Leap Day 2024!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I hope everyone is having a great day and is staying warm. I don't know about you, but that cold went right through me today. 

In Religion class today, we reviewed the miracle of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread. We created a poster to remind us that Jesus still feeds us today in the Eucharist. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words and read long e and compound words. We also reviewed root words. To help build our fluency, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read a nonfiction piece about saving mountain gorillas and completed a page in our close reading companion that focused on main idea. We ended class by identifying adverbs that tell when in sentences. 

In Math class today, we began our chapter on length and measurement. Today, we practiced identifying which object was taller or longer. We used our linking cubes to make trains and then identified the taller/shorter or longer/shorter one. 

We ended our day with some Leap Day fun. First, we learned why we have a leap year. We role played the Earth traveling around the sun. We learned that it takes 365 days plus 6 hours to make one full trip. We bank those 6 hours until we reach 24 total hours which gives us the extra day. In addition to learning about that, we wrote about what we will do with our extra day this year. 

Have a great night! 

The Miracles of Jesus!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone made it home safe and dry tonight. 

In Religion class today, we began our chapter on the miracles of Jesus. We learned that Jesus can perform miracles because he is God. Today, we read the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with only two fish and 5 loaves of bread. We also talked about how he still feeds us today in the Eucharist. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, and read long e words, compound words, our sight words, and our vocabulary words. To help us build our fluency, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read Koko and Penny, a nonfiction story about a zookeeper and gorilla. After reading this story, we completed pages in our close reading companion that focused on sequencing what Koko learned. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced identifying adverbs in sentences. We also practiced adding commas in a series. 

In Math class today, we took our chapter test on adding and subtracting with and without regrouping. Tomorrow we will begin our chapter on measurement and weight. 

We ended our day with Stations of the Cross. 

Just a reminder that tomorrow is our Hat Day! Have a great night! 

Stuck in the Rain!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a nice day. We tried to get outside and enjoy the sunshine today, but just as we got outside, it started to rain and we came in. What can you do? 

In Religion class today, we wrapped up our chapter on Jesus teaching the Good News. We reviewed how Jesus and the Apostles went from town to town telling people the Good News that God loves them. We also reviewed the Great Commandment.

We began Language Arts class by answering questions using our oral vocabulary words. We then used our letter tiles to spell and read long e words spelled with y or ey. After that, we learned how to blend and read compound words. Following that, we practiced using our sight words and vocabulary words in sentences. We ended the morning focusing on our comprehension skills; this week we are focusing on sequencing. We reread From Puppy to Guide Dog and sequenced the steps in training a guide dog. We then read our decodable reader and sequenced the events in that story. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we practiced using adverbs that tell when in sentences. We also wrote our first persuasive paragraph. Today we wrote about why we love school. 

In Math class today, we prepared for our chapter test by practicing adding and subtracting with and without regrouping. 

Have a great night! 

The Great Commandment!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a marvelous day to start their week. 

In Religion class today, we talked about the Great Commandment. We learned that Jesus told us that we need to love God, love others, and love ourselves. We made a gigantic heart to help us remember the Great Commandment. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we are reading about how animals help people. We began by learning five new oral vocabulary words (soothe, advice, remarkable, career, and trust). Next, we worked on visualizing as we read a story about a dog trainer. Following that, we learned how to blend and read long e words spelled with y and ey, words like puppy and hockey. After that, we learned our new sight words and vocabulary words. We ended our morning by reading From Puppy to Guide Dog which helped us practice our new reading skills. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we learned about adverbs that tell when. We then practiced finding them in sentences. We also reviewed paragraphs. We worked with a partner to put sentences in order to make a paragraph. Tomorrow we will write our first paragraph. 

In Math class today, we used our critical thinking skills to solve problems that involved adding and subtracting with and without regrouping. 

Have a marvelous night! 

Dental Health Month!

 Greetings! I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Friday was another fantastic day in first grade. 

At Mass on Friday, Fr. Brian talked to us about St. Polycarp and how he was a martyr for the faith. He encouraged us to always live out our faith. 

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 took our weekly assessment. We also played a classroom favorite, Stinky Feet, to practice reading long i words and words with inflected endings when the final y is changed to i. 

In Math class today, we practiced repeated addition, an introduction lesson to multiplication. We used our linking cubes and put them into equal groups. We then wrote a number sentence showing the groups. 

Science class was messy today! February is Dental Health month, so we spent time today talking about things we need to do to keep our teeth healthy. We discussed the importance of brushing and flossing our teeth daily, eating healthy foods, and visiting the dentist. To show what will happen if we don't brush our teeth, pairs of students were given a hard-boiled egg soaked in cola. Together, they had to brush their tooth to make it white again. Needless to say, the students loved it! 

We ended our day with Art class. We did one finally heart themed project. The students drew a heart on construction paper and then painted it red. They then added splashes of color around the heart. Here are some examples: 

And, here is a picture from our Social Studies project on Thursday. 

Enjoy your Sunday! 

Celebrating Presidents' Day!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I hope everyone had a great day. It is hard to believe that tomorrow is Friday! 

In Religion class today, we returned to our regular book learning after taking time to learn about the season of Lent. Today, we talked about how the bible is the book that contains stories about Jesus and the people before him. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, read long i words, and spelled and read words with inflected endings when the final y is changed to i. We also practiced using context clues to find the meaning of unknown words. To help build our fluency, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read a nonfiction piece about insects. After reading that story, we completed pages in our close reading companion that focused on main idea and key details. We ended class by practicing using the verbs see and saw in sentences. 

In Math class today, we continued to practice solving word problems. The students did great today with writing the number sentence vertically and solving the problems. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today, we continued our celebration of President's Day by writing about what we would do if we were president. We added our writing to a craft. I'll post pictures tomorrow. 

Have a great night! 

Hi! Fly Guy!

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

In Religion class this morning, we finished watching Brother Francis explain the Stations of the Cross to us. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary, read long i words, spelled and read words with inflectional endings when the final y is changed to an i, and read our sight words and vocabulary words. To help build our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read Hi! Fly Guy, a story that the children loved. After reading this story, we completed pages in our close reading companion that focused on the point of view of the characters. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced using the verbs see and saw in sentences. We also learned about George Washington and made a booklet highlighting important facts about him. 

In Math class, we put our addition and subtraction skills to work as we solved word problems. We know when we need to add or subtract. The key for us is now writing the number sentences vertical. 

Have a great night! 

Talking About Characters!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a great long weekend. The students really seemed to enjoy their four day weekend. I loved hearing about their adventures this morning. 

We began our day by going over to church for Adoration. We spent some quiet time praying to Jesus asking him to guide us today. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by answering questions using our oral vocabulary words. Next, we used our letter tiles to spell and read long i words. Then, we learned how to spell and read words with inflectional endings when the y is changed to an i. Following that, we practiced using our sight words and vocabulary words in sentences. We ended our morning focused on building our comprehension skills; this week we are focusing on point of view, how a character feels in the story. We reread Creep Low, Fly High and wrote how different characters felt at different points in the story. We then did the same thing as we read our decodable reader. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced using see and saw in sentences. 

In Math class today, we practiced solving subtraction problems that involved with and without regrouping. The key for us is to always start with the ones and look to see if we need to regroup. 

We ended our day with Stations of the Cross. We took time to walk the path with Jesus reflecting on the story. 

Have a wonderful night! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Greetings on this lovely day! We had lots of fun celebrating Valentine's Day today. The children were excited to share their cards with friends. 

In Religion class today, we began to look at the Stations of the Cross. We watched as Brother Francis explained the first seven stations. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we are reading about insects. We began by learning our new oral vocabulary words (flutter, different, imitate, protect, resemble). After that we worked on retelling as we read about how different insects camouflage to stay safe. Following that, we learned how to blend and read long i words spelled i (find), igh (night), ie (pie) and y (my). Then, we learned our new sight words and vocabulary words. With all of those new decoding skills, it was time to read Creep Low, Fly High. We ended the morning by practicing using the verbs see and saw in sentences. 

In Math class today, we continued to practice subtraction with regrouping. We did much better today and really focused on the ones before decoding whether to regroup or not. 

We ended our day with our Valentine's Day party. We used candy hearts to measure arrows, make a picture graph, and play BINGO! 

Have a wonderful weekend! See you on Tuesday! 

Ash Wednesday!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! Thank you all again for another successful flexible instruction day yesterday. 

We began our day by attending Mass for Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. The children were quite excited to receive ashes and look at them when we returned to the classroom. After Mass, we took time to reflect on the pillars of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We wrote about who we can pray for, something we can give up, and how we can show acts of kindness. Here is what we made: 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, read long o words and open syllable words, wrote sentences using our sight words, and took our weekly assessment. We also practiced using go, went, do, and did in sentences. 

In Math class today, we learned how to subtract with regrouping. We began by using our base ten blocks. We learned that we need to regroup a ten stick for 10 ones when the bigger number is on the bottom. We then transitioned to using our whiteboards. We will continue to practice this tomorrow. 

Just a reminder that our Valentine's Day celebration will be tomorrow. Have a good night! 

A Super Monday!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a super weekend! The students were very excited to tell me all about their weekend including watching the Superbowl. I don't know about you, but I had a hard time staying up that late. 

In Religion class today, we began learning about the season of Lent. We talked about how it lasts for 40 days and how it is a time to grow closer to Jesus through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We reviewed our oral vocabulary words and practiced reading long o words and words with open syllables. After that we practiced using our vocabulary words in sentences and read our sight words. To build our fluency and comprehension skills, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read Vulture View and then completed pages in our close reading companion that focused on main idea and key details. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced using go, went, do, and did in sentences. We also practiced writing proper nouns with capital letters. Finally, we learned about paragraphs. We learned that the first sentences is my go sentence telling the reader what the paragraph is about. We also talked about how to next several sentences tell more about the topic. Beginning soon, we will be writing paragraphs! 

In Math class, we continued to practice subtraction without regrouping. The students are doing very well with this. They are almost ready to learn how to subtract with regrouping. 

Tomorrow is a flexible instruction day. See you on Zoom! 

Uplifting Music!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great day to end the week. It was a mixed up Friday but still a great day of learning in Language Arts. 

We began our day with Math class. We learned how to subtract without regrouping. We began by using our base ten blocks to subtract before transitioning to our whiteboards. We did very well remembering to subtract and not add. 

Next, we practiced our writing skills. We wrote about someone we love a lot and why we love that person. We added it to a craft. Aren't they cute? 

After library, we read The Biggest Valentine Ever. After reading the story, we created a mouse made out of hearts just like in the story. 

This afternoon we attended a beautiful Mass. The choir from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia provided us with great music that got everyone involved in the Mass. It was very uplifting. 

We had just enough time after Mass to make our bags for our Valentine's next week. We are getting excited to celebrate! 

Have a great weekend! 

Living the Beatitudes!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I don't know about you, but it has been another fast week. 

In Religion class today, we talked about Jesus sharing the Good News during his Sermon on the Mount. We focused in on the Beatitudes. We learned what Jesus meant by them and created our own "bee"atitude poster of them. 

In Language Arts class, we answered questions using our oral vocabulary words and used our letter tiles to spell and read long o words. After that, we learned how to read open syllable words, words like frozen, robot, and silent. Following that, we practiced using our sight words and vocabulary words in sentences. We ended the morning by practicing using go, went, do, and did in sentences. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we focused on building our comprehension skills. We reread Go Wild and wrote about its main idea and the details in the story. We did the same thing as we read our decodable reader. 

In Math class, we learned how to add three single digit numbers. First, we pick two numbers we want to add and circle them. Next, we add those number and write the answer. Finally we add the remaining number to our sum of the first two numbers. The students did very well with this skill. 

We ended our day with Social Studies class. Today, we learned about Abraham Lincoln. We are in the process of making an Abraham Lincoln to help us remember him. 

Finally, here is a picture from our writing project yesterday. 

Have a great night! 

To Regroup or Not

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is doing well. The children were quite excited to get outside for recess today. It was nice seeming them being able to run around. 

In Religion class today, we talked about the Good News Jesus shared with the people. We learned that the Good News is that God loves us. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading about how animals survive in the wild. We began by learning five new oral vocabulary words (survive, provide, communicate, wilderness, and superior). After that we worked on retelling as we read about how some animals survive the winter. Following that, we learned how to blend and read long o words spelled o, oa, ow, and oe, words like go, boat, snow, and toe. Then, we learned our new sight words and vocabulary words. With all this new knowledge, we read Go Wild, a nonfiction piece about what animals eat. We ended our morning by learning how to use go, went, do, and did in sentences. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we read The Day It Rained Hearts. We wrote about what we would do if it rained hearts. We then added our writing to a craft. I'll post pictures tomorrow. 

In Math class today, we practiced adding with and without regrouping. We know we have to pay attention to the ones to see if we need to regroup. 

Have a great night! 

Adding with Regrouping!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine this week. I do wish that the sunshine brought warmer weather. The mornings have been quite chilly. 

In Religion class, we wrapped up our chapter on Jesus beginning his public ministry. We reviewed how we went from town to town telling people about God's love, how he blessed the children, and how he called the Apostles. 

We wrapped up our week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences and played BINGO to practice reading long e words and words with prefixes. We wrote sentences using our sight words and took our weekly assessment. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we wrote our how-to piece. The students did a great job writing their steps and remembering to begin sentences with capital letters and end them with periods. Next, we will learn how to write a paragraph. 

In Math class, we continued to practice adding with regrouping. The key is to begin with the ones and not to assume that we need to regroup. 

Have a wonderful night! 

101 Days of Learning!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a nice weekend. We had a very productive day of learning in first grade. 

In Religion class today, we talked about how the Apostles helped the church to grow. We then talked about what we can do to help the church. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by reviewing our oral vocabulary words and reading long e words and words with prefixes. To review our sight words, we played "Don't build the Heart Man", our version of Hangman. The students were very quick in guessing all of the words. Then, to practice our vocabulary words, we played a game where they had to identify which one was missing in a sentence; in the end, they opened the safe to reveal jewels. To help build our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read a nonfiction piece about bees. After reading about bees, we completed pages in our close reading companion that focused on finding the main idea and key details. Finally, we practiced using has and have in sentences. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we focused on writing. We are writing our very own how-to piece this week. Today, we brainstormed possible topics, picked the one we liked best, and drew pictures of the steps. Tomorrow we will write! 

In Math class today, we learned how to add with regrouping. The key is to begin with the ones. For the first day, it went well. We will continue to practice tomorrow. 

Have a great night! 

Happy 100th Day of School!

 Greetings! Happy 100th Day of School! Today was a cause for great celebration in first grade. We have reached the 100th day of school. We celebrated all that we have learned this year! 

At Mass this morning, we celebrated the feast of Candlemas. Fr. Brian talked to us about using candles to pray. After Mass, we worked with our Faith Families to color a picture of our Faith Family saint. 

In Math class today, we practiced adding without regrouping. We are doing very well with this. On Monday, we will learn how to add with regrouping. 

We ended our morning celebrating Groundhog Day. We watched as Phil did not see his shadow. We were quite happy that it will be an early spring. 

This afternoon we celebrated the 100th day of school. It was a great celebration. We worked in groups to build things using 100 of a given object. The students got to build with cups, interlocking cubes, pattern blocks, and wooden blocks. Here are some of their designs. 

We then created a bucket list of things we want to do and see before we are 100. We turned our writing into a craft. 

Finally, it was time for Art. Today, we made an Eskimo. The highlight was using our messy glue! They turned out cute! 

And, here is a picture of the crowns and necklaces we made to wear to celebrate the 100th day of school! 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Shadow or No Shadow?

 Greetings! Today was another busy day in first grade. The other first grade joined us this morning. Our day started with a fire drill. After that excitement, we settled and had a great day of learning. 

In Religion class, we talked about how Jesus called the 12 Apostles. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, read long e words, words with prefixes, and our sight words and vocabulary words. We then worked on our fluency and comprehension as we read Animal Teams. After reading the story, we wrote about its main idea and the key details in the story. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced using has and have in sentences and writing sentences correctly. 

In Math class today, we continued to practice solving addition problems without regrouping. I am quite pleased at how well they are doing with this. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today, we focused on Punxsutawney Phil and whether or not he will see his shadow. By one vote, we think he will not see his shadow. We'll find out tomorrow. 

Have a great night!