Welcome Back!
I hope everyone enjoyed the long rodeo weekend! The kids were happy to be back and share stories about their rodeo adventures with each other.
♥ Love of Reading Update ♥
We did it!!! The kids not only met our class goal of 500 books in the month of February, they SMASHED our goal and read an incredible 560 books! Kids - I am SO proud of all of you! You are such wonderful readers. Our celebratory pizza party will be in the next few weeks. I will send home information once I select the date. Way to go, 1st grade readers!
This week in science and guided reading we are learning about beautiful bugs! Each day we will learn about a different category of insects. Today we learned about the characteristics of beetles. The rest of the week we will learn about butterflies and moths and their life cycles, bees and wasps and how to tell the difference between them and flies, gnats and mosquitoes. The kids are really excited for this unit!
In writing we are working on poetry. Today the kids wrote a beetle acrostic poem on a picture of a beetle. These turned out SO cute! The kids will also write a "How To Be a Bee" poem and a "What Am I?" poem about a fly, gnat or mosquito. The kids really enjoy poetry writing! The kids will also get practice using a picture to guide their writing.
The kids' writing has really taken off over the last few weeks and it is SO exciting to see! We have done a lot of work with word choice (specifically explicit nouns and strong verbs) and, as always, conventions. It is great to see the kids use what they have learned in their writing. You may hear your child mention our "demands for writing." We have several demands for writing at this point in the year. We review them several times each day.
Our demands for writing:
1. Start each sentence with a capital letter.
2. Write all names and proper nouns with a capital letter.
3. End statement sentences with a period.
4. End question sentences with a question mark.
5. Use quotation marks to show when someone is talking.
6. ALWAYS use a finger space between your words!
Kids - you are doing a great job of remembering to meet all our demands each time you write! Parents - when you watch your child write, you can help your writer by asking him/her if he/she met the demands. It's most helpful to ask your child what the demands are and then see if he/she can correct it independently.
The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. In making words we are working on tricky homophones. We are reviewing homophones we have already learned and learning some new ones too.
The kids enjoyed their creepy, crawly centers today! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to Beautiful Bugs and then they made a Venn Diagram to compare Wood ants and Monarch butterflies.
2. Science - The kids looked at several dozen different (plastic!) bugs and categorized them. The kids made their own decisions about what categories to put the bugs in. Thank you, parents, for the bugs!
3. Writing - The kids looked at bug books. They picked their favorite bug from the book, drew a picture of it and then wrote an adventure about it.
4. Math - The kids made bugs out of pattern blocks. Each child took a turn playing teacher; that child made a bug and then he/she taught the other kids how to make the bug.
5. Writing - The kids made words out of different bug word chunks.
Our math chapters on shapes went great! The kids learned to look at shapes in space and identify shapes by descriptions. They also learned about lines of symmetry and following directions on a grid. We will take our test on symmetry and directions tomorrow and then begin our study of measurement. In measurement we will practice using rulers to measure items in inches and centimeters.
The kids enjoyed computers today. If you'd like to see what they did, click on the blog posting directly below this one, Computers 2/28.
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
February 28, 2011
Computers, 2/28
Beautiful Bugs!
Let's start by voting on this week's poll. After you vote, please come to the floor in front of the Smart Board to learn about our activity.
It was fun learning all about beetles today! We'll spend the whole week studying bugs and today you can get a head start in computers! Go here: http://kids.yahoo.com/animals/insects .
Pick a bug you would like to learn about and click on its name to read all about it. Look at the list of bugs...what do you notice about the list?
Have a creepy, crawly, buggin' good time!
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 to learn about our activity.
It was fun learning all about beetles today! We'll spend the whole week studying bugs and today you can get a head start in computers! Go here: http://kids.yahoo.com/animals/insects .
Pick a bug you would like to learn about and click on its name to read all about it. Look at the list of bugs...what do you notice about the list?
Have a creepy, crawly, buggin' good time!
Mrs. Johnston
February 21, 2011
Weekly Update, Februay 21 - 25
Happy Rodeo Week!
There is no school this Thursday or Friday for Rodeo. Kids - have a great time and remember to keep reading and fill out the hearts! The kids read an incredible 177 books last week! Our total is 397 books so we are well on our way to meeting our class goal of 500 books. Kids - I am SO proud of you!
This week in social studies we are studying the Tucson Rodeo and George Washington. Today we learned the definition of the word rodeo and the history of the Tucson Rodeo. On Wednesday we will learn the events of the Tucson Rodeo. The kids will look at pictures of the different events and use their schema about the rodeo to decide what the events are. Tuesday is George Washington's birthday. We will learn about the Father of our Country and compare him to Abraham Lincoln.
This week in writing we are working on word choice and questioning. The kids are doing a wonderful job using strong verbs in their writing! Today the kids made a list of strong verbs that describe the rodeo. On Wednesday they will write an acrostic poem about an animal in the rodeo. On Tuesday the kids will write a list of questions they would like to ask George Washington.
We also mailed our package to our pen pals in Ohio today! Each child in Mrs. Fullen's class will receive a letter. We also included a class book about the Arizona symbols and great pictures of our class in our Arizona shirts. The kids are so excited for their pen pals to receive the letters and for their pen pals to write back! This was such a fun experience for the class. Kids - be sure to tell your parents about what you did for your pen pal!
The kids are very excited about centers this week! There are 6 centers so the kids will visit 2 each day. The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listen to Armadillo Rodeo and complete a story map.
2. Science - The kids are learning about why the cactus is important in the desert and then they are making their own cactus with clay!
3. Writing - The kids are writing their own page for our class book about what event they would like to be in for the rodeo.
4. Social Studies - The kids are playing the traditional game of Memory. This is a rodeo version with different rodeo pictures.
5. Art - The kids are making a large cowboy with his very own horse!
6. Reading - The kids are reading different books about the rodeo and sharing 3 facts with their reading group.
The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week's spelling words are words that we use often in class so they are review. We are reviewing them because I have noticed that they are often misspelled! There are a few rodeo words too!
We are almost done with our study on shapes. The kids are doing a great job with this chapter! We took a test on shapes today and the class average was extremely high. Way to go! There is another chapter on shapes and once we finish that we will move on to measurement. We will learn how to measure items in the classroom by inches and centimeters.
The kids had fun in computers today. If you'd like to see what they did, please click on the blog posting directly below this one, Computers, 2/21.
Have an A+ rodeo week!
Mrs. Johnston
There is no school this Thursday or Friday for Rodeo. Kids - have a great time and remember to keep reading and fill out the hearts! The kids read an incredible 177 books last week! Our total is 397 books so we are well on our way to meeting our class goal of 500 books. Kids - I am SO proud of you!
This week in social studies we are studying the Tucson Rodeo and George Washington. Today we learned the definition of the word rodeo and the history of the Tucson Rodeo. On Wednesday we will learn the events of the Tucson Rodeo. The kids will look at pictures of the different events and use their schema about the rodeo to decide what the events are. Tuesday is George Washington's birthday. We will learn about the Father of our Country and compare him to Abraham Lincoln.
This week in writing we are working on word choice and questioning. The kids are doing a wonderful job using strong verbs in their writing! Today the kids made a list of strong verbs that describe the rodeo. On Wednesday they will write an acrostic poem about an animal in the rodeo. On Tuesday the kids will write a list of questions they would like to ask George Washington.
We also mailed our package to our pen pals in Ohio today! Each child in Mrs. Fullen's class will receive a letter. We also included a class book about the Arizona symbols and great pictures of our class in our Arizona shirts. The kids are so excited for their pen pals to receive the letters and for their pen pals to write back! This was such a fun experience for the class. Kids - be sure to tell your parents about what you did for your pen pal!
The kids are very excited about centers this week! There are 6 centers so the kids will visit 2 each day. The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listen to Armadillo Rodeo and complete a story map.
2. Science - The kids are learning about why the cactus is important in the desert and then they are making their own cactus with clay!
3. Writing - The kids are writing their own page for our class book about what event they would like to be in for the rodeo.
4. Social Studies - The kids are playing the traditional game of Memory. This is a rodeo version with different rodeo pictures.
5. Art - The kids are making a large cowboy with his very own horse!
6. Reading - The kids are reading different books about the rodeo and sharing 3 facts with their reading group.
The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week's spelling words are words that we use often in class so they are review. We are reviewing them because I have noticed that they are often misspelled! There are a few rodeo words too!
We are almost done with our study on shapes. The kids are doing a great job with this chapter! We took a test on shapes today and the class average was extremely high. Way to go! There is another chapter on shapes and once we finish that we will move on to measurement. We will learn how to measure items in the classroom by inches and centimeters.
The kids had fun in computers today. If you'd like to see what they did, please click on the blog posting directly below this one, Computers, 2/21.
Have an A+ rodeo week!
Mrs. Johnston
Computers, 2/21
Happy Rodeo Week!
Let's start by voting on this week's poll. After you vote, please come to the floor in front of the Smart Board to learn about today's activity.
It was fun learning about the Tucson rodeo today! What do you think it would be like to be in the rodeo? What would you wear? Would you ride an animal?
Last week we practiced writing in a word document. You did a great job using the keyboard and remembering our demands for writing! Today we are going to practice commenting on the blog. We'll do it together and then it will be your turn! On the blog comment please write your name and answer these questions:
I think it would be ... to be in the rodeo.
My favorite animal in the rodeo is...
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 to learn about today's activity.
It was fun learning about the Tucson rodeo today! What do you think it would be like to be in the rodeo? What would you wear? Would you ride an animal?
Last week we practiced writing in a word document. You did a great job using the keyboard and remembering our demands for writing! Today we are going to practice commenting on the blog. We'll do it together and then it will be your turn! On the blog comment please write your name and answer these questions:
I think it would be ... to be in the rodeo.
My favorite animal in the rodeo is...
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
February 14, 2011
Weekly Update, February 14 - 18
♥ Happy Valentine's Day!!! ♥
Today's Valentine's Day Party was so much fun! Thank you, parents, for donations of your time and supplies that made our party great. The kids had a wonderful time! We had 4 fun centers: movable dancing hearts, love bird valentines, teddy bear heart frames and heart crowns. Everything turned out so cute! The heart crowns were a class favorite and the kids loved wearing them! This afternoon we sorted and graphed conversation hearts, made a class book about Valentine's Day, passed out and opened valentines and decorated and ate cookies! What a fun day! My mom came to school today to join the Valentine's Day celebration. She read Arthur's Valentine to the kids and they were impressed with how she did the voices! She really enjoyed her time in our classroom!
Love of Reading month is going great! Last week the kids read an incredible 152 books! Our class total is now 231 books. We are almost half way to our goal! Great job kids and keep on reading! I am so proud of all of you! Kids - remember to fill out hearts at home. The books you read at home count toward our class total.
Happy Birthday Arizona! Today is also Arizona's 99th birthday! This week we will learn all about our great state! We will learn about the state flag, tree, flower and bird. The kids will write a book page per day to go with each symbol and, at the end of the week, each child will have his/her own Arizona book!
This week in writing we are working more with word choice. The kids did such a great job with strong verbs last week! Tomorrow the kids will write strong verbs that describe Arizona. On Wednesday, the kids will learn and write about explicit nouns that describe Arizona. On Thursday, the kids will use their lists of strong verbs and explicit nouns to write a short story about an Arizona adventure. I have a fun pen pal activity planned for Friday. My college friend, Mrs. Fullen, is a teacher in Ohio. Her students are learning about The United States of America and so our class will write letters to her students to tell them about Arizona. The kids are so excited to have pen pals!
The kids had fun in their Valentine's Day centers! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to It's Valentine's Day by Jack Prelutsky. After they listened, they made a valentine for someone special.
2. Social Studies - The kids played a valentine What's Missing? game. Several Valentine's Day items were placed on the table. The kids took turns covering the items and removing 1 or 2 items to test the rest of the group's memory. They really enjoyed this!
3. Writing - The kids worked on a Valentine's Day crossword puzzle.
4. Math - The kids played a greater than/less than/equal to game with cupids and hearts. The kids opened a heart to reveal 2 numbers and they placed the appropriate symbol between the numbers to compare them.
5. Reading - The kids worked on reading aloud to friends to read with inflection.
The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week in making words we are working on word chunk word races. The kids will be given a word chunk and then challenged to make as many words as they can with that chunk.
We are taking a break from our money study in math; we will come back to it toward the end of the year. This week we will jump ahead a few chapters to work on shapes. The kids will recognize shapes by names, points and other attributes.
Our science fair project turned out great! The kids worked SO hard on it and each child in the class played a role in putting the tri-fold display board together. We will turn in our project tomorrow and view the other projects on Thursday. Kids - be sure to tell you parents about our neat science project!
The kids had fun in computers today. If you'd like to see what they did, click on the posting directly below this one, Computers, 2/14.
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
Today's Valentine's Day Party was so much fun! Thank you, parents, for donations of your time and supplies that made our party great. The kids had a wonderful time! We had 4 fun centers: movable dancing hearts, love bird valentines, teddy bear heart frames and heart crowns. Everything turned out so cute! The heart crowns were a class favorite and the kids loved wearing them! This afternoon we sorted and graphed conversation hearts, made a class book about Valentine's Day, passed out and opened valentines and decorated and ate cookies! What a fun day! My mom came to school today to join the Valentine's Day celebration. She read Arthur's Valentine to the kids and they were impressed with how she did the voices! She really enjoyed her time in our classroom!
Love of Reading month is going great! Last week the kids read an incredible 152 books! Our class total is now 231 books. We are almost half way to our goal! Great job kids and keep on reading! I am so proud of all of you! Kids - remember to fill out hearts at home. The books you read at home count toward our class total.
Happy Birthday Arizona! Today is also Arizona's 99th birthday! This week we will learn all about our great state! We will learn about the state flag, tree, flower and bird. The kids will write a book page per day to go with each symbol and, at the end of the week, each child will have his/her own Arizona book!
This week in writing we are working more with word choice. The kids did such a great job with strong verbs last week! Tomorrow the kids will write strong verbs that describe Arizona. On Wednesday, the kids will learn and write about explicit nouns that describe Arizona. On Thursday, the kids will use their lists of strong verbs and explicit nouns to write a short story about an Arizona adventure. I have a fun pen pal activity planned for Friday. My college friend, Mrs. Fullen, is a teacher in Ohio. Her students are learning about The United States of America and so our class will write letters to her students to tell them about Arizona. The kids are so excited to have pen pals!
The kids had fun in their Valentine's Day centers! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to It's Valentine's Day by Jack Prelutsky. After they listened, they made a valentine for someone special.
2. Social Studies - The kids played a valentine What's Missing? game. Several Valentine's Day items were placed on the table. The kids took turns covering the items and removing 1 or 2 items to test the rest of the group's memory. They really enjoyed this!
3. Writing - The kids worked on a Valentine's Day crossword puzzle.
4. Math - The kids played a greater than/less than/equal to game with cupids and hearts. The kids opened a heart to reveal 2 numbers and they placed the appropriate symbol between the numbers to compare them.
5. Reading - The kids worked on reading aloud to friends to read with inflection.
The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week in making words we are working on word chunk word races. The kids will be given a word chunk and then challenged to make as many words as they can with that chunk.
We are taking a break from our money study in math; we will come back to it toward the end of the year. This week we will jump ahead a few chapters to work on shapes. The kids will recognize shapes by names, points and other attributes.
Our science fair project turned out great! The kids worked SO hard on it and each child in the class played a role in putting the tri-fold display board together. We will turn in our project tomorrow and view the other projects on Thursday. Kids - be sure to tell you parents about our neat science project!
The kids had fun in computers today. If you'd like to see what they did, click on the posting directly below this one, Computers, 2/14.
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
Computers, 2/14
♥ Happy Valentine's Day! ♥
Let's start by voting on this week's poll. After you vote, please come to the floor in front of the Smart Board to learn about today's activity.
Our Valentine's Day party was so much fun! What was your favorite part? Let's practice writing about it in a word document. We'll work on an example together and then it will be your turn! Be sure to include your name and date on your paper. On your paper write:
My favorite thing about our party was ...
It was my favorite because ...
Before we get started, let's review our demands for writing! As a super pre-second grade writer, what do you always do in your writing?
After your write and print your paper, you can go here http://www.akidsheart.com/holidays/valntine/valgms.htm to play Valentine's Day games!
Happy Valentine's Day!
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 to learn about today's activity.
Our Valentine's Day party was so much fun! What was your favorite part? Let's practice writing about it in a word document. We'll work on an example together and then it will be your turn! Be sure to include your name and date on your paper. On your paper write:
My favorite thing about our party was ...
It was my favorite because ...
Before we get started, let's review our demands for writing! As a super pre-second grade writer, what do you always do in your writing?
After your write and print your paper, you can go here http://www.akidsheart.com/holidays/valntine/valgms.htm to play Valentine's Day games!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Mrs. Johnston
February 8, 2011
Weekly Update, February 7 - 11
Hello Awesome First Graders and Amazing First Grade Families!
Yesterday's writing workshop was great; I missed my busy bees and I am glad to be back! I can't wait to share some of the new things I learned with my writers! Mrs. Hicks enjoyed her time in our first grade class!
Love of Reading
* The Love of Reading Month is off to a great start! The kids read 79 books last week! Way to go!
* There are hearts attached to the reading logs so the kids can fill them out when they're reading at home.
* Kids - you're doing an awesome job reading! I am so proud of you!
* Kids - let's be really responsible with our library books. If every single person in our class brings their books back, we will get a prize during library from Mrs. Elder! We haven't had a week like that yet...let's do it this week!
Valentine's Day
* Kids - you can bring in your valentine boxes any day this week! You can bring in your cards for your friends, too. Remember to bring in a valentine card for each friend in the class.
* Our party is Monday, February 14. We will have 4 centers in the morning; it will be a great day!
After a fun week of conducting our science experiment about the frequency of M and M colors, we are ready to put our project together! The kids absolutely LOVED doing the experiments and they look forward to putting our project together. We have a tri-fold board and we will work collaboratively to construct it to display all the elements of our project. We learned a lot of great new scientific vocabulary. Kids - be sure to share what you learned with your parents.
After we finish our science fair project we will study about Abraham Lincoln whose birthday is February 12. On Thursday we will learn about Lincoln's life and characteristics. On Friday we will learn about why he was important.
In writing we are focusing on word choice and using explicit nouns and strong verbs. We will write about Abraham Lincoln to practice this kind of great, detailed writing.
In making words we are working on recognizing words that end in y. We will also review words with the "bossy r."
The kids are doing a great job with their Abraham Lincoln centers! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to "A Picture Book of Abe Lincoln," and completed a story map to identify elements of the story.
2. Social Studies - The kids wrote 5 questions they would like to ask Abraham Lincoln. They colored and cut a picture of Lincoln and glued it to their questions.
3. Writing - The kids used the story starter, "One day I found a magic penny..." to write their own story.
4. Math - The kids practiced addition patterns with 2 and 3.
5. Reading - The kids read various Lincoln books and then shared what they learned with their center group.
We are making great progress with our money study! The kids really love a money bingo game (thank you to Mrs. Thacker for letting us borrow it!) and they are getting great at using money to shop and make different amounts. They got some great practice with money yesterday in computes. We continue to practice doing math facts quickly and increasing doubles skills.
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
Yesterday's writing workshop was great; I missed my busy bees and I am glad to be back! I can't wait to share some of the new things I learned with my writers! Mrs. Hicks enjoyed her time in our first grade class!
Love of Reading
* The Love of Reading Month is off to a great start! The kids read 79 books last week! Way to go!
* There are hearts attached to the reading logs so the kids can fill them out when they're reading at home.
* Kids - you're doing an awesome job reading! I am so proud of you!
* Kids - let's be really responsible with our library books. If every single person in our class brings their books back, we will get a prize during library from Mrs. Elder! We haven't had a week like that yet...let's do it this week!
Valentine's Day
* Kids - you can bring in your valentine boxes any day this week! You can bring in your cards for your friends, too. Remember to bring in a valentine card for each friend in the class.
* Our party is Monday, February 14. We will have 4 centers in the morning; it will be a great day!
After a fun week of conducting our science experiment about the frequency of M and M colors, we are ready to put our project together! The kids absolutely LOVED doing the experiments and they look forward to putting our project together. We have a tri-fold board and we will work collaboratively to construct it to display all the elements of our project. We learned a lot of great new scientific vocabulary. Kids - be sure to share what you learned with your parents.
After we finish our science fair project we will study about Abraham Lincoln whose birthday is February 12. On Thursday we will learn about Lincoln's life and characteristics. On Friday we will learn about why he was important.
In writing we are focusing on word choice and using explicit nouns and strong verbs. We will write about Abraham Lincoln to practice this kind of great, detailed writing.
In making words we are working on recognizing words that end in y. We will also review words with the "bossy r."
The kids are doing a great job with their Abraham Lincoln centers! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to "A Picture Book of Abe Lincoln," and completed a story map to identify elements of the story.
2. Social Studies - The kids wrote 5 questions they would like to ask Abraham Lincoln. They colored and cut a picture of Lincoln and glued it to their questions.
3. Writing - The kids used the story starter, "One day I found a magic penny..." to write their own story.
4. Math - The kids practiced addition patterns with 2 and 3.
5. Reading - The kids read various Lincoln books and then shared what they learned with their center group.
We are making great progress with our money study! The kids really love a money bingo game (thank you to Mrs. Thacker for letting us borrow it!) and they are getting great at using money to shop and make different amounts. They got some great practice with money yesterday in computes. We continue to practice doing math facts quickly and increasing doubles skills.
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
February 7, 2011
Computers, 2/7
Money and Graphing!
Let's start by voting on this week's poll. After you vote, please come to the floor in front of the Smart Board to learn about today's activity.
It's time to practice your skills with money! Go here: http://jmathpage.com/JIMSMeasurementmoney.html . There are 8 money games you can play to practice counting with change.
After you play the money games, you can practice sorting and graphing. Go here: http://jmathpage.com/JIMSStatisticspage.html . You can play games 1 - 12.
Have fun, mathematicians!
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 to learn about today's activity.
It's time to practice your skills with money! Go here: http://jmathpage.com/JIMSMeasurementmoney.html . There are 8 money games you can play to practice counting with change.
After you play the money games, you can practice sorting and graphing. Go here: http://jmathpage.com/JIMSStatisticspage.html . You can play games 1 - 12.
Have fun, mathematicians!
Mrs. Johnston
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
