Week of Dec. 17

Upcoming Events:

JJan. 7 Students back to school from Winter Break

J Jan. 16 2 hr. early out

Notes:

J Merry Christmas and I hope that you all have a restful and relaxing winter break.  Thanks for all your help with making your child’s first half of first grade a success.

JThank you to everyone who attended the music program on Tuesday night.  Our class was very well behaved and sang beautifully. 

J Occasionally, I am sick or have a sick child therefore I have a sub.  When that occurs AR books will not be tested on or checked out that day.  I will look at them when I return. 

JThere are a few students who are not reading AR books very often.  If your child does not read 100 books by the end of first grade they will NOT get to participate in the root beer float party.  The average of the class is between 40 and 70 books read already!

Things to Work on:

JWe have finished the first half of our math units this year.  I sent home the first journal.  Over break students may work on completing any unfinished pages.    

What we have been up to:

Reading: This week we focused on the /wh/, /tch/, and /ch/ sound.  We had a chance this week to read a Reader’s Theater called Smile, Mike!  Students really enjoyed having a part.    

Math: We have finished unit 5 and took a test on it on Thursday.  Prior to the test we reviewed patterns in the number grid and how that can help with adding and subtracting.

Science/ Social Studies: We have also finished our unit on Maps and Globes.  We completed My World booklet in which they learned about the world, continent, country, state, city, and house.  This week we briefly touched on recycling, reusing, and reducing waste but will spend more time on it later in the year.

Spelling Week of Dec. 17

1. whip
2. whale
3. catch
4. match
5. chin
6. chop
7. slip
8.spin
9. our
10. your

Week of Dec. 10

Upcoming Events:

JDec. 18 K-1 Music Concert at 7pm at Emmetsburg High School auditorium.  Students need to arrive by 6:30.  (More information to come.)

J Dec. 21 Early Out (1 hr.)

Notes:

JThank you to parents who have already provided items for our gingerbread houses. 

JNow that the weather is cold please send your child with hats and gloves every day.  We go outside unless it is below 0.  When it does snow and you send snow pants and boots please write your child’s name in them. 

JWe have spent a lot of this week assessing for 2^nd quarter.  I have been very pleased at the progress students have made.

Things to Work on:

JHere are some reading strategies to help your child when they struggle on a word: look at the pictures, flip the vowel sound, chunk the word into parts that you know, and s-t-r-e-t-c-h it out. 

What we have been up to:

Reading: We read books/ stories about different kids around the world and how they play.  This week we focused on comparing and contrasting kids around the world. 

Math: This week in math we made a 100 grid and talked about the various patterns that we see.  We used the patterns to help us with money and adding large numbers.

Science/ Social Studies: We continued our study on maps and globes.  We learned about various landforms and the cardinal directions.  We continued making My World book with my house and my town.  Vocabulary words that we learned last week and this week are: ocean, Earth, globe, continent, border, country, state, location, valley, plain, neighborhood, farm, shelter, and transportation.

Spelling Week of Dec. 10

1. sled
2. slip
3. snake
4. snap
5. spill
6. spin
7. make
8. game
9. people
10. water

Week of Dec. 3

Upcoming Events:

J Dec. 12 Early Out (2 hr.)

JDec. 18 K-1 Music Concert at 7pm at Emmetsburg High School auditorium.  Students need to arrive by 6:30.  (More information to come.)

J Dec. 21 Early Out (1 hr.)

Notes:

JMonday we will mail out our travel teddies.  As soon as we receive it back we will pin it on the map and send it out again.  We look forward to seeing all the places our travel teddies go. 

J We have had several students get sick in our classroom and school.  We have talked about proper handwashing at school.  Please remind your child of this at home.  Getting a good night of sleep is so important to fighting off germs. 

Things to Work on:

JSight words

J Read AR books.  Our goal is for each student to read 100 books by the end of the year to receive a root beer float. 

What we have been up to:

Reading: We read the big book A Friend for Little Bear  and talked about the story structure (characters, setting, events, problem, solution).  The story map in their AR bag is an example of story structure.  We also talked about making predictions.  Our spelling skill this week was on long /a/ a_e. 

Math: This week we started Unit 5.  We have started to learn about the value of dimes and how to count dimes and pennies together.  We played a new game called penny, dime exchange.  Students rolled a die and took however many pennies they rolled.  When they had 10 pennies they could trade the bank for a dime.

Science/ Social Studies: We have finished our lessons on animal habitats and took a test on Monday.  We also read about the food chain and drew a picture to show the process.  We have started our new social studies unit on maps and globes.  

Spelling Week of Dec. 3

1. make
2. take
3. came
4. game
5. gate
6. late
7. black
8. flag
9. walk
10. all

Week of November 26

Upcoming Events:

J Dec. 12 Early Out (2 hr.)

JDec. 18 K-1 Music Concert at 7pm at Emmetsburg High School auditorium.  Students need to arrive by 6:30.  (More information to come.)

J Dec. 21 Early Out (1 hr.)

Notes:

JWhen you pick up your child from school please pick them up at the south doors in the parking lot.  This will prevent students from walking across in front of the buses and other cars.

JThis week our word work choices were: newsy words, memory game, boggle, write-stamp-decorate, and write spelling words across and down. 

JLast week we started picking our own daily 5 choices and students are really enjoying this responsibility.  I am pleased with how well they are staying on task and working.

JOur testing strategy that we worked on this week was:

          -Listen to the sentence.  Think before you make your choice.

Things to Work on:

JPlace Value: Say two digit numbers and have your child tell you how many tens and how many ones.

What we have been up to:

Reading: This week we read the story If You Take a Mouse to School.  We worked on sequencing this story with first, next, then, and finally.  We also talked about how important it is to visualize while you are reading a story to help retell the story later.  This week we worked on cl, fl, and bl blends. 

Math: We have continued our study on place value.  We talked about two-digit numbers and how many tens and how many ones each number has.  This week we completed some story problems by adding tens. 

Science: We have finished our unit on animal classifications and taken our test.  We started talking about the habitat of animals.  We started the week by drawing habitats and making a forest with construction paper.  We also compared a lake habitat to an ocean habitat.  

Spelling Words Week of Nov. 26

1. clip
2. clock
3. flag
4. flip
5. black
6. block
7. fun
8. nut
9. school
10. today

Week of Nov. 19

Upcoming Events:

J November 22 and 23: No School, Thanksgiving Break

J Dec. 12 Early Out (2 hr.)

JK-1 Music Concert at 7pm at Emmetsburg High School auditorium.  Students need to arrive by 6:30.  (More information to come.)

J Dec. 21 Early Out (1 hr.)

Notes:

JThis week we used our word work time to finish up some of our bellwork.  Students that got finished were able to choose from play-dough, whiteboards, and newsy words.

JOur testing strategy that we worked on this week was:

          -The correct answer says the most about the picture.

Things to Work on:

JSequencing (First, Next, Then, Last)

What we have been up to:

Reading: We did not have a spelling test this week due to a short week.  This week we read some books about Thanksgiving and made some booklets on the first Thanksgiving.  On Tuesday a third grade class came to our room and we read poems about Thanksgiving to them.  They also read some things to us.  Students really enjoyed their reading buddies. 

Math: We have continued our study on place value.  We talked about two-digit numbers and how many tens and how many ones each number has.  We have talked about grouping things into groups of ten to help us count more efficiently.

Science: This week we have talked about ways/ things that animals eat.  We tasted carrots, raisins, and popcorn to see which teeth we use to chew food with.  We talked about how our molars are shaped differently than our front teeth.  We then related this to food that animals eat: herbivore and carnivore.  Students cut pictures of animals and sorted them into groups of plant eating and meat eating.  We have just started our research project on our animal.  We will continue working on that after break. 

Palo County Conservation Board, Mrs. Patton

We have finished talking about about the different groups of animals: mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish, birds, and insects.  Mrs. Patton from the Palo County County Conservation Board came in and showed us some feathers, wings, furs, beaks, talons, and scales.  The most exciting part of her presentation was the live salamander and snake.

Week of Nov. 12

Upcoming Events:

J November 21: 1 hr. Early Out

J November 22 and 23: No School, Thanksgiving Break

Notes:

JOur new word work activities this week include: play-dough, making the words with construction paper, memory, magnetic letters, and a magazine search for specified letters.

JOur testing strategy that we worked on this week was

          -Remember, the correct answer is the opposite of the underlined part.

          -When you think you hear the correct answer, put your finger next to it.  Listen

to all the choices.

Things to Work on:

JPlace value (How many groups of tens and how many leftover?)

What we have been up to:

Reading: Our theme this week was about various cultures.  We worked with words with the short /u/ sound.  We also spent the week working on visualizing the story in our head so that we can easily retell the story. 

Math: This week we talked about place value, how many tens and how many leftover.  We worked on adding two digit numbers by tens and then ones. 

Science: This week we finished learning about animal classifications.  On Monday we talked about insects and its characteristics.  We have begun learning what makes up a herbivore and a carnivore.  The most exciting thing that we started was that students got to pick a nonfiction book from the other side of the library for a research project.  Students are picking an animal that they like and making a poster about what they learn about it: herbivore/ carnivore, life cycle, how does it move, and what covers the body (fur, scales, shells, etc.).  On Friday the Palo Alto County Conservation Board brought in animal coverings for us to see and touch.

Spelling Words Week of Nov. 12

1. run
2. fun
3. nut
4. cut
5. bug
6. rug
7. thin
8. shop
9. under
10. put

Week of Nov. 5

Upcoming Events:

J November 14: 2 hr. Early Out

J November 16: If the E’Hawks win on Saturday they will play on Nov. 16.  There will be no school so you can go cheer on the E’Hawks in Cedar Falls at the UNIDome.  Please watch/ listen to the game on Saturday. Go E’Hawks!!!

J November 21: 1 hr. Early Out

J November 22 and 23: No School, Thanksgiving Break

Notes:

JOur new word work activities this week include: typing our spelling words, finding our words in a word search and making our own word search, as well as making our words with magnets.  I am so pleased to see how good of our keyboard skills are!!! J

JOur testing strategy that we worked on this week was

          -Listen carefully.  Think about what you her while you look at each picture.

          -Listen to all answer choices before you choose.

          -Be sure about your answer.

          -Think about what the sentence means.

Things to Work on:

JAddition problems with sums that are more than ten.

What we have been up to:

Reading: Our theme this week was about animal homes.  We read about animals in the Everglades and talked about key details in our reading.  This week we had some time to read some Thanksgiving poems.  We will practice and add to these poems up until Thanksgiving week as we will be reading to some third graders before Thanksgiving break.  Having students read things more than once helps build fluency.

Math: In math we did some story problems with three addends.  Students amazed me at how well they did with this.  They are great problem solvers.  This week students were able to explore patterns with calculators.  We have finished Unit 3 and will start Unit 4 on Monday.

Science: We have continued our study about animal classifications.  This week we learned about reptiles, fish, and insects.  Students are really enjoying looking at library books on each of these classifications.  

Week of Oct. 29

Upcoming Events:

J November 4: Daylight Savings Time (Fall Back 1 hr.)
J November 14: 2 hr. Early Out
J November 21: 1 hr. Early Out
J November 22 and 23: No School, Thanksgiving Break
Notes:
J Thank you to the parents that attended their child’s conference.  Your involvement is important to your child. 
JOur new word work activities this week include making words with pipe cleaners, scrabble, and some literacy games.
JOur testing strategy that we worked on this week was
-Listen carefully each time your teacher reads directions.  The directions may change.
Things to Work on:
JSequencing a book by beginning, middle, and end.
What we have been up to:
Reading: Our theme this week was helping out.  We read The Little Red Hen and talked about the main idea, no one wanted to help Hen.  We spent time working with our word families: -eg,-en, and –et. 
Math: In math we have started talking about subtracting with nickels and pennies.  We have learned to complete a story problem in steps.  First, figure out how much money.  Second, subtract the coins. 
Science: We have started our new unit in science about animals.  We have talked about mammals and their characteristics.  We were also able to do a book search and list characteristics of birds.

Spelling Words Week of Oct. 29

1.leg
2. beg
3. men
4. hen
5. let
6. get
7. hop
8. hot
9. who
10. some

Week of Oct. 22

Upcoming Events:
J Parent Teacher Conferences Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 (4-7:30)  ---conference slip due no later than October 25
JOct. 30 Early Out (1 hour)
J Nov. 1 Fall Party
Notes:
JOur new word work activities this week include eat your words with rope licorice , writing our words in rainbow colors, boggle jr., and cutting our words into pieces and rebuilding them.
J I have assigned each student who volunteered to provide treats for a class party to the fall party, winter party, or Valentine’s Day.  If you have not received a note to provide treats then your child is scheduled for either our winter party or Valentine’s Day.
JThis week we started a new reading warm-up.  Students completed four questions each day in relation to a specific literacy skill, this week was word analysis.  This warm-up is structured like Iowa Assessments to help teach students test taking strategies.  This week’s strategies were:

*If you are not sure which answer is correct, take your best guess.  Eliminate answer choices you know are wrong.

*Say the name of the picture to yourself.  Listen closely to the word choices.
*Listen carefully to the ending sounds of each word.
*Look at the pictures.  Say the words to yourself.  Listen to the ending sound.
*Listen to all choices before you mark your answer.
Things to Work on:
JRetelling a book with main idea and supporting details.  What happened first, next, then, and last.  Students are learning this strategy with the poster called Jabber the Reteller. 
What we have been up to:
Reading: Our story theme this week is about animals.  We spent time reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears and talking about the beginning, middle, and end of the story.  We worked with the –op, -og, and –ot word families.  If students see words with these letters at home when they are reading they can write them down and bring them in to class to put on our posters. 
Math: In math we started Unit 3.  We spent the week talking about Math Mountains.  Students seem to learn quickly how to find the missing numbers. 
Science: We have finished up our study on plants.  Our new unit is on animals and their habitats.  We are starting with learning about mammals and their characteristics. 

Spelling Words Week of Oct. 22

1.hog
2.log
3.top
4.hot
5.lot
6.hop
7.sand
8.sink
9.one
10.they

Week of Oct. 15

Upcoming Events:
J Parent Teacher Conferences Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 (4-7:30)  ---conference slip due no later than October 25
JOct. 30 Early Out (1 hour)
J Nov. 1 Fall Party
Notes:
JThis week our class has been working on summarizing.  We have really been thinking about the important details in a book.
JOur new word work activities this week were playing a rhyming word game, rolling dice to spelling our spelling words in goofy ways, and pyramid pile up.
Things to Work on:
JMaking connections while reading and activate prior knowledge.
What we have been up to:
Reading: We worked with a lot of word endings this week: -and, -st, -ink, and –nt.  Students have been on a look out for words with these endings.  We were able to read some Halloween poems and talked about October related words.  Some students have chosen to start writing a paragraph about why they like Halloween.
Math: In math we have been working on expanding our problem solving strategies beyond adding or subtracting two numbers.  Students worked with problems that involved adding more than one number: Billy has two bags of apples.  Each bag has 3 apples inside.  How many apples in all?  We also worked on writing basic subtraction problems.
Science: In our study on plants this week we placed pictures of the plant life cycle in order and wrote sequencing words with it: first, next, then, last.  We also talked about how plants survive in cold weather. 

Spelling words week of Oct. 15

Unit 1, Week 5
1. land
2. sand
3. fast
4. list
5. sink
6. ant
7. grass
8. trip
9. help
10. very

Week of Oct. 8

Upcoming Events:

J Parent Teacher Conferences Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 (4-7:30)  ---conference slip due no later than October 25
JOct. 30 Early Out (1 hour)
Notes:
JThis week our class had no overdue library books!!! J
JOur new word work activities this week were writing our spelling words with stencils, sorting words by beginning sounds, and making rocket words (students favorite).
JEach week I will post the current week’s spelling words on the blog.
JBook orders are due next Friday, Oct. 19.
Things to Work on:
JRecognizing literacy elements (characters, setting, problem, solution)
Throughout this year we will study four major components of reading: CAFÉ (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary).  This week we focused on literacy elements under the comprehension component.
What we have been up to:
Reading: We worked with the sounds: gr, tr, and cr.  Students sorted words by these sounds and looked in books for words with these sounds.  We have made a poster of words with these sounds and our list is growing each day.  If you child finds a word with these sounds they can bring it in on a notecard and we can add it to our posters.
Math: We have been very busy learning this week in math. We have learned about nickels and pennies, counting on from the larger number, and working with subtraction story problems.  Students have learned a new math game.  Students roll a die and collect as many pennies as are on the die.  When they have five pennies they trade for a nickel. 
Science: We have continued our study on plants and had a chance to see our plants that we planted start growing.  We looked at a variety of seeds and sorted them in to piles how they were alike.  We also looked at a peach, apple, and kiwi and compared their textures, shapes, and number of seeds.  We have started making posters showing the different ways seeds can travel.

Spelling words Oct. 8-12

Unit 1, Week 4

1.            crib

2.         crab

3.         grab

4.         grass

5.         trap

6.         trip

7.         hit

8.         win

9.         that

10. good

Plants

Upcoming Events:

J Oct. 3 Maddy’s Birthday
JOct. 10 2 hr. early out
J Parent Teacher Conferences Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 (4-7:30)
Notes:
JOur library day is on Tuesday so please make sure your child’s library books are returned by that day.
JWe started some new word work activities today.  One activity involves students writing each spelling word two times and then they cutting them out and playing memory with them.  Another involves them writing each spelling word, then stamping the word, and then decorating the word. 
JThis week is fire safety week, please talk with your children about an escape route in case of a fire.
Things to Work on:
JNumber writing to 120
What we have been up to:
Reading: We worked with the word families –iss, -in, and -it.  Our theme this week was about growing up and what things we are now able to do.  We read a Scholastic magazine about firefighters.    
Math: In unit 2 we have started talking about what the equal sign means: same as. We have been learning that both sides of an equation are the same for it to be equal, example: 5=5 and 2+3=4+1
Science: We read Bean and Plant and talked about the roots, stem, and leaves of a plant.  We planted some seeds in our room to learn more about the parts of a plant. This week we also looked closely at plants that we eat that are roots, stems, and leaves.

Practicum Student from Iowa Lakes Community College

Upcoming Events:

J Oct. 10 2 hr. early out
J Parent Teacher Conferences Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 (4-7:30)
Notes:
JI am starting some new spelling homework next week.  One is to write the vowels of each word in a different color and the other is to write the words with a variety of writing utensils. 
JThis week we will wrap up some of our word work choices.  Some of the choices were to make spelling words with play-dough, paint spelling words with water colors, and make a paper chain. 
JAs we enter fall, germs seem to be more common.  To help keep us healthy I try and wipe down student desktops with Clorox wipes.  I am currently out of wipes.  I would greatly appreciate any donation that you can afford at this time.  Thank you in advance!!!!
JThe lost and found has a large collection of items. Please look around your house and if you are missing an item have your child look at school. 
J A student from Iowa Lakes Community College will be with us on Thursday’s this semester to learn about becoming a teacher.  Here is an excerpt from her:
“Hello!” My name is Kaity Degen.  I am currently attending Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville.  I am studying Early Childhood Education and plan on transferring to Iowa State University after receiving my two year degree at Iowa Lakes.  I graduated from Emmetsburg last year.  I am enjoying watching and learning about your children!”
Things to Work on:
JTelephone number and address
What we have been up to:
Reading: We worked with the word families –ad, -ap, and –ack this week. 
Math: We finished Unit 1 and started our first lesson in Unit 2.  Students continued to work on learning out to write basic addition number sentences.
Science: We read How a Seed Grows and talked about how a seed needs to start in the soil.  We will continue our study on plants next week by planting a seed and watching it grow.

Farm Safety Day

We had a fantastic day at Farm Safety Day today!  Students were able to pick corn, play tug of war with grain, sit in a helicopter and much more.  I have posted many pictures from our day.  As you  see we had a LOT of fun!!!!