Hello Super First Graders and Stupendous First Grade Families!


Welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful time during spring break. The kids were very excited to see their friends and talk about their spring break adventures.

The 3rd quarter report cards go home in the homework folders this Wednesday, March 27. Parents - please sign the report card envelope and return ONLY the envelope by this Friday, March 30. Kids - if you return your envelope on time, you will get three bee bucks! Thank you!

There is a field trip to The Desert Museum on Friday, March 29.

This week in science, guided reading and writing we are learning all about creepy, crawly spiders! Today we learned the characteristics of spiders. The kids made a paper plate spider, complete with 8 googly eyes! Tomorrow the kids will learn how a spider web is made and they will even get to see a short video clip of a spider spinning its web! On Wednesday we will learn about the life cycle of a spider. On Thursday we will read about spiders to learn if they are helpful or harmful.

The kids are doing SO well in writing! I have seen so much progress over the last few weeks and it makes writers' workshop so much fun! The kids are able to accomplish so much and they love sharing at the end of writers' workshop. This week in writers' workshop we are working on fact writing, using a picture to guide writing and story writing. Today the kids wrote 8 spider facts. Tomorrow they will write an acrostic poem about a spider web. On Wednesday they will look at pictures of the stages of a spider's life cycle and describe each stage. On Thursday they will use their thumb prints to make a spider picture and then write about how they would be helpful spiders. On Friday they will make their page to our class book about what they like best about spiders.

The kids came home with Rainbow Words and they are due tomorrow. This week in making words we are working more on writing words with the "are" contraction. We will focus on "you're" and "we're." Parents - you can look for this in your child's writing and see if your child can point it out in his/her reading.

The kids enjoyed their spider centers today! The centers for the week include:

1. Listening - The kids listened to "I Love Spiders" and they wrote 10 things they love/facts about spiders.
2. Science - The kids read "The Very Busy Spider" and they make their own spider web with glue and glitter on black paper. They colored and cut spiders to go with the web.
3. Writing - The kids read "Spider Names." They received a picture of a spider and they named it and wrote a story about it.
4. Math - The kids put a spider puzzle together and compared and identified spider and ant body parts.

This week in math we are working on telling time to the hour and half hour.

Have an A+ week!

Miss Klein

Weekly Update March 11-15

May the Luck O' The Irish Be With You!

Important Dates

* The Jump-A-Thon for Heart is this Friday, March 15. We will participate in the jump-a-thon in the afternoon.

* Spring Break is March 18 - 22. 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 Thursday we will build a trap for a leprechaun. They are really looking forward to this! 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.

In reading we are identifying strong beginnings and endings and discussing how they make the story more interesting.


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 contractionsWe are also working on making words that begin with the dr/fl/sn/sp chunks.


The kids enjoyed our St. Patrick's Day centers! The centers for the week include:

1. Listening - The kids listened The Luckiest St. Patrick’s Day Ever 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 sight word reading and spelling.


We are almost finished with all of our math assessments for the report card! This is a lot of work and I am so happy with how hard the kids worked!

Have an A+ week!

Miss Klein