Merry Christmas!

 Greetings! Today was the day that the students have been waiting for: the last day of school before Christmas. They are so excited for Santa to come! 

We began our day with Mass. Today Fr. Brian reminded us to continue to be joyful as we wait for Christ.

After Mass, we sat around our Christmas tree and opened presents. It did not take the students long to tear into theirs. It was so fun to watch! 

After that, we played BINGO. Then it was time for lunch. Then it was time to go home. 

I want to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year! May your holidays be filled with joy and laughter! I'll see you in January! 

'Twas the Day Before Christmas Vacation!

 Greetings! Today was another day filled with excitement, singing, and fun in first grade. It truly is the best time of the year! 

In Religion class today, we talked about what gift we could give Jesus this Christmas. We talked about being nice to others, helping others, and doing extra chores. We wrote about what we could do and added it to a gift craft. Following that, the students created their own Nativity scene using stickers. They turned out awesome! 

Our Language Arts and Math classes' activities were based on favorite Christmas books. We began by reading The Polar Express. After reading the story, we wrote about what we would like our first gift of Christmas to be. We then used pictures of jingle bells to measure various pictures. 

Next, we read How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The students then completed a write the room activity where they wrote various math problems and solved them. Then, they created a Grinch and wrote or drew what they would do to make the Grinch grin. 

We ended our morning by singing Christmas songs. We thank Mr. Neff for coming in to sing with us. 

This afternoon we headed over to church to listen to our choir perform the songs they will be singing Christmas Eve. They sounded so beautiful. The highlight for us was the disco lights! 

We ended our day by watching the end of The Polar Express. After the movie, we read the book Jingles brought to us today. 

Have a great night! 

Holidays Around the World!

 Greetings! We sure had fun today traveling around the world! We loved wearing our pajamas and traveling in comfort. It was a great day! 

Before departing on our trip, we had some things to do in our classroom. In Religion we watched Brother Francis remind us of the importance of preparing for Jesus. In Math class, we took our chapter test on adding and subtracting within 20. In January, we will begin looking closely at the numbers to 40. 

Then, it was time to buckle our seat belts and travel the world. We went to India, Sweden, Italy, Egypt, and Australia. We learned how these countries celebrate the holidays. We had so much fun! 

This afternoon, we traveled to the North Pole as we watched The Polar Express and enjoyed hot chocolate and popcorn. We will need to finish the movie tomorrow. 

Also, this afternoon, members of the St. Francis band stopped by and played some Christmas carols for us. We really enjoyed the music! 

Here is a picture of the gingerbread men we created yesterday. They turned out great! 

Have a great night! 

Gingerbread Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! The excitement grew in first grade today. Santa came for a visit! The children were so excited to see Santa and tell him one last thing that they would like for Christmas! 

In Religion class today, we sequenced the Nativity story. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, read soft c, soft g, and inflected ending words, wrote sentences using our sight words, and took our weekly assessment. 

In Math class today, we reviewed adding and subtracting within 20. We will take our chapter test tomorrow. 

Throughout our day, we had fun centered around gingerbread men. We "baked" words by adding a magic e to them to create a long vowel word. We practiced identifying the number of syllables in words and using correct punctuation for sentences. We also played BINGO and created our own gingerbread person using glitter glue. It was an extra fun day in first grade! 

Have a great night! 

Christmas Week!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! Welcome to Christmas Week in first grade! The children are getting excited for the holiday. They were singing any chance they could get today! 

In Religion class, we started to learn the Nativity story. We colored a booklet as we read the story. 

In Language Arts class, we answered questions using our oral vocabulary words, read words with soft c and soft g, spelled and read words with inflectional endings when the final e is dropped, and read our word wall to review all of our sight words. We ended the morning by reviewing past and future tense verbs. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we read a folktale called "Drakestail". After reading it we discussed the moral of the story. Next, we wrote a how-to paragraph describing how to decorate a Christmas tree. 

In Math class today, we practiced solving word problems. We also used our critical thinking skills to solve problems. 

We ended our day with some Christmas fun. Today we read Mooseletoe. After reading the story, we wrote about its problem and how the characters solved it. We then made our own Moose and decorated his mustache with sequins. 

Here are pictures from Friday's Art and from what Jingles built over the weekend! 

Have a great night! 

Messy Glue Day!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! Today was a good day in first grade. The children really had a good time yesterday; they were quieter today than usual. I'm sure they will sleep well tonight. 

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian talked to us about how Advent is a joyful time as we prepare for Christmas. 

In Language Arts today, we read Santa's Stuck. After reading the story, we talked about what we would do if we found Santa stuck in our chimney. We then wrote about what we would do and added our writing to a craft. 

In Math class today, we practiced solving word problems by either adding or subtracting. The students did quite well recognizing whether or not they needed to add or subtract to solve the problem. 

For Art class today, we made a Santa Claus. We used our messy glue to add cotton balls for the beard. Once they dry, I will post pictures. 

For a job well done yesterday, the children were treated to an afternoon movie today. We watched The Star. 

Today, Jingles brought the students stickers for doing such a nice job yesterday. 

And, here are pictures from last Friday's Art class and from our reindeer writing we did earlier this week. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Show Time!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! Today was such an exciting day in first grade! Didn't the students do such a nice job? They were so excited all day; they kept singing their songs. I loved it! 

In Religion class today, we wrapped up our chapter on Mary saying yes to God. Next week, we will focus on the Nativity story. 

In Language Arts class, we read The Gingerbread Man. After reading the story, we completed pages in our Reading/Writing Companion that focused on key details from the story. 

In Math class today, we reviewed subtracting within 20. Tomorrow, we will learn how to solve word problems. 

In Social Studies today, we learned about different bodies of water and landforms. We focused on rivers, plains, and mountains. 

After our afternoon performance, we watched Twas the Night Before Christmas. They have never seen this one and just loved it. 

Have a wonderful night! 

Dancing Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! Excitement is building for our play tomorrow. We had our dress rehearsal today. The children did such a nice job and sang beautifully. I can't wait for everyone to see it tomorrow! 

In Religion class today, we talked about how Mary went to visit Elizabeth after the angel Gabriel left her. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading words with soft c and soft g, practiced reading and spelling words with inflectional endings when the final e is dropped, and practiced reading our sight words. To help us build our fluency, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also spent time working on our writing skills. We finished our how-to paragraph on planting a seed. We also wrote sentences using the correct verb tense. Finally, we wrote about what we would do if we had a pet reindeer. 

In Math class today, we practiced telling whether a number sentence was true or false. 

For Gym class today we broke out our dancing shoes. We danced to hits like "YMCA", "Hokey Pokey", and "The Chicken Dance". We also danced to lesser known tunes. 

We ended our day with a special Social Studies class. Today, we reviewed the continents and oceans. 

Have a wonderful night!  

Secret Santa Shopping!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is doing well and is enjoying their week. 

We began our day by visiting the Secret Santa Shop. We had lots of fun shopping for presents and wrapping them. A huge shout out to all of the volunteers. They made our shopping trip go smoothly! 

In Religion class today, we talked about how the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her that she would be the Mother of Jesus. 

In Language Arts class, we reread The Nice Mitten. After reading the story we wrote about what makes it a folktale and what the moral of the story is. We also reviewed past and future tense verbs. We sorted verbs based on their tense. Finally, we began to learn how to write a how-to paragraph. Today, we wrote the first two steps in planting a seed. 

In Math class today, we learned to use related facts to help us subtract. We reviewed fact families and practiced writing them. By knowing the fact family, this can help us subtract. 

Have a great night! 

Honoring Mary!

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

We began our day with Mass to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. We welcomed Fr. Harris today as our celebrant. He reminded us that we need to seek forgiveness to restore our grace. 

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 (timid, foolish, eventually). Next, we used our letter tiles to spell and read words with soft c and soft g. Following that, we learned how to read words with inflected endings when the final e is dropped. Finally, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. 

In Math class today, we learned how to subtract by breaking a number into tens and ones and then subtracting. At times, we found this way confusing and reverted to just counting backwards. Remember to use the strategy you like best! 

Have a great night! 

Elf Writing Fun!

 Greetings! Welcome back after our flexible instruction day. Many thanks again for helping with everything yesterday. 

At Mass today, Fr. Brian encouraged us to wait with joy for the coming of Jesus. 

We began a new week over learning in Language Arts; this week we are reading folktales. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (hero and tale). Then, we reviewed reading soft c and soft g words. Following that we learned our new sight words (any, from, happy, once, so, upon). After that, we read The Nice Mitten which helped us practice reading soft c, soft, g, and our sight words in sentences. Finally, we learned about past and future tense verbs. 

In Math class today, we started to learn subtraction strategies. We used our number lines to count back to solve problems. 

Then, it was time for some Writing fun. We made an elf and wrote about what we would do if we were an elf. 

We ended our day with Art class. Today, the students dipped pom-pom balls in paint to decorate a Christmas ornament. I will post pictures once the paint has dried. 

Here is a picture of our classroom Christmas tree. 

And here is a picture of Jingles. He brought the students candy canes today. 

Have a great weekend! 

Pizza Anyone?

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is enjoying a relaxing evening. 

In Religion class today, we talked about how Mary was born without original sin and the gift of grace. This is why we call her immaculate. 

We wrapped up a 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 weekly assessment. We even had time to learn how to blend and read words with soft c, soft g, and dge. We will be working on these words more tomorrow. 

In Math class today, we learned that we can add in either order and still end up with the same answer! 

For Gym today, we continued to work on our kickball skills. We are getting much better at running the bases! 

We ended our day with some Christmas fun! The children got to decorate our classroom Christmas tree. They did a great job! 

Jingles must have been hungry yesterday. Today, he brought us a Domino's pizza! 

Have a great night! 

Hello December!

 Greetings! Welcome to December in First Grade. This is one of my favorite months to spend with the children. I love preparing for the holidays and hearing about their elves. Their excitement is contagious! 

We began our day by going to church for Adoration. We spent some quiet time praying to Jesus asking him to help us draw closer to him during Advent. 

In Language Arts, we answered questions using our sight words. We also practiced reading long i words and plurals. To help us build our fluency, we partner read a story in our decodable reader. We also read a nonfiction story about plants and sequenced how plants grow. Finally, we practiced using present tense verbs in sentences. 

I'm sure the students told you that our classroom elf has returned. His name is Jingles. Each day, we will be writing in a journal describing where Jingles is or what he is doing. Today, he was hanging on the whiteboard. 

In Math class today, we continued learning addition strategies. Today, we learned the doubles and doubles plus 1 facts to help us solve addition problems. 

Have a great night! Stay warm!