What the Holidays mean to me....

We have submitted our responses to the newspaper.  They are working on getting them put in, watch for your child's response in the paper.  I have included them below:

1)Here is what the holidays mean to me.  Theat tha ara good.  Lyric

2)This is the holidays HelP People like my mom and dod and my sisr I will help.  my mom pick up. The grbig Clearly I cod help my mom By Jose

3)Here is what the holidays mean to me.  sitting around The christmas tree and opening presents and haveing fun.  clerel Here is what The hoidays mean to me.  By Mason

4)Here is what the holidays mean to me. siting around the Chirstmas tree and opening presents.  Clerley Here is what the holidays mean to me.  By Dylan

5)Here is what the holidays mean to me.  I git too spend time with family.  I git too help peple.  Clere this is what the holidyas mean to me.  By Jocee

6)Here is what the holidays mean to me.  we all sit Undre the Chrisistmas tree and Opening presents.  I git toys.  Ilove Santa. Cle here is what the holididiaya mean to me.  By Jackson

7)This is what the holidays mean to me.  You can celebrat.  You be thankful.  You help people.  You be nice.  You open presents.  You have fun.  You care about others.  You sit around the christmas tree.  Clearly, This is what the holidays mean to me.  By Byron

8)  Here is what the haliday's mean to me.  caring to each one and unather and spending time with my family.  clearley here is what the holidays mean to me.  By Ava

9)Here is what the holidays mean to me.  Be mice to people.  Kar adat people.  dot be rood.  Clearly Here is what the holidays mean to me.  by Aleah

10)Here is what the holidays mean to me.  I get presit fro chimis It is so much fun.  I get toys and sant comes to my houes.  I love Sanat.  Cley Here is what the holidays mean to me.  By Nathan

11) Here is what the holidays mean to me.  I love to sit by the tree and open presents.  Cley Here is what the holidays mean to me.  By Jameson

12) This is what the holiday's mean to me.  I love to sit around the Christmas tree and, opening presents, and have fun!  Clerly this is what the holiday's mean to me!  By Ava

13)Here is what the holdays mean to me.  spending time with my family.  Sitting around the tree with my family.  Caring about others.  clerly Here is what the holdays mean to me.  By Addi

14)Here is what the holidays mean to me.  Opening my presents.  I love to sit aroud the cristmas tree.  clery Here is what the holidas mean to me.  By Bryce

15)Here is what the holidays mean to me.  Spending time with my family and celebrating.  And opening presents.  Clearly this is what the holidays mean to me.  By Alex

16)This is what the holidays mean to me.  Being thankful to others.  Caring for popl all over the world.  Celebrating.  Clearly, This is what the holidays mean to me.  By Celia

17) This is what the holidays mean to me.  presents and You git to play in The snow.  Clere This is what the holidays mean to me.  By Makenzie

News from Mrs. Straw Week of Dec. 16

Events:

-Jan 6 (1^st day back from winter break)

-Jan. 15 2 hour early out

What’s Happening in BUILD:

B (Buddy Games)- Graphing skills with bears, snowmen, cookies, and stockings

U (Using Manipulatives)-Shape recognition

I (Indpendently Working)-Christmas math packet

L (Learning with Numbers)- Problem solving by adding specific amount of tens

D-(Doing Math)- Scootpad on laptops

Notes:

-Building math skills at home:

          -Develop an understanding of

fractions when eating or making pizza by discussing how many slices there are, and what fraction of the pizza they are eating.

-Bake with your child.  Have them read recipes and measure ingredients.

What’s Happening in Daily 5:

*Listen to Reading (Bookflix)

*Read to Self (I Read, You

Read…Snowman)

*Read to Someone

*Word Work

        -Highlight specific features in   

           Poems (short a)

        -Practice reading sight words and

          Phrases

       -Word Journeys (cut and sort words

         and write sentences with words)

*We will be using our work on writing time during our class writing block.

Week in Review:

- We had a special program called Ag in the Classroom come and talk to us about seeds.  We got a special treat made from corn syrup.

News from First Grade Week of Dec. 16

Upcoming Events:
*Jan. 6 Students back to school from Winter Break (make-up day)
*Jan. 15 2 hr. early out

Notes:
* 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.
*Thank you to everyone who attended the music program last week.  Our classes were very well behaved and sang beautifully.
*There are a few students who are not reading Hawk books very often.  We encourage your child to read each night to build their reading skills.

Things to Work on:
*Retelling a story using sequence words: First, Next, Then, Last.

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 4 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: This week we worked on finished our science unit on motion and energy.  Vocabulary words that they have learned this week include: motion, heat, vibrates, pitch, light, and electricity.

News From Mrs. Straw

Events:

-Dec. 20 (1 hr. early out)

-Jan 6 (1^st day back from winter break)

What’s Happening in BUILD:

**(We have continued the same BUILD due to Christmas program practice.)

B (Buddy Games)- Games with addition and subtraction

U (Using Manipulatives)- Roll two dice, add the sum and color the matching sum

I (Indpendently Working)-Christmas math packet with number identification

L (Learning with Numbers)- Problem solving by adding three numbers

D-(Doing Math)- Scootpad on laptops

Notes:

-Some fun writing ideas are:

          -use fun writing tools such as

markers, gel pens, crayons, pencils,

etc.

-Take turns writing back and forth to your child! Leave a note by their bed or in their lunchbox.

-Math game: Use an empty egg carton as a counting tool to practice addition and subtraction skills up to 10.  Simply place objects in the slots, and use the empty slots to count up to/from 10.

What’s Happening in Daily 5:

*Listen to Reading (Bookflix)

*Read to Self (I Read, You

Read…Snowman)

*Read to Someone

*Word Work

        -Highlight specific features in   

           poems

        -Practice reading sight words and

          Phrases

       -Word Journeys (cut and sort words

         and write sentences with words)

*We will be using our work on writing time during our class writing block.

Week in Review:

- This week we wrote about what the Holidays mean to them.  

News From First Grade

Upcoming Events:

*Dec. 20 1 hr. early out

*Jan 6. First Day back from winter break

Notes:

*Now that the weather is cold please send your child with hats and gloves every day.  We go outside unless it is below 0.  

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

Things to Work on:

*Here 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 stories about different kids around the world and how they play.  This week we focused on comparing and contrasting kids around the world.  We have been learning about verbs and this week we extended our learning into past and present verbs.

Math: This week we worked on adding teen numbers by grouping the tens and ones.  We have been learning that in the number 23 the 2 represents 2 groups of 10 and that there are 3 ones.  

Science: In science we began learning about magnets and what makes a magnet stick to certain objects.  We started learning about energy.  Some of our new vocabulary words were: heat, vibrate, light, and electricity.

Christmas Concert

We went on a short field trip to two care centers in town to practice our songs for our Christmas program.

News from Mrs.Straw

Events:

-Dec. 11 (2 hr. early out)

-Dec. 12 K-1 Christmas concert

-Dec. 20 (1 hr. early out)

What’s Happening in BUILD:

B (Buddy Games)- Games with addition and subtraction

U (Using Manipulatives)- Roll two dice, add the sum and color the matching sum

I (Indpendently Working)-Christmas math packet with number identification

L (Learning with Numbers)- Problem solving by adding three numbers

D-(Doing Math)- Scootpad on laptops

What’s Happening in Daily 5:

*Listen to Reading (Bookflix)

*Read to Self (Poem: “Merry Christmas” and “Bears at the Fair”)

*Read to Someone

*Word Work

        -Highlight specific features in   

           poems

        -Practice reading sight words and

          Phrases

       -Word Journeys (cut and sort words

         and write sentences with words)

*We will be using our work on writing time during our class writing block.

Notes:

-We have started Word Journey’s for spelling.  A list is sent home on Monday and we will practice them at school while you practice them at home. 

-Starting next week I will be sending home an additional book in their Hawk book bag that they have read in group.

-With West Elementary focusing on the importance of reading I would like to extend an invite to all of you to be a guest reader in our classroom.  Please let me know if you are interested and we can schedule a time. 

Week in Review:

- This week we started a fun writing project: What if Santa got stuck in your chimney? 

-We have started assessing for 2^nd quarter assessments.

News from First Grade

Upcoming Events:
* Dec. 11 Early Out (2 hr.)
*Dec. 12 K-1 Music Concert at 7pm at Emmetsburg High School auditorium.  Students need to arrive by 6:30.  (More information to come.)
* Dec. 20 Early Out (1 hr.)

Notes:
*This week we started word journeys with students.  Students received a list of words on Monday that was sent home.  There is no spelling contract with these words.  We have been practicing using these words during our word work time.  Students were tested on these words on Friday.

Things to Work on:
*Sight words
* Read Hawk books.  We encourage your child to read or be read to every night.

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 Hawk bag is an example of story structure.  We also talked about making predictions.  Our skill this week was on long /a/ a_e.
Math: We are continuing our study on place value with teen numbers.  We practiced adding two digit numbers.
Science: This week we learned about the vocabulary words: force, push, pull, gravity, and friction.  We also learned about simple machines.  We talked about pulleys, levers, and ramps.  Look around your home and have your child find some examples of these.  

News From First Grade

Upcoming Events:

*November 28 and 29: No School, Thanksgiving Break

*Dec. 11 Early out (2 hrs.)

*Dec. 12 K-1 Music Concert at 7pm at Emmetsburg High School auditorium.  Students need to arrive by 6:30.  (More information to come.)

* Dec. 20 Early Out (1 hr.)

Notes:

*Our testing strategy that we worked on this week was:

      -The correct answer says the most about the picture.

Things to Work on:

*Sequencing (First, Next, Then, Last)

What we have been up to:

Reading:  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 started 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: We have started our new science unit on motion.  We have discussed ways that things move up and down (slides, steps, ramps).  We have begun to learn about the new vocabulary words: position, motion, and speed.  We will dig deeper into the meaning of these words after break.

Buddy Class

We have started meeting with our third grade buddies.  First graders read books and poems to their third grade buddy.

News From Mrs. Straw

What’s Happening in BUILD:

B (Buddy Games)- Games with hour and half hour

U (Using Manipulatives)- Roll two dice, add the sum and color the matching sum

I (Indpendently Working)-Thanksgiving math packet on shapes, counting, and number writing

L (Learning with Numbers)- Problem solving by adding three numbers

D-(Doing Math)- Scootpad on laptops

Notes:

-Reminder: This was the last week for the spelling contract.  Starting after Thanksgiving break students will have word journey lists that we will practice and be tested.

-Building Math Skills At Home:

          -Talk about the calendar with your child. Look forward to and countdown to special events such as vacations, birthdays, and holidays.  Count the week and days to an event, and determine which day it will fall on.

 What’s Happening in Daily 5:

*Listen to Reading (Bookflix)

*Read to Self (Poem: “Turkey Time”)

*Read to Someone

*Work on Writing (Thanksgiving paper)

*Word Work

        -Smartboard (short u)

-Ipad

-Write words on black paper with

chalk

-Coffee Filters (students wrote

words with markers then sprayed the coffee filter to make a piece of art)

          -Word Family Puzzles

          -Poetry (read familiar poems, coy

poem, illustrate poem, highlight

rhyming words)

 Week in Review:

- This week we finished our animal paragraphs.  Students checked out a nonfiction book from the library and wrote a report on their animal.  Students did a fantastic job writing a topic sentence, details, and a conclusion.

-We worked on writing a silly story about what to eat for Thanksgiving instead of turkey.  

News From First Grade

Upcoming Events:

* Nov. 27 1 hr. early out

*Nov. 28 and 29 No School, Thanksgiving Break

Notes:

*Our testing strategy that we worked on this week was:

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

Things to Work on:

*Place 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 finished our unit on adding with unknowns.  Student have become really good at using the counting on strategy.

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. 18

1.clip

2.clock

3.flag

4.flip

5.black

6.block

7.fun

8.nut

9.school

10.today

This will be the last spelling test before Thanksgiving break.  After break spelling lists will be varied from each student depending on their word journey lists.  This spelling list will be the last list for a spelling contract.

News From Mrs. Straw

Upcoming Events

-Nov. 27 1 Hour Early Out

-Nov. 28 and 29 No School, Thanksgiving

-Nov. 22 Book orders due

What’s Happening in BUILD:

B (Buddy Games)- Domino Addition

U (Using Manipulatives)- Geometric shapes

I (Indpendently Working)- Egg carton addition.  Students shake two beans in an egg carton and add the two numbers.

L (Learning with Numbers)- Problem solving by comparing numbers.

D-(Doing Math)- Scootpad on laptops

Notes:

-Here are a few ideas to encourage writing at home:

          -Write letters and cards to family

members and friends, and

encourage them to write back!

-Encourage your child to write stories about their favorite things.

-Keep a journal of holiday activities.

-Read comics in the newspaper and let your child create their own.

What’s Happening in Daily 5:

*Listen to Reading (Bookflix)

*Read to Self (Poem: “5 Little Turkeys” and “November”)

*Read to Someone

*Work on Writing (Thanksgiving paper)

*Word Work

        -Smartboard (practiced sh and th)

-Ipad

-Compound words (students put two

words together and wrote the new compound word)

-Coffee Filters (students wrote

words with markers then sprayed the coffee filter to make a piece of art)

          -Word Family Puzzles

          -Paint words with cotton balls

Week in Review:

- This week Mrs. Patton came to our class and talked with us about animal habitats. 

-We have been practicing a reader’s theater on Thanksgiving to present to the third graders.  This is helping us build our fluency skills.  Fluency is known as automaticity, it refers to the person’s ability to read words in a text.  Fluency is also the speed at which a person reads as well as reading with feeling.

First Grade News

Upcoming Events:

*November 27: 1 hr. Early Out

*November 28 and 29: No School, Thanksgiving Break

Notes:

*Our 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.

*Next week will be the last week (Nov. 18) of our spelling contact.  After Thanksgiving break we will start using a program called Word Journeys.  This program will involve your child bringing home a list of words on Monday called refrigerator words.  Students can practice reading and spelling these words at home throughout the week and will be tested on them on Friday in their reading groups.  Word lists will vary across the class depending on what skills your child needs to work on.

Things to Work on:

*Place 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: In math we worked on adding and subtracting with unknown partners.

Science: This week we finished learning about animal classifications.  We talked about amphibians, fish, and insects and their characteristics.  We have begun learning what makes up a herbivore and a carnivore.  

Spelling Week of Nov. 11

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

First Grade News

Upcoming Events:

*November 14: 2 hr. Early Out

*November 21: 1 hr. Early Out

*November 22 and 23: No School, Thanksgiving Break

Notes:

*October’s top readers were announced this week.  Top readers in each grade level get a free kids buffet at Pizza Ranch.  Top readers in each class get a Ranch Buck.  Keep on logging reading minutes! The students are doing amazing!

Things to Work on:

*Addition 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.  

Science: We have continued our study about animal classifications.  This week we learned about birds and reptiles.  Students are really enjoying looking at library books on each of these classifications.  Mrs. Patton came to talk to us about these animal classifications.

News From Mrs. Straw

Events:

-Nov. 13 2 Hour Early Out

-Nov. 27 1 Hour Early Out

-Nov. 28 and 29 No School, Thanksgiving

What’s Happening in BUILD:

B (Buddy Games)- Dinosaur tangrams

U (Using Manipulatives)- Answer addition and subtraction number sentences with tiles.

I (Indpendently Working)- Match addition number sentences to correct answer.

L (Learning with Numbers)- Problem solving with adding several numbers.

D-(Doing Math)- Scootpad on laptops

Notes:

-Here is a simple thing you can do at home to help your child in math:

          -Play board games as a family!  Many of them encourage math development.  Yahtzee (basic addition), Connect Four (problem solving), Card Games (basic addition and subtraction and ordering numbers), Monopoly (money), and Battleship (coordinate graphs) are just a few to mention.

What’s Happening in Daily 5:

*Listen to Reading (Bookflix)

*Read to Self (Poem: “Turkey Dinner”)

*Read to Someone

*Work on Writing

*Word Work

        -Smartboard (practiced short e)

-Ipad

-Pipe cleaners (form pipe cleaners

to make words on a mat)

-Type spelling words on Chrome

books

          -Scrabble Jr.

          -Spell words with magnets

Week in Review:

- This week Mrs. Patton came to our class and talked with us about animal classifications.  Students were able to see a snake, salamander, furs, and a turtle shell.

Spelling Week of Nov. 4

1. fish
2. ship
3. thin
4. shop
5. with
6. thank
7. beg
8. get
9.live
10. many

News From Mrs. Straw

Events:

-Oct. 31 Fall Party

-Nov. 1 No School

-Nov. 3 Daylight Savings Time

-Nov. 13 2 Hour Early Out

-Nov. 27 1 Hour Early Out

-Nov. 28 and 29 No School, Thanksgiving

What’s Happening in BUILD:

B (Buddy Games)- Balance the scale (Use the specified numbers and unifex cubes to balance the scale.)  Objective: Knowing that both sides are equal.

U (Using Manipulatives)- Tens and Ones Trading Game (Players take turns putting base-10 blocks on their Tens and Ones Mat according to the roll of a die.  Whenever possible, they exchange 10 cubes for 1 long.  The first player to get 10 longs wins.

I (Indpendently Working)- Clocks to the hour

L (Learning with Numbers)- Problem solving with adding several numbers.

D-(Doing Math)- Scootpad on laptops

Notes:

-Students really worked hard on practicing their presentation for conferences.  Thanks to everyone who made it.

What’s Happening in Daily 5:

*Listen to Reading (Bookflix)

*Read to Self (Poem: “Spooks”)

*Read to Someone

*Work on Writing

*Word Work

        -Smartboard (practiced short e)

-Ipad

-Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’ (Students roll

a die and write spelling words in different ways)

-Jack O’ Lantern making words

(Make 2, 3, and 4 letter words with the letters in jack-o-lantern.)

-Stencils (write spelling words with stencils)

          -Roll and Spell (roll and word and

write spelling words in a specified color)

Week in Review:

- This week in our test practice we worked on listening carefully.  Some of the clues were:

-To think about what you hear

while you look at each picture. 

-Listen to all answer choices before you chose. 

-Be sure about your answer.

-Think about what the sentence means.

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