Our Last Full Day!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! It is hard to believe that today was our last full day of first grade. It has been a fast year filled with lots of learning and fun! 

We began our day with Mass since today is Ascension Thursday. At Mass, Fr. Brian talked to us about how one day we, too, will ascend to heaven. 

We came back to the classroom to clean. We cleaned out our desks and Math bags. The students then helped me clean around the room. And before we knew it, it was time for lunch. 

After lunch, we watched Finding Dory. We enjoyed the movie and relaxing afternoon. 

I wish to thank all of you for a wonderful school year. I really enjoyed working with the students and watching them grow. May you all have a fun, relaxing summer. See you in August! 

~Miss Chalich 

Awards Day, Lemonade Day, and Popsicle Day!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! Today was a very exciting day in first grade!

We began with our Awards Program. The students were very excited to receive awards for their hard work. 

After returning, we jumped into some final moments of learning for the year. In Religion class, we talked how the Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit after Pentecost, went out and told others the Good News. In Language Arts, we finished up our memory book. Then, it was time to celebrate. 

To celebrate all of the goodness in Room 101, the students went around and wrote a positive message on a poster for each student in the classroom. The students loved seeing all the kind things written about them. 

Then, it was time to celebrate lemonade. We enjoyed cups of regular lemonade and strawberry lemonade. We voted on our favorite, and regular lemonade won. We graphed our results and answered questions about our graph. We then wrote descriptive words to describe the lemonade. Finally, we wrote the steps in how to make lemonade. 

This afternoon we celebrated popsicles. We learned about the history of popsicles, separated facts and opinions about popsicles, and drew a popsicle. 

Tomorrow is our last full day of school. That is hard to believe! 

Bubble Day!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is doing well. 

In Religion class today, we talked about the different symbols of the Holy Spirit. 

In Language Arts class, we read with our small reading group one last time. We also completed pages in our memory book. 

In Math class, we practiced adding sums of money and subtracting money amounts to find the change we would receive. 

After all that work, it was time for fun. Today was Bubble Day in first grade. We went outside and blew bubbles. We noted what happened when we blew hard, when we blew soft, and when we popped them. We then completed a booklet about how bubbles are made. 

This afternoon, we took a break from learning and watched Big Hero 6. The students really enjoyed the movie! 

As I close tonight, please pray for the families in Texas and for peace in the world. 

Watermelon Day!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! It is hard to believe that this is our last week of school. This year has surely flown by. This week we will wrap up a few things and add some extra fun into our days. 

In Religion class, we talked about Pentecost. We learned that on the tenth day after Jesus rose from the dead, the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles. As they were praying, they heard a strong gust of wind and saw tongues of fire above their heads. They were then filled with grace and love. 

In Language Arts class, we began our year end memory book. We wrote about ourselves, our teacher, and three things we learned. 

In Math class, we continued our work with money. Today, we practiced showing various amounts using quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. 

This afternoon was dedicated to watermelons! We sampled watermelon, cantaloupe, and honey dew melon. We made a graph of our favorite melon; it is no surprise that watermelon won. We then took time to learn about the life cycle of a watermelon and the parts of the watermelon. Finally, we sorted watermelon related words based on whether they were a noun, verb, or adjective. Here are some pictures from our day:

Have a great night! 

All Together!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! Today was an exciting day in first grade as all of the first grade came together to learn in one room. Yes, it did get noisy, but we still had fun while learning. 

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian reminded us to always love each other just like Jesus told us in the Gospel today. 

We wrapped up our final week of learning in Language Arts today. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences. We read r-controlled -air, -are, and -ear words as we did a write the room activity. We wrote sentences using our sight words and took our weekly assessment. Finally, the students wrote about what I should do during summer vacation. I just loved their ideas! 

In Math class today, we practiced counting a collection of quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. The students really enjoyed working with a partner while we did this. 

In Science class, we learned about the parts of a plant and what they do. We completed a booklet to help us remember the different jobs and a diagram to label the parts.

We ended our day with Art. Today, we designed a beach scene. The sky was created using tissue paper. The sand was created with construction paper and real sand. We added a starfish, sandals, and sea shells to our art work. Once everything dries, I'll add pictures. 

Have a great weekend! 

More Fun with Money!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I hope everyone is doing well. 

In Religion class today we wrapped up our chapter on the Ascension. We reviewed what Jesus did after he rose from the dead, Jesus' Great Commission, and what we can do to prepare for Jesus. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, read r-controlled words, and read all of the sight words we learned this year. We also partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets along with a nonfiction piece about the United States. After completing that story, we completed pages in our close reading companion. We ended class by identifying adverbs in sentences. 

In Math class, we continued our fun with money. Today, we practiced counting quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. 

For Gym class, we headed outside to enjoy the fresh air and run with our classmates. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today, we discussed who makes laws and why laws are important. 

Have a great night! 

Money Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is doing well. 

In Religion class today we talked about preparing for the second coming of Christ. We said that we can pray, receive the sacraments, serve others, and attend Mass to help us get ready for Jesus. 

We continued our week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, read r-controlled words and our sight words and vocabulary words. To help us continue to develop our fluency and comprehension skills, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read Happy Birthday USA, a nonfiction story about why we celebrate July 4th. After reading that story, we completed pages in our close reading companion. We ended the morning by practicing writing abbreviations. 

In Math class today, we focused on the quarter. We practiced different ways to show 25 cents. 

We ended the day with a special Social Studies class. Today we looked at different American symbols. After learning about some of them, we wrote facts about what we learned. 

Here is a picture of our summer crab writing we did yesterday: 

Have a great night! 

Don't Be Crabby!

 Greetings! I hope everyone is having a good day and enjoying the sunshine! 

In Religion class, we watched a video on the Ascension and talked about how Jesus went up to Heaven. We also talked about how he promised to send the Holy Spirit. 

In Language Arts class, we answered questions using our oral vocabulary words. Next, we used our letter tiles to spell and read r-controlled -air, -are, -ear words. Then, we learned how to blend and read r-controlled syllable words. Following that, we practiced using our sight words and vocabulary words in sentences. We ended the morning focused on comprehension; this week's focus is author's purpose. We reread our story from yesterday and our decodable reader. After each story, we discussed the author's purpose. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced using adverbs in sentences. We also wrote about what we plan to do this summer. We added it to a crab craft because we can't be crabby in the summer! 

In Math class, we practiced counting dimes, nickels, and pennies. We then practiced showing various amounts using those coins. 

We ended our day with Spanish. Today we learned the words for mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, boy, girl, brother, and sister. 

Have a great night! 

Our Final Two Weeks!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a nice weekend. 

In Religion class today we talked about Jesus' Great Commission: go out and tell other the Good News. This led us to talk about Baptism. We learned that water is used during a Baptism as special words are said. 

We began Language Arts by working in our small reading groups. We then began our final week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading about holidays. We began by learning our five new oral vocabulary words (pride, purpose, display, represent, and design. Next, we worked on retelling as we listened to a story about flags. Following that, we learned how to blend and read r-controlled -air, -are, and -ear words. Then, we learned our new sight words and vocabulary words. We ended the morning practicing our new skills as we read Share the Harvest and Give Thanks. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we learned about adverbs that tell how. We practiced finding them in sentences. 

In Math class today, we began our chapter on money. We practiced counting collections of dimes, nickels, and pennies. 

We had a special Science class today. Today we learned about the needs of plants. 

Have a great night! 

Hawk Walk 2022!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! Today was an exciting and tiring day in first grade. It was our annual Hawk Walk Day! 

We began our day with Mass. Fr. Brian reminded us to always turn towards Mary when we need help. 

After our Spelling test, it was time for a day of fun. Our day began with an all school picture. Then, we took a walk around the borough. The children loved it when cars and trucks would honk their horns. 

When we returned from the walk, we enjoyed several games on the parking lot. We participated in a relay race that had us jumping through hula hoops, played charades, and ran through a obstacle course. 

After lunch, we had some exercise time before enjoying a snow cone treat. After that we got our hands painted and drew a silly bird. 

By the end of the day, we were tired. We ended our day of fun by watching a Wild Kratts video. 

Have a great weekend! 

A Farewell Tour!

 Greetings! I hope everyone was able to get outside today and enjoy the sunshine. It was such a beautiful day! 

In Religion class today we talked about how Jesus stayed with his Apostles for 40 days after he rose from the dead. He spent those days teaching them everything they needed to know. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, read words with three letter blends, and words with inflected endings. We then wrote sentences using our sight words. To help with fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read a nonfiction piece about origami and even got to make an origami dog. We ended our morning by taking our weekly assessment and by reviewing how to use I and me in sentences. 

This afternoon we were treated to our annual spring concert. This was part of the farewell tour for Mr. Rhoades. We enjoyed our afternoon of musical performances. The students did a great job! 

Just a reminder that tomorrow is our Hawk Walk. Have a great night! 

May Crowning!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is enjoying their week. 

In Religion class today, we wrapped up our chapter on Jesus starting the church. We reviewed the hierarchy of the church. 

In Language Arts, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, read three letter blend words, and words with inflected endings. We also practiced our sight words and vocabulary words. To help build our fluency, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read Lissy's Friends. After reading that story, we completed pages in our close reading companion that focused on theme. We ended the morning practicing using I and me in sentences. 

In Math class today, we took our chapter test on graphs. Next week, we will begin practicing counting money. 

This afternoon we attended May Crowning where we honored Mary as queen of Heaven and Earth. 

Have a great night! 

Fiesta Day!

 Greetings! Today was quite an exciting day in first grade. We were really excited about our confetti eggs. However, before we could celebrate, we had some other learning to do. 

We began our day by going over to church for Adoration. We spent some quiet time praying to Jesus. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We answered questions using our oral vocabulary words and used our sound boxes to segment words into sounds. Then, we used our letter tiles to spell and read three letter blend words. After that, we reviewed inflectional endings especially when there is a spelling change to a word. Next, we practiced using our sight words and vocabulary words in sentences. We ended the morning focused on comprehension; this week we are focusing on theme. We reread A Spring Birthday and our decodable reader. After each story, we wrote about its theme. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we practiced using I and me in sentences. In conjunction with our fiesta, we wrote about the best birthday present we ever received and about what we would like in a tortilla. 

In Math class today, we reviewed graphs. We answered questions based on picture graphs and bar graphs. We will take our chapter test tomorrow. 

In Spanish class, we reviewed the parts of the face. We drew a face and labeled each part in Spanish. 

After waiting all day it was time for our fiesta. We enjoyed breaking open the pinata and finding small trinkets inside. We also enjoyed having the confetti eggs cracked over our heads. Here are pictures of our pinata before we hit it and of the confetti after all of the eggs were open. 

Have a great night! 

A New Week!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day weekend! 

In Religion class today we reviewed the Apostolic succession and identified who are pope and bishop are. 

We began Language Arts class by working in our small reading groups. We then began a new week of learning; this week we will be reading about different traditions. We learned our new oral vocabulary words (effort, tradition, ancient, drama, and movement). We then worked on visualizing as we read about different ethnic dances. Following that, we learned how to blend and read words with three letter blends. After that, we learned our new sight words and vocabulary words. We ended the morning putting our new skills to work as we read A Spring Birthday. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we learned how to use I and me in sentences. We also wrote a persuasive paragraph on why we love school. 

In Math class today, we continued to make bar graphs. We used data from a tally chart to help us to this. 

Have a great night! Don't forget about our fiesta tomorrow! 

Busy Bees!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a nice day to end the week. 

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian talked to us about going out and sharing the Good News with all. We also celebrated Mr. Rhoades as he prepares to retire at the end of the year. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts today. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences. To help us practice reading silent letter words, we participated in a write the room activity; the students found words hidden around the room. Once they did they recorded the words on a sheet. When everyone was finished, we read all of them. We also practiced reading compound words. We created an umbrella showing the word and its two words on raindrops. Here is one of our projects: 

We ended the morning by writing sentences using our sight words and taking our weekly assessments. 

In Math class today, we learned about bar graphs. We reviewed tally marks and then took the information from the tally chart to make a bar graph. The students did very well with this. 

In Science class today, we watched a video on simple machines. We learned the names of each simple machine (lever, inclined plane, wheel and axle, pulley, wedge, and screw) and talked about how each one helps us. 

Finally, it was time for Art. The students have been wondering all week what we would make. Today, we made a bumble bee. Here is one: 

Have a great weekend! 

Cinco de Mayo

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! Happy Cinco de Mayo Day! 

In Religion class today, we talked about the four marks of the church: one, holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. We created a poster to help us remember them. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary, sorted words based on beginning sounds, read words with silent letters and compound words. To help us practice our sight words, we played "Build a Flower"; the students were very good as we did not build a flower before the word was guessed. After that, our focused switched to fluency and comprehension. We partner read a story in our decodable reader. We also read a nonfiction piece about rainy weather and completed pages in our close reading companion to help us build our comprehension. Finally, we practiced identifying special pronouns in sentences. 

In Math class today, we learned about tally marks. Using our whiteboards, we practiced writing tally marks for various numbers. 

For Gym class today, we headed outside to the sunshine. It was hard to come in! 

Have a great night! 

Receiving God's Grace!

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

In Religion class, we talked about how we receive God's grace when we receive the sacraments. It is through this grace that we are able to help the church to grow. We then spent time talking about each of the sacraments. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, read words with silent letters and compound words, and practiced our sight words and vocabulary words. To help us build our fluency and comprehension skills, we partner read a story from our decodable readers. We also read the realistic fiction story Rain School and then completed pages in our close reading that focused on cause and effect. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practice using special pronouns in sentences. We also practiced adding commas when writing a letter. 

In Math class today we continued our study of picture graphs. Today, we worked in groups to create a picture graph. Each student selected a colored dot and graphed the results. We then discussed observations about the graph. 

Have a great night! 

Picture Graph Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is doing well! 

In Religion class today, we talked about how Jesus gave the keys to Heaven to Peter making him the first pope. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by answering questions using our oral vocabulary words. Next, we used our sound boxes to segment words into sounds. After that we used our letter tiles to spell and read words with the silent letters kn, gn, and wr. Then, we reviewed how to blend and read compound words. Following that we used our sight words and vocabulary words in sentences. We ended the morning focusing on comprehension; this week we are focusing on cause and effect. We reread Wrapped in Ice and our decodable reader. After each story we wrote cause and effect examples from each one. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we practiced using special pronouns in sentences. These are words like anybody, anyone, everything, everyone, nothing, somebody, nobody, and anybody. 

In Math class, we continued our work with picture graphs. Today, the students created their own picture graphs by rolling a dice ten times. When everyone was finished, everyone got to share something about their graph. 

In Spanish class today we learned the words for face, hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and teeth. 

Have a great night! 

Welcome May!

 Greetings! Happy Monday and Happy May! We have made it to the final month of the year. Where has the time gone? 

We began our day by going over to church to hear Fr. Chase talk to us about listening to what God has planned for us. He told us how he heard God calling him to the priesthood while playing professional soccer. May we always be open to hear God's call to do what He wants. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we are reading about weather. We began by learning five new oral vocabulary words (cycle, predict, creative, frigid, and scorching). Next, we worked on visualizing as we listened to a story about Paul Bunyan. After that, we learned how to blend and read words with silent letters kn, gn, and wr. Following that we learned our new sight words and vocabulary words. We ended our morning reading Wrapped in Ice, a realistic fiction story that helped us practice our new skills. 

This afternoon, we talked about special pronouns, words like anything, everything, anyone, everyone, and nothing. 

In Math class today we began our chapter on graphs. We will start with picture graphs. Today, we made a picture graph by cutting and pasting pictures on a graph and then answering questions about it. 

Have a great night!