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!

Snack Donations!

Our class snack stash has dwindled down to very little.. Any snack donations are greatly needed and appreciated. Some great snack ideas include: dried fruit, fruit, vegetables (we have a small fridge), wheat thins, pretzels, or goldfish. We ask no sweets please. Thanks for your help!

Picture Day!

Picture Day is Monday October 24th. If you haven't sent in your money and would like a school picture, please remember to send your money in on Monday. Don't forget to dress to impress and bring a big smile!

Math Centers

We have been working really hard with our addition and subtraction skills. In order to become brilliant mathematicians we are busy learning all types of strategies to solve these equations! We use dominoes, tally marks, tens frame, pictures, fingers, and of course our brains!

The Crayon Box That Talked

Last week we read a fabulous book:

In this book all the crayon are mad at each other and dislike the other colors because they are different. A little girl buys the box of crayons and uses them together to color a beautiful picture. The crayons see that when they all work together they are complete. 

"We are a box of crayons each one of us unique
But when we get together the picture is more complete"

We learned what the word UNIQUE meant and discussed how our classroom has many different colors. We ended by coloring our own crayons to make a classroom crayon box!

This week in 1st grade..

A Few New Tunes

We have a few new tunes in our class. We are always looking for new songs to help us remember all the things from first grade. Enjoy!

and a just for fun dancing song...

Photo Updates

Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks!

This week in 1st grade..

Homework will start Monday! There will be a math worksheet Monday-Thursday as well as a Book-in-a-Bag Program. Look for information in the home folder tomorrow.

Brown Bag Book Club

We had our 1st Brown Bag Book Club of the year today. For a Brown Bag Book Club students work on a writing assignment associated with a certain book. This week, that was part of our writing center. Our two book club books this week were "How to Make a Mud Pie" and "Giant Soup".

Today students partnered up and answered questions about the book while enjoying a popcorn snack from their brown bags. It was so great seeing the children talking to each other about the books they've read.

Being Scientific Observers

We practiced our observation skills today with a REAL pumpkin! We drew pictures of our pumpkin, made predictions on what the inside would look like and even guessed how many seeds would be inside. Many of the children guessed between 10 and 40 seeds and were very surprised to find out 280 seeds were in the pumpkin!

Some Science and Vowel Bats!

Our plants have started to sprout. There has been great excitement in tracking the growth of these plants! We are hoping the seeds that have not popped out of the soil yet will soon.

We are working on the short A sound this week. In the weeks to come we will focusing on other vowel sounds. Since all great lessons come with songs, we have been singing the song Vowel Bat all week. Beware it is catchy and WILL get stuck in your head. 

During reading centers, the students are making origami bats with the vowel letters on them. 

This week in 1st grade..

We have a great week ahead of us! Last Thursday the class filled up the Brownie Points board and earned a pajama day. This Friday, October 7th we will have a pajama day. Please send your child to school in some appropriate pajamas. Also please check the class calendar for some important updates.

Rhyme Monster

To wrap up our rhyme mini-unit,  we drew a rhyme monster on Friday.

Here is how our monster turned out. Pretty scary!