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.