Dr. Seuss' birthday

 Lily's mom, Amanda, read "One Fish, Two Fish..."

 Taya's grandmother, Diane, read "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?"

 Brandon's mom, Christy, read "The Foot Book"

 Carrie, Seth's mom, read "I Wish That I Had Duck Feet"

 Lisa, Piper's mom, read "Green Eggs and Ham".  (And also brought special green cupcakes!)

Haley's dad, Jason, read "The Cat in the Hat".
Our class loved having guest readers come to our class last week.  We were happy to have seven guests in all; our former mayor Jim Pedelty, besides four mothers, one father and one grandmother.  They helped celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday by choosing a favorite book he had written to read to us.  When they were finished with the story, they shared some of the ways they use reading in their daily lives.  What a wonderful opportunity for our students to hear these important grown-ups tell about using reading in their jobs and reading books for fun - even instead of watching TV!

Celebrating the 100th Day

We had great fun celebrating the 100th day of school.  The highlight of the week was seeing everyone's collection of 100 items.  Here's a look at what the students brought.

Pictures from Hat Week

In January, we had fun using hats to to help us learn about descriptive writing.  Each student wrote three sentences to describe their hat.  Then we exchanged papers and students tried to match the correct hat to the description.
We also did all kinds of classifying with our hats.  It was interesting to notice many different attributes about our hats.

Happy 2012!

  

In January, our class wrote some New Year's resolutions that we would like to share with you.

Super "e"!!!!!!!!! (hip children's song by Mark D. Pencil)

Hello!
The students were surprised at how cold the weather has become now that it's December.  I think we have all forgotten that it won't stay nice forever.  Colder, snowy days surely will be coming.  Before long the students will be needing their boots and snowpants, also.

We have been working to decorate a bulletin board in our classroom with gingerbread people and a bulletin board for the hallway that will feature a quilt made by our class.  The students enjoy working on some creative projects when our reading and math work have been completed for the day.

This week in reading class, we have been reading and spelling long a words.  The children especially enjoyed this fun you tube video about silent e or "super e" as it's called in the video.

Happy Thanksgiving!

                  We hope you have a safe and pleasant Thanksgiving holiday.

November 17, 2011

 

News from First Grade:

In Math - A thinking strategy called counting on has been practiced.  This strategy is helpful when adding 1, 2, or 3.  For example; if you are adding 5+3, start with the greater number (5) and count on 3 more (6,
7, 8).  We will practice using 'doubles' (2+2, 3+3) and 'near doubles' (2+3, 3+4) as other helpful strategies, also.

Next Tuesday's Show and Tell will be about giving thanks.  Each student has been asked to bring something they are thankful for.  If it's something that can't be brought to school (ie. their family, their house) a picture would be just fine.

One of the things I'm thankful for is that by this time of the year, students have really begun to settle in to our first grade routine and are showing more maturity in all their skills.  We are making good progress!  Here are a few pictures of students doing a terrific job of reading with a partner.  They were reading the story On My Way to School by Wong Herbert Yee from our Reading book.
More pictures to follow next week!