Fiesta!

Today was an extremely exciting day in first grade. The highlight of course was the fiesta. Thank you so much for helping your child make a confetti egg. We really enjoyed cracking open the eggs and being showered with confetti. There was also a surprise during our fiesta: a pinata. Everyone took a turn at trying to break open the pinata before I helped to break it open. Inside students found a small plastic toy as well as a sight word. Everyone had to read their sight word and use it in a sentence. As you can imagine, everyone was bursting with excitement at the end of the day. 

Before our fiesta, our focus was on learning. We reviewed r-controlled vowel sounds by completing a flip book. We also reviewed possessives. In Math, we learned a rap to say to help us count by 10. 

We were also able to get back to Dr. Seuss today. We read The Cat in the Hat Comes Back and then compared and contrasted this story to The Cat in the Hat. We then wrote what we would do if Thing 1 and Thing 2 came to our house. We also read My Many Colored Days. After reading we experimented with colors by mixing two colors to see what color they would make. We also wrote about how a certain color makes us feel. 

Tomorrow should be another exciting day as we celebrate the life of Dr. Seuss! 

What a Wonderful Wednesday!

Let me just say that today was such a wonderful day in first grade. I am so proud of how hard the students worked and accomplished on such a short day. We were able to review some phonics sounds and literary elements from our reading story as well as adjectives. We also worked in literacy centers. In Math, we learned how to add 10 to a number. And just when you think we ran out of time, we read The Cat in the Hat Comes Back as part of our Dr. Seuss celebration. We did run out of time for the activity but there is always tomorrow. 

Accomplishing A Lot in Such Little Time

Greetings! I hope everyone has made it home safely from work today. Even though we had another early dismissal day, first grade was still able to accomplish great things today. We began our day by attending Eucharistic Adoration. It was nice to begin the day spending some quiet time talking to Jesus. 

We then returned to our classroom where we learned how to divide a square into fourths and write the fraction 1/4. We did this by both using squares and drawing lines on squares. We were also able to practice our Spelling words. 

Have a great night! 

A Funday for A Monday!

Greetings, everyone! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I was really excited to get back to school this week. I have many fun things planned and hope the weather will corporate. 

We began our day with a birthday party for Msgr. Gaus who celebrates his 80th birthday today. We had a small prayer service, sang some songs, and gave him cards. It was a nice celebration. 

Back in the classroom, we went to work. We read our story Mama's Birthday Present again. The students are really enjoying this story and are looking forward to our fiesta later this week. In Math, we learned how to tell time to the half hour. 

We did break away from schedule today to catch up with Science. We finished our unit of study on our teeth by writing the rules we should follow to keep our smiles nice and bright. Check out our smiles! 

We ended our day by beginning our celebration of Dr. Seuss. His birthday is on Saturday, and my hope this week is to read some of his books and do activities associated with them. Today we read The Cat in the Hat and sequenced events from the story. 

Another Short Day!

Greetings, everyone! I know this is a few days late, but nevertheless we still accomplished some things on Friday before heading home early because of the ice. We began our day in church. We then did our Math Meeting before switching over to Language Arts. There we talked about adjectives and then we wrote our very first paragraph. Unfortunately, our day ended there because of the weather. Hopefully this upcoming week will have no weather disruptions. By the way, here is a picture of our first paragraph. 

Active and Tiring Day

It was another busy learning day in first grade. We reviewed the phonics skills we have been practicing this week as well as our sight words. We then listened to Mama's Birthday Present. With this being a longer story we just listened and talked about it today. Tomorrow we will read it and discuss it at greater depth. We finished Language Arts class by working in literacy centers. 

In Math, we are learning our to trade pennies for dimes. We did an overview of adding two two-digit numbers with regrouping by using dimes and pennies. The students had no troubles seeing when to trade 10 pennies for a dime. 

Gym class made us quite tired today. We rocked out to Rockin' Aerobics. By the end of class everyone was tired, in need of a drink, and ready for a nap. 

As promised, here is a picture of our George Washington project from yesterday. Happy Birthday, George Washington! 

Busy Learning

Let me say that we had a fantastic day of learning today. The students worked hard as we discovered new things. Language Arts was quite busy day. We talked about drawing conclusions, adjectives, possessives, and practiced reading our sight words. In the midst of all the learning, we took a break to work in our literacy centers. 

We really enjoyed Social Studies class as we studied about the life of George Washington. We learned that he was our first president, led the country in two wars, and has a city named after him. We completed a craft activity about his life that I promise to show pictures tomorrow. We just aren't quite done yet. 

Working Hard

Welcome back everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful three day weekend plus that little extra two hours. One of these weeks, we will not have any delays. Remember that the groundhog said it would be an early spring. 

We had quite a day in first grade. We began the day with Computer class and ended it with Stations of the Cross. In between, we learned how to count large collections of objects by first grouping by 10 and then counting. We also blended and read long a: ai, ay words. We worked hard in the short amount of time we had! 

Busy Beavers

Happy Friday! It was nice to have almost a full week of school. Hopefully the worst of the winter weather is over. 

We were busy beavers today in first grade. We started our day with Mass. We then headed to library. We did some reviewing in Language Arts and learned about place value in Math class. 

Science brought about excitement in the classroom. We have been talking about good dental hygiene in honor of Dental Health Month. Today we watched a video about the importance of brushing our teeth. Yesterday we put hard boiled eggs in a cup of Coke. Today when we took the eggs out they were all brown. Using a toothbrush and some toothpaste we "brushed" the eggs. We all agree that we need to brush our teeth each and every day so that our teeth don't look brown like our eggs. 

We finished the day with Art class. Today we made heart trees using our thumbprints to make the hearts. They turned out quite lovely. Have a look . . . 

Just a reminder that we do not have school on Monday. Enjoy your long weekend! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a lovely time in first grade celebrating this holiday. Many of our afternoon activities focused around this special day. In Gym class, we had a hearty good time exercising. We played a game called "Catch My Heart." Each student would throw a bean bag to another student and say "Catch My Heart                     ." We also played a version of Simon Says. Finally, we participated in a relay race. Each student picked a heart with a type of movement on it. These movements included run. hop, skip, and walk. Then, working in teams, the students had to do these movements during our race. The students loved this relay race. 

We returned to the classroom where we did a Math activity using the candy conversation hearts. Everyone received a cup of hearts and then had to graph them. We then answered questions about our graphs. We found out that yellow was the  most popular color distributed in the class. 

Finally, our day ended with some games. We worked with a partner to draw love bugs, wrote a note about why we love someone, and worked in teams to put Valentine puzzles together. All in all I say we had a great Valentine's Day in first grade. 


And now for some pictures . . . . .               

This picture is from a project we did after reading The Biggest Valentine Ever. We used hearts to make a mouse. 

These love bug bags were used to carry home all of our Valentine treats. Aren't they adorable? 

The Beginning of Lent

Today first grade observed Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. We all went to church and received our ashes. The students thought this was "really cool"

Back in the classroom, we read our first play titled "Where Are My Animal Friends?" They loved having the different parts. I have never seen so much class participation with everyone wanting to read. In Math, we talked about congruent shapes and used our geoboards to create such shapes. 

Just a reminder that tomorrow is Valentine's Day. If you wish to send in treats, please remember that it should be something small and something from our Healthy Snack list. Also, tomorrow is sweat day, the make-up from the one during Catholic School's Week. Students can wear sweatpants and sweatshirts to school. 

Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln!

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Over the past week, first grade has been studying about Abraham Lincoln. We read a biography about his life and wrote facts that we learned. We also talked about living in a log cabin and how difficult that would be. Here are pictures of some of the projects we did. 

Today in first grade we decoded and read words with -dge. We also practiced our sight words and how to spell contractions with the word not. 

With Lent beginning tomorrow, first grade created a Lenten calendar that can be used at home during the Lenten season. Hopefully, this will be useful over the next 40 days. 

As promised, here is the picture of the artwork using the digits 1, 0, and 0. These students are truly creative and talented. 

The Celebration Continues!

Since our celebration plans for the 100th Day of School were cut short on Friday, first grade continued the celebration today on the 101st day of school. We created self portraits of ourselves when we are 100 years old. We then wrote what we would do when we are 100. Responses ranged from watching TV to lying on the couch to playing video games. The portraits are just too funny. 

We then wrote about what we would do if we had $100. Students wrote that they would buy items ranging from food to dolls to a mansion to a horse. One student did write that he would give it to charity. 

Finally, the students took the digits 1, 0, 0 to make a picture. We are still in the process of finishing them. I promise a picture tomorrow. 

In addition to all the excitement today, first grade did learn new things. We learned how to read words with comparative endings and how to use them in a sentence. We also practiced adding two two-digit numbers without using dimes and pennies. It was a busy start to the week. 

Happy 100th Day of School!

Happy 100th Day of School! Before celebrating this special day, first grade did do some learning. We talked about the season of Lent (which begins next week) and learned how to solve a problem by using the guess and check strategy. We also talked about what foods we need to eat to keep our teeth nice and strong. 

Unfortunately, our activities were cut short today. Before leaving early for the day, we did finish our 100 word booklet. We also took 100 fruit loops and made a necklace. They looked great on everybody! I did promise the students that we would finish the remainder of the activities on Monday. We'll carry the fun over to the 101st day of school. 

I want to share a picture of all the amazing 100th Day projects the students created. Each and every one is so unique and special. I love them! Thank you for taking the time to work with your child to create some amazing artwork. 

Almost to 100!

Happy 99th Day of School! The students are so excited for tomorrow, and so am I. I have may activites planned that will surely bring a smile to their faces. It should be an awesome day!

So, on the 99th day of school, we spent some time reviewing our sight words and phonics sounds and worked in our literacy centers. We also continued practicing the doubles plus 1 facts.

Gym class was a lot of fun today as we played kickball. The students are getting better at running the bases and are slowly understanding how to get an out. They all really got into it today.

The Many Uses of Pasta

Happy Wednesday! I can't believe that the week is half over. This week is flying by! 

In Religion class today, we took a trip. Using the computer, we took a virtual tour of Vatican City. We have been studying about the role of the pope and bishops. The students loved seeing the sights of the Vatican. 

During Language Arts class today, we reviewed the story I'm a Caterpillar by creating a diagram of the life cycle of the butterfly using pasta noodles. The students were amazed at what you could use pasta noodles for. 

Just a reminder that our Spelling test is tomorrow. We also have gym class tomorrow. 

Terrific Tuesday!

Today was a fun and busy day in first grade. We had three special classes today: Spanish, Computers, and Music. We also went to Adoration. 

Even with all that movement, first grade still had time for learning. We read a cute story about the life cycle of the butterfly called I'm a Caterpillar. The students really enjoyed hearing how a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. Many were able to connect it with the beloved book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. 

It seems that we have been learning the doubles plus one facts for awhile but these facts can be tricky to learn. Today, we tested our knowledge by playing a game called Match-Up where the students matched the fact with the answer. Tomorrow we will play another game with these facts. 

Welcome Back!

Hello, Everyone! It is so good to be back to school. I hope everyone had a safe two days off. Many of the students were excited to tell me what they did over the long unexpected break. I am glad they enjoyed themselves. 

I would first like to begin by thanking those who took the time to write a special thank you note to me. They moved me to tears tonight. Your words of kindness really touched my heart. I truly look forward each and every day to teaching the students. 

With snow days hopefully behind us, first grade jumped right back into learning. We learned how to read and spell contractions and practiced reading our sight words. We also continued and reviewed our doubles plus one facts. 

Just a quick note about changes to the week: The 100th Day of School will now be on Friday, February 8th. The 100 project designs will be due that day. Also, the Spelling test has been pushed back a day until Thursday. If you have any questions, please let me know!