Junior Achievement Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I hope everyone had a nice day. The children are quite excited for their four day weekend! 

In Religion class today, we talked about how we receive God's grace when we were baptized. We also prayed the fourth and fifth decades of the Luminous Mysteries. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, practiced reading short e words and words with inflected endings. We also wrote sentences using our sight words and took our weekly assessment. To build our fluency and comprehension skills, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets and a nonfiction story about firefighters. Finally, we practiced finding nouns in sentences. 

In Math class today, we took our chapter test on subtraction. Next week, we will begin to learn the numbers to 20. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today, we began our Junior Achievement lessons. Our focus today was on our family and neighborhood. We had lots of fun completing our picture book and writing about ourselves. 

Have a wonderful weekend! See you on Tuesday! 

Fall Weather!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a nice week. It looks like the fall weather has arrived. 

In Religion class today, we talked about how God gave Adam and Eve grace. We also talked about how we, too, have God's life in us. We ended class by praying the third decade of the Luminous Mysteries. 

In Language Arts, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading short e words, practiced spelling and reading words with the inflectional ending -ed, and practiced our sight words. To build our fluency and comprehension skills, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read The Red Hat, a realistic fiction story about a firefighter. After reading that story, we wrote about the events in the story. 

In Math class today, we used our critical thinking skills to solve problems. We are ready for our chapter test tomorrow. 

Have a great night! 

The Month of the Rosary!

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

In Religion class today, we talked about how God put Adam and Eve in charge of his creation. He wanted them to be good stewards. We talked about how we can by good stewards. We ended class by praying the second decade of the Luminous Mysteries. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by reviewing our oral vocabulary words and by learning three more words (astonishing, equipment, fortunately). Next, we used our letter tiles to spell and read short e words. After that, we learned about the ending -ed. We talked about how when added to a word that it means something already happened. We practiced reading words ending in -ed. Following that, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. We ended our morning focusing on comprehension. We reread Good Job, Ben and writing about what could really happen in the story and events in the story. 

This afternoon we reviewed nouns. We sorted nouns based on whether they named a person, place, or thing. 

In Math class today, we continued to review subtracting. We wrote a subtraction problem and used our critical thinking skills to solve problems. 

We ended our day by going over to church and praying the rosary with the whole school. Our junior high students did a great job leading us in prayer. 

Have a great night! 

Noun Town!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful day today. It was so nice outside. It was hard to come in. 

In Religion class today, we talked about how God created Adam and Eve and how Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden. We also began praying the Luminous Mysteries today. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we are reading about jobs in our community. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (community and occupation). We then worked on making predictions as we read Millie Waits for the Mail. After that, we learned how to blend and read short e words. Next, we learned our new sight words (again, help, new, there, use). We ended our morning by reading Good Job, Ben which helped us practice our new skills. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we learned that nouns name a person, place, thing, or animal. We created a noun house to help us remember this. 

In Math class today, we began reviewing subtracting within 10. The students are doing very well with writing subtraction sentences. 

We ended our day with Gym class. Today, we went outside. How could we not? 

Here is a picture of our mosaic candy corn. 

Have a great night! 

A Visit with the Firefighters!

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

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian reminded us about our guardian angels. 

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. 

As we were wrapping up our Language Arts, we had our annual visit with the firefighters. We began by having a fire drill. Then we got to spend time with the firefighters, review fire safety, and try on some of the gear. 

In Math class today, we learned to compare by subtracting. We had to be careful to make sure that the greater number started our subtraction sentence. 

In Science class today, we talked about why animals have certain features. We focused on birds. We experimented with different beaks to see which one would help us get the most food and avoid rocks. We learned that each animal has special features that it uses to help it survive. 

We ended our day with Art class. Today, we created a mosaic candy corn. 

Have a great weekend! 

Learning About Firefighters!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I hope everyone enjoyed the sunshine today! 

In Religion class we wrapped up our chapter on learning how we were created with a body and soul. We also prayed the fourth decade of the Joyful Mysteries. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words by answering questions using the words. We also practiced reading words with blends and our sight words. In addition, we completed possessive phrases. To build our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklet. We also read a short fiction piece about a boy on a hike. Finally, we practiced writing sentences correctly. 

In Math class today, we continued to practice writing fact families. The students are really enjoying writing them. 

In Social Studies today, we talked about fire fighters. We learned about what they wear and what tools they use. We wrote about what they do and have and added it to a firefighter craft. 

We ended our day with extra recess time. The students earned this by feeling up our marble jar. Next, they are working towards a special show and tell. 

Have a great night! 

Fact Family Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a nice day! 

In Religion class today, we talked about how our guardian angels help protect us and guide us each and every day. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading words with blends, had tons of fun writing possessive phrases, and reviewed our sight words. To help build our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read Move It. After reading that story, we completed pages in our packet that focused on key details from the story. Finally, we practiced writing sentences correctly. 

In Math class today, we learned about fact families. Once we got the hang of it, we enjoyed writing fact families for a number bond. 

Have a great night! 

Fire Safety Week!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a great day! 

We began our day by going to Adoration. We spent some quiet time talking with Jesus. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by reviewing our oral vocabulary words and learning three new words (agree, difficult, and exhausted). We then worked on asking and answering questions as we read a folktale. Following that, we used our letter tiles to spell and read s-blend and r-blend words. Next, we learned about possessives and had fun creating possessive phrases. After that, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. We ended our morning focusing on comprehension. We reread Move and Grin and wrote facts we learned from the story along with its main idea and key details. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced writing sentences. We also continued with our Fire Safety lessons. Today, we talked about how to feel a door with our hand, how to stay low and go, and how to stay out once we are out. 

In Math class today, we used number bonds to help solve subtraction problems. We used the number bonds to write subtraction sentences two different ways. 

Have a great night! 

Praying the Rosary

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend! The students were quite excited to tell me about PotatoFest this weekend. 

In Religion class today, we learned how to pray the rosary. We colored a sheet showing when we pray each prayer. The students were then given rosaries. Today, we prayed the first decade of the Joyful Mysteries. We will continue to pray one decade a day during the month of October. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we are 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 a nonfiction story about how animals move. Next, we learned how to blend and read r-blend and s-blend words, words like frog and swim. Following that, we learned our new sight words for the week (jump, move, run, two). Finally, we read Move and Grin which helped us practice our new reading skills. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced writing sentences with correct word order and punctuation. 

We also began our Fire Safety Week lessons. Today, we talked about calling 911 in an emergency, staying away from things that are hot, and stop, drop, and roll. 

In Math class today, we learned how to subtract by counting back. We used our number lines to help us do this. 

Have a great night! 

Happy Birthday, Johnny Appleseed!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! Today was a very exciting day in first grade. We celebrated Johnny Appleseed's birthday by making applesauce. 

Before church, we mixed apples, sugar, water, and cinnamon in a crockpot. We turned it on and let it cook. Our classroom smelt so good today! 

At Mass, we celebrated the feast day of saints Cosmos and Damien. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, took our weekly assessment, and wrote sentences using our sight words. We also wrote the steps we did in making applesauce. 

In Math class today, we continued to practice writing subtraction sentences. We are doing very well with this. 

Our Science class today also revolved around apples. We talked about how apples turn brown when exposed to air. So, we did an experiment to see what works best to keep the apple from turning brown. We put a slice of apple into water, vinegar, and lemon juice and watched what happened all day. Lemon juice works the best at keeping an apple from turning brown. 

In Science class, we created an apple by stamp painting it and adding it onto construction paper. 

After waiting all day, it was finally time to try our applesauce. The students loved it! 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Apple Sampling!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I don't know about you, but this week has gone by so quickly. 

In Religion class today, we talked about how our soul helps us to know God, love God, and serve God. 

In Language Arts class, we answered questions using our oral vocabulary words, read short o words, and put words in ABC order. We also reviewed our sight words by playing "Apple Man". The goal was to guess the word before the apple man was drawn. I am happy to report that the children won all 4 times. To build our fluency, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We ended by practicing writing sentences with correct punctuation. 

After all of that hard work, it was time for some apple fun. We began by tasting three different types of apples: red, yellow, and green ones. 

Next, we the students voted on their favorite one and we recorded our answers on a graph. Surprisingly, no one like the red apple the best. 

Finally, we wrote about why we liked the one we did. 

In Math class today, we practiced writing subtraction sentences for pictures. The key for us to remember is that we need to count back. 

We ended our day with Gym. Today, we went to the Gym and played scarecrow tag. 

Have a wonderful night! 

Beginning Subtraction!

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

In Religion class today, we talked about how God gave us a soul. We talked about how our soul is God's life within us and how our soul makes us different from everything else God created. 

In Language Arts, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading short o words and our sight words, and practiced putting words into ABC order. To help build our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read Friends, a nonfiction story about two friends. After reading the story, we wrote details from it. We ended our morning by practicing ending sentences with the correct end mark. 

In Math class today, we began our chapter on subtraction. We were just introduced to subtraction. We looked at a picture and thought of subtraction scenarios in it. We will be practicing solving subtraction problems tomorrow. 

Have a great night! 

Our Gifts from God!

 Greetings! Today was an awesome day of learning in first grade. 

We are really enjoying our center time. We love practicing our reading skills in small groups! 

In Religion class today, we talked about how God created us with a body and soul. We focused on our body today and talked about how we use our eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and hands to experience the world around us. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We reviewed our oral vocabulary words from yesterday and learned three new words (chore, collect, and deliver). We then worked on answering questions as we read a nonfiction piece about games long ago. Next, we used our letter tiles to spell and read short o words. Following that, we learned how to put words into ABC order. After that, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. We ended our morning focusing on comprehension. We reread Toss! Kick! Hop! and wrote about its main idea and key details. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we practiced using correct punctation marks in sentences. 

In Math class today, we took our chapter test on addition. Tomorrow we will begin our chapter on subtraction. 

For our Apple Week fun, we finished our Johnny Appleseed project. We then created an apple. Tomorrow we will label the parts of the apple. 

Have a great night! 

Apple Week!

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

Today we practiced our emergency drills. We had a fire drill, lockdown drill, and severe weather drill. The children did excellent during our practices! 

In Religion class today, we reviewed how God knows everything, is everywhere, is all powerful, and is all good. We also reviewed the creation story. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading about friends. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (cooperate and relationship). We then worked on answering questions from a text as we read Friends All Around. Next, we learned how to blend and read short o words. We ended our morning by learning our new sight words (fun, make, they, too). 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we read Toss! Kick! Hop! which helped us practice reading short o words and our sight words in sentences. We also talked about exclamatory sentences. 

In Math class, we used our critical thinking skills to solve problems. We did an excellent job of explaining our thinking. We are ready for our chapter test tomorrow. 

This week is Apple Week in first grade. We will be learning all things apple this week. Today, we learned about the life cycle of an apple. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. We tied in our Social Studies lesson with Apple Week as we learned about Johnny Appleseed. We wrote facts about Johnny Appleseed and are in the process of adding it to a craft. 

Have a great night! 

The Leaf Thief!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I hope everyone had a nice day. We had a great day to end our week of learning. 

In Religion class today, we talked about how our guardian angels help us. We also talked about how we can call upon our guardian angels when we need to make a choice. 

We wrapped up our week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences. We read words with l-blends and plurals. We wrote sentences using our sight words, took our weekly assessment, and practiced identifying statements. 

This afternoon we finished the writing project we began earlier in the week. We added our squirrel topper to the writing we did on what we would do if someone was stealing our leaves. 

In Math class today, we continued to review adding to 10. The students did a great job using their critical thinking skills to solve problems. 

We ended our day with Gym class. We really enjoyed playing with our friends on the playground. 

Have a wonderful weekend! See you on Monday! 

Creation Story!

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

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

In Language Arts, we continued with our week of learning. We reviewed our oral vocabulary words and practiced reading words with l-blends, plurals, and our sight words. To help build our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story from our decodable reading booklets. We also read Flip and completed pages in our packet which focused on the characters. We ended class by writing sentences with a capital letter and ending them with the correct punctuation mark. 

In Math class today, we reviewed how to tell if a number sentence is true or false. We also began reviewing how to solve addition problems in preparation for our test next week. 

Have a great night! 

Picture Day!

 Greetings! Happy Picture Day! The students were quite excited for picture day today. They all showed Officer White their smiles as we headed to take our pictures! 

In Religion class today, we read the creation story. We then watched a video on the creation story. We will continue to talk about the creation story tomorrow. 

Our Language Arts class was a bit disruptive today between pictures, the nurse's visit, and computer help. We were really excited that Boddle was working today. Of course, it worked when tech support was here. I'm hoping it works tomorrow when tech support is not around. 

We did make it through our day of learning. We reviewed our oral vocabulary words learned yesterday and learned three new words today (companion, groom, popular). We then worked on visualization as we read about different pets. Next, we used our letter folders to spell and read words with l-blends. Following that, we learned to make most words plural we add an -s. We practiced spelling and reading -s plural words. We ended our morning by using our sight words in sentences. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we reread A Pig for Cliff. We then wrote about what makes the story a fantasy and about the characters, setting, and events in the story. We ended our day by color coding sentences based on whether they were a statement or a question. 

In Math class today, we looked at whether a number sentence was true or false. We will be practicing more tomorrow. 

Have a great night! 

L-Blend Words!

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

We began our day with Religion. Today we talked about how God is everywhere, how God is all powerful, how God knows everything, and how God is good. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading about pets. We began by learning our new oral vocabulary words (care and train). Then, we worked on visualization as we read Cool Dog, School Dog. Next, we learned how to blend and read words with l-blends, words like black, clip, flag, glad, plan, and slam. Following that, we learned our new sight words (be, come, good, pull). Finally, it was time to put everything together. We read A Pig for Cliff which helped us practice reading l-blend words and our sight words in sentences. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we talked about the difference between statements and questions. We also began our writing project for the week; we are writing about what we would do if someone stole our leaves. 

In Math class today, we practiced writing number sentences for pictures. We practiced writing them two different ways. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today, we talked about leaders and why they make rules. 

Have a good evening! 

Acorn Art!

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

In Religion class today, we wrapped up our chapter on God and Heaven. We reviewed what heaven is like and how one day we will get to be with God in heaven. 

We wrapped up our second 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. 

In Math class today, we learned how to count on to solve addition problems. We used a number line to help us count on to solve the problems. 

In Science class, we talked about how parents help their babies. We saw videos of parents bringing their babies food, teaching them to swim, warning them of danger, and carrying them around. 

We ended our week with Art class. Today, we made an acorn surrounded by fall leaves. Have a look: 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Filling Our Buckets!

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

Because of our special guests tomorrow, we had our weekly Mass today. Fr. Brian reminded us to call upon Jesus and Mary. We also prayed a special prayer for our country. 

After Mass, we held our annual Peacekeeper Program. Today, we talked about filling one another's invisible bucket. We talked about different ways to show kindness. 

In Language Arts, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words and practiced reading short i words and words with final double consonants. To help us build our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read a story about a girl in the city. Finally, we practiced writing sentences in correct word order. 

This afternoon we worked on our writing skills. We wrote about what we like to do in the fall and added it to a craft. 

In Math class today, we continued to practice writing addition sentences for pictures. 

We ended our day with Gym class. We enjoyed our time playing and running in the sun. 

Here are some pictures from our latest Art projects. 

Have a great night! 

Literacy Centers!

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

In Religion class today, we talked about how Heaven comes to earth each time we celebrate Mass and go to Adoration. 

We began Language Arts by working in our literacy centers. Students rotated between phonics practice, sight word practice, and fluency practice. They loved each station and had fun working on building their reading skills. 

After that, we dove into our Language Arts learning. We reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading short i words and words that end in double consonants, and read our sight words. To help us build our fluency, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklet. We also read Go, Pip. After reading this story, we completed pages in our close reading companion that focused on characterization. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced writing sentences in correct word order. 

In Math class today, we practiced writing addition sentences by looking at a picture and telling the number story. 

Have a wonderful night! 

Our First Adoration!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone was able to enjoy the beautiful early fall day today! 

Today marked another first in first grade. We went to Adoration for the first time. Because it was our first time at Adoration, we went to the cry room so that we could talk about what Adoration is and how we pray during Adoration. After talking about it, we spent some quiet time with Jesus. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We reviewed the oral vocabulary words we learned yesterday, and then learned three more new words (bored, feast, scurried). Next, we worked on visualization as we listened to "City Mouse, Country Mouse." Following that, we used our letter tiles to spell and read short i words. Then, we practiced reading words with double final consonants, words like miss, hill, mitt, and jazz. After that, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. We ended our morning focusing on our comprehension skills. We reread Six Kids. We then wrote about what could not happen in real life and about the characters. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we practiced writing sentences in correct word order. 

In Math class today, we began our chapter on addition. We introduced addition sentences today. 

Have a great night! 

Unscrambling Sentences!

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

We began our day with Religion. Today we practiced making the Sign of the Cross. We also talked about how the Sign of the Cross is a reminder to us that Jesus opened the gates of heaven when he died on the cross. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading about where we live. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (city and country). Next, we read Alicia's Happy Day and visualized the events in the story. Following that, we learned how to blend and read short i words. After that, we learned our new sight words (down, out, up, very). We ended our morning by reading Six Kids which helped us practice reading short i words and our sight words in sentences. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we talked about making sure our sentences had correct word order. The students enjoyed unscrambling sentences and writing them with correct word order. 

In Math class today, we took our chapter test on the numbers to 10. Tomorrow we will begin our chapter on adding to 10. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today, we talked about being helpers in our families and in our classroom. We listed all kinds of jobs we can do to help our families and our classroom. 

Have a wonderful night! 

A Day of Firsts!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! Today was a day of firsts in first grade. 

At Mass this morning, we remembered St. Mother Teresa. We also celebrated First Friday and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

We wrapped up our first week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences and practiced reading short a words and words that end in -s. We then wrote sentences using our sight words. Finally, we took our first weekly assessment of the year. After lunch we had our first Spelling test! 

In Math class today, we used our critical thinking skills to solve problems. The children did a great job of listening and were easily able to draw more or less than a number. 

In Science class today, we talked about animal traits. We talked about how some babies look like both parents. Using a penny, we drew traits of a puppy based on whether we dropped a heads or a tails. It took a bit of listening to do this, but they had fun. 

We ended our day with Art class. Today was our first painting day of the year. We sponge painted an owl. We will need to finish it on Monday once the paint dries. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Seesaw Practice!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I hope everyone had a terrific day! 

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

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced spelling and reading short a words and words that end in -s, and practiced our sight words. To help build our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read a nonfiction piece about why we have rules. Finally, we reviewed sentences. We practiced sorting examples into whether they were sentences or not. We also practiced writing sentences with capital letters and periods. 

In Math class today, we reviewed the numbers to 10. We practiced counting, identifying more or less than a number, and comparing numbers. 

We ended our day with some tablet time. We logged into Seesaw and practiced typing and moving objects. 

Don't forget library is tomorrow. Have a great night! 

Fun in the Sun!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a great week and is enjoying the weather. It was so hard to come inside today. 

In Religion class, we talked about heaven. We talked about how God lives there and how it is more beautiful than anything we have ever seen. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words and practiced reading short a words and words ending in -s. We also practiced reading our sight words. To help us build our fluency and comprehension skills, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read Nat and Sam. After reading that story, we wrote about the characters and how they felt. 

With the weather being so nice today, we headed outside today for an early Gym class. We wanted to soak up the sun as long as we could. We will have our Music class tomorrow. 

In Math class today, we continued working with number bonds. We practiced splitting a whole into two parts. We also practiced finding a part when given the whole and the other part. 

Have a great night! 

Number Bonds!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. It seems that many enjoyed going to the fair. 

In Religion class today, we wrapped up our chapter on God our Father. We reviewed how God made us, loves us, and gives us all that we need. 

We began our Language Arts class by reviewing the oral vocabulary words we learned last week and then learned three new words (common, object, and recognize). We then worked on visualizing as we read a nonfiction piece about schools around the world. Following that, we used our letter folders to build and spell short a words; the students loved using them. After that, we learned how to blend and read words with the ending -s. We ended our morning by practicing using our sight words in sentences. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we reread Jack Can. We then wrote about the characters in the story and what they did. 

In Math class today, we learned about number bonds. We looked at a picture and told an addition story for it. We then broke the whole into two smaller parts. We will continue our work with number bonds tomorrow. 

Have a great night! 

Pencil People!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a fantastic day to end our first full week of school! 

At Mass this morning, we remembered John the Baptist. 

We continued with our first grade learning in Language Arts. We reviewed short a words by matching words to pictures. We also practiced our sight words. Then it was time to read Jack Can. Here we practiced reading short a words and our sight words in sentences. Finally, we talked about what makes a good sentence (capital letter, makes sense, period) and practiced telling what is a sentence. 

In Math class today, we practiced finding 1 less than a number. We also practiced showing how we know this. 

We had our first Science class today. We really enjoyed it! Today, we talked about animal traits. We looked at the traits of baby animals to help match them to the adults. 

We ended our day with Art. Today, we created a pencil person. They are going to look great in our classroom! 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Beginning to Learn to Read!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I hope everyone is having a great day! 

In Religion class today, we talked about prayer. We learned that prayer is talking to and listening to God. We also talked about how God wanted to hear from us each and every day. 

We began our first week of learning in Language Arts; the children are so excited to begin to learn how to read. We began by learning two oral vocabulary words (learn and subjects). We then worked on visualizing as we read This School Year Will Be the Best. After that, we practiced blending and reading short a words. Finally, we learned our new sight words (does, not, school, what). 

In Math class today, we learned how to find 1 more than a number. We enjoyed pulling a number cards from a bag and writing the number that is 1 more than it. 

For Gym today, we headed outside. It was great running around the playground with friends. 

We ended our day with Technology. Today, we practiced logging into our Chromebooks and completing a Seesaw activity. 

Have a wonderful night! 

Wrapping Up Our Review!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is enjoying their week and the early fall weather. 

In Religion class today, we talked about how we need to thank God for the gifts he has given us. We also reviewed the Our Father. 

We wrapped up our review of the letters and sight words today. We reviewed u, g, w, x, v, q, j, y, and z. We also practiced reading the words and, have, see, said, was, she, with, for. After all of this, we are ready to begin first grade reading tomorrow! 

We finished up our discussion of what it means to be a fantastic first grader. Today, we talked about the difference between tattling and telling. 

In Math class today, we practiced identifying the greater or less number in a set. The students enjoyed using their whiteboards for this. 

Have a great night! 

Continuing Our Review!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a nice day! 

In Religion class today we talked about the gifts God created. We talked about how God created us because he loves us. 

We continued with our review of the alphabet today. Today we reviewed the letters d, h, e, b, l, k, and ck. We also practiced the words where, here, play, the, we, are, and me. 

We also continued to talk about what it means to be a fantastic first grader. Today, we talked about what not to do instead of shouting out. 

In Math class today, we practiced identifying how many more we had when we compared two numbers. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today, we talked about our families and what we like to do with our families. 

Have a great night! 

Our First Full Week!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! Today was a great start to our first full week of school. 

In Religion class today, we talked about how God is our Father who is in Heaven. 

We continued our review of the letters and their sounds. Today, we focused on n, r, i, c, f, o. We also practiced reading the following sight words: go, a, has, this is, my, little, look. 

This afternoon we read Only One Me. We talked about how each one of us is unique and special. We wrote about things we like. We are adding it to a craft. 

We did take time today to continue our talk about what it means to be fantastic first graders. Today, we focused on what good listeners do. 

In Math class today, we used our linking cubes to compare two numbers. We identified them when they were the same or when a group had more or fewer. 

Have a great night! 

What a Start!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great day to end the week! We are loving First Grade! 

Today, we had our first Mass of the year. Fr. Brian talked to us about turning to Mary when things get tough. We also celebrated Mary being crown by Jesus as Queen of Heaven and Earth. 

We began our kindergarten review today. We reviewed the following letters and their sounds: s, m, a, p, t. We also reviewed 6 of the sight words we learned in kindergarten: I, like, do, to, you, he, and can. 

We continued to talk about what makes us fantastic first graders. Today we talked about good choices we can make. 

In Math class, we practiced counting from 0-10 and from 10-0. 

We ended our day with our first Art class of the year. Today, we created a name crayon. The students did very well listening and following directions to put their crayon together. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Back in Action!

 Greetings! Welcome to First Grade! I am so excited that you have taken the time to read our classroom blog. I will post nightly on the daily happenings in our classroom. I hope you enjoy reading what we learned during our day. 

We began our day by unpacking and creating a first grade crown. 

Then, we read You're Finally Here. We then wrote about what we did over the summer instead of coming to school. 

After that, we had our first Math Meeting. Every day, we will gather to review concepts related to the calendar, place value, graphing, and counting money. 

We finished our morning by reading The Pigeon Has to Go to School. We wrote about what we hope to learn this year. 

This afternoon we practiced writing our numbers and counting to 10. We visited church to review how we go to church. Finally, we took time to learn what it means to be respectful. 

Have a great night! 

And Then There Was One

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! It is hard to believe that today was our last full day of first grade. We had lots of fun today! 

We began our day with Religion. Today, we reviewed the events of Pentecost and talked about different symbols of the Holy Spirit. 

Then, we had our last theme day of the year. Today we celebrated popcorn! We learned how popcorn comes to be. We practice reading words with digraphs. Then, we wrote about what we are looking forward to learning in second grade. Finally, it was time to taste test popcorn. The students sampled butter, cheese, caramel, and kettle popcorn. We voted on our favorite and answered questions about our graph. 

This afternoon, we relaxed and watched Big Hero 6. It was a great way to end a great year. 

I wish to thank all of you for taking the time to read our classroom blog. It has been a joy working with this group of students. They have grown so much. May you all have a wonderful summer. See you in the fall! 

~Miss Chalich 

Popsicle Day!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! Today was a great day to end what has been a fabulous week! 

At Mass today, Fr. Brian gave thanks for a great school year. He also reminded us that summer is not a time to take a vacation from God. 

After Mass, it was time for us to celebrate popsicles. We began by learning about how popsicles were invented. Then, we sorted sentences about popsicles based on whether they were a fact or opinion. After that, we wrote about what made this a "cool" school year. Following that, the students selected a number and then spelled out the number, wrote it in expanded form, and drew a picture of it. Finally, the students drew their own popsicle. 

In Math today, we continued to practice solving money word problems. Please continue to practice addition and subtraction facts over the summer. 

In Science class, we talked about what a plant needs to survive. 

In Art class, we made a popsicle using tissue paper. 

And, after all of the hard work, we ended our day with a popsicle treat! 

Have a wonderful weekend! See you on Tuesday! 

Awards Day and Stuffed Animal Day!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! Today was an exciting day in first grade. It was Awards Day and Stuffed Animal Day! 

We began our day with our Awards Program. The students were quite excited to be recognized for all of their hard work. I am so proud of how hard they have worked this year. 

We came back to our classroom and began our day of learning and fun. In Religion class, we learned about Pentecost. We talked about how the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles. 

Then, it was time for some stuffed animal fun! We began by writing about our stuffed friend. We added a page topper to our writing. Next, we became detectives and used our inferencing skills to find out which bear stole the honey. Then, we graphed gummy bears and discussed the data on our graphs. Finally, we colored various patterns. 

In Math class today, we practiced solving real world money problems. This was a great opportunity to review adding and subtracting with and without regrouping. 

In Science class today, we learned about the parts of a plant and why they help a plant survive. 

We ended our day with a special picnic completed with Teddy Grahams, gummy bears, and iced tea. We enjoyed the special treats with all of our friends. 

Have a great night! 

Watermelon Day!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! Today was another great and fun day in first grade! It was Watermelon Day! 

In Religion class today, we talked about how we can prepare for Jesus' second coming. We talked about praying, going to Mass, serving others, and being kind to one another. 

We really enjoyed our Watermelon Day fun! We began by learning about the life cycle of a watermelon. Next, we talked about the different parts of a watermelon. Following that, we read The Watermelon Seed and wrote about the problem and how it was solved. Finally, we created a giant watermelon by weaving strips of paper. We took our time and they turned out great! 

This afternoon, after all of our hard work, we got to enjoy a piece of watermelon, cantaloupe, and honey dew melon. We then created a graph to show our favorite melon. 

In Math class today, we reviewed counting quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. 

We ended our day with our Summer Countdown. Today, Mr. Neff joined us for a music sing-a-long. 

Have a great night! 

Lemonade Day!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! Today was Lemonade Day in first grade. We celebrated all things lemon! 

In Religion class today, we talked about Jesus going up to Heaven. We learned that this is called the Ascension. We also talked about how Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit. 

In Math class today, we again used our coins to show various money amounts. The students are doing a great job at using a variety of coins to show the amounts. 

Then, it was time for some lemon fun! We began by doing a math write-the-room activity. The students walked around and identified the various shapes on cards. Next, the students worked in groups to sort words based on whether they were real words or not. Following that, we learned about the life cycle of lemons. After all of that work, it was time to sample some lemonade. The students tried both regular lemonade and pink lemonade. We voted for our favorite, and pink lemonade won. Finally, we wrote the steps in making lemonade. 

We ended our day with our "Up to the Challenge" game break. The students enjoyed playing the various board and card games. I added a few games to my list. Thank you for sending in the games. 

Have a great night! 

Beach Day Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! It is hard to believe that we are entering our final full week of the year. We are going to have a great week reviewing what we learned and having fun along the way. 

In Religion class today, we talked about Jesus' Great Commission to his Apostles: to go and baptize people. We also reviewed the sacrament of Baptism. 

Each day this week will have a theme. Today's theme was Beach Day! The majority of our learning centered about beach themes. We read the story There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell. After reading the story, we sequenced the objects she ate. We then sorted beach-theme words based on whether they named a noun, verb, or adjective. Following that, we worked in centers where we added the correct punctuation to sentences, identified the number of syllables in words, and found 10 more and 10 less than a number. We ended our morning by water coloring bookmarks. 

In Math class today, we reviewed counting a collection of quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. We then used our coins to show various money amounts. 

After Math, it was time to return to Beach Day fun! We completed a write-the-room activity that helped us review telling time and adding and subtracting. We then wrote about what we like to do in the summer. Finally, we sprawled out on beach towels, donned our shades, and read a book! 

Have a great night! 

Fun in the Sun!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great day to end the week. It is hard to believe that we only have one more full week of school left. 

At Mass today, Fr. Brian reminded us that when we trust in the Lord, everything will be ok. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, practiced reading r-controlled -air, -are, and -ear and r-controlled syllable words, wrote sentences using our sight words, and took our weekly assessment. 

In Math class today, we continued to practice counting a collection of quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. 

In Science class, we started our unit on plants. We learned that young plants have some of the same characteristics as adult plants. We looked at pictures of seedlings and adult plants and matched them up. 

We ended our day with Art. Today, we created our very own beach scene using real sand and seashells. We are getting ready for summer! 

Here are pictures from this week's art project along with last week's. 

Have a great weekend! 

American Symbols!

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

In Religion class, we talked about how Jesus stayed with his Apostles for 40 days preparing them to be leaders once he went up to heaven. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading words with r-controlled -air, -are, and -ear and words with r-controlled syllables, and practiced reading our 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 story about the Fourth of July, Happy Birthday USA. After reading that story, we completed pages in our Reading/Writing Companion that focused on main idea and key details. Finally, we practiced finding adverbs that tell how in sentences. 

In Math class today, we used our coins to practice counting quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. We are slowly getting the hang of it. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today, we talked about various American symbols. 

Have a great night!

Learning about Baptism!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone enjoyed their day! 

For Religion class today, we headed over to church where Fr. Brian talked to us about the sacrament of Baptism. He guided us through a mock baptism. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We answered questions using our oral vocabulary words. Then, we used our letter tiles to spell and read words with r-controlled -air, -are, and -ear. After that, we practiced reading words with r-controlled syllables. Following that, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. Next, we learned our vocabulary words (nation and unite) and practiced writing sentences using the words. We ended our morning focusing on comprehension. We reread Share the Harvest and Give Thanks. Then, we wrote examples of how people celebrate the harvest and wrote about the author's purpose. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced using adverbs that tell how in sentences. We also did some creative writing. We pretended we were bugs and wrote about what we would do. 

In Math class today, we introduced the quarter. We learned that the quarter is worth 25 cents. We then spent time making 25 cents using just dimes, nickels, and pennies. Tomorrow we will begin learning how to count all 4 coins. 

Have a great night! 

Writers We Are!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! Today was back to learning in the classroom. We really enjoyed our day of learning outside the classroom yesterday! 

We began our day by attending Adoration. We spent some quiet time praying and asking Jesus to help us have a good day of learning. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we are reading about holidays. We began by learning our oral vocabulary words (display, pride, represent, design, purpose). We then worked on retelling as we read a story about the American flag. Following that, we learned how to blend and read words with r-controlled -air, -are, and -ear, words like chair, care, and bear. Next, we learned our new sight words (favorite, few, gone, surprise, wonder, young). We ended our morning by reading Share the Harvest and Give Thanks which helped us practice our new words we learned. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced finding adverbs that tell how in sentences. We also wrote a narrative paragraph about our field trip. I couldn't help but smile as I read the paragraphs. The students have come so far as writers this year. 

In Math class today, we reviewed counting a collection of dimes, nickels, and pennies. We also reviewed using the coins to show various amounts. Tomorrow we will add the quarter. 

Have a great night! 

Field Trip Day!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! Happy Field Trip Day! I'm sure the children were excited this morning to get up for our field trip! They were excited when they made it to the classroom this morning!

We boarded our bus first thing this morning for our trip to State College. The students were very excited to be riding a school bus. 

Once we got to Discovery Space, we entered their giant classroom for our Chemistry lessons. We learned about chemical and physical reactions. The students created a density tube using water and oil. They also filled a balloon with baking soda then stretched the balloon over a bottle filled with vinegar. They loved seeing the balloon inflate when the baking soda was mixed with the vinegar. Finally, we made slime! 

After our Chemistry lesson, it was time to explore the exhibit floor. We had fun digging for dinosaur bones, creating a tornado, reporting on the weather, creating a roller coaster, and so much more. 

The children had a blast. A lot fell asleep on our way home! 

Have a great night! 

Fiesta Day!

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

At Mass this morning, we continued to pray for our new pope. 

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. 

After all of that, we had our fiesta. We had fun breaking open a pinata and cracking open the confetti eggs. 

In Math class today, we continued to use our coins to show various amounts. We are doing very well with counting dimes, nickels, and pennies. 

Because of the election of a new pope yesterday, we were not able to get in our Social Studies class. So, we had it today. We talked about how government officials pass laws to keep us safe. 

In Science class, we talked about how the North Star can help guide us at night. We also talked about how to find the North Star. 

We ended our day with Art class. Today we created a cool sun. The students enjoyed designed sunglasses for our sun to wear. We then used forks to paint the sun's rays. 

Have a great weekend! 

White Smoke!

 Greetings on this historic day! We had a great day in first grade. 

We were quite excited to hear about the white smoke. The kids were asking all morning about it. We did our best to watch a live feed from the Vatican. Unfortunately, we were not able to see it live, but we did watch videos of the new pope. We pray for Pope Leo XIV that he may guide the church following the Gospel values. 

Aside from a new pope, it was a usual day of learning in first grade. 

In Religion class today, we reviewed the 7 sacraments and were reminded that we receive God's grace in each one of them. 

In Language Arts, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading and spelling words with three letter blends and words with inflectional endings. To build our fluency, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read a nonfiction piece about origami. After completing pages in our Reading/Writing Companion that corresponded to the origami story, we made a folded shape of our own. We turned a square into a dog! Finally, we practiced using pronouns in sentences. 

In Math class today, we used our coins to show a given money amount. The students did a great job with this! 

This afternoon, we attended our annual May Crowning. On this historic day, it was appropriate to honor Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth. 

Have a great night!