ICE Plans ( In Case of Evacuation)

Due to the hurricane evacuation I sent home a homework plan with your child.  Please try to keep them busy so that we don't lose the skills we have been working with. 

Reading- Study the theme 2 /week 2 words.  Read daily and fill in the reading log.  Look for CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words when you read.  Tell or write sentences with the words you find.  Retell the story to a parent or sibling.  Draw pictures of the characters and write a sentence to go with it.

Math -  Write to 100.  Practice counting by 2's and 5's.  Sort small items into groups of 10 and count them by 10's.  Eat an apple, how many bites did it take?  How many seeds did it have?  How many sit ups can you do?  How many jumping jacks can you do?

Spelling - Practice writing CVC words using short a, e and i.  Practice writing sentences with these words.  Your child should be able to spell: a, I, the, will, to, you, and, are, of.  Please help your child memorize these spellings.

Writing - Practice writing upper and lowercase letters using the correct form and size.  Practice writing your first and last name using the correct letter formation and size.

Journal - Write about what you and your family did during the storm.  Did you stay home?  Did you evacuate?  Draw a picture to go with your story.

Setting Goals in September

The first graders came back from Labor Day and are charged up and ready to go.  They have learned the rules, routines and procedures and are doing very well.  We will be working on the following skills:

Reading
Compare and Contrast
Noting Details
Opposites
Short vowels
Beginning and Ending Sounds

Math
Sorting by Attributes
Graphing
Color words
Number words
Directional words
Ordinal numbers

Writing
Letter formation
Letter size
Choosing a topic
Writing on a topic
Making writing fun to Read

Spelling
Spell-Out Words: a I the will to you and are of
Vowel sounds: short a, e and o in CVC words

Our S.T.E.M. project last week was a project involving balance using small cups.  The children were very creative building pyramids, animals, houses, towers and much more. 

Whewww~hewww...Week 2

FIRST GRADE IS IN FULL SWING

We are off to a great start in first grade.  Our daily routine is getting better each day.  We are focusing on independence and responsibility.  Please help your child develop routines for things at home and help them to work on independence. We are using the assignment books, please sign the bottom of the page after your child has completed all homework and you have checked over it.

Reading:

In reading we are working on short a words, beginning middle and ending sounds, sequencing, cause and effect and comprehension strategies.

Spelling:

Short vowel a, o and i used in VC and CVC words.  The spell-out words that we are reviewing are:

a, I, the, will, to, you & and.  

Phonics:

Beginning, middle and ending consonant sounds, blending sounds to make words.

Math:

Writing the digits correctly, graphing, color words, number words and directional words.

Please have at least one parent attend the parent meeting on Thursday, August 23.

Session one~6:00

Session two~7:00

This is a very important meeting.

Thank you for partnering with me to help your child get off to a great start.

Welcome to First Grade

It was so nice to welcome 18 bright happy first graders to my classroom.  We are going to have a  spectacular year.  I am excited that Mrs. Amy Wade will be our part time assistant this year.  I'm looking forward to digging into our curriculum and watching these firsties grow and succeed!  August will be filled with learning about our new friends and about how to be a great friend.  We will also focus on responsibility and independence.  Pete the Cat will be watching us and he may even give us a few tips on how first grade works.

I can't wait to get to know each child and their families.  Please fill out the information sheets in the green weekly folder and return those to me ASAP.  Feel free to contact me with any concerns. 

HeRe  wE gOOOOO.

March comes in like a LION and goes out like a LAMB!!!

We are working like lions, roaring through out new beginning "chapter books", writing creative stories, using adjectives to describe, designing and building leprechaun traps, spelling two syllable words, counting mixed change, adding two digit numbers, telling time, solving word problems...and reading fluently!!!  We are a fierce group who has worked  very hard thus far in first grade.  We are excited about the adventures that spring has to offer.

Field trip to Build a Bear
Field trip to Oatland Island
Field trip to Blue Heron Nature Center
Spring Musical

We will be studying about animals in April and May.  We are looking forward to learning about life cycles, habitats, living habits,  and special features of the animals who share out planet. 

Assignments for January 31-February 2

Math
Study all flash cards
Parents-Make a 10x10 grid
Students-write to 100 on teh 10 x 10 grid
Count 100 small items in groups of 10 (cereal, chocolate chips, noodles)

Reading
Review all words in theme 5
Begin studying week one of theme 6
Log daily

Spelling
Review all spell out words
Study the CvCe pattern using long -u : tube, cube, cute, rule, tune, June, use, mule, rude, tune
Study the CvC pattern of short u words: tub, cut, us, sub, us, run, bus, rug

Language
Write a sentence and a question in your zebra book each day.

**With parental guidance the children could research groundhogs:
Youtube: Fun Facts About Groundhogs
Youtube: How to draw a groundhog

Predict if the groundhog will see his shadow or now.  Go outside and make shadows using different things.

Write 3 facts you learned about groundhogs.

The * items are ideas for extra fun.

***We have been learning about cold weather.  We were going to watch The Magic School Bus in the Arctic.  This is a good video about how arctic animal keep warm.  We will be doing an experiment next week about blubber.

****We have been studying adjectives.  We are going to make a poster for each child in the class using adjectives to describe 1. Physical appearance and 2. Character traits
Your child can write 2 adjectives about each class member and we will compile our information on Monday.  We did Ashley's on Monday so we have hers.  We need
Hunter
Keaton
Eric
Keira
Jill
Collins
Nolan

I hope you all stay well!!

Brrrrrr.... It's Cold in First Grade.

January has been filled will topics related to cold weather.  Many of the students experienced snow for the first time.  Each student wrote a story about building a snow man in which they used the sequencing frame FIRST, NEXT, THEN, LAST as a guide to help with sequence and recall.  We made "snow paint" using glue and shaving cream and we used it to paint snowmen, the pictures dried into   puffy 3-D snowmen.   We made "snow" from cornstarch and lotion and enjoyed making snowballs with our classroom snow.  We put water and food coloring in an ice tray and left it in the fairy garden over night.  When we left it it was a liquid, but when we found it the next morning it had frozen into solid cubes.  We used these colored cubes to do ice drawings (we had to work quickly because the cubes were cold!!)  This week we will be studying about Arctic animals and how they survive in the cold.  We built a "den" in the math room to protect us from the cold...(the AC unit blowing full force!), we saw how a shelter is helpful in keeping us warm.  We will do an experiment using blubber to find out how important this fat layer is for our cold weather friends. 

In math we have been working on addition and subtraction facts with 2, addition facts that we call "doubles +1, graphing, tallying, counting by 2's, 5's and 10's forward and backwards, number words, double digit addition with out regrouping and word problems.  We will begin regrouping soon!!

We have completed Theme 5 in our reading series and we started the Accelerated Reader program.  Our reading skills are really getting stronger.  Stop by first grade and you may just find us curled up with a good book!