Fall Trees!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great day to end their week. We had an exciting day in first grade. 

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian talked to us about turning to the saints and asking them to help us when we need it. 

After Mass, some of our fifth grade friends came to join us. We began our time together by reading Ten Apples Up on Top. Then, working in groups the students built a tower to hold an apple. They used wooden blocks, linking cubes, pipe cleaners, cups, Play-doh, and other classroom materials. It was great seeing everyone work together and smiling. 

After fifth grade left, we wrapped up our week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences and wrote sentences using our sight words. We also took our weekly assessment. 

In Math class today, we practiced solving real world addition problems. The students are really doing well with addition. On Monday, we will begin learning subtraction strategies. 

In Science class today, we talked about why animals camouflage. We practiced finding moths hidden on trees and designed our own moth to camouflage on something in our classroom. 

We ended our day with Art. Today we painted fall trees using forks. The students really enjoyed painting. I look forward to painting with them again. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

The Creation Story!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! Today was a good day in first grade. The children were filled with lots of excitement. 

In Religion class today, we reviewed the creation story. We created a mobile to help us remember what God created on each day. 

In Language Arts class, we answered questions using our oral vocabulary words, read words with l-blends, plurals, and sight words. To help us build our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read a nonfiction story about caring for pets and then completed pages in our Reading/Writing workshop book that focused on key details. Finally, we practiced identifying statements and questions. 

In Math class today, we practiced solving real world addition problems. The key today was finding the parts in story and then finding the answer. We also began using XtraMath. We will be visiting this website daily to practice our Math facts. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today, we learned about community helpers. We read a story and watched a video about various community helpers. We then spent time naming community helpers. 

Have a great night! 

Writing and Walking in Math!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! As sad as it was not to see the sun shining today, it was nice to hear some rain. 

In Religion class today, we read the creation story. We talked about how God created everything and spent time talking about what God created each day. 

In Language Arts, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, read words with l-blends, with plural -s, and our sight words. To help us build our fluency skills, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read Flip, a fantasy story about a pet dinosaur who went to school. After reading that story, we completed pages in our Reading/Writing companion that focused on character, setting, and event. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced writing statements and questions. 

For Gym class today, we headed to the gym and played Good Ship Spark. I would give a command and the students performed an action for it. Movements included sit ups, skipping, running, and freezing. They really enjoyed this. 

In Math class today, we did a write the room activity. The students walked around the room looking for addition pictures. Once they found a picture, they wrote the number sentence for the picture. 

Have a great night! 

Addition Story Writing!

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

In Religion class today, we talked about how God is everywhere, knows everything, is all powerful, and is all good. 

We continued our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by reviewing our oral vocabulary words we learned yesterday and then learned three new words (companion, popular, and groom). Next, we worked on visualizing as we read a nonfiction piece about pets. Following that, we used our letter tiles to spell and read words with l-blends. After that, we learned how to read plurals and use plurals in sentences. Then, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. We ended the morning focusing on our comprehension skills. This week we are focusing on character, setting, and events. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced identifying statements and questions. We also continued to build our sentence writing skills as we wrote a sentence describing a picture. 

In Math class today, we wrote addition sentences for a picture. We looked at a picture and told a story about the picture. We then used the story to help us write sentences. 

Have a great night! 

Reading Words with Blends!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing weekend! I had one student comment to me this morning that they were so glad that the weekend was only two days long. They were so excited to come back to school and learn! 

In Religion class today, we wrapped up our chapter on heaven. We reviewed that God lives in Heaven and that one day we will live there too!

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading about pets. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (care and train). We then worked on visualizing as we read Cool Dog, School Dog. After that, we learned how to blend and read words with l-blends, words like blip, clip, flag, glad, plan, and slam. Following that, we learned our new sight words (be, come, good, pull). 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we put our new skills to work as we read A Pig for Cliff. We also talked about the difference between statements and questions. Finally, we practiced writing a sentence. We looked at a picture and wrote a sentence describing what was happening in it. 

In Math class today, we continued to practice our addition strategies. We used dominoes to fill in a number bond and write the addition sentences that went along with it. 

Have a great night! 

Fall Gnomes!

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

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian asked us to pray for all vocations, especially those to the priesthood and religious life. 

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. We also took our weekly assessment. 

In Math class today, we continued to practice our addition strategies. Today, we used number lines to help us add. We are getting much better with adding. 

In Science class today, we talked about how adult animals take care of their babies. We also talked about how adults look different than their babies. 

We ended our day with Art class. Today, we made a fall gnome holding a pumpkin. They turned out cute. 

Here is a picture from our fall writing activity from yesterday. 

Have a great weekend!  

Adding with Dice!

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

In Religion class today, we talked about the Mass, specifically how a bit of Heaven is at Mass with us. 

We continued our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by reviewing our oral vocabulary words and reading short i words, words with double final consonants, and our sight words. After a trip to the library. We worked on our fluency and comprehension skills. We partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read a fiction piece about a girl's surprise. After reading that story, we completed pages in our reading/writing companion that focused on key details. We ended our morning by practicing writing sentences using correct word order. 

In Math class today, we began to learn addition strategies. We began by using number bonds to add. When given the two parts, we know that we need to add to find the whole. To help us learn how to add using number bonds, we completed an activity with dice. The students rolled two dice and filled in the parts of a number bond. They then counted the dots to find the whole. Using those numbers, they wrote the number sentence. We really enjoyed this activity. 

In Social Studies class, we talked about rules and why we have them. We also talked about the season of fall. We talked and wrote about what we like best about fall. We added that to a craft. I'll post pictures tomorrow. 

Have a great night! 

Being Peacekeepers!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! It was another gorgeous day outside. It was hard to come in from recess. 

In Religion class today, we practiced praying and making the Sign of the Cross. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words and read short i words, words with final double consonants, and our sight words. To help build our reading fluency, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read Go, Pip! After reading that story, we we completed pages in our workbook that focused on characterization. Finally, we practiced unscrambling sentences and put the words into correct word order. 

This afternoon we had our annual Peacekeeper Program. We talked about what it means to be a peacekeeper and what it means to be a bully. We read the story Coat of Many Colors and talked about how Dolly never gave up when others put her down. We also talked about never giving up and keep encouraging others to reach their goals. 

In Math class today, we continued our work with number bonds. We used paper strips to make a number bond. We started by writing the whole and breaking it into parts. We used those parts to build our number chain. We are slowly getting the hang of number bonds. 

Have a great night! 

Picture Day!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone was able to enjoy this splendid September day! The students looked great today for picture day. I can't wait to see them! 

We began our day by attending Adoration. This was our first time going to Adoration. Because it was our first time, we went to the cry room. There we were able to see Jesus on the altar and talk about what Adoration is and how we pray during Adoration. We look forward to continue going to Adoration this year. 

We continued our learning in Language Arts. We reviewed the oral vocabulary words we learned yesterday and then learned three new words (scurried, feast, bored). We then worked on visualizing as we read "City Mouse, Country Mouse". Following that we used our letter tiles to spell and read short i words. After that, we learned how to read words with final double consonants, words like kiss, mitt, jazz, hill. Then, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. We ended our morning focusing on our comprehension skills. We reread Six Kids. We then talked about what made this story a fantasy. We also talked about the characters including how they look, what they were doing, and how they felt. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we practiced writing sentences using correct word order. When given a sentence all mixed up, the students had to unscramble it so that it made sense. 

We continued with our learning of number bonds in Math today. We reviewed how to find the parts when given a whole, how to find the whole when given the parts, and how to find a part when given the whole and part. We used our linking cubes to help us. 

Have a great night! 

Number Bond Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a nice weekend! We are off to a great start this week in first grade! 

In Religion class today, we talked about how one day we will get to be with God in heaven. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading stories about where we live. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (city and country). We then worked on visualizing as we read Alicia's Happy Day. Following that, we learned how to blend and read short i words. We ended our morning by learning our new sight words: down, out, up, very. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we read Six Kids which helped us practice our new phonics skill along with helping us recognize our sight words. 

In Math class today, we began our chapter on number bonds. We began by exploring the concept of whole and part. Once we got that down, we built a giant number bond using hula hoops and practiced breaking a whole into parts and joining parts to make a whole. Then, we practiced making number bonds with linking cubes. We will continue to practice with number bonds tomorrow. 

Have a great night! 

Our First Tests!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great day to end this first week of September. It was a gorgeous day outside! 

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian encouraged us to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. 

We wrapped up our first week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences. We wrote sentences using our sight words. And we took our first weekly assessment. The students did great with writing sentences and the test. 

In Math class today, we took our chapter test on the numbers to 10. Again, they did a great job at listening and thinking during the test. Next week, we will begin learning about number bonds. 

In Science class, we continued our discussion on animal features and how they help them. We looked at a variety of animals and discussed the features those animals use to protect themselves and survive. 

We ended our day with Art class. Today, we made an owl. We used pieces of torn paper to glue to an owl's body to make it look fluffy. We then added eyes, a beak, claws, and wings. They look great! 

Here are pictures from today's Art class and last week's Art class. 

Have a great weekend! 

The Three P's: Prayer, People, Peace

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! Today was a busy and exciting day in first grade. 

We began our day by going over to church for a visit with Fr. David Michael Moses. He talked to us about our vocation and always remembering the three P's: prayer (talk to God every day), people (talk to the people in our lives), and peace (be at peace with our decisions). 

We came back to the classroom and started into our Language Arts lessons for the day. We began by reviewing our oral vocabulary words and answering questions using the words. Next, we used our whiteboards and markers to spell and read short a words. To review our sight words, the students had to guess letters in a word before a leaf man was drawn. They really enjoyed this. We ended our morning by reviewing sentences. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we read a nonfiction piece about school rules and talked about why we have rules. 

In Math class, we reviewed the numbers to 10. Tomorrow we will take our chapter test. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today, we talked about jobs we do and how they help other people. 

Have a great night! 

A Wonderful Wednesday!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone's week is going well. 

In Religion class today, we talked about how Heaven is the most beautiful place and how God lives there. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading short a words, words with inflectional ending -s, and our sight words. We also spent time working on our fluency and comprehension. We partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read Nat and Sam. After reading this story, we wrote about Nat and how he felt at different points in the story. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we worked on writing. He took a fragment and expanded it to make a complete sentence. 

In Math class today, we used our critical thinking skills to solve problems. We sorted numbers and made patterns. 

Just a reminder that library is tomorrow. Please remember to return your book! 

Have a great night! 

Happy September!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! 

In Religion class today, we wrapped up our chapter on God creating us. We reviewed how God created us because he loves us and how He gives us everything we need. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by reviewing the oral vocabulary words we learned last week and then learned three new words (common, object, recognize). We then worked on visualizing as we read a nonfiction piece about schools around the world. After that, we used letter tabs to spell and read short a words. Following that, we learned how to blend and read words with the inflectional ending -s. Next, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. Finally, we worked on our comprehension skills. We reread Jack Can and talked about what makes the story a realistic story and talked about the characters in the story. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we practiced sorting sentences from those that are not sentences. 

In Math class today, we worked with number patterns. We worked on identifying the missing numbers in a sequence. 

Have a great night!