Welcome Back!
It's great to be back after Spring Break! I hope everyone had a wonderful week off. The kids were happy to see their friends and share their adventures!
The 3rd quarter report cards go home in the red folders this Wednesday, March 30. Parents, please sign the report card envelope and return only the envelope by this Friday, April 1. Students - if you bring the envelopes back on Thursday you will get 3 bee bucks! Thank you!
This week in science and guided reading we are learning about desert animals to get ready for our field trip to the Desert Museum next week. The kids are so excited for the trip! Today we learned about the characteristics of coyotes. On Tuesday we will learn about the characteristics of bobcats and how they got their name. On Wednesday we will learn about gila monsters and why they are unique. On Thursday we will learn about javelinas and how to differentiate between a javelina and a pig. On Friday we will review the animals and see a short National Geographic video about the desert.
In writing we are working on a variety of different things, including poetry, stories and brainstorming. Each day the kids will do their writing and then color a picture of the animal we learned about. They will have their own book of desert animals at the end of the week! Today the kids wrote "How To Be A Coyote" poems. They have made so much progress with their poetry and these were so fun to read! Tomorrow the kids will write a story about running into a bobcat. On Wednesday the kids will learn how to do a brainstorm burst and they will do one about a gila monster. On Thursday the kids will write a "What Am I?" poem about either a coyote, bobcat, gila monster or javelina. On Friday the kids will use a picture of the desert to guide them in writing a story about the desert at night.
The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week in making words we are reviewing the "ay" chunk and looking for "ay" patterns. We will also look at tricky/silent letters, such as the "j" in javelina. We will continue to review "not" contractions.
The kids enjoyed our desert centers. The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to "The Tortoise and the Hair." They made a paper plate desert tortoise.
2. Science - The kids made a day and night wheel. The wheel shows what desert animals are nocturnal and what desert animals are diurnal.
3. Writing - The kids pretended to be reporters writing for "The Desert Reporter."
4. Math - The kids made their own gila monster! They traced and cut their lizard on card stock and then they made a pattern with beans.
5. Reading - The kids played sight word bingo.
We started (and finished!) a patterning chapter before the break. The kids have a lot of experience with patterning so we are working on identifying and extending challenging patterns. After we finish advanced patterning we will begin a chapter on fractions. We will learn halves, thirds and quarters. We will use a lot of manipulatives and real life examples to make this challenging concept come alive.
The kids had fun in computers today. If you'd like to see what they did, click on the blog posting directly below this one, "Computers, 3/28."
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnson
March 28, 2011
Computers, 3/28
Desert Animals!
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 coyotes today! Are you excited to learn about other animals this week? You can learn even more about coyotes right now! Click here: http://www.desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-fact-sheets/coyote.php to read the Coyote Fact Sheet!
After you read, it's time to practice writing in a word document. In the word document, you need your name, the date, and your favorite thing about the coyote. We'll practice together! Remember to use our demands for writing! After you finish, please print your paper and turn it in to me.
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 coyotes today! Are you excited to learn about other animals this week? You can learn even more about coyotes right now! Click here: http://www.desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-fact-sheets/coyote.php to read the Coyote Fact Sheet!
After you read, it's time to practice writing in a word document. In the word document, you need your name, the date, and your favorite thing about the coyote. We'll practice together! Remember to use our demands for writing! After you finish, please print your paper and turn it in to me.
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
March 14, 2011
Weekly Update, March 14 - 18
May the Luck O' The Irish Be With You!
Important Dates
* St. Patrick's Day is this Thursday, March 17. Be sure to wear green to school!
* Our reading celebration pizza party is this Friday, March 18. Your child does not need to bring a lunch to school that day.
* The Jump-A-Thon for Heart is this Friday, March 18. Please wear red to school! We will participate in the jump-a-thon in the afternoon.
* Spring Break is March 21 - 25. Kids - let's keep working hard until Spring Break!
This week in social studies and guided reading we are learning about springtime and St. Patrick's Day traditions. Today we learned about the phrase "In like a lion, out like a lamb," and how it is used to describe springtime. Today we focused on "in like a lion," and tomorrow we will focus on "out like a lamb." On Wednesday we will build a trap for a leprechaun. They are really looking forward to this! On Thursday we are learning about leprechauns. On Friday we will learn about symbols and traditions of St. Patrick's Day.
In writing we are working on strong beginnings and strong endings. This means no more "Once upon a time," or "The end!" Today we discussed "in like a lion," and how it is a strong beginning. The kids practiced rewriting boring beginnings to make them strong. They made paper plate lions to remind them to write strong beginnings. Tomorrow we will discuss how "out like a lamb" is a strong ending and the kids will rewrite boring endings to make them strong. They will make a paper plate lamb to remind them to write strong endings. On Wednesday the kids will use what they know about strong beginnings and endings to write a leprechaun adventure story. On Thursday the kids will write facts about St. Patrick's Day and make their own rainbow and gold coin necklace! On Friday the kids will write their page to our class book, "My Favorite Thing About St. Patrick's Day." We write a class book at the end of each unit. We have quite a collection of books! The kids are great authors and they are always proud to read their books.
The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week in making words we will review different word families. We are also learning about contractions. We are starting with "not" contractions.
The kids enjoyed our St. Patrick's Day centers! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to St. Patrick's Day In The Morning and they wrote about when they feel lucky.
2. Social Studies - The kids played a fun dice game to create their own leprechaun!
3. Writing - The kids came up with an Irish name for themselves and for a leprechaun. They wrote a story about a leprechaun escaping!
4. Math - The kids colored and cut St. Patrick's Day dominoes and played the game.
5. Reading - The kids played Alpha-Bug-Soup, a game to help with with sight word reading and spelling.
We finished all of our math assessments for the report card! This was a lot of work and I am so happy with how hard the kids worked! We are working on learning how to tell time to the half hour. Kids - be sure to show your parents what you know about telling time!
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, 3/14."
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
Important Dates
* St. Patrick's Day is this Thursday, March 17. Be sure to wear green to school!
* Our reading celebration pizza party is this Friday, March 18. Your child does not need to bring a lunch to school that day.
* The Jump-A-Thon for Heart is this Friday, March 18. Please wear red to school! We will participate in the jump-a-thon in the afternoon.
* Spring Break is March 21 - 25. Kids - let's keep working hard until Spring Break!
This week in social studies and guided reading we are learning about springtime and St. Patrick's Day traditions. Today we learned about the phrase "In like a lion, out like a lamb," and how it is used to describe springtime. Today we focused on "in like a lion," and tomorrow we will focus on "out like a lamb." On Wednesday we will build a trap for a leprechaun. They are really looking forward to this! On Thursday we are learning about leprechauns. On Friday we will learn about symbols and traditions of St. Patrick's Day.
In writing we are working on strong beginnings and strong endings. This means no more "Once upon a time," or "The end!" Today we discussed "in like a lion," and how it is a strong beginning. The kids practiced rewriting boring beginnings to make them strong. They made paper plate lions to remind them to write strong beginnings. Tomorrow we will discuss how "out like a lamb" is a strong ending and the kids will rewrite boring endings to make them strong. They will make a paper plate lamb to remind them to write strong endings. On Wednesday the kids will use what they know about strong beginnings and endings to write a leprechaun adventure story. On Thursday the kids will write facts about St. Patrick's Day and make their own rainbow and gold coin necklace! On Friday the kids will write their page to our class book, "My Favorite Thing About St. Patrick's Day." We write a class book at the end of each unit. We have quite a collection of books! The kids are great authors and they are always proud to read their books.
The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week in making words we will review different word families. We are also learning about contractions. We are starting with "not" contractions.
The kids enjoyed our St. Patrick's Day centers! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to St. Patrick's Day In The Morning and they wrote about when they feel lucky.
2. Social Studies - The kids played a fun dice game to create their own leprechaun!
3. Writing - The kids came up with an Irish name for themselves and for a leprechaun. They wrote a story about a leprechaun escaping!
4. Math - The kids colored and cut St. Patrick's Day dominoes and played the game.
5. Reading - The kids played Alpha-Bug-Soup, a game to help with with sight word reading and spelling.
We finished all of our math assessments for the report card! This was a lot of work and I am so happy with how hard the kids worked! We are working on learning how to tell time to the half hour. Kids - be sure to show your parents what you know about telling time!
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, 3/14."
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
Computers, 3/14
Free Choice Day!
Let's start by voting in this week's poll. After you vote, please come to the floor in front of the Smart Board and we'll talk about today's activity.
Today is the free choice day for the quarter!!! Use your schema about the last free choice day we had; what are some things you can do on free choice day? Let's talk about our ideas.
Let's take a look at the blog and see what it has to offer for free choice day.
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
Let's start by voting in this week's poll. After you vote, please come to the floor in front of the Smart Board and we'll talk about today's activity.
Today is the free choice day for the quarter!!! Use your schema about the last free choice day we had; what are some things you can do on free choice day? Let's talk about our ideas.
Let's take a look at the blog and see what it has to offer for free choice day.
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
March 7, 2011
Weekly Update, March 7 - 11
Hello Sssssssssuper First Graders and Stupendoussssss First Grade Families!
The 1st grade musical, The Cheese Stands Alone, is this Thursday, March 10 at 6:30 pm. The kids have been working very hard and they are extremely excited! They will spend all day with Mrs. Brower on Wednesday to rehearse for their play.
Our reading celebration pizza party is next Friday, March 18th. We will have a picnic pizza lunch during lunch time. Your child does not need to bring a lunch that day.
The kids loved our bug study last week! We watched a few short video clips about amazing insects on Friday. Kids - the link to the website with the bug videos is now on my blog! It's in the LINKS section and it's the link called "Bug Videos." Enjoy!
Sssssss....this week we are learning about snakes in science and guided reading and the kids love it! Today we learned about the characteristics of the Western Diamondback. The kids learned some great new snake vocabulary. Kids - be sure to share it with your parents! The rest of the week we will learn about king snakes, garter snakes and green snakes. I personally had a lot of fun researching for this slithery unit. I can't wait to teach the kids slithery, slimy information and show AWESOME snake pictures to them!
In writing we are working on sssssssuper snake writing! Today we wrote "How To Be A Diamondback" and the kids had so much fun with these! They have made so much progress in poetry! Their "How To Be A Diamondback" poems are hung up on the wall in the shape of a snake (complete with a head and rattle!), so be sure to stop by to check out the kids' ssssssuper sssssnake writing! Tomorrow the kids will make king snake crowns with 8 different facts about king snakes. On Thursday the kids will practice their alliteration skills by writing 4 alliteration sentences on a swirly garter snake. On Friday, we will read the book "Verdi" to go with our green snake study. Verdi is a special python snake who learns how to be green. The kids will get to make their own Verdi snake and write about their favorite part of the book.
The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week in making words we are work on tricky vowel combinations.
The kids had fun in their slithery, slimy snake centers! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to "I Can Read About Reptiles" and they identified reptiles from the book based on different clues.
2. Social Studies - The kids tested their bug knowledge from last week with a game. They worked in partners to answer questions about bugs. For each question they answered correctly, they got to move along the snake shaped board.
3. Writing - The kids colored different pictures of baby snakes. They wrote about adventures of their baby snakes.
4. Math - The kids got a picture of a diamondback snake and they colored the diamonds in an ABBC pattern. After they colored, they cut their snake and they have their own swirly snake. These turned out great!
5. Reading - The kids read different snake books and they shared new snake facts with their reading group.
In math we are busy working on both measurement and assessments for the 3rd quarter report card. The kids are practicing measuring with inches and centimeters. They are learning to estimate measurements and compare measurements. The kids are taking report assessments on skip counting, addition, subtraction, place value, calendar elements, patterning and measurement.
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, 3/7."
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
The 1st grade musical, The Cheese Stands Alone, is this Thursday, March 10 at 6:30 pm. The kids have been working very hard and they are extremely excited! They will spend all day with Mrs. Brower on Wednesday to rehearse for their play.
Our reading celebration pizza party is next Friday, March 18th. We will have a picnic pizza lunch during lunch time. Your child does not need to bring a lunch that day.
The kids loved our bug study last week! We watched a few short video clips about amazing insects on Friday. Kids - the link to the website with the bug videos is now on my blog! It's in the LINKS section and it's the link called "Bug Videos." Enjoy!
Sssssss....this week we are learning about snakes in science and guided reading and the kids love it! Today we learned about the characteristics of the Western Diamondback. The kids learned some great new snake vocabulary. Kids - be sure to share it with your parents! The rest of the week we will learn about king snakes, garter snakes and green snakes. I personally had a lot of fun researching for this slithery unit. I can't wait to teach the kids slithery, slimy information and show AWESOME snake pictures to them!
In writing we are working on sssssssuper snake writing! Today we wrote "How To Be A Diamondback" and the kids had so much fun with these! They have made so much progress in poetry! Their "How To Be A Diamondback" poems are hung up on the wall in the shape of a snake (complete with a head and rattle!), so be sure to stop by to check out the kids' ssssssuper sssssnake writing! Tomorrow the kids will make king snake crowns with 8 different facts about king snakes. On Thursday the kids will practice their alliteration skills by writing 4 alliteration sentences on a swirly garter snake. On Friday, we will read the book "Verdi" to go with our green snake study. Verdi is a special python snake who learns how to be green. The kids will get to make their own Verdi snake and write about their favorite part of the book.
The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week in making words we are work on tricky vowel combinations.
The kids had fun in their slithery, slimy snake centers! The centers for the week include:
1. Listening - The kids listened to "I Can Read About Reptiles" and they identified reptiles from the book based on different clues.
2. Social Studies - The kids tested their bug knowledge from last week with a game. They worked in partners to answer questions about bugs. For each question they answered correctly, they got to move along the snake shaped board.
3. Writing - The kids colored different pictures of baby snakes. They wrote about adventures of their baby snakes.
4. Math - The kids got a picture of a diamondback snake and they colored the diamonds in an ABBC pattern. After they colored, they cut their snake and they have their own swirly snake. These turned out great!
5. Reading - The kids read different snake books and they shared new snake facts with their reading group.
In math we are busy working on both measurement and assessments for the 3rd quarter report card. The kids are practicing measuring with inches and centimeters. They are learning to estimate measurements and compare measurements. The kids are taking report assessments on skip counting, addition, subtraction, place value, calendar elements, patterning and measurement.
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, 3/7."
Have an A+ week!
Mrs. Johnston
Computers, 3/7
Super Snakes!
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 a slithery member of the reptile group, the snake today! To read more about reptiles, go here: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/ . Click on the pictures to read about the different kinds of reptiles.
When you're done reading, pick your favorite! Then, post a comment on the blog about your favorite reptile. In your posting be sure to write:
Your name
Name of your favorite reptile
1 fact about it
We'll practice posting on the blog and then it will be your turn! Remember to meet our demands for writing when you type on the computer!
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 a slithery member of the reptile group, the snake today! To read more about reptiles, go here: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/ . Click on the pictures to read about the different kinds of reptiles.
When you're done reading, pick your favorite! Then, post a comment on the blog about your favorite reptile. In your posting be sure to write:
Your name
Name of your favorite reptile
1 fact about it
We'll practice posting on the blog and then it will be your turn! Remember to meet our demands for writing when you type on the computer!
Have fun!
Mrs. Johnston
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