Merry Christmas!

 Greetings! Today was an exciting day in first grade as we counted down till Christmas break. 

In Religion class, we reviewed the Christmas story and watched a video on it. 

After a brief Math Meeting, we played some holiday games. We did a minute-to-win-it game where students raced to move marshmallows from one bowl to another using candy canes. We also played BINGO. The students were excited to win a jingle bell bracelet or light up necklace. 

After lunch, we enjoyed watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. 

Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and head home. We are all excited to see what Santa brings us. 

May you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. As our elves said today, see you next year! 

Reindeer Day!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! Happy Reindeer Day! Today was a very festive day in first grade. 

In Religion class, we reviewed the Nativity story. We created our own Nativity scene using stickers. The students loved this. 

While we were busy in Religion, a special visitor stopped by: Santa! The students each got to tell Santa one thing they would like for Christmas. 

After that, it was time for our Reindeer Day fun. The students enjoyed working with each of the teachers to complete a special reindeer theme project. They made a reindeer, made a reindeer headband, learned about reindeer, played a reindeer game, and made reindeer food. 

This afternoon, we went over to church to hear the Christmas Eve choir program. The students did such a nice job. 

Unfortunately, we ran out of time to read the book that Jingles brought us. We will try again tomorrow. 

Have a great night! 

A Bit of Everything: Holiday Style!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a nice day to end our last full week in 2025. I also hope everyone made it home safely. I don't know about you, but I was not expecting that yesterday. 

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian encouraged us to continue to celebrate Christmas past Christmas day. 

After Mass, we read Mooseltoe. After reading the story, we wrote about the problem in it and how Moose solved it. We then decorated Moose like a Christmas tree using sequins, foam stickers, and shiny stars. The students worked so diligently on this. They all took their time and did a great job! 

After that, we had our Math class for the day. Today we practiced drawing a picture to solve the problem. 

Following that, we had our Show and Tell celebration. I loved seeing all of the stuffed animals, sports memorabilia, pets, and turkey calls. 

We ended our morning with Art class. Today, we made a Santa Claus. The hit came when we got to use messy glue to glue on the cotton balls! 

This afternoon the students were treated to a movie, hot chocolate, and popcorn. They really enjoyed it. 

And, I can't forget to mention Jingles. Today, Jingles brought the students new erasers. They loved getting to pick one! 

Have a great weekend! 

Candy Cane Day!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I hope everyone is hanging in there. We had another busy, fun day in first grade. 

Our Christmas theme today centered around candy canes. In Religion class, we learn about the legend of the candy cane. We talked about how it can look like a J for Jesus. We also said that it looks like a shepherd's staff to remind us that Jesus is our Good Shepherd. Finally, we talked about its colors. To help us remember all of this, we made a candy cane ornament. I forgot to take pictures before sending them home. I hope you are enjoying them tonight. 

Our candy cane activities centered around reviewing our literacy and math skills. We sorted words based on whether they were real or make believe. We also practiced spelling short vowel words. In addition, we matched a number to its picture. Finally, we used a ruler to measure pictures of candy canes. 

In Math class today, we took our chapter test on length. We will take a break from new learning in Math until next year. 

In Social Studies today, we continued to learn about the continents and oceans. We colored a map of the world, and then labeled the continents and oceans. 

Have a great night! 

All Aboard!

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

In Religion class today, we reviewed the Christmas story. We sequenced the events of the story. 

Today, our Christmas activities centered around the book The Polar Express. After reading the story, we sequenced the events of the story and wrote about what we would like for the first gift of Christmas. Finally, we used pictures of jingle bells to measure various Christmas pictures. 

In Math class today, we reviewed measuring objects and ordering them from shortest to longest and longest to shortest. Tomorrow we will take our chapter test. 

This afternoon, Sr. Angela Marie visited first and second grade. Playing her violin, we sang Christmas carols with her. We really enjoyed this. 

Have a great night! 

Merry Grinchmas!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! Today was a Grinch-y Day in first grade! 

In Religion class, we began our study of the Christmas story. We read about the first Christmas and then colored the pictures in our storybook. 

Our theme for the day was the Grinch. We began by reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas. After reading the story, we sequenced the events in it. Next, we wrote about what we would do to make the Grinch grin; we added our writing to a craft. Then, we completed a write the room activity that had us solving Math problems. 

In the story, the Grinch learned that Christmas is not about the presents but is more than that. We spent time talking about ways we can show kindness this Christmas season. We added ways we can by kind to a wreath. 

In Math class today, we reviewed what we learned about length. The students are doing a great job with measuring. 

And, we cannot forget to mention Jingles. Today, we made a mess with paper towels. I think he was sad that he missed out on the snow. 

Here is a picture from the gingerbread people we created yesterday. 

Have a great night! 

Gingerbread Day!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone is staying warm tonight. We had a great, shorten day of learning in first grade. 

In Math class today, we had fun measuring with our linking cubes. We used our linking cubes to measure our pencil, the height of our chair, and our desk. 

This afternoon we had our Gingerbread Day! We began by creating a gingerbread person using glitter glue and pom-pom balls. Then we wrote about our gingerbread person. Wow! Their writing blew me away. 

Next, we worked in gingerbread them centers. We practiced adding, matching rhyming words, identifying the number of syllables in a word, and adding the correct punctuation to a sentence. 

After that, we baked up some long vowel words. We did a write the room where students had to add the magic e to a short vowel word to make a new word. 

Finally, we made gingerbread houses. We used a graham cracker for the house. Using icing, we added gum drops, peppermints, M&Ms, pretzels, and marshmallows. We did a great job sharing everything and creating beautiful houses. 

Have a great night! 

Christmas Trees and Presents!

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

At Mass this morning, we celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Guadeloupe. We remember that Mary is always with us. 

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 wrote the steps in decorating a Christmas tree. 

In Math class, we had fun comparing lengths. We used our linking cubes to build three towers of varying height. We then identified which was the tallest and which was the shortest. 

In Science class, we continued to talk about light. Today we focused on why light is important. We learned that we need light to see. 

We ended our day with Art class. Today we made two projects, both of which involved painting. First, we made a Christmas tree using strips of green paper. Then we painted snow around it. Next, we painted a present using sponges. We really enjoyed Art class today. 

Have a great weekend! 

Do You Know the Continents?

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I hope everyone is staying warm! 

In Religion class we wrapped up our chapter on Mary. We reviewed how Mary was born with grace, how the angle Gabriel visited her, and how Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth.

In Language Arts class, we answered questions using our oral vocabulary words. Then, we practiced reading soft c and soft g words along with our sight words. In addition to that, we practiced spelling and reading words with inflectional endings when the final e is dropped. To build our fluency and comprehension skills, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read another folktale and discussed its theme. After that, we practiced identifying past and future tense verbs. Finally, we wrote the steps in planting a seed. 

In Math class today, we began our chapter on measurement. The students were introduced to the concept. We compared the length of 3 alligators. 

In Social Studies today, we learned about the continents and oceans. We completed a booklet where we labeled each one. 

Have a great night! 

Christmas Play Day!

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

In Religion class today, we talked about how Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth after the angel Gabriel left her. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading our sight words, words with soft c and soft g, and practiced reading and spelling words with inflectional endings when the final e is dropped. To help build our fluency and comprehension skills, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read The Gingerbread Man. After reading this story, we wrote about what the characters in the story did. Finally, we practiced using past and future tense verbs in sentences. 

In Math class today, we took our chapter test on solving words problems. Tomorrow we will begin our chapter on measurement. 

This afternoon we enjoyed watching the Christmas play which was presented this year by the junior high students. They all did a fabulous job retelling the birth of Jesus. 

Here are pictures from our Elf writing project, our Christmas ornament Art project, and Jingles, who had fun building a tower. Enjoy! 

Have a great night! 

Growing Closer to Jesus in Advent!

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

We began our day by going to Adoration. We spent some quiet time with Jesus. We prayed to help us grow closer to him this Advent. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We reviewed the oral vocabulary words we learned yesterday and then learned three new words (timid, eventually, foolish). We then worked on making predictions as we read a folktale about a foolish rabbit. Next, we used our letter tiles to spell and read words with soft c and soft g. After that, we practiced spelling and reading words with inflectional endings when the final e is dropped. Following that, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. We ended our morning focusing on comprehension. We reread The Nice Mitten. We then wrote about what made the story a folktale and what lesson we can learn from it. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we sorted verbs based on whether they are in the present, past, or future. We also assembled an elf; tomorrow we will be writing about being an elf. 

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

Have a great night! 

Secret Santa Fun!

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

We began our day by attending Mass for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Brian reminded us that all things are possible with God. 

After Mass, we made our way to the Secret Santa shop. We had lots of fun shopping for Christmas gifts and wrapping them. 

Then, it was time to begin our week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading folktales. We began by learning two new oral vocabulary words (hero and tale). Then we worked on making predictions as we read Interrupting Chicken. After that we learned how to blend and read words with soft c, soft g, and -dge, words like cent, face, gem, page, wedge, and bridge. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we learned our new sight words (any, from, happy, once, so, upon). Then we read The Nice Mitten which helped us practice our new phonics skills. Finally, we learned about past and future tense verbs. 

In Math class today, we put everything we learned about word problems together today. We read a problem and had to decide whether we needed to add or subtract to solve the problem. 

Have a great night! 

A Sparkling Art Class!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great day to end the first week of December! 

At Mass today, Fr. Brian reminded us that Jesus is the Divine Physician and that we can always turn to him when we are not feeling well. 

We ended another week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, practiced reading long i words and plurals, and wrote sentences using our sight words. To help us build our fluency, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklet. We also read a short nonfiction piece about how plants grow. Finally, we took our weekly assessment. 

In Math class today, we solved comparison problems by subtracting. Next week, we will put all of the different types of problems together and solve them. 

In Science class today, we learned the words transparent, translucent, and opaque. We then sorted items based on whether light easily passes through them, whether light kind of passes through them, or whether light does not pass through them. 

We ended our day with Art class. Today, we designed our very own Christmas ornament using paper tissue circles. We even added glitter to the top for some extra sparkle. I'll post pictures next week once the glitter has dried. 

Jingles, in honor of St. Nicholas Day tomorrow, brought the children candy canes. It was heart warming hearing the children thank Jingles as they took one. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

6 7

 Greetings! Today was an exciting day in first grade: it was the 67th day of the school year. The kids loved saying 6 7 all day. Even Jingles got into the spirit. 

In Religion class today, we learned about St. Nicholas. We watched a video to learn about him and then talked about how we can be like him by trusting in God, praying, and being kind to others. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words by answering questions using the words. We then practiced reading long i words, plural words, and our sight words. After that, we read the play The Big Yuca Plant. The students really enjoyed having a part in the play. After reading the play, we answered some comprehension questions about why the characters did what they did. Finally, we practiced using present tense verbs in sentences. 

In Math class today, we learned how to solve comparison problems by adding. We focused on understanding what the problem told us which helped us decide if we need to add or subtract. 

In Social Studies class today, we finished our Junior Achievement lessons. Today, we focused on how entrepreneurs advertise their business. We colored an advertisement for a new business. 

Have a great night! 

Welcome December!

 Greetings! Happy December! Where did November go? 

It was nice to be back with the students today. They did seem to enjoy the snow yesterday. I love their excitement with it. I wish I felt the same way they do when I see snow. 

In Religion class today, we talked about how the angel Gabriel came to Mary and told her that she would be the mother of Jesus and how Mary said yes to God. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by reviewing the oral vocabulary words we learned last week and by learning three new words (assist, grasped, spied). Then we worked on predicting as we read a folktale. Next, we used our letter tiles to spell and read long i words. Following that, we learned how to make magic e words plurals; we practiced spelling and reading the words. After that, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. We ended our morning focused on comprehension. We reread the play Time to Plant. We then wrote about how the characters felt in the story and sequenced the events in the story. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we practiced writing sentences using present tense verbs. 

In Math class today, we practiced solving subtraction word problems. We identified the whole and one part. We then wrote subtraction sentences to find the other part. 

We had a special visitor join our classroom today. Our elf, Jingles, has made his way back to Room 101. Today, we has hanging on the whiteboard. I think he missed us yesterday. 

We ended our day with some Christmas fun. The students decorated the classroom Christmas tree and helped put out the manger. They did a great job of spreading the ornaments around the tree. Our room is looking quite festive. 

Have a great night!