Student Appreciation Day!

Today we honored the students at Holy Name School for being outstanding young people. I truly enjoy working with the students each day and am thankful for all of them. The students were treated to some fitness centers today. We totally enjoyed the parachute activity and shooting basketballs. This was surely the highlight of our day. 

Back in the classroom we learned how to read r-controlled er, ir, and ur words. Reading them is easy but spelling them can be tricky. We also worked on drawing conclusions after reading a story. In Math class, we continued our study of the doubles plus 1 facts. 

Tomorrow the students are permitted to wear sweats to school. If they wish, they may being pajamas and slippers to change into during the afternoon. We will also have a 'drop everything and read' activity. Students are encouraged to bring a book from home to read during this time. 

Teaming Up for Catholic Education

Our Catholic School's Week activities continued today as we Teamed Up for Catholic Schools. The students enjoyed showing their school spirit as the dawned Holy Name School gear. 

In the classroom, first grade learned some new addition facts we call the doubles plus one facts. To find these answers, we find the double and then add one more. We will continue to practice these facts throughout the week. 

Tomorrow is Student Appreciation Day. Students are permitted to wear jeans to school. We will also participate in Fitness Centers. And so the fun  continues. 

Happy Catholic's School's Week

Welcome to Catholic School's Week: a week were we celebrate our school and all that Holy Name has to offer. Today marked the beginning of what should be a fun and exciting week for everyone. We were greeted by special lunch guests today. Many of us enjoyed eating lunch with our parents and shopping at the book fair. We were also treated to a Minute-To-Win-It program. First grade did a great job cheering everyone on! 

In addition to all that fun, we had fun learning in the classroom too. We continued practicing adding two two-digit numbers using dimes and pennies. We reviewed reading words with endings and r-controlled or words. We also read Frog and Toad with a partner. 

The excitement should continue tomorrow. Students are allowed to wear a Holy Name shirt over their uniform as we 'Team up for Catholic Education.' Tomorrow night is also our Family Literacy night. We will hear the story No Sleep for the Sheep and participate in many literacy activities. There is also a short program for parents as well. I hope you will be able to join us! 

Just a quick note, we will be visiting the book fair tomorrow, so if you wish, you may send money to school with your child. 

A Full Day At Last

Today was back to normal! We were finally able to read Frog and Toad Together. I've waited all week to read this story with the students. It is a short, funny story with two beloved characters. The students really enjoyed it, and many were looking for more Frog and Toad books in the library. 

Gym class was also fun today. We played kickball. It took us awhile to understand how to run the bases and what to do in the outfield. However, everyone left with smiles on their faces and sweaty hands. 

Just a reminder that tomorrow is Parent/Teacher Conferences. Sunday also marks the beginning of Catholic School's Week. Please look inside your child's folder to see a schedule of events next week. 

Another Cold Day!

Greetings! With this cold weather upon us, I just keep thinking that spring is two months away and dreaming of those warm summer days. I think we will all appreciate those hot days especially after these last two cold ones. 

 

Today in school we did some reviewing of our phonics sounds. In addition, we continued practicing adding two two-digit numbers. We also began something very exciting today. Starting today and continuing through to the 100th day of school, we will be reviewing sight words learned by creating our own 100 New Words in 100 Days booklet. The students are so excited about this project. 

 

Just a reminder that we have a Spelling test tomorrow and that tomorrow is also gym day. Have a good night and stay warm!

Brrr . . . It's Cold Outside

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope everyone is staying warm and thinking warm thoughts. 

With a two hour delay today, Computer class, and Music class, first grade had a limited time to learn new things. But learn new things we did. We learned how to add two two-digit numbers without regrouping. We did this by using dimes and pennies to show various amounts and then counting the money. The students were quite good listeners doing this. 

I think tonight would be a good night to crawl under a nice warm blanket, drink a cup of hot chocolate, and read a book.  

Ahoy Mateys!

Today was a great way to end the week. For the first time this school year, we used the song books during Mass. They all did such a great job finding the page and singing along. I was quite proud of them and they were excited to be the like big kids. 

Language Arts class was filled with excitement and learning. Not only did we practice our sight words but also learned how to decode and read words the r-controlled -ar. Because -ar makes the "arrrr" sound like a pirate, we made Pirates holding 'Arrrrgh' words. They turned out so cute. 

In Math, we took a survey to find out what we like to do when it snows. We completed the survey be practicing drawing tally marks. When then took that information and put it into a bar graph. Using the bar graph, we answered questions about what we like to do when it snows. Here are pictures of this activity. 

To end the week, we made snowglobes in Art class. The students drew a winter scene picture, and then I added the glitter. They all did such a nice job creating their own winter scene. 

Have a great weekend everyone. Just remember that we do not have school on Monday! 

Catching Up!

Today was back to normal in first grade. We learned how to blend, read, and spell words with inflected endings where you double the last letter before adding the ending. We also talked about plot and verbs for now and for the past. 


As promised, here is a picture of our Snowmen All Year project where students wrote about what they would do with a snowman. Some of their ideas include going fishing, watching TV, riding quads, and drinking hot chocolate. Their imagination really shown through with this project. 

Here also is a picture of our Martin Luther King, Jr. project. We have been talked and wrote about his life and his dream for everyone. We then talked and wrote about our dream for the world. When you open up his suit coat, you will see our writing. 

A Shortened Day

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I hope every made it to and from safely today. The students were amazed at how fast a day goes when we have a two hour delay. 

Even with a shortened day, we were still able to accomplish a lot. We worked in our literacy centers and reviewed our phonics skills. In Math, we practiced drawing line segments with a ruler. We even had time for Music class. 

Just a reminder that we have gym class tomorrow. 

Tallying Up!

Excitement was in the air today as we learned new things in first grade. During Math class, we learned how to make tally marks and how to count by fives. In no time at all, we were busy practicing making tally marks for certain numbers. 

This week we are working on a special snowman writing project. We first read the book Snowmen All Year by Caralyn Buehner. We then wrote about three things we would like to do with a snowman and drew a corresponding picture. I promise I will post some pictures once all of the projects are finished. 

Just a reminder that our Spelling test is tomorrow. 

A Busy Start to the Week

Today was a busy start to the week. Language Arts class was full of learning and reading. We reviewed how to read words with the ending -es and words with r-controlled -or, and our sight words. That knowledge helped us as we read our story Jan's New Home. It is amazing hearing the improvement in the students' reading. 

Math class was just as busy. We reviewed and practiced our subtracting 2 facts. We are slowly learning these new facts. 

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and enjoyed the gorgeous January weather. I hope everyone has a great week! 

Popcorn and Penguins!

Happy Friday everyone! I hope everyone had a great week just like what we had in first grade. We began our day by finishing our writing project from yesterday. We wrote about what we would like to be when we grow up and then created a self portrait. Here's how they turned out: 

Today in Language Arts we studied r-controlled -or words (I call them bossy r words). After practicing decoding and reading these words, we created our very own popcORN words. Students wrote an -or word on a kernel and then used their kernels to create a bucket of popcorn. They turned out amazing and made us all hungry for popcorn. 

In Math, we began our study for subtracting two facts. During Science we talked about how water can change from a solid to a liquid to a gas. Finally, it was time for Art class. Today we made Penguins which are quite adorable! 

I hope everyone has a terrific weekend! 

Getting Our Groove On

Today was a fun and busy day in first grade. We learned how to read words with the inflected ending -es, identify the theme of a story, and when to add -s to a verb. In Math, we practiced dividing squares in half and writing the fraction one half. 

The highlight of the day was gym class where we danced to such pop culture favorites as Y.M.C.A., Locomotion, and the Hokey Pokey. We also learned a few new dances. The funniest part came during the free style portion of the lesson. I put on a song that the students could dance to any way they wanted. Most of the students started dancing Gangnam Style. It was so funny to watch. I wish I had pictures to share! 

Half-Way Gone!

It is hard to believe that the week is already half over. Time flies by when you are learning lots of exciting things. Today went well in first grade. We did need some reminders about listening and paying attention, though. 

We worked in our literacy centers today where we practiced our sight words, read final -ng and -nk words, and wrote about things we learned to do as we got older. In Math, we used dimes and pennies as we added two numbers together. 

Just a reminder that the students have gym class tomorrow and are permitted to wear sneakers to school. 

A Little Review

Greetings! Today was a bit of a hectic day with the students attending Spanish, Computer and Music class. Even with those special classes, we still managed to learn new things and review old things. We practiced describing the plot of a story by writing and illustrating what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of Ruby in Her Own Time. The students did a great job constructing those bookworms. We also reviewed when to add -s to the end of a verb. In Math class, we learned ordinal position to 26. This was accomplished by assigning each letter a number position in the alphabet and then using those numbers to decode words. The students enjoyed being detectives in Math today. 

Just a reminder that the Spelling test is tomorrow. 

Baking in First Grade

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! We had a terrific day in first grade. We read an adorable story called Ruby in Her Own Time in Language Arts today. It is about this duck who does things on her own time. I hope you enjoy the story tonight. 

Also, we did some baking in Language Arts class today. We talked about synonyms and gave examples of synonyms. We took that knowledge to make 'cinnamon rolls'. On each roll we wrote a word and then wrote synonyms around it. The students cut out the rolls and glued them onto aluminum foil to make a tray of 'synonym rolls'. Here is a sample of a finished project. 

Fantastic Friday!

Today was an exciting day in first grade. One of the students said he couldn't decide what the best part of the day was! 

With the Christmas season still upon us, we talked about the Feast of Epiphany, which is this weekend. We learned that the three kings followed a star to Bethlehem and gave Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense. and myrrh. We then created this most adorable scene of the wise men following the star. 

Another highlight came during Science class. Before Christmas we learned about solids, liquids, and gases. Today, we reviewed those terms and did an experiment with bubbles. Keeping in mind that bubbles are filled with gas, we experimented to see whether hand soap or dish soap would create longer lasting bubbles. It was determined that dish soap makes better bubbles. 

In Art class, we made snowman using paper dollies. I think they will add a nice touch to our room during winter. 

Spelling in Math

Happy Thursday, everyone! The highlight of our day was in Math class where we learned to spell number words. We put our new knowledge to the test by playing a guessing game. Taking turns with a partner, one friend would draw lines one for each letter in a word. The other friend would guess letters to try to spell the word. The students had a blast playing this game and asked if they could play it during recess. I love when games provide opportunities to practice concepts.  

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed their break and the snow. It was exciting hearing the stories today of what everyone did over break. 

So far, first grade is off to a good start in 2013. We jumped right back into the learning process this morning. We learned how to read and spell words with -ng and -nk and practiced telling the plot of a story. In Math, we used linking cubes to measure various objects found in the classroom like a ruler, crayon, pencil, and book. 

During Social Studies class, we reviewed the different types of land forms by creating a small booklet. We wrote the name of the land form on one side and a definition on the other. Finally, we added details to the land forms. Here is a picture of a booklet. 

Just a reminder that tomorrow is already Thursday and we will have gym class. Students can wear sneakers to school.