Week in Review!

Good Evening First Grade Families!

I would like to start by thanking everyone who came to conferences! It is truly one of my favorite parts of being a teacher because I get to share all the wonderful learning the students are doing and discuss the growth they have been showing! It means so much to me that you took the time to come in so we could chat! Thank you again SO much!

Sprinkle
We had a special visitor come this week to our classroom. Sprinkle the Elf was sent to use from the North Pole! He is looking for students who make great choices and students who are always showing respect! He leaves each night to give Santa a special report! The kids have enjoyed finding what sneaky spot he ends up in each morning!

McMillan Mileage Club
Tuesday was our first day for the McMillan Mileage Club! Students who choose to participate spend their last recess accumulating laps. Once they complete 3 miles they will get a special foot for their hard work! We are setting the goal of completing 50 miles by the end of the year!  The kids seem very motivated and I was so impressed how many laps were completed in the first week! Keep the the great job! I think some of our friends will be earning their first foot this week!

Reminders
* Book Orders are due tomorrow! Tuesday at the very latest! I will be placing the order on Tuesday to ensure the orders come in before Christmas break!

*Keep saving those box tops! It is going to be hard to collect as many as we did last month (We had a little over 3,000), but we can sure try!

Welcome December!

Good evening 1st Grade Families!

First of all CONGRATULATIONS to our class! We won the November Box Top contest! We brought in over 3,000 box tops for McMillan! AWESOME! That is money that goes back to our school so thank you so much to everyone who sent box tops in! We are having another school contest for December! Let's see if we can win it again! :) 

Tomorrow afternoon we will be going to the Book Fair! If you would like your child to purchase books, please send the order form and money in tomorrow! Also, tomorrow is the Read In from 6:30-7:30! The book fair will be open during this time and there will be a Muskegon Lumberjacks Hockey Player coming to read and sign autographs! Don't miss out on a fun night of reading! 

Lastly, Saturday is the Run The Spruce with Dr. Suess run at the Reeths-Puffer Intermediate school. There is a 1K and 5K run/walk that will begin at 10:00. The cost is only $10 and registration can be turned in to me by Wednesday! There will be prizes awarded to those dressed in Dr. Seuess costumes. I hope to see you there! :) 

Busy in 1st Grade!

It has been a very busy few weeks in 1st grade! I would like to first just express how proud I am of the students and their hard work in preparing for report cards. We now know what we are feeling confident doing independently and what we can work!

Preschool Buddies!
We began forming great relationships with Mrs. Hazekamp's preschool class. This allows the 1st grade students to be the reading "experts" and the preschool kids to hear older students read to them! I love seeing the reading excitement throughout both classes when we come together! We will be taking some time to read with them this coming week again!

Pajama Day Reading!
Pajama day was a huge success! The kids were able to cozy up and get some really good reading in! We were able to read for 25 minutes independently and then read with a partner! Yay for building reading muscles and reading stamina!

Peanut Butter and Jelly!
We will be writing how-to books in writing after Thanksgiving break! This will require the kids to teach others something by providing step by step directions. Friday we got our minds thinking about this kind of writing by writing the steps of making a peanut butter and jelly. The best part was when we actually got to follow the steps to make our own peanut butter and jelly! Many kids said "I didn't like it. I LOVED it!" It was exciting to bring our writing to life!

Reminders
* Box Tops: Send in the box tops you have collected! We are working to collect the most in November to win a Sundae Party!

* November reading calendars will be due Monday, December 1st. Make sure your name and parent signature are on each calendar!

* Please send in your conference confirmations. If the time I provided you with does not work, please let me know so I can change it! I cannot wait to meet with everyone and share your student's learning! Conferences are scheduled for December 3rd and 4th!

Week 10

Reading!
We spent a lot of time continuing to build our reading muscles to become stronger readers! We learned this week that when we are with our partners and they come to a tricky word that we can help them solve the word, but that we should not just tell them the word. We used statements like, "try something" or "look for parts of the word you know". It was so exciting to see the partnerships helping each other to become stronger readers who solve their own tricky words!

We also began our own book shopping this week! Previously, I had been choosing books for students that were just right. Each day of the week a few students will have their "book shopping day" where they will choose books from our classroom library to read for the week! They must choose books that are at their level. It is awesome to be able to give the power of choosing to the students as I believe this helps build their reading stamina!

PALS!
We started PALS this week, which is an additional part of our 1st grade reading curriculum! This is going to help our students practice sounds, use the sounds to form words and then use those words to read stories! The kids have really seemed to enjoy starting this program!

Writing!
In writing we kept working on revising our Small Moment Stories. We looked at how to add to the heart or most important part of the story. We are still working on starting each sentence with a capital and then ending it with proper punctuation!

Math!
This week in math we compared a 99 chart and a number line! We were able to take a 99 chart and cut it into strips to make a number line! We then used that number line to play Race to 99! The practice with these numbers is helping the students to see patterns and read the numbers properly!

Nutrition In Action!
This week Mrs. Lambert taught us about the dairy food group! We learned that yogurt, milk, cheese and even ice cream would fit into this food group! We were also able to get up and do some yoga! Our special treat was a Very Berry Smoothie! Ask your child what the special green ingredient was in the smoothie! Hint: It is green! The smoothie was a big hit with the students!

Reminders!
* Wednesday, November 12- Library Books need to be brought back
                                                November Scholastic Book Orders Due! (Don't forget to use your $5 coupon!)
* Please return conference preference sheets by Wednesday!
* Send those Box Tops in glued or taped to the sheet provided in your child's folder Friday! We are working to win the ice cream sundae party!

Another Week in the Books

First of all, I would just like to start by saying THANK-YOU SO MUCH to all of the parents, grandparents and helpers we had at the Halloween party! It was such a fun, enjoyable and organized party! I cannot thank you enough for the help and donations to make it a party the kids very much enjoyed! I truly appreciate your constant support!

Reading!
We learned that a good reader has to stop when something doesn't make sense in our reading or when a part sounds weird. We now know we have to stop, go back and try solving the tricky word using the strategies we have learned and then go back and reread the part to make sure it sounds right and that we sound like a storyteller!

We also have been introduced to all 40 sight words on the 1st list! We will be starting list 2 words this week! I have had the chance to start assessing a few students on these words and they are totally rocking it out! Awesome job kiddos!

Writing!
We celebrated our first Small Moment Stories this week by reading them to the class! Their special pieces will be coming home soon for them to share with you! We began a new unit where we are focusing on revision to make our stories even better! We all began a new story to use throughout this unit! I am hoping that being able to focus on one story will allow students to add more details!

Math!
This week in math, we looked at patterns on a 99 chart. We learned that when we travel from left to right the numbers increase by one, but when we move from top to bottom, we count by 10. We used this to find all the neighbors of given numbers. This is a big concept that we will continue to work on as it helps us in many areas of math!

Pumpkin Study!
On Thursday, we reinforced our math lessons by collecting and recording data using a pumpkin. After collecting our data, we had a pumpkin with triangle eyes, a triangle nose and spiky teeth! We were also able to act like a scientist by using our senses to investigate our pumpkin! We even got to gut our pumpkin!

Halloween Party and Duct Taping!

Please Check Folders!

Good Evening!

Please make sure to check daily folders! I sent home a lot of important information today with the kiddos!

Tomorrow will be our classroom Halloween Party and Costume Parade! Once again, our schedule is a little different than the building.
          10:10-10:20 Costume Change
          10:20-10:50 Halloween Party in Classroom
          10:55-11:30 Gym Class (Students Only)
          11:30-12:00 School Costume Parade
          12:00 Dismissal

Please have your child bring their costume to school to leave in their lockers until we change at snack time! Also, please make sure you child knows where they will be going at the end of the day!

WE WON!

Congratulations 1st graders in room 29! We sold the most beef sticks for the fall fundraiser and therefore will be duct taping Mrs. Schmitt to the wall on Friday morning! WAY TO GO ROCK STARS!

Week Eight!

I continue to wonder where our days go! The saying, "time flies when you are having fun" has definitely been sticking out in my mind lately! We are continuing to grow as 1st graders each day!

Reading!
We spent another week building our list of strategies to use when we come to a tricky word in our reading. We learned that we can chunk the word into parts which we called "chunky monkey" or use a few strategies together to solve those tricky words! It is really making a difference in our reading when we can use these strategies!

Partner reading is going great too! The kids are helping each other and continuing to practice their storyteller's voice!

Writing!
We finished our first unit in writing this week! Each student chose one Small Moment Story to edit and fancy up to share with the class. We will have a chance to share with classmates on Monday! I will send home their special pieces once I have a chance to look more closely at them! Our next unit will focus on revising our writing. This will be a more challenging unit for 1st graders, but I am confident the students will do great and learn a lot!

Math!
We played a game called "One Minute Challenge" this week! We had to visit this lesson for two days to make sure we were understanding it. There were a lot of steps to follow, but we caught on more confidently the second time around. We had to make estimates, count and then record the data we collected!

Congratulations to River who had the closest estimation of gummy bears. There were a total of 47 gummy bears in the container and River guessed 44! We will try again this week with another set of gummy bears!

Nutrition in Action
Mrs. Lambert taught us about the vegetable and fruit portions of My Plate! Ask your child how many servings of fruits and veggies they should have each day! Here is a clue...your hand is a reminder! The kids tried Cucumber Sammies for their snack. I was very surprised how many kids were very hesitant to try the three foods together, but actually liked it once they tried it! We also got to get up and move like different animals!

We will not have Nutrition in Action next week since we have a half day on Friday with noon dismissal!

Blake was moving like a bear! 

Reminders!
We will be having our classroom Halloween party and costume parade on Friday, October 31st. Here is our schedule for those events!
          10:20-10:50 Classroom Party
          10:55-11:31 Gym (students only)
          11:30-12:00 School Costume Parade
Parents/Guardians are welcome to attend! I will ask that those that come to the party let the class go to gym alone!
Students should bring their costumes to school and will change into them before our party! Remember that weapons and fake blood are not allowed. I look forward to a fun time!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Have a fantastic last week of October!

Snow Plow Safety!

We learned about how to stay safe this winter when the snow plows are out! Make sure to ask your child what some rules are to keep safe!

We even got to see an actual plow truck and were able to sign our names on the blades!

Thank-you to the Road Commission for their visit today!