Phonics Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! The children were so excited with the snow today. I wish I could say the same! 

In Religion class today, we continued our talk about Jesus performing miracles. Today we talked about how he helped people, like when he raised the dead and helped blind people. 

We wrapped up our week of learning in Language Arts. We began by using our sight words in sentences. We then practiced our phonics skills by playing some games. To review irregular plurals, the students were each given a card with either a singular or plural word on it. They then had to find their partner match. After that, we played Phonics BINGO to review r-controlled -ar words. Following that we wrote sentences using our sight words and took our weekly assessment. We ended the morning by reviewing the types of sentences in a paragraph. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we did some St. Patrick's Day writing. We wrote about what we would buy if we found a pot of gold. We added our writing to a rainbow. 

In Math class today we learned how to add three one-digit numbers. I was quite impressed with how quickly the students got this skill. 

Have a great night! 

Treasure Chest of Words!

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

We began our day with Adoration. We spent some quiet time praying to Jesus asking him to help others and to help us have a good day. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, sorted words based on vowel sound, read r-controlled -ar words, and wrote plurals for words. To practice our sight words, we played "Build A Leprechaun", a game similar to Hangman. The students had to guess the word before a leprechaun was drawn. We had tons of fun with this! 

After our game, it was time to build our fluency and comprehension skills. We partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read a nonfiction piece about sorting and classifying objects. We ended our morning by practicing joining sentences together. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we learned what a paragraph is. We looked at the different sentences in a paragraph including a topic sentence, detail sentences, and concluding sentence. We color coded a paragraph to show each one. Then it was time for some art in reading. We created a Pirate holding a chest full of r-controlled -ar words. 

In Math class today, we practiced solving subtraction problems both with and without regrouping. We did very well at looking where the bigger number was. 

We ended our day with Spanish. Today we learned the words for cheese, milk, potato, bread, juice, chicken, and salad. 

Have a great night! 

Pot of Gold!

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

In Religion class today, we finished learning the Stations of the Cross. We looked at Stations 8-14. After watching the Brother Francis video, we colored our Station booklets. 

We continued our week of learning in Language Arts. We reviewed our oral vocabulary words, read r-controlled -ar words, and match the singular noun to its plural. We also practiced our sight words and vocabulary words. Then we switched our focus to fluency and comprehension. We partner read a story in our close reading companions. We also read A Lost Button, which featured the classic characters of Frog and Toad. After reading that story we completed pages in our close reading companion that focused on point of view. We ended our morning by practicing joining sentences together. 

In Math class today we continued to practice subtraction with regrouping. We are getting much better with this! 

We ended our day by going to church to pray the Stations of the Cross. The students did a good job following along in their books. 

Here is a picture from Friday's art project: 

Have a great night! 

My Many Colored Days!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! Today was a busy and mixed up day to end our week. 

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian reminded us about our Lenten goals of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. 

In Language Arts class today, we worked in our small reading groups to build our fluency and comprehension skills. We also practiced joining sentences using the words so and because. 

Our week of Dr. Seuss fun wrapped up today. We read My Many Colored Days. We talked about how our days can be filled with different emotions and tied those emotions to different colors. After that, we used watercolor paints to paint a person to show all the different colors we can feel. Here are some examples: 

In Math class today, we continued to practice subtraction with regrouping. We are getting better at solving the problems. I can see the confidence growing and the worrying decreasing. 

In Science class today, we talked about dental health. We reviewed the importance of brushing and flossing daily and eating healthy foods. We looked at hard-boiled eggs soaked in Coke to see what our teeth could look like if we don't brush. We all agreed that it wasn't good. So, to get the egg white again, we had to brush it. Each student received an egg, toothbrush and toothpaste, and went to work cleaning their 'tooth'. It was messy and fun at the same time!

In Art class today, we made a rainbow coming out of a pot of gold. I'll post pictures next week once we add the glitter. 

We ended our day with a pep rally in support of our basketball teams. We had fun cheering them on. 

Here is a picture from the Cat in the Hat writing we did the other day. 

Have a great weekend! 

Oh! The Thinks You Can Think!

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

In Religion class today, we began to look at the Stations of the Cross. We watched part of a brother Francis video that explains each of the stations. Today we looked at the first seven stations; we'll look at the remaining stations next week. 

We began Language Arts by answering questions using our oral vocabulary words. Next, we used our letter tiles to spell and read r-controlled ar words. Then, we reviewed irregular plurals, words like children, people, and mice. Following that we used our sight words and vocabulary words in sentences. We ended our morning by focusing on comprehension; this week's skill is point of view. We reread A Barn Full of Hats and wrote about the different characters point of view. We did the same as we read our decodable reader. 

In Math class today we began to learn how to subtract with regrouping. We used our base ten blocks to help us understand what we are doing. Tomorrow we will try to solve problems using our whiteboards. 

For Gym class today we stayed in the classroom and exercised to GoNoodle. 

In Social Studies class today we learned the names of the countries that border us: Canada and Mexico. 

We ended the day by celebrating Dr. Seuss. Today we read Oh! The Thinks You Can Think. Afterwards, the students drew what they were thinking about and wrote about it. 

Have a great night! 

The Beginning of Lent!

 Greetings! Today was a good day in first grade. 

Today marked the beginning of the Lenten season. To celebrate Ash Wednesday, we went to church and received ashes on our foreheads as a reminder that we need to change what we are doing that keeps us from Jesus. During the next 40 days, let us pray that we will take the time to reflect on ways that will bring us closer to Jesus. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts today; this week we will be reading about different ways to classify objects. We learned five new oral vocabulary words (classify, distinguish, organize, entire, and startled). After that we worked on making predictions as we heard the famous story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." After that we learned how to blend and read r-controlled -ar words; as many would say we talked like a pirate today. Following that we learned our new sight words and vocabulary words. We ended the morning reading A Barn Full of Hats that helped us practice our new skills. 

This afternoon in Language Arts, we learned how to join sentences using and, or, and but. 

In Math class today we continued our practice of subtracting without regrouping. We are doing very well with these problems. Tomorrow we will begin to learn how to subtract with regrouping. 

Today is Dr. Seuss' birthday. To celebrate, we read The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. We then wrote about what we would do if the Cat in the Hat came to our house. We added a drawing of the Cat in the Hat to our writing. 

Have a great night! 

Hello, March!

 Greetings! It is hard to believe that it is March. February went right by us. We had a great day to begin a new month. 

In Religion class, we continued our discussion on Lent. We watched a Brother Francis video that reviewed what we talked about yesterday. We then wrote about someone we can pray for, something we can fast from, and someway we can help during Lent. 

We wrapped up our week of learning in Language Arts. Today, we used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, read long e words and compound words, and wrote sentences using our sight words. We also took our weekly assessment. To build our compound word knowledge, we completed a write the room activity. The students were given the first part of a compound word; they had to walk around the room to find the second word. They just loved that. 

Because the students worked very hard this morning, we were able to complete the art project we missed on Friday. We created a stained glass heart. Don't they look awesome! 

In Math class today, we continued to practice subtraction without regrouping. We are getting better at counting backwards. 

In Spanish class today, we reviewed the words we learned for classroom objects. We drew a picture of our classroom and labeled the objects in Spanish. 

Our Dr. Seuss celebration today centered around Green Eggs and Ham. After reading the classic book, we matched rhyming words. 

Have a great night!