Happy Dr. King day!

Tuesday=C Wednesday= D Thursday= A Friday=B Hi families! I am all better and so anxious to return to first grade tomorrow! I hope you enjoyed your 3-day weekend and found time to talk about Dr. King and his influence on all of us. Have you stayed healthy at your house? I hope so! This is an icky bug and I don't want anymore of my first grade family to come down with it. Hopefully you all had a wonderful and healthy weekend! We are going to cram a lot into this short week. Tomorrow we will jump right into the thick of it with new spelling words, new stories, new sounds (-le), new concepts, etc. We will also revisit some of our previously learned skills to make sure they return with us from our long weekend! Tomorrow we have a very special visitor, Mr. Nadler, coming to see us for his annual geographic slideshow. Each year Mr. Nadler comes to see us and tell us all about one of the amazing countries he has visited. Tomorrow, we will get to go along with him to Switzerland! This is always such an amazing presentation. Be sure to ask your child about it tomorrow at supper. We kick our short week off with it being a Library day. Please help your first grader remember their books when they head out the door in the morning. Don't forget that this Friday is also the first grade sponsered Movie Night!!! We will be showing Ice Age 3 and all the proceeds we earn from this Movie Night go directly back to first grade! We would love to have LOTS of families join us. Mark your calendars!!! Finally, looking head, next Monday we will be celebrating 100's day (if you can believe that!). Be looking for more information coming home this week with the details of some of our activities! It's going to be a great week! Keep in touch and let me know if you need anything! Have a great night...stay warm!

Mid-Week Check-In

Hello again! We have made it through half of our week and we went out with some flair today! We ended our day discussing Dr. King and the kids were VERY interested in learning more about his life. Be sure to talk to your child about what they learned (or already know) about Dr. King tonight. We did a "Fair"/"Unfair" activity today in order to help the kids further understand inequality. They were fired up during the activity with lots of excitement and thoughts spilling over, and this often makes a great pathway to learning. Be sure to engage your child in a conversation about this activity. We will continue our study on Dr. King tomorrow, so I will keep you posted! We are focusing on friends this week in our Reading stories as well as relaying the main idea. Ask your child to tell you the main idea of today's story, "One More Friend". Remember you can always log on to Thinkcentral to read the story at home! Just read the directions on the sidebar of this blog! Have a great night.

Back in action!

Monday= B Tuesday= C Wednesday= D Thursday=A Friday= B Hi families! We are back and running! I am so sorry for the delay in posts, I was having a hard time with my website. Not to fear, it looks as though the problem has been fixed (or fixed itself!). Thank you for your patience! WOW! What a start to 2013 we have had. Has your child come home and told you about Matter? What about Oobleck? We've gotten down to business in science this semester learning all about Matter and its different phases. Be sure to ask your child to name and give an example of each phase of matter (solid, liquid and gas). They should also be able to identify a trait of each phase. Last week, we read the Dr. Seuss book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck and then we did an experiment where we made our own (did you notice some dried green slime on your child's hands?). We learned that Oobleck was actually a "soliquid", or a substance that has traits of both a solid and a liquid. They LOVED this experiment! Have them tell you all about it. I will post pictures later...it was a mess, but what fun! In math we have been trying something new with our Math Clubs. Last week we were focusing on Place Value (10's and 1's). This week we are using our knowledge from last week and transferring it over to learn about Greater Than and Less Than numbers. We have learned that Mr. Munch, a very hungry alligator always eats the bigger (oops, I mean "GREATER") number. Test your first grader and see if they can complete some number comparisons by adding the correct symbol. I have just added some new games to the math portion of our blog that focus on this skill. Have your child try them out at home! We are working on Main Idea in our reading groups this week. You can carry over this skill at home, but asking your child to tell you the main idea of a television show they may have watched or a story that you read at bedtime. Have them give you the main idea of our story from class called "A Perfect Lunch". This is a critical skill for improving our comprehension and becoming better readers. Make it into a game by giving main ideas of familiar stories and seeing if your first grader can name the story! Last Friday we sent hom an envelope for our TIME for Kids sponsors. If your child fills out 7 of the postcards with names and addresses of friends and family, they get to turn in their envelope for a plastic penguin! Tomorrow is the last day to return the envelopes, so be sure to help your child earn their penguin. We love our TIME for kids magazines and this activity ensures that your child will continue to receive these awesome resources! Looking ahead: No school next Monday for Dr. King Day, First grade sponsered movie night is Friday January 25. Please help your child get plenty of sleep to help them stay healthy during this cold winter season. Let me know if you need anything! Have a cozy night!

Welcome Back!

Monday= A Tuesday= B Wednesday= C Thursday= D Friday= A Good morning families! Welcome back to school! I am so excited to see all of my kids this morning. I hope you had a wonderful holiday break. I am sure that the kids will be full of stories to share! We are jumping back into our routine at full speed this week...I hope your child is ready to go! It has been decided that we will not be making up our holiday party (missed due to the snow day!), so if you were planning on donating supplies we will use them at our Valentine's Day party which is right around the corner. Can't wait to see you kiddo. Have a wonderful day!

Snow Day!

Ho, ho, ho! I am sure you are waking up to see the snow and learning that there is NO SCHOOL today. We had lots of fun activities planned for today's Polar Express Day, but this way your child can have their pajama day at home instead of at school! Please hug your first grader for me and tell them I will miss them over break. Please be sure to read each day with your child. Finally, please have a wonderful holiday and celebrate the simple joy of just being together. All the best to your family!

We got a visit from Sinterklaaus today!

Two Days To Go!

Our week continues to take off at full speed. There is so much to do before we leave for break! Mrs. Preston has asked that all Library books be returned tomorrow for our Library time. Please help your child remember to return any and all books. Mrs. Preston will be busy reshelving and getting our fabulous library ready for another semester together. Did your child come home and tell you about the different countries we studied today? We are learning how other countries celebrate the holiday season. Today we learned about Germany and made a symmetry-tree, Holland and learned about Kris Kringle (otherwise known as "Sinterklaas") and Italy's La Befana. Ask your child to tell about each one of these traditions. They even found a treat in their shoes this afternoon...they will have to tell you all about it! Tomorrow we will learn about traditions in Mexico, France and several other countries. We will also be reading the Polar Express! This favorite holiday story is always such fun to read and study. Don't forget that Thursday will be Polar Express Day! Your first grader will be invited to wear their jammies and join us for a day of fun and celebration. More information will come home tomorrow! Get those p.j.s ready! Did your child bring home their marshmallow shooter today? We have been learning about forces and motion and today we tried out an experiment to see how much force it takes to move a marshmallow. It was lots of fun...except that some of us used SO much force that our shooters broke! So much to learn from the experience. Hope you are having a great night. Get ready for the predicted snow tomorrow! Let me know if you need anything.

Blessed

We made it through Monday! I was so thrilled to see all of my kids today. There was much uncertainty as to what they would say or ask today. We were fortunate to have a very normal day. We wrapped up our math test and spent the rest of our time creating projects and enjoying each other's company. As both a mother and a teacher I have struggled to endure the sadness of our country's recent events. I would just like to take an opportunity to reaffirm to my families how much I love and adore your children. It is truly a blessing to get to spend my days with them. It is my honor and privilege to teach them, protect them and love them. Thank you. Have a wonderful night together. Be well.

Today...

Hug your kids a little tighter tonight. Have a wonderful weekend together.

Grinch Day Tomorrow!

Hi families! Did your first grader give you the note about our "Grinch Day" tomorrow? Please help your child remember to wear green in honor of our first grade Grinch Day where we will be celebrating this wonderful, classic tale!

Monday Madness!

Whew! What a day. I can tell the kids are in countdown-to-Christmas mode. We are full of energy. With the end of the quarter quickly approaching, we need to be sure our kids are getting plenty of rest and staying on a regular schedule. In the upcoming weeks we have many assessments planned and it is critical that our kids are here and healthy. Please help your child do their best by keeping them in a routine. Today we learned our new sound "ar"...have your child put on their best pirate impression and tell you our sound. This week's spelling pre-test is coming home today, so please check your child's backpack and start practicing those words. This is our last spelling test of 2012! WOW! In math we learned about 3-D shapes. Have your child tell you about a sphere, cylinder, cube, cone and rectangular prism. Challenge them further by having them go on a shape hunt in your home and see if they can find a read-world example of each shape. I have put 2 new 3-D shape practicie games under our "Math Websites". Have your child practice sorting and searching for these shapes at home. Some upcoming events to put on your calendar: Friday December 14 = MOVIE NIGHT! We will be showing Arthur Christmas Saturday December 15 = SANTA IS COMING TO SUNFLOWER!!!! Sunflower families are invited to come over to school starting at 10am and have their picture taken with Santa. Pictures will be $10 and the lines will be much better than the mall! Hope to see you! Our Winter Party is coming up next week. Be looking for information coming home later this week. Stay warm and healthy as we wrap up 2012 together. Let me know if you have any questions or if I can do anything for you. See you soon!

Best for last...

This was an AWESOME example of our work hitting home and making sense to the kids today: Today was "Sports Day" and many of our kiddos wore jerseys. As we were walking to lunch, a little girl behind two of my boys in jerseys noticed that on the back of one jersey was the number 8 and the boy walking next to him had a 2 on his. She yells "MS. BEVERAGE, A TEN TEAM!!!!!". Yippee!!! By the time I came to pick them up from lunch, a third little boy in our class realized that he had a 10 on the back of his jersey. He got up and ran to sit next to the other two boys to show me they could make an equation. It was PRICELESS!!!!! I love my job. Enjoy!