Christmas Music in the Air!

Greetings! I hope everyone is enjoying their week. It is hard to believe that it is half way over. 

In Religion class today, we talked about what happened at Pentecost. We learned that the Holy Spirit came to Jesus' followers. We also talked about how his followers felt before and after the Holy Spirit came. 

In Language Arts class, we learned to blend and read long e: ee words. We also wrote the first two steps in how to plant a seed. 

During Math class, we practiced adding 2 to an even number. We then identified all of the even numbers to 100 and practiced counting by evens to 100. We discovered that all even numbers end in a 0, 2,4,6, or 8. 

This afternoon we attended the Band's Christmas Concert. We enjoyed hearing all of the music. I am always amazed at how well the children sound. They all put in so much practice time. It truly was a great show! 

Just a reminder that tomorrow is our performance day. Students must wear the dress pants to school. For the evening performance, students must be in their classrooms by 6:00. Please have them wear their outfit back to school. After the show, students will return to the classroom and be dismissed from there. If you have any questions, please let me know! 

To end with, here is a picture of Jingles, our elf. The students loved his spot today! 

Have a great night!

Dress Rehearsal!

Greetings! I hope everyone had a nice day. We were quite excited to see the sun shine for a little while this afternoon. That made everyone happy!

We began our day by attending Adoration. It was nice to spend some quiet time with Jesus before beginning our day. 

In Language Arts class, we wrapped up our story Life in the Forest. We reviewed long e, long u, inflected endings, and our sight words. We then took our test on the story. In addition, we practiced identifying plurals and using plurals in sentences. Finally, we worked in our literacy centers. We enjoyed this time of practicing our phonics, fluency, and comprehension skills. 

During Math class today, we learned how to number a clock face. We then practiced showing various times on the clocks. 

This morning we had our dress rehearsal for our Christmas play. We were quite excited to put on our costumes for this practice. Everyone did such a fabulous job. We can't wait for you to see it on Thursday. 

Just a reminder that because of the Band Concert tomorrow, we will not have gym class. 

Have a great night!

An Exciting Week!

Happy Monday! I hope everyone was able to enjoy their weekend and perhaps get some holiday stuff done. We had a busy start to this exciting week. 

With today being the feast of the Immaculate Conception we went to Mass this morning. Msgr. Lockard reminded us to always say 'yes' to God just like Mary did. 

For Language Arts class today, we focused on building our fluency and comprehension. We partner read Life in the Forest and then wrote three facts we learned from the story. We also worked on identifying plurals in sentences. 

In Math class today we identified the odd numbers to 21 and then practiced counting by odds to 21. Beginning tomorrow, we will be counting by odds during our Math Meeting. 

As promised, here is a picture of the carolers we made on Friday. 

Just a reminder that play shirts are due tomorrow. Please place them in a labeled bag! If you have any questions, please let me know. 

Season of Advent

Greetings, everyone! I hope you had a fantastic week like we did in first grade! 

We began our day with Mass. After Mass, we talked about St. Nicholas (whose feast day is December 6th) and watched a movie on his life. While doing this, we placed a shoe in the hallway because legend says that if you leave your shoes out, St. Nicholas will fill them. Well, as it turns out, St. Nicholas did come and fill our shoes with a candy cane and pencil! 

I forgot to mention what first grade is doing to celebrate the season of Advent. We have an Advent calendar in the room. Each day, we pull out a picture which relates to the Christmas story. We then read that part of the story before adding the picture around our manger bulletin board.  For example, today we read how Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem on a donkey. We added a donkey around our manger. Here is a picture of our Advent calendar. I'll post a picture of the manger bulletin board next week. 

During Language Arts class today, we reviewed our sight words, long o words, and contractions. We choral read our story Life in the Forest too. 

In Math class today, we again practiced identifying lines of symmetry.We also talked about fractions and identifying one half of a whole. We even wrote the fraction one half. 

In Science class, we talked about the differences between a solid, liquid, and gas. We then sorted pictures based on whether they were a solid, liquid, or gas. 

Finally, it was time for Art class. Today we made Christmas carolers. They are so cute. I'll post pictures next week once they are hanging in the hallway for everyone to see. 

Below you will see a picture of a small project we did on Thursday. Students made Christmas ornaments using tissue paper. They are hanging in our classroom. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Wonderful Day of Learning

Greetings and Happy Thursday! Today was a wonderful day full of learning in first grade! 

In Religion class, we talked about how Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to his followers. We also talked about how the Holy Spirit would help his followers teach others about Jesus, help others, and love one another. 

During Language Arts class, we reviewed long u, long e, and inflected ending -ed. We also reviewed our sight words. Then, it was time to read our story Life in the Forest. The students loved reading about the animals and plants in the forest. After reading the story, we practiced identifying one and more than one. 

In Math class today, we studied lines of symmetry. We first looked at what a line of symmetry is and how both sides are symmetrical. We then made Christmas trees and identified the line of symmetry on them. You should have seen their faces when they opened up their trees after cutting them. The awe and amazement was something else. 

Tomorrow will be a busy and exciting end to the week. 

Back to the Gym

Greetings! Today was such a normal, calm day compared to yesterday. It was nice getting back into our routine. 

In Religion class today, we switched our focus from Advent back to the life of Jesus. In the chapter we began today, we will study the life of Jesus after he rose from the dead. Today we learned how Jesus visited his followers to let them know that he is alive. 

In Language Arts class, we learned to blended and read words with the inflected ending -ed. We also learned that when we add -ed to a word, it makes the word past tense. In addition, we learned and practiced reading our new sight words. We talked about plural nouns. For writing, we began an elf journal. Each day the students will write where Jingles is hiding and then draw a picture. Today, Jingles was hiding on the bookshelf. Here is a picture: 

In Math class, we learned how to count dimes and pennies together. We used our coins to help us practice this skill. 

Finally, we made it back to the gym for gym class. We were quite excited about this. Today we played a favorite game 'Alligator, Alligator.' 

Have a great night! 

Welcome December!

Welcome back, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family. Today was a busy, crazy, action-packed day for us to begin the month of December. 

The students were greeted today with an Elf on the Shelf. We named him Jingles. We talked about how Jingles will be watching us in school and will report to Santa whether or not we were fantastic first graders. I'll post pictures tomorrow of Jingles. 

In Religion class today, we continued our discussion about Advent. We talked about ways we can be light for others this Advent and reviewed the Advent wreath. 

During Language Arts class, we learned to blend and read long u and long e words. We practiced spelling these words using our letter tiles and reading these words by reading our decodable reader. We also talked about the author's purpose for writing a story. 

That was all we managed to get in before going home because of the weather. Please remember that tomorrow is Wednesday and we will have gym class. Also, we will be visiting the Secret Santa shop where students can make their purchases tomorrow. Please send in any money in an envelope. 

Have a safe and warm evening!