A Performance Painter!

Greetings! Happy Monday of Catholic School's Week: a week to celebrate our school. To kick off the week, we were treated to a performance painter. We were able to watch as he painted three beautiful paintings. Head over to the school's Facebook page to check them out! 

In Religion class today we talked about how Jesus blessed the children. We talked about how we always welcomed them and got upset when others tried to stop the children from coming to him. 

In Language Arts, we worked on our comprehension skills today; we are focusing on main idea and key detail this week. We reread A Team of Fish and our decodable reader. After reading each story we wrote about its main idea and wrote the details from the story. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we practiced using has and have in sentences. 

In Math class today, we began our chapter on the numbers to 40. Today, we represented each number with a picture and wrote a number sentence for that number. 

Have a great night! 

Happy Feet!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a nice remote learning day yesterday. It was nice to be back together today to end our week. 

At Mass this morning, Fr. Brian talked to us about St. Thomas Aquinas. 

In Language Arts, we reviewed our oral vocabulary words. Next, we used our letter tiles to spell and read long e words. Following that, we learned how to read and define words with the prefixes re, un, and pre. We ended our morning by using our sight words and vocabulary words in sentences. 

In Math class today, we took our chapter test on measurement. Next week we will be taking a closer look at the numbers to 40. 

In Science class today, we looked at the five food groups. We identified them and then sorted pictures into each food group. 

For our Penguin lesson today, we talked about how penguins stay warm by huddling together. 

After studying penguins all week, it was time to make one in Art class. Using a plastic bottle, we stuffed that with cotton balls. We then added a hat, eyes, beak, flippers, feet, and bowtie. Aren't they cute? 

And here is a picture from our snowflake writing from earlier in the week. 

Have a great weekend! 

Animals Working Together!

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

In Religion class today, we talked about how Jesus walked from town to town teaching the people about God and God's love. We talked about how Jesus taught everybody even those that others did not like. We also talked about how the people called Jesus 'Rabbi' which means teacher. 

We began a new week of learning in Language Arts; this week we will be reading about how animals work together. We learned our five new oral vocabulary words (behavior, beneficial, dominant, endangered, and instinct). We then worked on answering questions as we read a nonfiction piece about animals working together. Following that we learned how to blend and read long e words, words spelled with e, ee, ea, or ie. After that we learned our new sight words and vocabulary words. With all this new knowledge, it was time to apply it as we read A Team of Fish. We ended the morning by working in our small reading groups. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we learned when to use has and have in a sentence. 

In Math class today we reviewed concepts related to measurement. We will be taking our chapter test on Friday. 

Our Penguin lesson today focused on the life cycle of a penguin. We watched a video of a penguin hatching from an egg and a video on a female penguin reuniting with her male companion using special sounds. We then made a life cycle of a penguin craft which turned out so nice. 

Just a reminder that tomorrow is a Remote Learning Day. Please check Seesaw for assignments. Have a great night! 

Snowflake Writing!

 Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is doing well. We had a great day in first grade today. 

We began our day by going to church for Adoration. We spent some quiet time praying to Jesus. 

We wrapped up another week of learning in Language Arts. We used our oral vocabulary words in sentences, read long a words, put words into ABC order, and wrote sentences using our sight words. We also partner read a story from our decodable reader booklets and read a nonfiction story about bats. After reading about bats, we completed pages in our close reading companion that focused on main idea. We ended our morning by taking our weekly assessment and by practicing using was and were in sentences. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we did some creative writing. We wrote about what we would like to fall from the sky like snowflakes. We added our writing to a craft. We have to finish the craft part in the morning. 

In Math class today we used our critical thinking skills to solve problems. I just loved hearing their thinking today as we solved the problems. 

In Spanish class today, we wrapped up our learning of the numbers to 20. Next, we will learn the names of classroom objects. 

For our Penguin Week fun, we focused today on different types of penguins and where they live. We also watched a live webcam feed from the Pittsburgh Zoo. 

Have a great night! 

Penguin Week!

 Greetings! Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. We had a marvelous Monday in first grade to begin our week. 

In Religion class, we wrapped up our chapter on young Jesus. We reviewed how the Holy Family fled to Egypt before settling in Nazareth. We also reviewed how Jesus helped Mary and Joseph and always listened to them. 

We continued our week of learning in Language Arts. We reviewed our oral vocabulary words, read long a words and our sight words, and put words into ABC order. We also practiced using our vocabulary words in sentences. To help build our fluency and comprehension skills, we partner read a story from our decodable readers. We also read How Bat Got Its Wings. After reading that story we completed pages in our close reading companion that focused on sequence. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we practiced using was and were in sentences. We also reviewed writing contractions. 

In Math class, we practiced measuring objects using units. We would look at a picture and count how long or tall something was. The students had no problems with this. 

This week we will be studying penguins which will cumulate with our Art project on Friday. Today, we learned that penguins are birds because they have feathers. We also looked at the parts of a penguin and how they help it to survive. 

As promised, here are some pictures. You will see the final outcome for our Martin Luther King project along with the snowflakes from Friday's art class. Enjoy! 

Poppin' in Science!

 Greetings! Happy Friday! I hope everyone is staying warm. We had a good day to end our week. 

At Mass, Fr. Brian talked to us about always trusting in him and staying true to our faith even when others might persecute us. 

In Language Arts, we practiced using was and were in sentences. Then, we read about walruses as we completed our Scholastic News magazine. We ended our morning by working in our small reading groups to build our fluency and comprehension skills. 

In Math class today, we practiced measuring using linking cubes. Each student found 3 things to measure and then used linking cubes to tell how long it was. They really enjoyed doing this. 

Science class was poppin' today. We reviewed our 5 senses. We began by sorting pictures based on what sense it showed. We then did an experiment using our 5 senses. Each student was given a bag of Pop Rocks. We wrote about what they looked like, how the smelled and felt, what they tasted like, and what we heard as we ate them. Needless to say, this experiment was a hit. 

We ended our day with Art class. Today, we painted around a snowflake made of painter's tape. Once the paint dries, I will remove the tape to reveal a white snowflake. I'll post pictures on Monday. 

Have a great weekend! Stay warm! 

Good to Be Back!

 Greetings! Happy Thursday! It was so good to be back in the classroom today. I really missed the children yesterday. Thank you all so much for your prayers and concerns. I really appreciate them. 

In Religion today, we talked about how Jesus honored his parents. We then talked about ways we can honor our parents. 

In Language Arts, we reviewed the oral vocabulary words we learned yesterday (feature, appearance, predicament, relief, and determined). Next, we worked on rereading for understanding as we listened to a fable. Then we used our letter tiles to spell and read long a words spelled either ai or ay. After that, we learned how to put words into ABC order when the first letter is the same. We ended the morning by practicing using our sight words and vocabulary words in sentences. 

This afternoon in Language Arts we focused on comprehension; this week our skill is sequence. We reread A Tale of a Tail and our decodable reader. After each story we sequenced the events from them. 

In Math class, we practiced using a start line to see which object was the longest and which object was the shortest. We made several examples and had fun doing so. 

In Social Studies today, we talked about the difference between a city, town, and suburb. 

We ended our day with Gym. We were really sweating after exercising with GoNoodle! 

Have a great (and warm) night!