Fun With Shapes!

 Greetings on the actual Halloween day. I hope everyone had fun trick or treating over the weekend. The children really seemed to have enjoyed it. 

For Religion class today, we headed over to church to practice with our 8th grade friends for our prayer service tomorrow. You are welcome to come and pray with us tomorrow afternoon. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts. We practiced using our sight words in sentences. We also practiced reading words with end blends and words with the inflectional ending -ing. To help us build our fluency we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We ended the morning writing sentences using our sight words. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we took our weekly assessment and identified possessive nouns in sentences. We also worked on our comprehension skills as we answered questions about a poem. 

In Math class today, we sorted shapes. The students worked in groups. Together, they sorted shapes by color, size, shape, number of corners, and number of sides. 

Have a great night! 

Happy Halloween!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! Today was a spooktacular day in first grade. We really enjoyed all of our Halloween activities. 

Before we had our parade and party, we had a few things to do. We finished labeling the parts of a pumpkin. We also prayed the fifth decade of the Glorious Mysteries. 

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian talked to us about always praying to God. 

After Mass, we got ready for our Halloween parade. It was so nice having everyone outside as we walked around the parking lot showing off our Halloween costumes. 

After the parade, it was time for our party. We played pumpkin ring toss and pumpkin bowling. We also made a pumpkin using beads and pipe cleaners. In addition to our pumpkin, we made a ghost flying through the night sky. We even got to use glitter glue to make stars. 

This afternoon, we relaxed and watched Hotel Transylvania. The students and I really enjoyed this movie. 

Have a great weekend! Don't eat too much candy! 

Pumpkin Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I hope everyone had a nice day yesterday and today. It was nice to be back with the children today. 

Our Religion class today was spent in church practicing for our All Saints' Day prayer service. They are doing such a nice job. I can't wait for everyone to experience this beautiful prayer service. After our practice, we prayed the fourth decade of the Glorious Mysteries. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, read words with end blends, words with inflectional endings, and our sight. We spent a lot of time today practicing our fluency and comprehension skills. We are working on main idea and key details this week. First we read our decodable reader and then wrote about its main idea and key details. Next, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. Finally, we read At a Pond; after that story we wrote about its main idea and key details. 

In Math class today we continued to look at flat shapes. We reviewed the names we learned yesterday (square, rectangle, triangle, circle, trapezoid). Then, using our geoboards, we made each shape and identified how many sides and corners each has. 

We ended our day with some pumpkin fun. First, we read a story about the life cycle of a pumpkin and then created a diagram showing the stages. Then, we talked about the parts of the pumpkin. We are in the process of making a diagram. We will finish that in the morning. 

Tomorrow looks to be spooktacular! Have a great night!

Pumpkin Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is enjoying our Indian summer. I know the children have loved it! 

In Religion class this morning, we wrapped up our chapter on Adam and Eve. We reviewed how God created Adam and Eve, how they lived in the Garden of Eden, and how they had God's grace. We also prayed the second decade of the Glorious Mysteries. 

Our Red Ribbon Week focus today was on making good food choices. We sorted food pictures based on whether they are a good food choice for us or not. 

In Language Arts, we practiced writing sentences to describe a picture. We also learned our new sight words. After that we read The Best Spot which helped us in reading end blend words and our sight words. We ended class identifying possessive nouns in sentences. 

In Math class today, we took our chapter test on adding and subtracting to10. Tomorrow we will begin our chapter on shapes. 

This afternoon we practiced again for our All Saints' Day prayer service. The students did a great job remembering what we did yesterday. We added more to it today. We are getting very excited for it. 

After our practice it was time for some pumpkin fun. The students helped me carve a pumpkin for our Halloween party on Friday. After carving it, we wrote the steps we followed to carve the pumpkin. Didn't it turn out great? 

Here are pictures from our ghost writing/art project on Friday along with our pumpkin writing from yesterday and today. 

Have a great night! 

Red Ribbon Week!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! What a difference a week makes. Last week it was snowing, and today it was warm and sunny. The children loved the sunshine at recess. 

In Religion class today we talked about how we received God's grace when we were baptized. We also began our last week of praying the rosary together as a class. This week we are praying the Glorious Mysteries. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week (and next) we will be reading about different animal habitats. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (habitat and depend). We then worked on rereading for understanding as we read Babies in the Bayou. Following that we learned how to blend and read words with end blends. 

Our Math class moved to this morning. Today we reviewed all that we learned regarding adding and subtracting to 10. Tomorrow we will take our chapter test. 

In Penmanship this week we are practicing D and d. 

This afternoon we headed over to church to begin to practice for the All Saints' Day prayer service next Tuesday. Today we practiced walking in and out slowly. 

After our practice, we began our Red Ribbon Week activities. All week we will be talking about making good, healthy choices. Today we talked about what makes us special. To show that everyone is unique and special, we read Spookley, the Square Pumpkin. After reading the story, we talked about what made Spookley special. We then created our own pumpkin and wrote about why it is special. 

Have a good night! 

A Ghostly Day!

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

Before heading to Mass, we prayed the fifth decade of the Sorrowful Mysteries. Next week, we will pray the Glorious Mysteries. 

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian reminded us that not only do we need to seek forgiveness from God through the Sacrament of Reconciliation but also from those we have hurt. 

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 reading short u words and contractions, we played BINGO. We also took our weekly assessment. 

In Math class today, we used our critical thinking skills to solve problems. We showed how number sentences were true or false by either drawing a picture, using a number bond, or writing a number sentence. We also wrote number sentences when given an answer. 

We wrapped up our unit on animals today. We reviewed the different ways animals move and the different coverings they have. We also reviewed the needs for all animals. 

We ended with several Art and Writing projects. On Wednesday, we read Creepy Carrots. Today we wrote and drew what we would do to contain the creepy carrots. We even added our own Creepy Carrot to the writing. 

To get into the Halloween spirit, we read a story about ghosts. We then wrote about what we would do if we were a ghost. We painted a ghost using forks. Once those are dry, we will add our eyes, nose, and mouth. 

Here is a picture from the fall writing we did earlier in the week. 

Have a great and relaxing weekend! 

Community Helpers!

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

In Religion class today we talked about how grace is God's life inside us. We also prayed the fourth decade of the Sorrowful Mysteries. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading short u words, contractions, and our sight words. To help us build our fluency we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. To help us build our comprehension, we read a nonfiction piece about different types of homes and completed pages in our close reading companion. We ended class by using singular and plural nouns in sentences. 

In Math class today we worked with writing fact families. Students came up with the parts for a given whole and then wrote the fact family for their number bond. We also used our critical thinking skills to write number sentences when given a whole list of numbers. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today we learned about community helpers. The students completed a Seesaw activity where they took a picture of themselves and added features to show what they want to be when they grow up. They even recorded saying what they want to be. 

Have a great night! 

An October Snow!

 Greetings on this chilly and snowy Wednesday! The children were so excited to see the snow this morning. They clapped and cheered as we added the first snowy day to our weather graph. 

In Religion class this morning, we talked about how Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden and how they were stewards of God's creation. We then talked about how we can care for God's creation just like Adam and Eve did. We ended class by praying the third decade of the Sorrowful Mysteries. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, segmented words into sounds, read short u words, contractions, and our sight words. We then spent time building our fluency and comprehension. We partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read The Pigs, the Wolf, and the Mud. After reading that story we wrote about its characters, setting, and events. 

In Math class today we looked to see whether a number sentence was true or false. 

Have a great night! 

An Early Winter!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I don't know about you, but I am not quite ready for this cold weather. I guess Old Man Winter just could not wait any longer. 

We began our day by going to church for Adoration. We spent some quiet time praying to Jesus. When we came back, we prayed the second decade of the Sorrowful Mysteries. 

We continued our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by reviewing the oral vocabulary words we learned yesterday and then learned three new words (collapsed, furious, and refused). We then worked on making predictions as we read "The Three Little Pigs". After that we used our letter tiles to spell and read short u words. Following that we learned how to write and read contractions for is; we even wrote sentences using the contractions. Next, we practiced using sight words in sentences. We ended our morning focusing on comprehension; this week we are working on character, setting, and plot. We reread Cubs in a Hut and our decodable reader. After each story, we talked about the characters, setting, and events in the story. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we focused on singular and plural nouns. We sorted words based on whether they named one or more than one. We also talked about how to make a noun plural when it ends in -s, -ss, or -x (add -es). 

In Math class today we used our knowledge of facts to solve a problem. We wrote a number sentence with a missing part. Then, using a related fact we solved that problem. 

Have a great night! 

Fact Family Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone is doing well and had a nice weekend. 

In Religion class today we talked about how God created Adam and Eve and how they lived peacefully in the Garden of Eden. We also prayed the first decade of the Sorrowful Mysteries. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading about buildings. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (shelter and materials). We then worked on making predictions as we read Three Little Dassies. After the story, we learned how to blend and read short u words. Following that we learned our new sight words. We then worked on our fluency as we read Cubs in a Hut which helped us practice reading short u words and our sight words in a story. We ended the morning working in our small reading groups. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we learned how to tell the difference between singular and plural nouns. We also wrote about why we love fall. 

In Penmanship this week we will be practicing writing A and a. 

In Math class today, we learned how to write fact families. We used the numbers in a number bond to write the two addition and two subtraction sentences. We also created a fact family house showing the facts in the fact family. 

Have a great night! 

A Visit with the Firefighters!

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

We began our day with our first Faith Family Mass of the year. Today, Fr. Brian talked to us about how we need to avoid sin and turn to God. 

After Mass, we had a fire drill with the firefighters. The students did a great job of exiting the building quickly and quietly. They enjoyed seeing the firefighters, hearing about fire safety tips, and trying on some of the fire gear. 

After the fire drill, it was time to jump into Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, read short e words and words with the inflected ending -ed, and wrote sentences using our sight words. We also took our weekly assessment. We ended the morning by practicing finding nouns in sentences. 

This afternoon in Language Arts was focused on firefighters. We talked about the different jobs firefighters do, the different tools they use, and about how some departments have fire dogs. We then wrote about what we would do if we were firefighters and added our writing to a craft. 

In Math class today, we reviewed writing subtraction sentences for real world problems. Next week, we will be writing fact families. 

In Science class, we talked about how some baby animals look like their parents and how some baby animals look different than their parents. 

We ended our day with Art class. Today we created a bat. We accordion folded the wings and added colored wiggly eyes. Here is a picture! 

Have a great weekend! 

Fire Safety Tips!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I hope everyone had a nice day on this rainy day. We had a busy day in first grade. 

We began our day by meeting with our Faith Families. We spent time getting to know each other and praying with them. Once we came back, we prayed the fifth decade of the Luminous Mysteries. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, segmented words into sounds, read short e words, words with the inflected ending -ed, and our sight words. To help us with our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read The Red Hat. After reading this story, we completed pages in our close reading book that focused on the events in the story. Finally, we practiced finding nouns in sentences and using commas in a series. 

In Math class we practiced solving real world subtraction problems. The students use many different strategies to solve these problems. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today, we focused on fire safety tips. We talked about getting out and staying out and going to our meeting place. 

Have a great night! 

National Bring Your Teddy Bear to School Day!

 Greetings! Today was National Bring Your Teddy Bear to School Day, and first grade had tons of fun celebrating the day. We began our day by making a teddy bear crown and writing about our special friend and introducing our special friend to the class. 

With our special friend on our desk, it was time to learn. 

In Religion class, we reviewed our chapter on God making us with a body and soul and on how God gave us guardian angels to help us. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words we learned yesterday and then learned three new words (astonishing, fortunately, and equipment). Next we worked on making predictions as we read a nonfiction piece about community helpers. Following that we used our letter tiles to spell and read short e words. After that, we learned how to blend and read words with the inflectional ending -ed. Then, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. We ended our morning focused on comprehension; this week we are working to identify the characters, setting, and events in a story. We reread Good Job, Ben and our decodable reader. After each story, we talked about its characters, setting, and events. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we worked on finding nouns in sentences. We also practiced finding nouns in the classroom. The students walked around and took pictures of three nouns and uploaded the pictures on Seesaw. They really enjoyed this activity. 

In Math class today, we continued to practice writing subtraction sentences for a picture. 

We ended our day with more teddy bear fun. The other first grade class came and joined us for a bear hunt. We also had a teddy bear picnic which consisted of a trail mix and teddy bear juice and tea. Fun was had by all! 

Here is a picture of my bear that I brought in today. It is the very first bear that I got. It has been well loved. 

Have a great night! 

Praying the Rosary!

 Greetings! Welcome back from our three day weekend! I hope everyone had a nice weekend. It was nice having that extra day off yesterday. 

In Religion class today we talked about how our guardian angels help us. We also began praying the Luminous Mysteries. Today we prayed the first two decades. 

We began another week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading about community helpers. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (community and occupation). Next, we worked on making predictions as we read Millie Waits for the Mail. After that we learned how to blend and read short e words. Then, we learned our new sight words. Finally, we read Good Job Ben.

This afternoon in Language Arts we learned about nouns. We learned that nouns name a person, place, thing, or animal. We made a foldable flower to help us remember this. 

In Math class today we practiced writing number sentences for a subtraction problem. We looked at a picture and thought of a subtraction story. We then wrote our number sentence based on that story. 

We ended our day by going over to church to pray the rosary. Today, our junior high friends led us as we prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries. 

Just a reminder that tomorrow is National Bring Your Teddy Bear to School Day! Have a great night! 

Meeting Our Faith Family!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a good end to their week. It is hard to believe that we already got one full week in in October. 

At Mass today, Fr. Brian talked to us about the rosary as today is the feast day for the Lady of the Rosary. He reminded us to pray the rosary as often as we can. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences and practiced reading r-blend and s-blend words by playing memory. We also wrote our sight word sentences and took our weekly assessment. 

In Math class today, we reviewed our subtraction strategies. We will put them to work next week as we solve subtraction stories. 

In Science class today we talked about the needs of animals. We completed a Seesaw activity where we sorted whether something was a need or not. 

After Science, we got together with our Faith Families. The students traveled to their Faith Family teacher and got to meet all of the members in their Faith Family. 

Once we came back from our Faith Family, it was time for Art. Today, we painted candy corn using pom-pom balls and paint. Once the paint dries, I'll post pictures. 

Here is a picture of the fall leaf writing we worked on this week. Enjoy! 

Have a great weekend! 

Picture Day!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! Everyone looked so nice today for picture day. We were all excited for this big event. Everyone smiled so nicely. 

In Religion class today we talked about how we are to know, love, and serve God. We said we know God when we learn about him, love God when we pray, and serve God by helping others. Today, we also prayed the fifth decade of the Joyful Mysteries. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading r blend and s blend words and used possessives in sentences. To help us practice our sight words, we played a game today called "Build the Scarecrow." It's similar to Hangman. The goal was for the students to guess the sight word before the scarecrow was built. They did excellent with knowing their sight words! 

To help us build our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read a nonfiction piece that helped us use diagrams. 

With next week being Fire Safety Week, we began talking today about some fire safety tips. We reviewed that we call 911 in an emergency, stop, drop, and roll if our clothes catch on fire, and how to safely exit a building by staying low and seeing if doorknobs are hot. 

In Math class today, we used all of our subtraction strategies to solve subtraction problems. The students are encouraged to use the strategy they like best when solving problems. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today we talked about Christopher Columbus and how we found the Americas. We then wrote about what we would have done if we found the new land. 

Have a great night! 

Being Respectful!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a great week. 

Our Religion class today took place during our Peacekeeper Assembly. Today, we watched a video about what it means to be respectful. Afterwards, the students came up with examples of ways to be respectful both in and out of school. 

We continued our week of learning in Language Arts. We reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading words with r and s blends, used possessives in sentences, and practiced our sight words. To help us build our fluency, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read Move It; after reading that story we completed pages in our close reading companion that focused on finding key details. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we wrote sentences describing leaves. We will be cutting out leaves and adding our writing to it tomorrow. 

In Math class, we used number bonds to solve subtraction sentences. Tomorrow we will pick our favorite strategy and practice solving subtraction problems. 

Just a reminder that tomorrow is picture day! 

Always Believe!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone's week is off to a great start. 

In Religion class this morning we talked about how God created us with a soul. We talked about how this soul makes us different from other living things. We also prayed the third decade of the Joyful Mysteries. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words we learned yesterday and then learned three new words (agree, difficult, and exhausted). We then practiced segmenting words into sounds. Next, we used our letter tiles to spell and read r-blend and s-blend words. Following that, we learned about possessives; we discovered that possessives show ownership of something. Then, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. We ended the morning focusing on comprehension; this week we are focusing on key details. Today, we reread Move and Grin and wrote key details from the story. We also did the same thing as we read our decodable reader. 

After lunch, we headed to the gym to see Mr. Jim "Basketball" Jones. During his presentation, he reminded the students to always believe in themselves and never give up. 

After the presentation, we headed back to the classroom for Math class. Today, we practiced subtracting using the strategy of counting back. We used our number lines to help us. 

Have a great night! 

Welcome October!

 Greetings! Welcome to October in First Grade! This will be another exciting month of new learning and fun celebrations. 

In Religion class today, we talked about how God created both our bodies and souls. We talked about how we use our bodies to see, hear, touch, taste, and smell all that God has created. We also prayed the second decade of the Joyful Mysteries. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts today; this week we will be reading about how our bodies move. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (exercise and physical). We then worked on asking and answering questions as we read Move. Next, we learned how to blend and read words with an s blend or an r blend. Following that, we learned and practiced our new sight words. After that, we put all of our new skills together as we read Move and Grin. We ended our morning working in our small reading groups. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we focused on writing. We completed a graphic organizer about leaves. We talked about what leaves can do, what leaves are, and what leaves have. We will be using our graphic organizer as we write sentences tomorrow. 

In Penmanship class this week, we will be practicing O and o. 

In Math class today, we learned a new subtraction strategy. Today we practiced counting on to solve a subtraction problem. 

Have a great night!