Character Day!!

Wow!! We had an AWESOME day!! We started our day off with a Halloween inspired read aloud, and then the kids enjoyed sharing their "character costumes" with the whole school. Each primary class took turns walking in the hallways for other students to see their book and character outfit. We really enjoyed all of the creative costumes! At the end of the day, each child in my class shared their favorite book and explained their costume. We had some very imaginative costumes!! They also shared the plot of their book and some character traits (of course we had to sneak some language arts in there too!!). Here are a few pictures....

We stared the day with a "Halloween" read aloud. The character in the story was a 50 foot teacher! Yikes!!

Look how sweet these girls are!! Of course they are dressed as princesses and Junie B.!

Aren't they so cute?

We had a REAL mummy in our class today!!!

"I Love You Stinky Face", "Three Musketeers", "Spiderman", and "Ladybug Girl".

These are two of my favorites! Logan even looks like Waldo! So cute!

We ended the day with a class picture. And, yes, I dressed up too (I was the grouchy ladybug)!! We had so much fun!

Math: Shapes and Patterns

This week we have been working on plane shapes (2D) and solid shapes (3D). My students have learned the names of many plane and solid shapes. We have been identifying plane and solid shapes in our classroom and world around us. For example, our clock is a cirlce and our pencil sharpener is a rectangular prism. Quiz your child to see what plane and solid shapes they can find in your house!!!

 

They even made models with solid figures! Look at this creative castle!

We played a review game yesterday called, "Hullabaloo". I put many types of plane shapes and solid figures on the floor. The kids walked in a line around the shapes while the music was playing. When the music stopped, I gave them a direction and they had to find the shape with those characteristics.

Example: Find a shape with no corners or edges...They stood on a circle or sphere. We had a blast!

         

"Find a shape with four sides and four corners."

Our test on shapes and patterns is tomorrow!!! :)







Parent Teacher Conferences

Please do not forget to sign up for Parent/Teacher Conferences. I am using a new website to schedule conferences this year. You can view all of the available times and sign up for an appointment. I am very excited to meet with all of you and discuss your child's progress!

http://www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/9723456347209980125

**If these times do not work for you, please email me and I will try to accommodate your schedule. Thanks!

Boyd Orchard Field Trip!!

We had a great time on our field trip to Boyd Orchard!! Here are some of the things that we did on the field trip: listened to an educational speech about apples, visited the petting zoo, had a hayride, ate doughnuts and cider, picked apples, and played on the playground. I was so proud of their behavior and respectfulness to other students and staff members at the orchard. Although our day was very busy, everyone seemed to have a great time! Thank you to those of you who took time out of your busy day to be a chaperone on our field trip. Your help was greatly appreciated! See below for some pictures of our trip.

Hayride! We rode around the farm and saw all of the plants grown there while enjoying a hayride.

Andrew climbing the "mountain" on the playground. It looks really challenging!

Brady is picking an apple in the orchard. The kids learned how to pick their own apples (push up on them first, then pull down).

Henry with the apples he picked in the orchard.

The kids loved to climb on the hay barrels!

Kharis is sliding down the 90 foot slide! I wish we had a closer picture to see the expression on her face!

Our Weekly Learning!

                                                                                Reading

We started flexibly grouping for reading last week. So far, it has gone really well and the kids seem to be benefiting from it. Thank you so much for your patience with homework last week. We were in a "groove" prior to our switch, and now we are trying to figure out how we will assign and keep track of homework. Thank you so much for your patience!! Every student will have a reading log and spelling to complete each week. I know that the way you have practiced reading and spelling may look differently now, but I appreciate your willingness to adapt to the changes. All homework will be assigned on Monday's, and be collected the following Monday.  Also, all of first grade will be going to the library/media center on Monday's with their flexible reading group teacher. Please be sure to send your library book back Monday morning!

                                                                                    Math

We just finished our unit on subtraction!! This was a very challenging unit for most students. We took the test last Thursday, and overall everyone did really well. I am so proud of them! We played a review game of addition memory match and subtraction bingo. They had a great time playing with their friends! We will begin Chapter 5: Shapes and Patterns today. This will be a really interactive unit where the kids will be able build and create new shapes and patterns.

                                                                              Social Studies

We just finished our unit called, "Me and My Family" in social studies. They will be bringing home books they created about themselves and their families this week. They are very precious and would be a great "keepsake" item! They wrote things they like to do with their family, their wants/needs, and what they will do to help their families. We will start our new unit in science tomorrow. We will be learning about habitats!

What we've been working on.....

Reading

We will begin flexibly grouping tomorrow (beginning of a new unit).  Look for more information soon! :)

I will not be posting information about reading after this week. Your child's "flexible reading teacher" will have their own blog for you to follow for reading updates.
Math

We have been working on subtraction. This is a very difficult concept for many kids! So, we practiced subtraction number bonds with Smarties! The kids really enjoyed this, and I think it helped them with subtraction number bonds. Many students are getting addition and subtraction number bonds confused, so please help them with this at home. Remind them that the whole is the largest number and is the first number in the subtraction sentence.

                                   Look how fun!! He is making a number bond with Smarties!

Science

We are finally finished our month long unit in science this week. We worked on the life cycle of a plant, and also learned the parts of a plant. Students made a model of the parts of a plant with "fuzzy sticks" (pipe cleaners). They had a great time making their models. Quiz them on the parts to see how much they have learned! The parts they should know are: roots, stem, leaves, and flowers. They should also know the function of each part.

Flexible Grouping

After reviewing the MAP test scores, the first grade team has decided to "flexibly group" for reading. Our goal is to reach all students on their instructional level. Through flexible grouping, we will be able to teach all students at their point of need. Please keep in mind that these groups are "flexible". This means that the groups are very fluid and will change with student need.  Please remember that with any change, there will be kinks that we will need to address. Look for more information in your child's folder from their "flexible group teacher".