Greetings Jingles!

 Greetings! Welcome back! I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving break. I loved hearing all of the stories today. There was some excitement this morning in first grade. Our classroom elf, Jingles, has arrived. The children were excited to see him. 

We began our day with Religion. We began by reviewing the season of Advent. We watched some Brother Francis videos on things we can do during this season. Then, we returned to our books. Today we learned that prophets were people who told the people to get ready for Jesus. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week (and next week) we will be reading about how plants grow. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (bloom and sprout). Next we worked on making predictions as we read Mystery Vine. Following that we practiced finding the same sounds in words. Finally, we learned how to blend and read long i words. 

Our Math class today focused on place value. We used our place value blocks to show various numbers. We then drew the place value blocks to represent the numbers. The children did great with this. 

This afternoon we had our Christmas Concert practice. Things are really beginning to sound beautiful. The children are getting excited for next week. 

After practice, we returned to learning. First, we wrote the steps in planting a seed. Then we practiced saying the Spanish words for colors. 

Have a great night! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Greetings! Today was a very exciting day in first grade. We are very excited for our Thanksgiving vacation. 

In Religion class today, we talked about the Advent wreath. Using tissue paper and a paper plate, we made an Advent wreath and added the purple and pink candles. Each student was given a set of flames to add to the wreath during the Advent season. 

This morning we read Turkey Trouble. After reading the story we sequenced all the different disguises turkey used. We then created our own disguise for turkey. 

We also read our Scholastic News about family traditions and talked about our own family's Thanksgiving traditions. 

And, before we knew it, it was time to go home. I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving. Enjoy time with your family, enjoy good food, and enjoy each other. I'll see you on Tuesday! 

Turkey Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a great day! We had a very fun day in first grade. 

In Religion class this morning, we wrapped up our chapter on learning how the people waited for Jesus. We reviewed the stories of Noah and Abraham. We also began to learn about Advent. We learned that during this church season we wait for Jesus by preparing our hearts. We learned that we do that be helping others and praying a little extra each night. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences and wrote sentences using our sight words. To practice our Phonics skills we participated in a write the room activity; the students just love moving around the room finding, reading, and writing words. We ended class by taking our weekly assessment. 

We continued to look at the numbers to 20 in Math class today. Each student was given a turkey with a number on it. On the feathers, we drew a picture for the number, spelled the number, wrote the number, showed the number in a 10 frame, and wrote the number sentence for it. Here they all are: 

This afternoon afternoon Christmas Concert practice, we had some more Thanksgiving fun. We drew and wrote about what we like to eat on Thanksgiving. We also wrote about what we are thankful for and added that to a turkey craft. They turned out cute: 

Just a reminder that tomorrow is a noon dismissal. Have a good night! 

Thanksgiving week!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! Welcome to Thanksgiving week in first grade. It is a week where we will wrap up learning and continue our celebration of Thanksgiving. 

We began our day with Religion. Today we watched the story of Abraham and Isaac. Afterwards, we talked about how Abraham trusted God and how God saw that faith. 

We continued our week of learning in Language Arts. Today we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, spelled and read long a words and contractions for not, and practiced reading our sight words. To help build our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read a nonfiction piece about telling time. After reading that story we completed pages in our close reading companion. We ended class by practicing finding verbs in sentences. 

In Math class today, we began our chapter on the numbers to 10. We practiced showing the numbers using ten frames, writing number sentences for the numbers, and spelling the numbers using words. 

We ended our day by looking at the First Thanksgiving. We learned that it lasted for three days. We also talked about how the Pilgrims and Wampanoag sang, dance, and gave thanks for the bountiful harvest.  

Have a great night! 

More Thanksgiving Fun!

 Greetings! Today was a great day to wrap up the week. So many students left saying that this was such a fun day. I love their excitement at learning new things. 

At Mass today, Fr. Brian reminded us to always be thankful for what we have and to always thank God each and every day. 

We continued our week of learning in Language Arts. We reviewed our oral vocabulary words, read long a words, contractions with not, and our sight words. To build our fluency and comprehension we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read a fantasy story about a boy going to school. After reading that story we wrote about the characters, setting, and plot. 

In Math class today, we took our chapter test on shapes. We will begin our chapter on the numbers to 20 on Monday. 

In Science class today we wrapped up our chapter on living and nonliving things. We will begin our unit on motion next. 

Finally, it was time for Art. Today we completed two projects. The first one related to our Thanksgiving learning yesterday about the Wampanoag Indians. We made flint, or Indian, corn using paint and Q-tips. After that project, we made a Pete the Cat dressed as a Pilgrim. Here are some pictures:

Have a great weekend! 

Pilgrim Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I don't know about you but this week has gone fast. It's hard to believe that tomorrow is Friday! 

In Religion class today we learned how God promised Abraham descendants more numerous than the stars because Abraham listened to God and moved to a new land. We talked about how Abraham had a strong faith in God, and like Abraham, we need to have faith in God. 

We continued our week of learning in Language Arts. We reviewed our oral vocabulary words from yesterday and then learned three new words (calendar, occasion, and weekend). We then worked on rereading as we listened to a story about different ways to tell time. Following that we used our letter tiles to spell and read long a words. After that, we learned how to spell and read contractions for the word not. Next, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. We ended our morning by practicing using verbs in sentences. 

After lunch, we focused on building our comprehension skills. We reread Nate the Snake is Late and our decodable reader. We then wrote about what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of each story. 

In Math class today we reviewed everything we learned about shapes. We are ready for our chapter test tomorrow. 

For Gym, we danced to GoNoodle videos. We really enjoyed the songs. 

We ended our day with some Thanksgiving fun. Today we wrote about something we would do if we were a Pilgrim. We also learned about what life was like for the Wampanoag Indians. Here is a picture of our Pilgrim project: 

Have a great night! 

Pattern Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! Today was an action-packed day in first grade. 

We actually began our day with Spanish class because we ran out of time yesterday. Today, we reviewed color words by completing our learning cards. 

Then, we jumped back into our routine with Religion class. Today, we talked about how Abraham was obedient to God as he and his wife moved to a new land. We also talked about ways we can be obedient. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week our stories deal with time. We learned two new oral vocabulary words (immediately and schedule). We worked on rereading as we read A Second is a Hiccup. Then, we took a break to practice for our Christmas show. After the practice, we returned to our learning. We learned how to blend and read long a words with the magic e at the end. We also learned our new sight words. We finished the morning by learning about verbs. 

This afternoon we partner read Nate the Snake is Late which helped us to practice reading long a words and our new sight words. 

In Math class today we continued work with patterns. Today we made a pattern hat. Here are some of them: 

We ended our day with some Thanksgiving fun. Today we focused on the Pilgrims. We read two stories about life as a Pilgrim boy and girl. We then made a flip book showing what we learned about the Pilgrims. 

Have a great night! 

Learning About the Mayflower!

 Greetings! I hope everyone is doing well. Today was another busy day in first grade. 

For Religion today, we headed over to church for Adoration. We spent some quiet time praying to Jesus asking him to help others and to help us have a good day. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, wrote sentences using our sight words, and read words with digraphs and inflectional ending -es. To help build our vocabulary and phonics skills, we played Memory today. We had to match pictures with words. The students enjoyed this! We ended our weekly learning by taking our assessment. After all that, it was time to work in our small reading group. 

In Math class today, we worked with patterns. Using our pattern blocks, we made various patterns. The children really loved making patterns! 

We ended our day by beginning our unit on Thanksgiving. Today we watched Peanuts: Mayflower Voyage and learned about the Mayflower. The students were amazed that it took 65 days to reach land. We wrote about what we learned and then created a movable Mayflower. Here is how that turned out: 

Have a great night! 

The First Snow!

 Greetings! Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed our four day weekend. The students were so excited about the snow today. Many could not wait to go home to go sled riding, throw snowballs, and build a snowman. I loved their excitement today.

In Religion class, we talked about how the people waited for God to send Jesus. Today, we focused on how Noah waited for Jesus by being obedient to God. We enjoyed hearing the story of Noah's ark. 

We continued our week of learning in Language Arts. We reviewed our oral vocabulary words and practiced reading words with the digraphs ch, tch, wh, and ph, words with the inflectional ending -es, and our sight words. To help build our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story in our decodable readers and read a nonfiction piece about the cardinal directions. We completed pages in our close reading to help us practice using the directional words. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced writing irregular plurals. We also wrote the steps in how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

In Math class today, we continued our fun with shapes. We spent time identifying all the different shapes we saw in the classroom. 

Today, we began to practice for our Christmas singing performance. We learned how to process in and out. We are getting excited for the show! 

Have a great night! 

A Long Weekend Awaits!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone was able to enjoy the beautiful day we had today! 

In Religion class today we wrapped up our chapter on Adam and Eve sinning. We also watched a short video about Sts. Joachim and Anna. We learned that they were Jesus' grandparents. 

We continued our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by reviewing our oral vocabulary words. We then practiced segmenting words into sounds. After that we practiced reading words with digraphs, words with inflectional ending -es, and our sight words. To help build our fluency and comprehension we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets; we also read a nonfiction story about maps. Following that story we completed pages in our close reading companion. 

This afternoon we sorted words into singular and plural nouns. We also learned about the Accelerated Reader program. We all read a story and took a test on it together. We are very excited to begin this program next week!

In Math class today looked at different designs and identified the number of shapes in each design. We also created our very own design using circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles. 

It has been a long stretch but we made it to a long weekend! Enjoy! See you on Monday! 

More Fun With Shapes!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a nice day. 

In Religion class today, we talked about how God promised to send us a Savior. Jesus would bring grace to all and open the gates of heaven. 

We continued our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by reviewing our oral vocabulary words from yesterday and then learning three more words (height, model, and separate). Next we worked on rereading as we read a nonfiction piece on different maps. Following that we used our letter tiles to spell and read words with the digraphs ch, tch, wh, and ph. Then, we learned how to read words with the inflectional ending -es. After that we practiced using our sight words in sentences. We ended our morning focused on comprehension; this week we are focusing on main idea and details. We reread our story from yesterday and our decodable reader; after reading each story we wrote its main idea and key details. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we practiced using irregular plurals in sentences. We also focused on our writing. Today, we drew a picture of an animal and wrote a sentence about it. 

In Math class today we learned about the three dimensional shapes: sphere, cube, cone, cylinder, rectangular prism, and pyramid. We looked at which shapes stack, roll, and slide. 

Have a great night!

Dividing Shapes!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed that sunshine! 

In Religion class today we talked about original sin. We learned that we inherit original sin when we are born but that it is washed away when we were baptized. We also learned that we received grace when we were baptized. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading about maps. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (locate and route). We then worked on rereading as we read Me on the Map. After that we learned how to blend and read words with the digraphs ch, tch, wh, and ph. Following that we learned our new sight words. With all this new knowledge, it was time to read. We read Which Way on the Map?, a nonfiction story about children using a map. We ended our morning by reading in our small reading groups. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we looked at irregular plurals, words like men, children, women, feet. We also wrote in our journals. 

In Math class today we learned about dividing shapes into equal parts. We took squares and divided them into halves to different ways; we learned that when we divide a shape in half we have two equal parts. We then divided the squares into fourths two different ways; we learned that when we divide a shape into fourths we have four equal parts. The students loved this lesson! 

Have a great night! 

Cooking with Shapes!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! Today was a great day to end the first full week of November. 

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian talked to us about prudence, always listening to God and following his way. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts today. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences and wrote sentences using our sight words. To practice our phonics skills we learned this week, we played stinky feet. I drew a large foot on the board and covered it with word cards. The students were divided into two teams. Each student got to pick a word and read it. If read correctly, they earned the points on the back of it. The fun is that you didn't know how many points until after you read the word. We had fun practicing our phonics today. We ended the morning by taking our weekly assessment. 

In Math class today, we had fun with shapes. We made a pizza with different shapes and then counted the number of each shape used. They look delicious: 

In Science class today, we looked at different habitats. We learned about the plants and animals that live in the ocean, forest, and dessert. 

Finally, it was time for Art. Today we made a giant turkey to hang in our room. They sure do make our room look festive for Thanksgiving. 

Here are some pictures from the turkey writing and drawing we did on Wednesday. 

Have a great weekend! 

Learning about Matisse!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I hope everyone had a great day! It's almost Friday!

In Religion class today we talked about safe touches and unsafe touches. We talked about what to do when someone touches us in an unsafe way. We also spent time identifying the safe adults we can go to. 

In Language Arts, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, sorted words by same sounds, read words with digraphs and closed syllable words. To help build our fluency, we partner read a story from our decodable readers. To help build our comprehension skills, we completed pages in our close reading companion after reading a nonfiction story about how we can help out in our communities. We ended class by practicing writing proper nouns. 

Our Language Arts class was interrupted by our Artist in Residence. Today she talked to the students about Henri Matisse. After showing many examples of his work, it was time for the students to complete their own work by 'painting with scissors'. They used their scissors to cut various shapes to make a picture. Here are a few of them:

In Math class today, we began a new chapter devoted to shapes. Today we talked about the circle, square, rectangle, and triangle. We completed a Seesaw activity where students sorted shapes by color, shape, and size. 

For Gym class, we headed outside. Yes, it was not warm, but it was not cold. The students needed time to run and exercise with friends. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today, we started our unit on geography. We made a map of the world, identifying the continents and oceans. Here it is: 

Have a great night! 

Common and Proper Noun Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone had a wonderful day!

In Religion class today we talked about what happened when Adam and Eve sinned. We talked about how they had to leave the Garden of Eden, lost grace, and had to work for things. 

We began Language Arts by reviewing our oral vocabulary words. Next, we segmented words into sounds. Following that we practiced reading words with the digraphs sh, th, ng, closed syllable words, and our sight words. Then our focused switched to fluency and comprehension. We partner read a story from our decodable readers. Then we read a story from our literature anthology. After reading that one we wrote about the characters and setting and drew pictures to show what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we reviewed common and proper nouns. The students loved the write the room activity. They got to walk around the room, find a noun, and write whether it was a common or proper noun. After that we did some Thanksgiving writing. We also completed a directive drawing activity to go along with our writing. They did a nice job with it. 

In Math class today we wrapped up our chapter on subtraction. Tomorrow we will begin learning about shapes! 

Have a great night! 

Practicing Math!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a great day! 

In Religion class today we read the story about Adam and Eve eating from the forbidden tree. We talked about how they sinned and gave into temptation. Then, we talked about how we can avoid temptations by praying. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We reviewed our oral vocabulary words we learned yesterday and then learned three new words (connections, enjoy, and rely). Next, we worked on rereading as we read a story about a man and his library. Then, we sorted words based on same sounds. Following that, we used our letter tiles to spell and read words with the digraphs sh, th, and ng. After that we learned how to blend and read closed syllable words, words like rabbit and cabin. We continued our practice of skills as we used our sight words in sentences. We ended our morning focused on comprehension; this week we are focusing on character, setting, and plot. As we reread our story from yesterday and our decodable reader we talked and wrote about each one. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we sorted nouns based on whether they were common or proper. We also wrote in our journals. 

In Math class today, we reviewed. We practiced writing fact families and solving subtraction problems. We are ready for our chapter test tomorrow. 

We ended our day with Spanish class. Today we learned the words for the colors. 

Have a great night! 

Celebrating the Saints!

 Greetings! Welcome to November! It is hard to believe that we have two months into the school year already. Where has the time gone?

For Religion today, we went to church to celebrate All Saints' Day. At Mass, Fr. Brian reminded us that we, too, are called to be saints. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading about how we can take care of our community. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (leadership and admire). Then we worked on retelling as we read The Story of Martin Luther King, Jr.. Next, we learned how to blend and read words with the digraphs sh, th, and ng. Following that we learned our new sight words. After that, we put our new knowledge to work as we read Thump Thump Helps Out. We ended our morning by learning the difference between common and proper nouns. 

This afternoon was a special one in first grade. We had our All Saints' Day prayer service. After recess, we got dressed up as our saint. Then we headed over to church for the prayer service. It was great seeing so many of you there. And the children did a fabulous job honoring their saint. Afterwards, we watched a video about the saints. It was an afternoon to remember. 

Have a great night!