Lots of Updates!

Book Fair
- This week at Glenwood is the book fair. Stop by before or after school and check out the great books. Our class will visit the book fair on Wednesday. If your child would like to purchase a book then, please send in money.



Thanksgiving lunch
- Tomorrow is the school's Thanksgiving lunch. We would love for you to join us for a traditional Thanksgiving meal.


Write and Share Day
- Next Tuesday (November 22nd) is our write and share day. This will be a chance for students to share an Enrichment Homework project they chose to work on. If your child did not do an Enrichment Homework project, they will bring their favorite book. We will do a write and share activity on Tuesday.

Balance and Motion!

Today we began our second unit in science. We will be learning all about balance and motion.  To begin our unit today we brainstormed what we already thought we be knew about balance and motion. We recorded our ideas here:

"holds things up, makes toys, have to practice, makes things move, us your body, it's sort of like weighing it, things can be both balance and motion"

Check back for updates to "Our learning" side of the chart to see everything we discover about balance and motion. 

Shapes!

This week we are transitioning into Geometry in math. We will focus on plain and solid shapes. We will also work on comparing attributes of these shapes and solving visual/ spatial problems.

Of course we have some fun songs to help our brains remember these shapes!

Here are a few links to some shape games you can play at home! 

ABC Ya!

Sheppard Math Games

Interactive Stuff

Harcourt

Triangle Alley

More Laura Numeroff!

Laura Numeroff Author's Study

Today we read:

We also read If You Give a Pig a Pancake. It is another Numeroff Classic. After reading, we completed a Venn Diagram comparing today's story to yesterday's If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. 

Laura Numeroff Author's Study

This week and next week we will be reading LOTS of Laura Numeroff books.  Her books are perfect for our 1st graders because of the lovable characters, predictable stories, and simple language. Today we read Laura Numeroff's most famous book:

If you'd like to listen to the story you can here! 

We also had a chance to make a mouse character and write our own version of the story! There are many more fun activities to follow the next two week!

This week in 1st grade..

There are lots of fun things going on this week!

Friday (November 4th) will be favorite toy day. This is our reward for filling up our Brownie Points pan for the third time this year!  There are three rules for favorite toy day:
1) Only 1 toy
2) It must fit in your book bag
3) No toy weapons

Brain Seeds

Today we took the end of quarter math test. This encompasses all the topics we covered in the first nine weeks of school! It always seems so daunting for first graders to take a test that spans multiple pages so to ease their stress we enjoyed some "Brain Seeds"

Children were able to munch on their "Brain Seeds" during their test to give their brains on extra boost during testing. It worked like a charm, because all the students did such a fabulous job! I can't believe all we have learned in nine weeks. They truly are a hardworking bunch! 

A reminder that tomorrow is a teacher workday and students will return to school on Monday. Have a great long weekend!

Pennies for PTA

The student council is holding a Pennies for PTA drive. This drive benefits the PTA Thrift Shop Renovations. The PTA Thrift shop has been very beneficial to Glenwood and with the new renovations, we are looking forward to even more benefits in the future. If you have any pennies around the house send them to school and we will add them to our plastic bottle. This is also great opportunity to teach your child about sorting the different kinds of coins!

Spelling

Each week during our Literacy Centers, the students rotate through a spelling center. This center has various phonics activities. This practice helps teach and reinforce the 50 words every 1st grader should know by the end of the year. Often, these are sorting and building activities followed by a game. Here is a look at a few spelling activities we have done the first quarter.

Secret Code Spelling

Phonics Battleship

Say, Make, Write

If you are looking to practice spelling at home, check out the Reading tab at the top of the blog for some great online resources, or ask your child to teach you a game we play at school!