Happy Friday! We had a great week in our classroom other than being forced to have indoor recess multiple days in a row. 😆 The students actually love it at times because they get to play "Four Corners." We are ready for some sunshine and the playground! The highlight of the week was definitely going to CSD's high school black box and watching the middle school dance performance of "The Greatest Showman." They did an amazing job!
February 26th Discovery Place Field Trip: Please have your child at school by 8:00 AM. The bus will be leaving CSD at 8:15 AM. Chaperones...I will email you separately but you will meet us at Discovery Place with your child at 8:45/8:50 AM. We will not have time for a morning snack so please feed your child a large, protein filled breakfast to keep them full until lunch. Please pack a normal lunch in their lunchbox and make sure to send a water bottle (it would be great if the water bottle could fit inside the lunchbox so it doesn't get lost). We will be eating at Discovery Place at some point between 10:30-12:30.
February 28th Camping Day: Because we are studying Kevin Henkes and one of his books Bailey Goes Camping, we are having our own camping day! Students can wear their pajamas and bring a flashlight for reading inside of the tents. We need some parents to send in some tents for us to borrow and it would be amazing if those parents could also come set up and break down their tent (so that it get's properly assembled and we don't mess it up). We will do fun camping activities all day, we will have hotdogs for lunch, and we will make s'mores! All of these items needed will be on a Sign Up Genius sent out.
March 4th Passion Project Materials Due: Please make sure to read my email I sent out Thursday morning about the Passion Project. Your child needs to pick their topic within the next few days so that you can begin collecting books, internet articles, magazines, scrapbook paper, stickers, etc. Once you begin to collect books and articles, please begin reading them with your child and highlight any important facts (if in an internet article). This will help your child tremendously when they begin the writing process of their project.
Math:
We had two new centers added into math workshop that involved shapes and greater than/less than. Students worked together with tangrams to recreate different pictures. We are reviewing 2D shapes before we move into 3D shapes. Students also played a game where they rolled two dice (if they rolled a 6 and a 4 their number would be 64) and their partner then rolled two dice and they had to pick which sign (< > =) would make the math sentence correct. Next week we will be working on the concept of ten more/ten less using the hundreds chart. Our goal is that they can add ten or subtract ten from any number between 1-150 by the end of first grade.
Literacy:
We moved onto a new concept during our writer's workshop that is called "authors as mentors." We discussed some of our favorite authors that are successful at writing fun, interesting, exciting stories that we get wrapped up into. We decided that we would choose Mo Willems as our "mentor" to study and write a story similar to. We discussed all of the things that Willems does that makes him a great author...funny jokes, interesting characters, punctuation, speech bubbles, a good storyline. All students then wrote their own Elephant and Piggie book styled just Mo Willems.
Thematic:
We studied Ezra Jack Keats this week during our "Author in Me" unit of study. Some of the books we read are Snowy Day, Whistle for Willie, and Peter's Chair. Many of Keats' books take place in a city so we reviewed our cardinal directions and students had to follow specific steps to create their own city. They enjoyed this activity! Students also used scrapbook paper to create their own scene from the book Peter's Chair. Monday we will get to make fake snow as we study the book Snowy Day. We will then move onto Kevin Henkes.
Love,
Mrs. James
Friday, February 22, 2019
Friday, February 15, 2019
February 11th-15th
Happy Friday! 🎉🎉🎉
It was great to see so many of you at the Valentine's Party or at parent conferences this week! We had a short week together but it was a productive one. We are also cleaning like crazy and diffusing thieves in an attempt to stop the flu epidemic in our classroom. Thank you for keeping your child home if they are showing any symptoms of illness in order to not spread their germs in our room. Thank you for also following the school's policy of your child being fever free for 24 hours.
February 18th: No school...President's Day
February 22nd Pet Show: We are studying the author Ezra Jack Keats and one of his famous books is called Pet Show. We are having our own pet show in the class and the students can bring in one stuffed animal on the 22nd that is small enough for them to carry into the school building.
February 26th (all day) Discovery Place Field Trip: We need more chaperones!!!!! We only have 4 as of right now and could really use some more help. The Sign Up Genius for chaperones was sent out two weeks ago. You will pay $17 (the normal admission price) upon arrival to Discovery Place instead of paying through CSD. You will drive your own child and meet us there. We will arrive to Discovery Place between 8:45-9:00 am and will stay the majority of the day. No siblings please.
February 28th Camping Day: We are studying Kevin Henkes next week and one of his books is Tacky Goes to Camp. We are having our own camping day where students get to wear their pajamas and we will have a special lunch (either hotdogs or pigs in a blanket) and will also make s'mores! We will need some tents to borrow so if you have a large tent that we could borrow, please email me! We will need you to come set it up and tear it down because we would hate to mess it up or not be able to figure out how to make it work.
***Please make sure your child is bringing the necessary items to school everyday including their blue folder (emptied), water bottle, lunch/snack, and a jacket. Please also make sure they bring their guided reading book and binder back on Friday. We have had a lot of these not brought to school on Friday's recently and really need the student's to make every effort to remember this. Some sort of reminder near their backpack would be perfect!
Math:
All throughout first grade we have been comparing numbers (greater than, less than, equal to) but we finally introduced the signs (<, >, =) to the students. Our curriculum had us wait until now to introduce the signs so that the students would fully grasp the concept first. They loved learning about the signs and an easy way we learned to remember that involves an alligator. You can ask your child to learn more about the alligator helper. :) We are also spiral reviewing back to word problems. We do "Word Problem Wednesday" where we specifically work on it for around 20 minutes as a class and in partners. We are working on reading the problem for meaning and understanding of what is known and unknown.
Literacy:
Our guided reading groups have shifted around since I assessed the student's on their reading recently and you may notice that they bumped up a level, or two, or three. This is exciting! I usually push the student's and put them on a little bit of a harder reading level since it is direct instruction in their small reading group. During the reading group, they should be able to read most of the book on their own but it is normal for them to struggle with certain words or difficult vocabulary. I guide them through this during our lesson and I would encourage you to help them with this at home when they read to you.
Thematic:
We are halfway through our Author in Me unit of study and the kids LOVED studying Mo Willems the past two weeks. He is the author of Elephant and Piggie books which are the student's favorite! Their favorite center was definitely when they got to create their own Elephant and Piggie book. Their other favorite center was when they got to create the pigeon in an art activity. They are displayed in the hallway and are so cute! They love finding the pigeon when we read Mo Willems' books. We are moving onto Ezra Jack Keats this week who writes The Snowy Day, Peter's Chair, Whistle for Willie, and Pet Show.
Have a great long weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
It was great to see so many of you at the Valentine's Party or at parent conferences this week! We had a short week together but it was a productive one. We are also cleaning like crazy and diffusing thieves in an attempt to stop the flu epidemic in our classroom. Thank you for keeping your child home if they are showing any symptoms of illness in order to not spread their germs in our room. Thank you for also following the school's policy of your child being fever free for 24 hours.
February 18th: No school...President's Day
February 22nd Pet Show: We are studying the author Ezra Jack Keats and one of his famous books is called Pet Show. We are having our own pet show in the class and the students can bring in one stuffed animal on the 22nd that is small enough for them to carry into the school building.
February 26th (all day) Discovery Place Field Trip: We need more chaperones!!!!! We only have 4 as of right now and could really use some more help. The Sign Up Genius for chaperones was sent out two weeks ago. You will pay $17 (the normal admission price) upon arrival to Discovery Place instead of paying through CSD. You will drive your own child and meet us there. We will arrive to Discovery Place between 8:45-9:00 am and will stay the majority of the day. No siblings please.
February 28th Camping Day: We are studying Kevin Henkes next week and one of his books is Tacky Goes to Camp. We are having our own camping day where students get to wear their pajamas and we will have a special lunch (either hotdogs or pigs in a blanket) and will also make s'mores! We will need some tents to borrow so if you have a large tent that we could borrow, please email me! We will need you to come set it up and tear it down because we would hate to mess it up or not be able to figure out how to make it work.
***Please make sure your child is bringing the necessary items to school everyday including their blue folder (emptied), water bottle, lunch/snack, and a jacket. Please also make sure they bring their guided reading book and binder back on Friday. We have had a lot of these not brought to school on Friday's recently and really need the student's to make every effort to remember this. Some sort of reminder near their backpack would be perfect!
Math:
All throughout first grade we have been comparing numbers (greater than, less than, equal to) but we finally introduced the signs (<, >, =) to the students. Our curriculum had us wait until now to introduce the signs so that the students would fully grasp the concept first. They loved learning about the signs and an easy way we learned to remember that involves an alligator. You can ask your child to learn more about the alligator helper. :) We are also spiral reviewing back to word problems. We do "Word Problem Wednesday" where we specifically work on it for around 20 minutes as a class and in partners. We are working on reading the problem for meaning and understanding of what is known and unknown.
Literacy:
Our guided reading groups have shifted around since I assessed the student's on their reading recently and you may notice that they bumped up a level, or two, or three. This is exciting! I usually push the student's and put them on a little bit of a harder reading level since it is direct instruction in their small reading group. During the reading group, they should be able to read most of the book on their own but it is normal for them to struggle with certain words or difficult vocabulary. I guide them through this during our lesson and I would encourage you to help them with this at home when they read to you.
Thematic:
We are halfway through our Author in Me unit of study and the kids LOVED studying Mo Willems the past two weeks. He is the author of Elephant and Piggie books which are the student's favorite! Their favorite center was definitely when they got to create their own Elephant and Piggie book. Their other favorite center was when they got to create the pigeon in an art activity. They are displayed in the hallway and are so cute! They love finding the pigeon when we read Mo Willems' books. We are moving onto Ezra Jack Keats this week who writes The Snowy Day, Peter's Chair, Whistle for Willie, and Pet Show.
Have a great long weekend!
Love,
Mrs. James
Sunday, February 3, 2019
January 28th - February 1st
Happy Sunday! I hope you all have had a great weekend so far. The weather has been beautiful and it has been nice to get outside. It is hard to believe we celebrated the 100th day of school last week! Please see below for upcoming events and a review of our week.
February 7th 10:30-11:00 AM Scholastic Book Fair: You are welcome to join us and help your child and other children pick out books! You may also send in money with your child in a Ziplock bag labeled with their name and we will help them pick out books.
February 13th 1:00 Valentine's Reading Party: You are invited to come read Valentines with your child that other students wrote for them. We will also have a Valentine's snack for your child to enjoy. *** Please have your child bring in their Valentines with them to school on the morning of the 13th because they will pass them out before the party
February 14th and 15th: No school...optional parent conferences
February 18th: No school...President's Day
February 26th (all day) Discovery Place Field Trip: We can have as many chaperones as we want so you are all invited to come! No siblings please. The Sign Up Genius for chaperones was sent out last week. You will pay $17 (the normal admission price) upon arrival to Discovery Place instead of paying through CSD. We will most likely arrive to Discovery Place around 9:00 AM and will stay the majority of the day.
Math:
Having had a half teacher workday on Friday, I was able to revamp all of our math workshop centers and I am so excited to start them tomorrow! The students absolutely LOVE the number tile games they are playing. We have number tiles that practice addition, subtraction, before/after/in between, ten more/ten less, hundreds board, addition doubles, etc. We are still working heavily on place value as this is a huge concept for the students to understand going into 2nd grade. We are also working on comparing numbers (greater than/less than) and will be introducing the signs soon (>, <, =).
Literacy:
We are continuing with our weekly guided reading groups, word sorts, Daily 5, and writer's workshop. Last week in WW, we began working on opinion writing. Students are working on picking something that they have a strong opinion on (when I modeled this style of writing for the students I chose the topic "Why I Think Beagles are the Best Kind of Dog"). So you may see your child come home with a book similar to this. :) They are doing a great job with coming up 3-4 reasons to support their opinion they chose. We will begin a new topic in writing this Thursday since it is February.
Thematic:
Last week we began our "Author in Me" unit. We will study four different authors and read many books that they wrote. They are Helen Lester, Mo Willems, Ezra Jack Keats, and Kevin Henkes. We began with Helen Lester who is an amazing author! She is most known for her books about Tacky the Penguin and has many other "lesson learning" books that include Hurty Feelings and Listen Buddy. We will be studying Mo Willems this week who is the author of the Elephant and Piggie books that the students love. We have many fun activities planned for this week and next involving Elephant and Piggie!
Have a great Super Bowl Sunday!
Love,
Mrs. James
February 7th 10:30-11:00 AM Scholastic Book Fair: You are welcome to join us and help your child and other children pick out books! You may also send in money with your child in a Ziplock bag labeled with their name and we will help them pick out books.
February 13th 1:00 Valentine's Reading Party: You are invited to come read Valentines with your child that other students wrote for them. We will also have a Valentine's snack for your child to enjoy. *** Please have your child bring in their Valentines with them to school on the morning of the 13th because they will pass them out before the party
February 14th and 15th: No school...optional parent conferences
February 18th: No school...President's Day
February 26th (all day) Discovery Place Field Trip: We can have as many chaperones as we want so you are all invited to come! No siblings please. The Sign Up Genius for chaperones was sent out last week. You will pay $17 (the normal admission price) upon arrival to Discovery Place instead of paying through CSD. We will most likely arrive to Discovery Place around 9:00 AM and will stay the majority of the day.
Math:
Having had a half teacher workday on Friday, I was able to revamp all of our math workshop centers and I am so excited to start them tomorrow! The students absolutely LOVE the number tile games they are playing. We have number tiles that practice addition, subtraction, before/after/in between, ten more/ten less, hundreds board, addition doubles, etc. We are still working heavily on place value as this is a huge concept for the students to understand going into 2nd grade. We are also working on comparing numbers (greater than/less than) and will be introducing the signs soon (>, <, =).
Literacy:
We are continuing with our weekly guided reading groups, word sorts, Daily 5, and writer's workshop. Last week in WW, we began working on opinion writing. Students are working on picking something that they have a strong opinion on (when I modeled this style of writing for the students I chose the topic "Why I Think Beagles are the Best Kind of Dog"). So you may see your child come home with a book similar to this. :) They are doing a great job with coming up 3-4 reasons to support their opinion they chose. We will begin a new topic in writing this Thursday since it is February.
Thematic:
Last week we began our "Author in Me" unit. We will study four different authors and read many books that they wrote. They are Helen Lester, Mo Willems, Ezra Jack Keats, and Kevin Henkes. We began with Helen Lester who is an amazing author! She is most known for her books about Tacky the Penguin and has many other "lesson learning" books that include Hurty Feelings and Listen Buddy. We will be studying Mo Willems this week who is the author of the Elephant and Piggie books that the students love. We have many fun activities planned for this week and next involving Elephant and Piggie!
Have a great Super Bowl Sunday!
Love,
Mrs. James
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