A Marvelous Monday!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend! Wasn't Friday absolutely gorgeous!

In Religion class we talked about how we believe in Jesus. Because we believe in Jesus, we trust him and follow him. By doing this we will one day get to heaven. 

We began Language Arts class by working in our literacy centers. Then we jumped into another week of learning; this week we will be reading about inventions. We began by learning five new oral vocabulary words (curious, improve, imagine, device, and complicated). Then we worked on rereading as we read about different inventions. Next, we learned how to blend and read r-controlled -or, -ore, and -oar words. Following that we learned our new sight words and vocabulary words. We ended the morning putting our skills to work as we read The Story of a Robot Inventor. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we learned about adjectives that compare. We drew an image three times and labeled them big, bigger, and biggest. We also wrote about what we would see if we landed on the moon. 

In Math class today, we began a new chapter that focuses on calendar and time. Today, we focused on the calendar. Since we do a calendar every day in our Math Meeting, we found today's lesson to be quite easy. 

Have a great night! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 Happy St. Patrick's Day! Today was another exciting day in first grade. They were all so excited to tell me about the leprechauns this morning. That excitement continued after lunch as Shamus O'Day visited our classroom and made a mess! 

In Religion class today, we continued to learn about St. Patrick. We read and colored a story about his life. We then created a statue of St. Patrick. May we always remember to have trust in the Lord just like Patrick did. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, read r-controlled -er, -ir, -ur, and -or words and words with the inflectional ending -er. We wrote sentences using our sight words and took our weekly assessment. Finally, we wrote about things we hold as precious as gold and added them to a craft. Here is a picture: 

To have time for some fun St. Patrick's Day activities this afternoon, we had Social Studies class this morning. We learned the difference between needs and wants and sorted pictures based on which category they fall under. 

In Math class today we took our chapter test on adding and subtracting with and without regrouping. Next week we will focus on the calendar and time. 

For Gym class, we headed outside to run around and burn off some of the energy we had stored over winter! 

We ended our day with some St. Patrick's Day fun. We made an erupting rainbow using vinegar and baking soda. Next, we  experimented with which way would melt a piece of chocolate the fastest: hot water, our hands, our letting it sit out. (Hot water won)! After that, we sunk a pot of gold by adding pennies to it. It took 36 pennies for it to sink. Finally, we tried to build a tower using Lucky Charms. We had two minutes to build the tallest one we could. The children really had fun this afternoon. Here are some pictures: 

Have a great weekend! See you on Monday! 

Cloud Fun!

 Greetings! Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a great week. Today was a very fun day in first grade. 

In Religion class, we began learning about St. Patrick. We watched a video which showed Patrick bringing the Catholic faith to the people of Ireland. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, read r-controlled words and words with the inflectional ending -er, and practiced our sight words. We then switched our focus to reading. We partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read a short nonfiction piece about the moon. The students really got into this story. We watched the very first moon landing and a short clip of a rocket launch. I loved seeing their enthusiasm. We ended the morning by using adjectives in sentences. 

In Math class today, we reviewed adding and subtracting with and without regrouping, adding three one-digit numbers, and solving word problems. Tomorrow we will take our chapter test. 

This afternoon was a lot of learning combined with fun. Since our reading theme has been centered around things in the sky, we learned about things in the sky, namely clouds. We used cotton balls to show the three types of clouds. We also used cotton balls to make a puffy cloud design. Again, I just loved seeing the children's excitement as they were learning. Here are some pictures: 

Have a great night! 

Excited Mathematicians!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is having a great start to their week. 

In Religion class today, we wrapped up our chapter on Jesus performing miracles. We reviewed the different miracles we read about and talked about how Jesus could perform these miracles because he is the Son of God. 

In Language Arts class, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words, practiced reading r-controlled words and words with the inflectional ending -er. We also practiced our sight words and vocabulary words. To help build our fluency and comprehension, we partner read a story in our decodable reader booklets. We also read Kitten's First Full Moon which brought about a lot of laughter as we read. After reading that story we completed pages in our close reading companion that focused on cause and effect. We ended the morning by working with adjectives. We practiced finding them in sentences and practiced writing sentences using them. 

In Math class today we used our critical thinking skills to solve problems. The students worked so hard at solving the problems and were so excited when they answered correctly. 

In Spanish class today we reviewed the Spanish words for cheese, milk, potato, bread, salad, juice, and chicken. 

We ended our day with Stations. The children did a really nice job participating today. 

Have a great night! 

A New Week!

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

In Religion class today we talked about how Jesus heals both the body and soul. He can do this because he is God. 

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 r-controlled -er, -ir, -ur, and -or words. Next, we learned how to read and define words with the inflectional ending -er. Following that we practiced using our sight words and vocabulary words in sentences. We ended our morning focused on comprehension; this week we are focusing on cause and effect. We reread A Bird Named Fern and our decodable reader. After reading each story we wrote cause and effect examples from each one. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we focused on adjectives. We practiced finding them in sentences and writing sentences using them. 

In Math class today we practiced solving word problems. The key is to listen to the problem to know what is told to us before solving it. 

Have a great night! 

Lucky Leprechauns!

 Greetings! I hope everyone is doing well. I'm sure the children are excited to see the snow this morning. 

At Mass yesterday, Fr. Brian reminded us that we are to build up Christ's kingdom here on Earth. One way we can do that is by showing mercy. 

We began Language Arts class by working in our small reading groups to build our fluency and comprehension skills. We then learned that adjectives are words to describe nouns. To help us learn this, we looked at an apple and wrote words to describe it. We then tasted the apple and came up with more adjectives. 

In Math class, we solved word problems. We used what we have learned about adding and subtracting to help us solve them. 

In Science class, we learned that sounds can be loud or soft. We worked with a partner to sort pictures based on the sound they make. We then illustrated things that make a soft or loud sound. 

We ended our day with Art class. Today we made leprechauns. The students were very creative in making them. Here are some of them: 

Have a great rest of your weekend. Stay safe! 

Jesus, Heal Us!

 Greetings on this beautiful day! It's hard to believe that yesterday it snowed and today the sun took it all away. 

In Religion class today, we continued to focus on times Jesus helped people. Today we talked about the ten men with leprosery and how Jesus healed them. Next, we reviewed all the people Jesus helped by completing a story booklet. Finally, we created a poster reminding us that Jesus still heals today. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts today; this week we will be reading about things in the sky. We began by learning our new oral vocabulary words (vast, remained, certain, observe, and thoughtful). After that we worked on making predictions as we read a folktale about why the sun and moon are in the sky. Following that, we learned how to blend and read r-controlled -er, -ir, -ur, and -or words. Then, we learned our new sight words and vocabulary words. We ended the morning reading A Bird Named Fern which helped us practice our new skills. 

In Math class we practiced adding three one-digit numbers. The students are doing great with this skill and are so good with explaining their thinking. 

For Gym class, we headed outside. It was just so nice and refreshing outside. It was so hard to come in. 

We ended our day with Social Studies. Today we wrapped up our unit on geography by reviewing continents, bodies of water, landforms, natural resources, and where we live. 

Here is a picture from our St. Patrick's Day writing from yesterday: 

Have a great night!