited to the party and the parade!
* Our spelling test will be on Thursday in the afternoon. Let's Spell will be sent home on Wednesday.
It's Halloween week and the kids are SO excited for our party on Friday! This week is going to be such a fun week learning all about pumpkins, doing Halloween centers and Halloween math activities!
This week we are doing a science and guided reading unit on pumpkins! Today we learned the characteristics of pumpkins. Many of the kids were surprised to know that a pumpkin is a fruit. Kids - be sure to tell your parents why a pumpkin is a fruit! We also learned the 6 stages in the life cycle of a pumpkin. Kids - do you remember them all? After the guided reading lesson we began our fact pumpkin. The kids made a pumpkin out of orange construction paper and divided it into 4 sections. Today they wrote something they learned about pumpkins. Each day the children will write on their pumpkin. Tomorrow will be messy and fun! We will learn about pumpkin seeds, estimate the number of seeds in a pumpkin and then count them by 10s with table groups. On Wednesday we will learn about the uses for pumpkin seeds and each child will plant pumpkin seeds. On Thursday we will learn about the history of Jack-O-Lanterns and Halloween. The kids will create their own Jack-O-Lantern on the back of their fact pumpkins.
The kids had a great time in centers today! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to the story "Alice and Greta," a story about 2 witches. They made a broom out of construction paper and wrote their favorite part of the story and what it would be like to be a witch.
2. Science - Apple Bobbing! The kids made prediction about what kind of tub would be best to apple bob in, and what kind of apples would be the easiest to get. After they made their predictions, they got to bob for apples! This center was a big hit and all the kids are looking forward to this one!
3. Writing - The kids are writing about the 5 Ws of Halloween:
Who - is going with you?
What - are you going to be?
Where - are you going trick or treating?
When - are you going trick or treating?
Why - did you pick your costume?
This center got the kids thinking about Halloween and it got them really excited!
4. Math - Pumpkin Measuring: Estimate and check. The kids estimated the height, weight, circumference and number of creases on a pumpkin. After they recorded their prediction, they checked.
5. Reading - The kids did a Halloween word sort. They also read Halloween books and took turns “playing teacher” by reading to each other.
In reading we are continuing to work on independently using strategies. We are learning to read with expression. Be sure to listen for this in your child’s reading! Our making words focus is on words with short e and u sounds.
We have new spelling words this week. The kids have Rainbow Words for homework and they are due tomorrow. This week we are doing Halloween words instead of a word family.
We began chapter 6 in math today, a unit on counting up and patterning. We will continue to review counting on and doubles, and these skills will be a big help with patterning in counting up. We have also introduced timed addition tests. The kids are working on both their speed and accuracy. The long term goal is for the kids to be able to solve the problems in 3 seconds. Flash cards are a great and fun way to help improve both speed and accuracy.
Stay tuned for a blog posting on Friday with a recap of our Halloween party!
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
Reminders and Updates:
* Our Halloween party is this Friday in the morning. We will have our normal activities for the first part of the morning and then the party is from 9:00 - 11:20. The Halloween parade is from 2:15 - 2:45. Kids will wear their costumes all day. Parents are invited to the party and the parade!
* Our spelling test will be on Thursday in the afternoon. Let's Spell will be sent home on Wednesday.
It's Halloween week and the kids are SO excited for our party on Friday! This week is going to be such a fun week learning all about pumpkins, doing Halloween centers and Halloween math activities!
This week we are doing a science and guided reading unit on pumpkins! Today we learned the characteristics of pumpkins. Many of the kids were surprised to know that a pumpkin is a fruit. Kids - be sure to tell your parents why a pumpkin is a fruit! We also learned the 6 stages in the life cycle of a pumpkin. Kids - do you remember them all? After the guided reading lesson we began our fact pumpkin. The kids made a pumpkin out of orange construction paper and divided it into 4 sections. Today they wrote something they learned about pumpkins. Each day the children will write on their pumpkin. Tomorrow will be messy and fun! We will learn about pumpkin seeds, estimate the number of seeds in a pumpkin and then count them by 10s with table groups. On Wednesday we will learn about the uses for pumpkin seeds and each child will plant pumpkin seeds. On Thursday we will learn about the history of Jack-O-Lanterns and Halloween. The kids will create their own Jack-O-Lantern on the back of their fact pumpkins.
The kids had a great time in centers today! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to the story "Alice and Greta," a story about 2 witches. They made a broom out of construction paper and wrote their favorite part of the story and what it would be like to be a witch.
2. Science - Apple Bobbing! The kids made prediction about what kind of tub would be best to apple bob in, and what kind of apples would be the easiest to get. After they made their predictions, they got to bob for apples! This center was a big hit and all the kids are looking forward to this one!
3. Writing - The kids are writing about the 5 Ws of Halloween:
Who - is going with you?
What - are you going to be?
Where - are you going trick or treating?
When - are you going trick or treating?
Why - did you pick your costume?
This center got the kids thinking about Halloween and it got them really excited!
4. Math - Pumpkin Measuring: Estimate and check. The kids estimated the height, weight, circumference and number of creases on a pumpkin. After they recorded their prediction, they checked.
5. Reading - The kids did a Halloween word sort. They also read Halloween books and took turns “playing teacher” by reading to each other.
In reading we are continuing to work on independently using strategies. We are learning to read with expression. Be sure to listen for this in your child’s reading! Our making words focus is on words with short e and u sounds.
We have new spelling words this week. The kids have Rainbow Words for homework and they are due tomorrow. This week we are doing Halloween words instead of a word family.
We began chapter 6 in math today, a unit on counting up and patterning. We will continue to review counting on and doubles, and these skills will be a big help with patterning in counting up. We have also introduced timed addition tests. The kids are working on both their speed and accuracy. The long term goal is for the kids to be able to solve the problems in 3 seconds. Flash cards are a great and fun way to help improve both speed and accuracy.
Stay tuned for a blog posting on Friday with a recap of our Halloween party!
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
October 21, 2011
Computers, 10/21
Night Owls!
Let's start by voting on this week's poll. After you vote, come to the floor in front of the SMART Board and we'll learn about this week's activity.
I hope you had fun learning about owls this week! Now that we've read about owls, let's watch a video to learn more about owls. Go to http://video.kids.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/animals-pets-kids/wild-detectives-kids/wd-ep2-owls.htmlto watch the owls fly and learn facts about them!
Now, turn to your think-pair-share partner and share 3 things you learned! As, you go first!
After you have watched the video and shared with your partner, you may go to the links on my website.
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
Let's start by voting on this week's poll. After you vote, come to the floor in front of the SMART Board and we'll learn about this week's activity.
I hope you had fun learning about owls this week! Now that we've read about owls, let's watch a video to learn more about owls. Go to http://video.kids.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/animals-pets-kids/wild-detectives-kids/wd-ep2-owls.htmlto watch the owls fly and learn facts about them!
Now, turn to your think-pair-share partner and share 3 things you learned! As, you go first!
After you have watched the video and shared with your partner, you may go to the links on my website.
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
October 17, 2011
Weekly Update, October 17 - 21
Welcome Back!
It's great to be back at Harelson! I hope everyone had a wonderful time during Fall Break. The kids were happy to be back in the routine of school and they enjoyed sharing their stories with their friends. The kids did a wonderful job working hard and staying focused after the week long break. I was so impressed with everyone!
Important Dates
* 1st Quarter Report Cards will be sent home in your child’s homework folder this Friday, October 21.
* Our Halloween party is next Friday, October 28.
This week we are doing a guided reading and science unit on owls! Each day we will learn about a different type of owl. Today we learned about the characteristics and life cycle of a barn owl. The kids loved learning about the barn owl! The kids learned what wingspan is and they even practiced making their own wingspan and flying like an owl. They learned that a barn owl makes a different sound than most owls. Kids - be sure to show your parents what a barn owl sounds like! We are making a neat book. It is in the shape of an owl, and each day the kids will write owl facts on one of the owl's "feathers." The books are off to a great start already! The kids had a lot of fun with this activity. This week we will also learn about burrowing, pygmy and elf owls. We will do a lot of kinesthetic activities like owl calling, flying and burrowing to help the kids really learn the information. They always have a lot of fun with activities like this!
In reading we are working on reading non-fiction texts with academic and scientific vocabulary. We are also working on understanding the term “making connections” and the kids are practicing making text to text and text to self connections.
The kids had a great time in centers today. I switched the center groups so the kids will work with different friends over the next few weeks. The kids enjoyed working with and getting to know new friends. The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids watched two National Geographic Kids videos, Snowy Owls and Vampire Bats, on the computer. After that, they wrote characteristics specific to each animal and characteristics shared by both animals.
2. Science - The kids sequenced the 4 stages in the life cycle of a barn owl. They made a neat book in the shape of an owl egg that shows each stage.
3. Writing - We learned that most owls are nocturnal. The kids used white pencils and they wrote on black paper. They wrote about what it would be like to be nocturnal.
4. Math - We are learning about measurement and different tools that can be used to measure. Today the kids measured various items in our classroom with unifix cubes.
5. Reading - The kids conference 1:1 with me.
We are back with spelling words this week! The kids received Rainbow Words for homework and it is due tomorrow, Tuesday, 10.18. This week we are working on the ing family. There are also two tricky homophones: aunt and ant.
In math we practiced skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s. We did this with math races. The kids LOVE these! In math races each table group works together. They pass around a white board and count by 2s, 5s or 10s. Each child has to write the correct number before passing it on. The first table to count correctly to the designated number wins a prize. The prize is different every time and the kids have so much fun with this! This is a great way to practice skip counting and it is something you can do at home. We are continuing our work in chapter 5 in our math book, a unit about adding on, counting up and doubles. Today we focused specifically on counting up. This was a bit of a challenging concept for the kids, and they worked hard to understand the material and stay focused. We'll have a lot of practice with this concept over the next few days.
This week in computers we will learn all about owls! If you'd like to see what the kids do in computers, check back at the end of the week and look for the blog posting called “Computers, 10/21.”
The kids are already very excited for Halloween! This year all Harleson class parties will be on Friday, October 28th. We will also have our Halloween parade on that day as well. We will study pumpkins next week to get ready for Halloween.
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
It's great to be back at Harelson! I hope everyone had a wonderful time during Fall Break. The kids were happy to be back in the routine of school and they enjoyed sharing their stories with their friends. The kids did a wonderful job working hard and staying focused after the week long break. I was so impressed with everyone!
Important Dates
* 1st Quarter Report Cards will be sent home in your child’s homework folder this Friday, October 21.
* Our Halloween party is next Friday, October 28.
This week we are doing a guided reading and science unit on owls! Each day we will learn about a different type of owl. Today we learned about the characteristics and life cycle of a barn owl. The kids loved learning about the barn owl! The kids learned what wingspan is and they even practiced making their own wingspan and flying like an owl. They learned that a barn owl makes a different sound than most owls. Kids - be sure to show your parents what a barn owl sounds like! We are making a neat book. It is in the shape of an owl, and each day the kids will write owl facts on one of the owl's "feathers." The books are off to a great start already! The kids had a lot of fun with this activity. This week we will also learn about burrowing, pygmy and elf owls. We will do a lot of kinesthetic activities like owl calling, flying and burrowing to help the kids really learn the information. They always have a lot of fun with activities like this!
In reading we are working on reading non-fiction texts with academic and scientific vocabulary. We are also working on understanding the term “making connections” and the kids are practicing making text to text and text to self connections.
The kids had a great time in centers today. I switched the center groups so the kids will work with different friends over the next few weeks. The kids enjoyed working with and getting to know new friends. The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids watched two National Geographic Kids videos, Snowy Owls and Vampire Bats, on the computer. After that, they wrote characteristics specific to each animal and characteristics shared by both animals.
2. Science - The kids sequenced the 4 stages in the life cycle of a barn owl. They made a neat book in the shape of an owl egg that shows each stage.
3. Writing - We learned that most owls are nocturnal. The kids used white pencils and they wrote on black paper. They wrote about what it would be like to be nocturnal.
4. Math - We are learning about measurement and different tools that can be used to measure. Today the kids measured various items in our classroom with unifix cubes.
5. Reading - The kids conference 1:1 with me.
We are back with spelling words this week! The kids received Rainbow Words for homework and it is due tomorrow, Tuesday, 10.18. This week we are working on the ing family. There are also two tricky homophones: aunt and ant.
In math we practiced skip counting by 2s, 5s and 10s. We did this with math races. The kids LOVE these! In math races each table group works together. They pass around a white board and count by 2s, 5s or 10s. Each child has to write the correct number before passing it on. The first table to count correctly to the designated number wins a prize. The prize is different every time and the kids have so much fun with this! This is a great way to practice skip counting and it is something you can do at home. We are continuing our work in chapter 5 in our math book, a unit about adding on, counting up and doubles. Today we focused specifically on counting up. This was a bit of a challenging concept for the kids, and they worked hard to understand the material and stay focused. We'll have a lot of practice with this concept over the next few days.
This week in computers we will learn all about owls! If you'd like to see what the kids do in computers, check back at the end of the week and look for the blog posting called “Computers, 10/21.”
The kids are already very excited for Halloween! This year all Harleson class parties will be on Friday, October 28th. We will also have our Halloween parade on that day as well. We will study pumpkins next week to get ready for Halloween.
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
October 3, 2011
Weekly Update, October 3 - 7
Hello Stupendous First Graders and Super First Grade Families!
Reminders:
* Conferences are this week.
* We have early release days Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
* We do NOT have new spelling words for the week.
This week we are doing a social studies unit on Flat Stanley! We are also continuing our study of Johnny Appleseed in our center activities. Flat Stanley is a chapter book and the kids are so excited to read another chapter book. I will read one chapter to the kids each day and then we will do a Flat Stanley activity. Today we read chapter 1 and we learned how Stanley became Flat Stanley! After we read, the kids made their own Flat Stanleys. They turned out so great! The kids will take their own Flat Stanley with them on Fall Break and write about their adventures! On Tuesday we will read about Flat Stanley’s adventure of being mailed as a letter and the kids will write a friendly letter to Flat Stanley. On Wednesday we will read about how Flat Stanley gets turned into a kite and the kids will make (and fly!) their own Flat Stanley kites. On Thursday we will read about how being flat helped Stanley solve a crime. The kids will explore the classroom to find flat things and they will write about why flat things are helpful. On Friday we will read about the adventures that Arthur, Flat Stanley’s brother, plans for him. The kids will write about the adventures they want to take Flat Stanley on during Fall Break.
The kids have an activity to do with their Flat Stanley over Fall Break. This is due by Tuesday, October 18, 2011.
The kids had a great time in centers and they worked so hard! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids watched a story about Johnny Appleseed on the computer. It is a neat video where a narrator tells the story of Johnny Appleseed and he draws an illustration as he talks. After the video, the kids write about Johnny Appleseed using Johnny Appleseed specific vocabulary.
2. Science - The kids loved practicing the scientific method to complete a science experiment! The kids did an experiment to see what would happen when you put a carrot and an apple in water. They hypothesized, performed the experiment, recorded their results and made their conclusions. They even got to draw a picture! They were excited to learn a lot of great science vocabulary and they loved doing the experiment!
3. Writing - The kids learned and wrote about Johnny Appleseed while reviewing their mapping skills from a few weeks ago. The kids followed directions and used their mapping knowledge to learn where Johnny Appleseed planted his apples. After they were done they wrote 3 facts about Johnny Appleseed and they also wrote what they liked about him.
4. Math - The kids did two activities: sequencing and patterning. In the sequencing activity, they sequenced the steps that Johnny Appleseed would take to plant his apple trees. In the patterning activity, they looked at patterns and decided what would come next. After that, they created their own pattern.
5. Reading - The kids read leveled books in the Bee Quiet corner. The children are on new reading levels and they are enjoying their new levels!
In writing we worked on writing friendly letters and writing thank you letters. The kids are becoming experts at letter writing!
In reading we are working on reading for information, retelling and predictions. The kids are having fun making predictions about Flat Stanley!
In math we finished Chapter, 4 a subtraction unit. We will do review activities for chapters 1 – 4 and take a test later this week. We will aim to begin chapter 5, a chapter on addition strategies, at the end of the week.
Kids – be sure to check the weekly questions! Answer them and show your parents how much you learned and how smart you are!
Have a great Fall Break and I’ll see you on the 17th!
Mrs. Johnston
September 26, 2011
Weekly Update, September 26 - 30
Hello Spectacular First Graders and Super First Grade Families!
Reminders:
1. Conferences are next week. Please return your conference sheet to me as soon as possible.
2. We have early outs Tuesday - Friday, October 4 - 7, for conferences.
This week we are doing a science/social studies unit on Johnny Appleseed and the life cycle of an apple tree. We had a fun day learning about Johnny Appleseed and why he is important! For guided reading, we learned about Johnny Appleseed's life and how he helped bring apple trees to many states in our country. Kids - can you remember the states where Johnny Appleseed planted his trees? Can you remember the abbreviations for each state? After we read about Johnny Appleseed, we got to have our very own apple tasting! We tasted Red Delicious, Granny Smith and Fuji. Thank you so much for all the apple donations! The kids had so much fun with the tasting. After we tasted our apples, we made an "I Like Apples" book. Each child wrote his/her favorite kind of apple and decorated a picture for his/her page. Once the book is finished, it will go in the Bee Quiet Corner so everyone can enjoy it! On Tuesday and Wednesday the class will divide into 2 groups to complete 2 different activities (watching a video about Johnny Appleseed and taking a comprehension quiz and reading a story about and apple tree and making an apple tree). On Thursday, we will learn about the life cycle of an apple tree and about the changes that happen to trees during the different seasons. Each table group will take a different season and the children will work together to represent an apple tree for their season. The kids are really looking forward to Thursday! On Friday the kids will read a book about the life cycle of an apple tree. The will sequence the apple tree's life cycle. The kids are really enjoying this unit so far!
In reading we are working on reviewing word chunks and the sounds they make to read more difficult words. We continue to use the Beanie Baby strategies daily to help in reading.
The kids loved centers today! The centers for the week include:
1. Arts and Crafts: Apple Masks - The kids created apple tree masks for summer and fall. The summer masks have leaves and the fall masks have apples. They got to be creative with their coloring and they even learned how to do some tricky cutting!
2. Science: Apple Painting - The kids had to guess how to cut an apple to get the seeds to make a star. They watched as the apples were cut to see if their guesses were correct. After the apples were cut, they painted apple pictures.
3. Writing: Apple Person - The kids got to make an apple person! They colored and cut an apple and attached strips of paper for arms and legs. They wrote facts about apples on the arms and legs. These turned out so great! They are hanging up in the room!
4. Arts and Crafts: Apple Masks - The kids created apple tree masks for spring and winter. The spring masks have flowers and the winter masks have bare tree branches.
5. Reading: Kids read different books about Johnny Appleseed.
We do not have new spelling words this week. Since it is the week before report cards, we will be doing a lot of testing in all subjects, including spelling. The children will take a test each day on spelling words we have already practiced. These tests will be used to have the most up to date scores for their report cards.
In math we are working on chapter 4, a subtraction chapter. We are also working on a variety of assessments (counting, writing numbers, addition, subtraction) for the report card.
MAP testing in the upper grades is now complete and we are able to get back in the lab this week! We will work on independently going to the class blog, using the features of the blog and completing the assignment.
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
Reminders:
1. Conferences are next week. Please return your conference sheet to me as soon as possible.
2. We have early outs Tuesday - Friday, October 4 - 7, for conferences.
This week we are doing a science/social studies unit on Johnny Appleseed and the life cycle of an apple tree. We had a fun day learning about Johnny Appleseed and why he is important! For guided reading, we learned about Johnny Appleseed's life and how he helped bring apple trees to many states in our country. Kids - can you remember the states where Johnny Appleseed planted his trees? Can you remember the abbreviations for each state? After we read about Johnny Appleseed, we got to have our very own apple tasting! We tasted Red Delicious, Granny Smith and Fuji. Thank you so much for all the apple donations! The kids had so much fun with the tasting. After we tasted our apples, we made an "I Like Apples" book. Each child wrote his/her favorite kind of apple and decorated a picture for his/her page. Once the book is finished, it will go in the Bee Quiet Corner so everyone can enjoy it! On Tuesday and Wednesday the class will divide into 2 groups to complete 2 different activities (watching a video about Johnny Appleseed and taking a comprehension quiz and reading a story about and apple tree and making an apple tree). On Thursday, we will learn about the life cycle of an apple tree and about the changes that happen to trees during the different seasons. Each table group will take a different season and the children will work together to represent an apple tree for their season. The kids are really looking forward to Thursday! On Friday the kids will read a book about the life cycle of an apple tree. The will sequence the apple tree's life cycle. The kids are really enjoying this unit so far!
In reading we are working on reviewing word chunks and the sounds they make to read more difficult words. We continue to use the Beanie Baby strategies daily to help in reading.
The kids loved centers today! The centers for the week include:
1. Arts and Crafts: Apple Masks - The kids created apple tree masks for summer and fall. The summer masks have leaves and the fall masks have apples. They got to be creative with their coloring and they even learned how to do some tricky cutting!
2. Science: Apple Painting - The kids had to guess how to cut an apple to get the seeds to make a star. They watched as the apples were cut to see if their guesses were correct. After the apples were cut, they painted apple pictures.
3. Writing: Apple Person - The kids got to make an apple person! They colored and cut an apple and attached strips of paper for arms and legs. They wrote facts about apples on the arms and legs. These turned out so great! They are hanging up in the room!
4. Arts and Crafts: Apple Masks - The kids created apple tree masks for spring and winter. The spring masks have flowers and the winter masks have bare tree branches.
5. Reading: Kids read different books about Johnny Appleseed.
We do not have new spelling words this week. Since it is the week before report cards, we will be doing a lot of testing in all subjects, including spelling. The children will take a test each day on spelling words we have already practiced. These tests will be used to have the most up to date scores for their report cards.
In math we are working on chapter 4, a subtraction chapter. We are also working on a variety of assessments (counting, writing numbers, addition, subtraction) for the report card.
MAP testing in the upper grades is now complete and we are able to get back in the lab this week! We will work on independently going to the class blog, using the features of the blog and completing the assignment.
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
September 19, 2011
Weekly Update, September 19 - 23
Hello Awesome First Graders and Amazing First Grade Families!
Updated this week: Reading Logs
Reading logs can now be turned in weekly, on Friday. The children should still keep their reading logs in their folders, as I will check in with them throughout the week during reading group time.
Reminders for the week:
1. Our zoo field trip is on Friday! Please have your child wear his/her blue “Johnston’s Busy Bees” shirt. Please send in a completely disposable, labeled lunch and drink with your child.
2. Picture day is this Wednesday, September 21.
What a fun day we had learning about zebras and getting ready for our zoo field trip! The children were so focused during our science guided reading and they can't wait until Friday's field trip! It is so great to see all of their excitement! Today we learned the word unique and why zebras are unique. Kids – be sure to tell you parents why zebras are special! Tomorrow we will learn about lions. We will learn the word “distinguishing” and we will learn how to distinguish between male and female lions. On Wednesday we will learn about polar bears and we will learn about the arctic climate. On Thursday we will learn about monkeys and we will learn the characteristics of spectacled langurs, snub nose monkeys and owl monkeys. Each day the children will write three facts about the animal and then draw a picture. On Friday, the kids will put all their animal pages together to make a book! It’s going to be a wild week!
In writing we are working on non-fiction writing by writing animal facts. We will also get practice at the end of the week writing thank you letters.
In reading we are working on non-fiction reading with our animal study. We will focus on strategies for reading more difficult text.
The kids loved centers today! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The children listen to "Going to the Zoo." They have a monkey match to complete and then they write their favorite part of the story.
2. Science - The children learn about the names of different animals by completing an animal word search. After the word search, they write about their favorite animal in their science journal.
3. Writing - The children write about their favorite zoo animal. They are using lots of great detail to describe why it is the favorite.
4. Math - The children are preparing for our upcoming assessments by completing addition practice. They are also working on number formation. The children also worked in pairs with flash cards to practice addition. They really enjoyed this!
5. Reading - The children learned self selected from a variety of animal/zoo books and they read in the Bee Quiet Corner.
We practiced our spelling words. The children came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week we are working on the "en" family. We got in some more homophone practice and we have 2 tricky homophones this week: for and four. The children have had exposure to these homophones over the last few weeks, so this should be review for them.
In math we are working on chapter 4, a subtraction application chapter. Subtraction is traditionally much more challenging than addition and so I am excited to see how well the kids are doing with this concept. We will also completed a zebra glyph today. The kids are getting very proficient at glyphs! Way to go!
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
Updated this week: Reading Logs
Reading logs can now be turned in weekly, on Friday. The children should still keep their reading logs in their folders, as I will check in with them throughout the week during reading group time.
Reminders for the week:
1. Our zoo field trip is on Friday! Please have your child wear his/her blue “Johnston’s Busy Bees” shirt. Please send in a completely disposable, labeled lunch and drink with your child.
2. Picture day is this Wednesday, September 21.
What a fun day we had learning about zebras and getting ready for our zoo field trip! The children were so focused during our science guided reading and they can't wait until Friday's field trip! It is so great to see all of their excitement! Today we learned the word unique and why zebras are unique. Kids – be sure to tell you parents why zebras are special! Tomorrow we will learn about lions. We will learn the word “distinguishing” and we will learn how to distinguish between male and female lions. On Wednesday we will learn about polar bears and we will learn about the arctic climate. On Thursday we will learn about monkeys and we will learn the characteristics of spectacled langurs, snub nose monkeys and owl monkeys. Each day the children will write three facts about the animal and then draw a picture. On Friday, the kids will put all their animal pages together to make a book! It’s going to be a wild week!
In writing we are working on non-fiction writing by writing animal facts. We will also get practice at the end of the week writing thank you letters.
In reading we are working on non-fiction reading with our animal study. We will focus on strategies for reading more difficult text.
The kids loved centers today! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The children listen to "Going to the Zoo." They have a monkey match to complete and then they write their favorite part of the story.
2. Science - The children learn about the names of different animals by completing an animal word search. After the word search, they write about their favorite animal in their science journal.
3. Writing - The children write about their favorite zoo animal. They are using lots of great detail to describe why it is the favorite.
4. Math - The children are preparing for our upcoming assessments by completing addition practice. They are also working on number formation. The children also worked in pairs with flash cards to practice addition. They really enjoyed this!
5. Reading - The children learned self selected from a variety of animal/zoo books and they read in the Bee Quiet Corner.
We practiced our spelling words. The children came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week we are working on the "en" family. We got in some more homophone practice and we have 2 tricky homophones this week: for and four. The children have had exposure to these homophones over the last few weeks, so this should be review for them.
In math we are working on chapter 4, a subtraction application chapter. Subtraction is traditionally much more challenging than addition and so I am excited to see how well the kids are doing with this concept. We will also completed a zebra glyph today. The kids are getting very proficient at glyphs! Way to go!
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
September 12, 2011
Weekly Update, September 12 - 16
Hello Super First Graders and Stupendous First Grade Families!
Reminders:
*The ice cream social is this Thursday, September 15 from 7:00 - 8:00.
*Our zoo field trip is Friday, September 23. Please have your child wear our blue class t-shirt (your child will receive his/her t-shirt later this week). Please send in a completely disposable lunch with your child.
*Please turn in your paper for our class directory. Thank you!
We had a fun day learning about the grain food group to kick off our science study on nutrition! Today we learned about grains and the kinds of foods that are in the grain group. We even learned a fun song to sing to help us remember the foods in the grain group. Kids - can you remember the song and sing it for your parents? This week we are going to be restaurant owners! We will create our own menu with foods from each group. Today we completed the grain portion of the menu. This week we will learn about vegetables, fruits, meats and dairy, and each day we will complete a new section of the menu.
The kids loved centers today! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The children listen to "More Spaghetti, I Say!" They complete a story map with the name of the book, characters, setting, their favorite part and any new words they learned.
2. Science - The children complete a food group graph. Students group the foods from their dinner into the correct food groups. Students answer questions about the food groups.
3. Writing - The children choose from a word bank of different foods to complete a story about lunch. The children write about the lunch.
4. Math - The children work to figure out how many ways they could order ice cream. There is a plain cone or a sugar cone, and there is mint, blueberry and grape ice cream. The children work to put different scoops on different cones to figure out how many choices there are in all.
5. Reading - The children learned how to play spill and spell. Letter dice are "spilled" onto the table and they spell as many words as they can make before the timer runs out. This was a lot of fun for them!
We practiced our spelling words. The children came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week we are working on the "in" family. There are also three tricky homophones: are, hour and our. Because there is only room for 10 words, the children can write these on the back of their Rainbow Words.
This week in reading we are continuing to focus on independently using reading strategies. It is so neat to watch the kids use these strategies on their own! We are continuing to work on "tricky" letters and pairs, such as tricky c, bossy r and vowel combinations. The kids have made SO much progress in reading!
We finished chapter two in math last week and we began chapter 3, a subtraction chapter. The kids will use manipulatives and color to practice horizontal and vertical subtraction. We will also complete a food group glyph.
In computers we will practice finding the blog, commenting on the blog and going to Raz-Kids. Raz - Kids. The kids had a great time exploring the site and reading!
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
Reminders:
*The ice cream social is this Thursday, September 15 from 7:00 - 8:00.
*Our zoo field trip is Friday, September 23. Please have your child wear our blue class t-shirt (your child will receive his/her t-shirt later this week). Please send in a completely disposable lunch with your child.
*Please turn in your paper for our class directory. Thank you!
We had a fun day learning about the grain food group to kick off our science study on nutrition! Today we learned about grains and the kinds of foods that are in the grain group. We even learned a fun song to sing to help us remember the foods in the grain group. Kids - can you remember the song and sing it for your parents? This week we are going to be restaurant owners! We will create our own menu with foods from each group. Today we completed the grain portion of the menu. This week we will learn about vegetables, fruits, meats and dairy, and each day we will complete a new section of the menu.
The kids loved centers today! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The children listen to "More Spaghetti, I Say!" They complete a story map with the name of the book, characters, setting, their favorite part and any new words they learned.
2. Science - The children complete a food group graph. Students group the foods from their dinner into the correct food groups. Students answer questions about the food groups.
3. Writing - The children choose from a word bank of different foods to complete a story about lunch. The children write about the lunch.
4. Math - The children work to figure out how many ways they could order ice cream. There is a plain cone or a sugar cone, and there is mint, blueberry and grape ice cream. The children work to put different scoops on different cones to figure out how many choices there are in all.
5. Reading - The children learned how to play spill and spell. Letter dice are "spilled" onto the table and they spell as many words as they can make before the timer runs out. This was a lot of fun for them!
We practiced our spelling words. The children came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week we are working on the "in" family. There are also three tricky homophones: are, hour and our. Because there is only room for 10 words, the children can write these on the back of their Rainbow Words.
This week in reading we are continuing to focus on independently using reading strategies. It is so neat to watch the kids use these strategies on their own! We are continuing to work on "tricky" letters and pairs, such as tricky c, bossy r and vowel combinations. The kids have made SO much progress in reading!
We finished chapter two in math last week and we began chapter 3, a subtraction chapter. The kids will use manipulatives and color to practice horizontal and vertical subtraction. We will also complete a food group glyph.
In computers we will practice finding the blog, commenting on the blog and going to Raz-Kids. Raz - Kids. The kids had a great time exploring the site and reading!
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
September 6, 2011
Weekly Update, September 6 - 9
Hello Spectacular First Graders and Super 1st Grade Families!
***Webmail, our email server has not been working properly since Friday. I sent home a hardcopy version of the weekly email. I have been unable to receive/send emails all day. I apologize to those parents who have sent emails to me. I will respond to your emails as soon as it is back up and running. Thank you for your patience!
Welcome back from the long weekend! I hope everyone had a great time and enjoyed the extra day off. I was SO impressed with what a wonderful job the children did today (especially after being gone an extra day!). The kids were so focused and worked so hard. Way to go!!!
The children are really doing well working in centers. The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The children listened to "A Bargain For Francis.” They completed a sequencing page to practice identifying what happens in the beginning, middle and end of the story.
2. Science - The children are working with texture words. There are eight cards with texture words (bumpy, smooth, rough, etc.) and the children need to find items in our room that match those textures.
3. Writing - The children are writing about the best birthday party ever. They get to pretend that they can plan their perfect birthday party; they write all the details down for their special party.
4. Math - The children are working with unifix cubes. They explore different ways to make 5 and then write the addition sentences down for their findings.
5. Reading - The children explored the bee quiet corner to learn how to find books at their “just right” level.
This week we are doing a social studies unit on mapping. Today we learned what maps are and how they help us. We went on a search of the room to find the map in our room! Kids - see if you can find a map at home! Tell someone at home how maps help us. Tomorrow we will be learning about the elements of a map and on Thursday and Friday we will be creating a class map.
In reading we are working on understanding and independently using reading strategies. We are continuing our work with sequencing.
We practiced our new spelling words. The children came home with Rainbow Words for homework and they are due tomorrow. This week we are working on the "ap" family. The children learned about homophones and what it means for words to be homophones (two or more words that sound the same, the words are spelled differently and the words mean different things). This week's "ap" family words include the homophones rap and wrap.
Today in math we did a house glyph. The kids are really getting great at following multi-step directions and correctly completing their glyphs. Today the children practiced collecting data from the glyphs in small groups. They did a great job working collaboratively!
Reminders and Information
1. Kids - please bring your homework folder to school every day. Remembering to bring your homework folder helps you follow our class rule of being responsible.
2. Library is on Monday. Kids - please remember to bring your books back!
3. Our zoo field trip is Friday, September 23. I have 5 parent volunteer spots. If you would like to come on the trip, please let me know! If I receive more than 5 responses, parent names will be drawn randomly.
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
***Webmail, our email server has not been working properly since Friday. I sent home a hardcopy version of the weekly email. I have been unable to receive/send emails all day. I apologize to those parents who have sent emails to me. I will respond to your emails as soon as it is back up and running. Thank you for your patience!
Welcome back from the long weekend! I hope everyone had a great time and enjoyed the extra day off. I was SO impressed with what a wonderful job the children did today (especially after being gone an extra day!). The kids were so focused and worked so hard. Way to go!!!
The children are really doing well working in centers. The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The children listened to "A Bargain For Francis.” They completed a sequencing page to practice identifying what happens in the beginning, middle and end of the story.
2. Science - The children are working with texture words. There are eight cards with texture words (bumpy, smooth, rough, etc.) and the children need to find items in our room that match those textures.
3. Writing - The children are writing about the best birthday party ever. They get to pretend that they can plan their perfect birthday party; they write all the details down for their special party.
4. Math - The children are working with unifix cubes. They explore different ways to make 5 and then write the addition sentences down for their findings.
5. Reading - The children explored the bee quiet corner to learn how to find books at their “just right” level.
This week we are doing a social studies unit on mapping. Today we learned what maps are and how they help us. We went on a search of the room to find the map in our room! Kids - see if you can find a map at home! Tell someone at home how maps help us. Tomorrow we will be learning about the elements of a map and on Thursday and Friday we will be creating a class map.
In reading we are working on understanding and independently using reading strategies. We are continuing our work with sequencing.
We practiced our new spelling words. The children came home with Rainbow Words for homework and they are due tomorrow. This week we are working on the "ap" family. The children learned about homophones and what it means for words to be homophones (two or more words that sound the same, the words are spelled differently and the words mean different things). This week's "ap" family words include the homophones rap and wrap.
Today in math we did a house glyph. The kids are really getting great at following multi-step directions and correctly completing their glyphs. Today the children practiced collecting data from the glyphs in small groups. They did a great job working collaboratively!
Reminders and Information
1. Kids - please bring your homework folder to school every day. Remembering to bring your homework folder helps you follow our class rule of being responsible.
2. Library is on Monday. Kids - please remember to bring your books back!
3. Our zoo field trip is Friday, September 23. I have 5 parent volunteer spots. If you would like to come on the trip, please let me know! If I receive more than 5 responses, parent names will be drawn randomly.
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
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