A Heartful Walrus!

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

At Mass, Fr. Brian reviewed with us the three facets of the Lenten season: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. 

In Language Arts, we wrapped up another week of learning. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, practiced reading vowel team i word, reading and spelling words with inflectional endings where the final y is changed, and wrote sentences using our sight words. To build our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read a nonfiction story about insects and completed pages in our Reading/Writing companion that focused on key details. Finally, we took our weekly assessment and practiced using see and saw in sentences. 

In Math class today, we reviewed adding two two-digit numbers with regrouping. We are doing very well with this skill. 

In Science class, we talked about how our shadow changes during the day because the sun moves. Our shadow is long in the morning, short at lunchtime, and flips and grows long in the afternoon. 

We ended our day with Art class. Today, we made a walrus out of hearts. We then made the walrus look like it was emerging from water. We even painted snow around it. 

Have a great weekend! 

A Fun New Fact!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! I hope everyone is doing well tonight. I don't know about you but I was soaked just going from my car to my house tonight! All I can say is that I am glad that it is not snow! 

In Religion class today, we talked about the Good News Jesus told people, that God loves them. We also began our daily Lenten reflection video series. Every day during Lent, we will watch a short Lenten mediation video from Brother Francis. Finally, we started to learn the Stations of the Cross. Each day, we will talk about two stations. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, read words with vowel team i, spelled and read words with inflectional endings where the final y is changed to an i, and practiced 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 Hi! Fly Guy, which became an instant hit. After reading that story we wrote about how the characters felt in it. Following that, we practiced using see and saw in sentences. Finally, we wrote the steps in making an ice cream sundae. 

In Math class today, we learned how to add two two-digit numbers. The key for us is not to forget the extra ten. 

In Social Studies today, we learned about George Washington. I think their most entertaining fact is that he died when he was 67 years old. I'm sure you can hear the kids saying that now. 

Have a great night! 

The Beginning of Lent!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! Today was a busy day of learning in first grade. 

Today was Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten season. We joined with our school community to celebrate Mass and receive ashes. For the next 40 days, we will work on praying, fasting, and almsgiving. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by answering questions using our sight words. Then, we used our letter tiles to spell and read words with vowel team i. After that, we reviewed how to add endings to words that end in y. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we practiced using our sight words in sentences. We also learned our two vocabulary words (beautiful and fancy) and wrote sentences using those words. Next, we worked on our comprehension skills. We reread Creep Low, Fly High. After reading the story, we wrote about problems in the story and how they were solved. We also wrote who was telling the story. 

In Math class today, we practiced adding two two-digit numbers without regrouping. The students did a great job remembering to add the ones first and to add both tens digits. 

In Music class today, we talked about how some beats are the same and how some are different. We did some echo songs showing this. 

Have a great night! 

Reverently Praying at Adoration!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend. It is also amazing to be able to see the grass again. I hope we are done with the snow. 

We began our day by going over to church for Adoration. The children sat so reverently praying to Jesus. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading about insects. We began by learning our new oral vocabulary words (flutter, different, imitate, protect, resemble). Then we worked on retelling as we read about how different insects protect themselves. Next, we learned how to blend and read words with vowel team i spelled i, y, ie, or igh (find, cry, pie, night). Following that, we learned our new sight words (caught, flew, know, laugh, listen, were). Finally, we put everything together as we read Creep Low, Fly High. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we learned when to use the verbs see and saw in sentences. 

In Math class today, we practiced adding multiples of 10s to a number. The students were able to do this mentally. 

Have a great night! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! Happy Valentine's Day! We had a lovely day in first grade! 

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian reminded to turn to Jesus, our Divine Healer. 

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 did some fun Valentine's Day writing. We wrote about someone we love a lot. 

In Math class, we continued to practice adding a single digit number with renaming. We are doing very well knowing when we need to rename and when we don't. 

After all of that work, it was time to celebrate Valentine's Day. We began by using candy hearts to measure arrows. We also sorted our hearts by color, graphed them, and then answered questions about our graph. After that, we played some games. We tossed arrows (Q-tips) onto plates to see who could earn the most points. We also did some relay races. We passed a heart down the line using clothespins and walked a love bug across the room without dropping it. Finally, we passed out our Valentines. 

Here is a picture of the Lenten writing we did yesterday. 

Have a great weekend! Happy Valentine's Day! 

Reward Day!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! Wow! The excitement and energy was high in first grade today. We loved wearing our pajamas to school and especially loved our pizza and ice cream lunch. Thank you to all who attended the meeting to make this day possible. 

In Religion class, we continued our discussion about Lent. We talked about people we can pray for, something we can fast from, and something we can do to shoe kindness. We added our ideas to a cute craft. 

In Language Arts, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading vowel team o words, open syllable words, and our sight words. To build our fluency, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. After that, we practiced using go, went, do, did in sentences. Finally, we wrote about a favorite Olympic sport and added it to a winter athlete. 

In Math class today, we learned how to add with regrouping, our its new name renaming. We learned that when we add the ones and get a sum of 10 or more, we need to rename (or regroup) 10 of those ones and add a ten to the tens. We will continue to practice this tomorrow. 

In Social Studies class, we learned about Abraham Lincoln. We learned that he liked to read and kept his papers in his top hat. 

Have a great night! 

Winter Olympics in First Grade!

 Greetings! Today was an exciting day in first grade! But, before we got to the exciting part, we had work to do. 

In Religion class, we began learning about the season on Lent. We talked about how Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and how Lent is a time to draw closer to Jesus. We also talked about how we pray, fast, and help people during Lent. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading vowel team o words, open syllable words, and our sight words. To help build our fluency and comprehension skills, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read Vulture View. After reading the story, we completed pages in our Reading/Writing Companion that focused on main idea and key details. Finally, we practiced writing proper nouns correctly. 

In Math class today, we learned how to add by first adding the ones and then the tens. We enjoyed solving these problems and found it easier this way then counting on. 

After working hard all day, it was finally time for the First Grade Winter Olympics. We began by taking our Olympic oath promising to try our best, have fun, and shoe good sportsmanship. Then, it was time for the games. We bobsledded using scooters, ice skated on paper plates, speed skated by running down and back, and tried our best at ice hockey. Because everyone tried their best and showed good sportsmanship, all received a gold medal. We ended our Olympics by playing the national anthem. Fun was had by all! 

Have a great night! 

Go Team USA!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone got outside and enjoyed the sunshine today! I just wish it would last. 

In Religion class today, we wrapped up our chapter on Jesus beginning his public ministry. He talked about how he went from town to town telling the people about God's love. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by answering questions using our oral vocabulary words. Then, we used our letter tiles to spell and read vowel team o words. Next, we learned how to blend and read open syllable words, words like locate and robot. After that, we practiced using our sight words in sentences. Following that, we learned our two vocabulary words (search and seek) and wrote sentences using the words. We ended our morning working on our comprehension skills. We reread Go Wild and wrote about its main idea and key details. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we practiced using go, went, do, and did in sentences. 

In Math class, we practiced solving addition problems by first making a ten and then counting on. As I told the children, some strategies will excite them and some will not. They are to pick the one that they like best. 

We ended our day with some Olympic fun. Today, we learned about some of the different events athletes compete in during the Olympics. We are very excited for our very own Olympics tomorrow. 

Have a great night! 

The Cold That Won't Leave!

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

This cold will leave eventually. Until then, we can just snuggle and bundle. 

After our delayed start, we got to work right away. We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading about how animals survive in nature. We began by learning our five new oral vocabulary words (survive, provide, communicate, superior, and wilderness). Then, we worked on retelling as we read about how different animals survive in the winter. Following that, we learned how to blend and read words with the long o vowel teams (o, oa, oe, and ow), words like go, boat, toe, and snow. 

After lunch, we learned our new sight words (find, food, more, over, start, warm). Then, we read Go Wild, a nonfiction story about how different animals survive in the wild. Following that, we learned when to use the verbs go, went, do, and did in sentences. 

In Math class today, we began learning how to add with sums greater than 20. Today, we practiced counting on to find the sums. 

We ended our day learning about the Winter Olympics. Today, we learned that athletes from all over the world are in Italy to compete in snow and ice events. Tomorrow we will learn more about the events. 

Here are pictures from last week's writing and art project. 

Have a great night! 

Stained Glass Hearts!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great day to end this first full week of February! 

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian reminded us of our call to go out and tell others about Jesus. 

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 test. 

In Math class, we began our chapter on adding and subtracting to 100. We began by working with a partner to discover what 12 + 38 is. I loved how the pairs used linking cubes to solve this problem. We will be learning other strategies to help us. 

In Science class, we talked about how shadows move because the sun is moving. We had fun using our flashlights to show how shadows move. 

We ended our day with not 1 but with 2 art projects. We made our Valentine bags. They are ready to be filled with our Valentines next Friday. We also used watercolor paints to paint a stained glass heart. The students worked so diligently on those hearts. 

Have a great weekend! Stay warm! 

Being Apostles!

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

In Religion class today, we talked about how we can be Apostles. We talked about how we can learn about Jesus and then tell others about what we have learned! 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, read long e vowel team words, and read and defined words with prefixes. To build our fluency skills and comprehension skills, we partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets. We also read a short nonfiction piece about bees. In addition to that, we practiced using has and have in sentences. Finally, we wrote about when we see love and added it to a craft. I forgot to snap a picture of them today. I'll post a picture tomorrow. 

In Math class today, we took our test on the numbers to 120 and money. Tomorrow we will begin our chapter on adding and subtracting with and without regrouping. 

In Social Studies today, we learned about natural resources. 

Thank you to all who came out tonight to the EITC meeting. I can't wait to share in the excitement next Thursday! 

Have a great night! 

Call and Response!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a nice week. 

In Religion class today, we talked about how Jesus called the 12 Apostles. We talked about how Jesus chose these men and how these men listened closely to what Jesus taught them. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading long vowel team e words and words with prefixes, 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 Animal Teams, a nonfiction story about how animals work together. After reading this story, we wrote about the details in it. Finally, we practiced writing sentences correctly. 

In Math class today, we reviewed counting money and patterns. We are ready for our chapter test tomorrow. 

We ended our day with Music class. Today, we did some call and response songs. We really enjoyed them especially when we added movement to them. 

Have a great night! 

Hot Chocolate and Cookies!

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

Our Catholic School's Week celebration officially wrapped up today. We held our annual vocations program where we honored Fr. Brian, Deacon Condor, Deacon Connor, Sr. Margie, and Sr. Raphael Marie. The highlight came after the program. The children were treated to hot chocolate and Oreo cookies.

In Religion class, we talked about Jesus welcomed the children. We talked about how Jesus gave a special blessing to the children. 

We continued with our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by answering questions using our oral vocabulary words. Next, we used our letter tiles to spell and read long e vowel team words. After that, we learned how to read words with the prefixes re, un, and pre; we also learned what those prefixes mean. We ended our morning by practicing using our sight words in sentences. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we learned our two vocabulary words (danger and partner) and wrote sentences using those words. Next, we reread A Team of Fish. Afterwards, we wrote about the main idea and key details from the story. Finally, we practiced using has and have in sentences. 

In Math class, we continued our review on the numbers to 120 and money. 

Here is a picture of our Art project from Friday. 

Have a great night! 

Happy 100th Day of School!

 Greetings! Happy 100th Day of School! We had a fantastic time celebrating this milestone today. 

In Religion class, we talked about why we call Jesus rabbi, because he teaches us about God. We know that Jesus is the best teacher. 

We had lots of fun celebrating the 100th Day of School. We worked in groups to create designs using 100 of some object. We made creations using 100 plastic cups, 100 pattern blocks, 100 gears, and 100 wooden planks. Next, we worked with partners to reassemble 100 number charts that had been cut into small pieces. After that, we flipped a penny 100 times and observed whether we got more heads or more tails. Finally, we made self portraits of ourselves at 100 years old and wrote about something we would be doing. 

This afternoon we got together with our 8th grade friends to color and assemble a poster. We had lots of fun with them. 

Have a great night!