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!

Book Fair Mid-Week

Hi families! Happy Tuesday night...hopefully some of you were able to attend tonight's Family Night at our Sunflower Book Fair. Don't forget that tomorrow is not only Tie-Dye Day, but it is also "Pastries with Parents". The Book Fair will be open from 7:30-8:30 tomorrow morning for you to attend with your child. Thursday is "Grandparents and Special Friends Day". If your child's grandparent or other special family friend would like to come have lunch with your first grader, we would love to welcome them. We will eat lunch from 10:55-11:25. Let me know if you have any questions. Did your child come home with lots of papers today? We had a desk clean out and several of our kiddos had been storing quite the collection of unfinished work! Your child does not have to finish the work that came home, unless you would like to provide them some extra practice. The papers are sent home more for you to see if your child is completing his or her work during classtime and showing responsibility for handing in the expected work. Be looking for last week's timed test to be coming home. Please help your child continue to strengthen their computation skills by providing them extra practice at home. There are many computation games on our webpage that help with this skill. Many of our kids have commented that these games are "hard"...it is only with practice that their automaticity of these basic facts and their number sense can improve. Thank you for your extra practice at home. It absolutely shows in your child's performance at school. Ask your child to tell you about the word "sequence". Have them explain to you the sequence of a butterfly's lifecycle. We are spending this week learning about the sequence of events in a story and why they are important. Here's a fun skill builder for you to do at home: Provide your child with several photos from different parts of their life (newborn, infant, preschool, present). Have them sequence the pictures in order and then tell about the pictures. Be sure they are using the words "first", "next" and "last" when they are sequencing. As always, email or call me with any questions. Have a wonderful night...maybe I will see you at the Book Fair tomorrow!

Electric Company Shadowbox "CH"

Sesame Street: Charlie's Ch Sounds--A little entertainment with a side of learning...

Bye-Bye November!

Happy last-day-of-November! We were busy again as usual today. Be sure to have your child tell you about our "Special Gift" writing. This week we read the story of King Midas and the Golden Touch. Today we watched a different version of this classic tale. Ask you child to tell you about both versions by comparing them. Have them tell you what was the same about our story and today's movie, and what was different (there were MANY differences). We have spent our week learning our 10-teams in math. Your child should be able to tell you with automacity their 10-team facts. If they seem to struggle for you, please provide them with extra practice at home. Our 10-teams are: 9+1, 8+2, 7+3, 6+4, 5+5, etc. The understanding of these number relationships will help your child greatly in the months ahead. This week we have also been talking about wants and needs. We've been busy making our "WANT" lists for the upcoming holiday season. Next week, we will focus on NEEDS. Have your child tell you what is on their want list. Do you remember that next week is the Sunflower Book Fair??? It is going to be a great Book Fair and we have special events each day to show our Book Fair spirit. Mark your calendars for the upcoming themes next week: Monday= Crazy Sock Day Tuesday= Wear Sports Clothing Wednesday= Tie Dye Day Thursday= Hat Day Friday= Pajama Day. Please be sure to read the note that went home earlier this week from Mrs. Preston giving more information about the specials events and themes of the week! Finally, in an effort to go green Sunflower is no longer sending home paper newsletters. If you have not signed up for an email version via Skyward, you can access the link on the Sunflower webpage or click on the following to read up on all of the upcoming events: http://www.usd231.com/webschools/Forms/main.aspx?menu=6_000 Have a super-duper weekend! Enjoy the forecasted beautiful weather...winter is just around the corner!

Back to work!

Welcome back after a long Thanksgiving break. I heard all about everyone's holiday and it sounds like a wonderful time was had by all. Your first grader should be very tired today after being back business in room 111. We were busy writing and sharing about our holiday, writing Silly Sentences, learning about our new sound (SH), learning about "setting", creating our Thanksgiving setting, working on our 10-teams in math and making Native American False Faces as we learn about symmetry!!!! WHEW! What a day. Be sure to ask your child to tell you about the words "setting" and "symmetry"...we also learned 3 of our fancy words today. Be sure to check and see what they are. Encourage your child to use this fancy vocabulary in their conversations at home. Are you working on 10-teams at home? I have added several new Math Games to our website. Be sure you check out 10-team math shoot. We are working hard to have the kids recall their 10-teams (1+9, 8+2, 7+3, 6+4, 5+5, etc) with automaticity. Extra practice at home helps a great deal. We will be learning how to play this new online game later this week, but you may want to give your child a headstart by trying it at home. Do you remember that the Book Fair is next week? It is a wonderful way to get a jump on holiday shopping, while supporting our amazing library. I hope to see you there at one of the fun events planned. Tonight is Gardner's lighting ceremony at Cornerstone Park. It is set to begin at 7. Bundle up and come on over. Sunflower's choir will be preforming with the other elementary schools in town. Let me know if you have any questions or if you need anything this week. Please be sure your child sticks to a good sleep schedule to keep them healthy. Welcome back!

Harvest Festival = HUGE HIT!

What a WONDERFUL day we had in first grade! Today was yet another reminder of how much I have to be thankful for. Getting to work with this bunch of kids is such a blessing. Our harvest festival was fabulous today. I can't thank all of you for helping to make it so successful and smooth! So many parents and grandparents donated their time to help us with our activities, as well as provide LOTS of yummy snacks! Be sure to ask your first grader what their favorite activity was from today's festival. There were so many to choose from! I am sure you have seen your child's bag-o-goodies they brought home. Don't forget to help them water their bean and pumpkin plants. We have been working on this experiment for several weeks. It would be so fun for them if their plants grew! Please take note that when your child waters their plants, the excess water WILL leak out the bottom! Be sure to put them on a plate or you will have a big mess! :) (I learned this from experience!) Have your child tell you about our Southwest Native American pinch pots. Hopefully your child's got home in one piece. We have been busy, busy, busy as you can see. But, we are FULL of knowledge. While you are waiting for your turkey to cook this year, be sure to have your first grader retell the story of the first Thanksgiving using the bracelet they made today. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family. Take an extra moment to love on your amazing first grader. There is so much to be thankful for! Be sure to check the blog over break...I am going to upload some new pictures (finally!). Stay healthy and happy.

Short Week Ahead!

Monday= D Tuesday= A Happy Sunday! I hope everyone is healthy at your house tonight. Do you remember that we have a short week this week? We will be here only on Monday and Tuesday to allow you to spend a little extra time with your families this Thanksgiving. Has your child been talking about Native Americans? We have been learning about different regions and studying the ways of life within the regions. Be sure to ask your child about our class totem pole and making pinch pots on Friday. We will be learning about the first Thanksgiving throughout the next two days and talking about being thankful. Don't forget that our first grade "Harvest Festival" is this Tuesday from 12:30-1:30. We are still looking for volunteers to help out and run a station. If you are available, let me know and I will put you to work. Thank you in advance for your help. I am also asking for volunteers to send in goodies (popcorn, pumpkin muffins, veggies, etc.) for our Festival. If you could send in snacks, we would love that too! Stay healthy this week. Let me know if you need anything!

Monday= C Tuesday= D Wednesday= A Thursday= B Friday= C Happy Sunday, families! So sorry for the lag in updates. Last week was seemed busier than usual in first grade and I couldn't get ahead of myself. We are moving at a crazy pace gearing up for our Thanksgiving break next week. There is a lot to work in and we are working fast and furious! Thank you to all of the families that came to our annual basket auction on Friday night. It was a night of fun, great chili and treasures. Thank you so much to everyone who donated to our Gardner Bucket-o-Fun Basket. It was a hit! I am looking for several volunteers to come in next Tuesday November 20 to help me with our Harvest Festival. We will be opening up all 3 first grade classrooms with different stations in each to celebrate the harvest and all that we have been learning about so far this quarter. If you could help, I need extra hands from 12:30-1:30 on the 20th. Let me know ASAP if you are available! We had almost 100% turnout for last week's Power Drill. Thank you so much for helping your child return their homework. A new Power Drill will be coming home tomorrow so be looking for it in their backpack. It's hard to believe that this will be our last full week of school before Thanksgiving break! We'll be busy, but brilliant! Have a super night!

Back to Normal!

Monday= B Tuesday= C Wednesday= D Thursday= A Friday= B Happy Sunday, families! I hope you remembered to set your clocks back an hour. I know our kids could use that extra hour of sleep after all of the activities last week! This week we are back to normal with no parties and no trick-or-treating, we should be okay! Last week was full of fun and it was busy, busy, busy. I am looking forward to a little back-to-normal for a while. This week marks our 10th week of first grade, if you can believe that! As you will remember from our conversation at Conferences, your first grader will be bringing home their first Power Drill tomorrow for homework. It is due by Friday, but if your child would like to hand it in early I would be happy to take it. Don't forget that this Friday is our anual Chili Cook-off and Basket Auction. We are still taking donations for our "All About Gardner"-themed basket. Thank you so much for any contribution you can provide. This week we will be focusing on the -ng digraph. We are also going to be working hard at adding THREE numbers together in math and we rely heavily on our 10-teams for this skill. Please help your child find greater success by working with them at home. We only have TWO full weeks before our (early) Thanksgiving break is upon us. Amazing! Have a great night. As always, let me know if you need anything!

Field Trip Tomorrow!

Hi families! Don't forget that tomorrow is our special field trip to the KC Pumpkin Patch! We have asked our first graders to wear black and/or orange tomorrow, instead of our traditional Sunflower t-shrits. Please try to send a sack lunch to school with your child. We will return to Sunflower at 11, but will miss our lunch window so we will be eating in our room or outside. Our Fall Party is also tomorrow at 2:30 and you are welcome to join us, if you are able! It is going to be a VERY busy day. Call me in the morning if you have any questions. Have a great night!

Monday= A Tuesday= B Wednesday= C Thursday= D Friday= A Hi families! I hope you had a wonderful last weekend in October. I can't believe that another monthed is wrapping up for us in first grade. Don't forget that our first graders will be going to the KC Pumpkin Patch this Wednesday October 31! We are asking all of our first graders to wear black and/or orange on this trip. We will return to school for lunch and a little learning time before we have our Fall Party at 2:30. We would love to have you join us for one or both of these special activities to wrap up October. A new spelling homework will be coming home tomorrow. Please be sure to check your child's backpack. I was out last week with sick kids, so I am crossing my fingers that my kids are feeling better this week. Please be sure your children are getting plenty of rest. I don't want them to miss the fun actiivies ahead! Have a wonderful night!

Growing Beans! The kids LOVE this!

Thrilling Thursday!

What a great day we had! Despite the chill in the air the rain all morning we had a super day in first grade! Did your child come home and tell you about their AMAZING report in Library? We had lots of cheers for a job well done. Have your child tell you about our links and how close we are to a class celebration. Don't forget that Spelling Homework is DUE TOMORROW! We also will have our spelling test tomorrow, so be sure to help your child prepare. This week, we read "Beth's Job". We have spent the week talking about beginning, middle, and end. During dinner tonight, invite your child to tell you what happened at the beginning, middle and end of our story this week. Has your child told you about our seed experiment? Be sure to ask them about our baby beans. As part of our unit on plant lifecyces, we watched a video showing a speedy bean plant growing. The kids LOVE it. I will include the clip on the blog so that your child can enjoy it at home and tell you about their observations. We have spent our week in math working on story problems. Have your child tell you the words we learned that make our "brain alarms" go nuts. These are words we look for in a story problem to tell us what function we are going to use. They are bringing home a story problem of their very own today, too. Have them show you their puppy problem. Don't forget that tomorrow is Movie Night. Your child is invited to wear their Halloween costume or pajamas, if they wish. They will be showing Madegascar 3. We would love to have everyone join us! Stay warm and cozy tonight! Don't forget that homework!

We watched this today! Can you name any other words with "th"?

Tuesday Catch-Up

I am back after being out with a sick kid of my own yesterday. The kids did a wonderful time with our substitute. I hear they were a little sleepy being back in the swing of things yesterday. We have started our second quarter in first grade with story problems in math! The kids are doing great pulling out important information and putting it into play! Have your first grader check out some of the new math games linked on the blog to practice this tricky skill. Since I was out yesterday, the kids did not bring home their new spelling homework. Be sure to check their book-in-a-bag tonight for their new spelling homework. Remember, it is due on Friday of this week! Tonight is our annual Family Taco Dinner and Cookie Pick-Up. If your family sold cookie dough for our fundraiser, TONIGHT is the night to pick it up! Come on over and enjoy a free taco supper while you are here. It is always a great time. This Friday is also Movie Night! Be looking for more information heading your way as Friday gets closer! Enjoy this beautiful weather before the chill returns. Have a great evening. Let me know if you need anything!

Here we go!

Monday= D Tuesday= A Wednesday= B Thursday= C Friday=D Quarter two, here we go! I hope you all had a wonderful break. It was so much fun getting a chance to talk with most of you last week during conferences. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy lives to come and learn about all of the wonderful things your child is doing! We are ready to Quarter 2 to kick off tomorrow. I hope your child is ready to come back to school and hit the books! :) We will be back in our routine tomorrow. Have a wonderful evening!

Zoo=WHEW!

What a PERFECT day for our zoo trip! I am guessing that you all have very tired first graders tonight. We had so much fun today, it wore us all out. There was so much to see at the Kansas City Zoo today. Did your child come home and tell you about their favorite part? I want to send a BIG thank you to all of the parents who were able to come along with us. If you took pictures with your group today, please email them to me. I would love to compile a slideshow with everyone's pictures, so when you get a chance send them my way. Don't forget that tomorrow (Friday) is an early release day. We will dismiss at 1pm. If your child's transportation is different tomorrow please let me know via email or call the office in the morning. Also, if you haven't returned your child conference confirmation slip please try to do that tomorrow. I am anxious to see all of you next week for Parent-Teacher Conferences! Finally, if you haven't returned your child's yellow permission slip for our NEXT field trip to the pumpkin patch, please do that at your earliest conveinence. October is full of fun and is going to fly by. Let me know if you have any questions! Can't wait to visit with you next week. Good night!

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WIld FRIDAY!

WOW! What a day...as one of our kiddos said at 3:20, "Boy, this day sure went fast!". I agree! We were jam-packed full of learning and testing and creating and even COOKING! Our story this week was "Little Red Hen Gets Help". We worked hard at comparing and contrasting this story from other versions of this similar tale. We also talked about how important it is to sequence things in order. Ask your child to summarize our story. Just like the characters in the book, we tried our hand at cooking and made a mess! It sure was fun, though! Have your child tell you all about their edible creation. Ask them to compare our cooking experience with the characters in the story "Little Red Hen Gets Help". Your child is also bringing home character puppets from our story for retell homework. Have your first grader use their puppets to retell the story of Little Red Hen Gets Help. If you would sign their baggie and return it to school with them on Monday, they will earn an extra treat! You will notice that your child's spelling test did not make it home this afternoon. I am so sorry! I had meetings during my plan time and did not get them graded in time to send home. They will go home next week. If you would like to know how your child did, just email me and I will let you know! Please be sure to practice sight words with your child. We are getting into a groove of testing kids and many of our students are moving through the lists. Their success strongly depends on the extra support they receive at home, so a big thank you in advance for helping them grow as readers! You will also find another field trip permission slip coming home in tonight's mail. Our Sunflower first graders were generously given a trip to the Kansas City Pumpkin Patch here in Gardner on October 31. Permission slips went home today telling all about it. The kids are free, if you would like to join us the cost is $5 for adults. Let me know if you are interested in meeting us out there. I have some coupons that I would love to share with anyone who is interested! Here are a few upcoming events you will want to mark on your calendar: 1. Thursday Oct. 11--Field trip to KC Zoo 2. Friday Oct. 12--Early Release at 1pm 3. October 15-19--No School, Parent Teacher Conferences! 4. Wednesday October 31--Pumpkin Patch Field Trip & Fall Party at 2:30pm

Wednesday Already?

How is it Wednesday already? We are working so hard to wrap up our first quarter together that the days are flying by. This week we are focusing on Comparing and Contrasting. Ask your child to tell you what comparing means and what contrasting means. Our story this week has been "Little Red Hen Gets Help". Have your child compare and contrast this story with the classic tale of the "The Little Red Hen". In math, we are all about shapes this week! We have reviewed many of our kindergarten shapes and learned about the trapezoid. Ask your child to explain characteristics of: circles, squares, triangles, rectangles and trapezoids. They should be able to give you at least 2 traits of each shape. Check their understanding! I think I finally have everyone's conference scheduled! Be looking for your child's conference confirmation paper coming home tomorrow. Please sign and return it by next week. Speaking of next week, we are down to almost 1 week to the zoo trip! The kids are excited! We have been learning about the savanna this week. Has your first grader been talking about predators and prey? We learned some interesting facts about the creatures that live in this African habitat. Ask your child to tell you something they know about predators and prey. Don't forget to practice spelling words with your first grader! Let me know if you have any questions. See you soon!

Short E is our Sound of the Week!

Welcome October!

Monday= B Tuesday= C Wednesday= D Thursday= A Friday= B Happy October everyone! I can't believe that October is upon us. We have so many things going on this month. I hope you are ready! If you haven't already returned your Conference Slip, please be sure your child puts it in my mailbox in the morning. I am so anxious to talk to each one of you on your child's progress. Conferences are coming up October 17-18, so be sure to mark your calendar! We will be going to the zoo next Thursday October 11! Thank you to everyone for getting your permission slips returned on time. It is going to be a great day. It's hard to believe, but we are wrapping up our first quarter together this week and next. I'm looking forward to another exciting and action-packed week with your first grader. Let me know if you need anything.

Thursday Check-In

We had a great Thursday in room 111. Our curriculum is getting more and more difficult and the kids are working so hard to stay with it. This week in math has been tough as we learn about balancing equations. Ask your child to tell you what a balanced equation is and see if they can explain it to you. Help them by reminding them that what is on ONE side of the equals sign HAS to have the same sum/difference as what is on the other. For example 4+2 = 3+3. Our kids learned about the Arctic with Miss Rarig this week. Check to see what they can tell you about this cold habitat. We were able to sight word check almost all our our first graders today, so your child should have come home with a sticker on their folder for each list passed and they are now ready to practice the next list in their packet. Remember, they should be able to "see it and read it"! Our "-all" spelling test is tomorrow. This has been a tough word chunk for many of the kids. Please help them strengthen their skills in decoding the "-all" chunk by allowing them extra opportunities to practice or hunt for "-all" words in their books at home. Don't forget that tomorrow is Movie Night from 6-9pm. It will be hosted by 4th grade and they will be showing "Space Dogs". We would love to have all of our first grade friends come and have some fun! Finally, please remember that tomorrow all conference time request forms are due back. I am anxious to meet with each of you and want to be sure to schedule you for a time that accomodates your busy schedule. Conferences will be there before you know it! Have a great night. Thanks for checking our blog today!

Picture Day Tomorrow!

Don't forget that tomorrow is our Picture Day! Our class will be getting their pictures taken at 9:45. If you would like to order pictures, it's not too late! Be sure to send your pictures order envelope to school with your first grader tomorrow. Is your first grader practicing their spelling words and their sight words? I have a wonderful parent coming in tomorrow to help with Sight Word checking! I hope you are having a wonderful evening. Be sure your child brings their smile with them in the morning!

We are working on the "-all" sound this week!

Happy Monday Eve...

Monday= A Tuesday= B Wednesday= C Thursday= D Friday= A I hope this finds you again reflecting on another wonderful weekend together. A few reminders as we head into the last week of September: please be sure to return your child's field trip permission slip tomorrow if you have not already done so. Also, Picutre Day is this Thursday September 27th. You may return your picture forms at any time before Thursday if you are interested in purchasing your child's photos. I hope your child has been working on their sight words. I will start checking kids on List 1 and 2 this week. Finally, it's hard to believe, but Parent-Teacher Conferences are right around the corner. Please be watching for your child's PTC time request form coming home this week. If you could select your top 2 or 3 meeting times and return it to me, I will do my best to accomodate your schedule with a time slot that will work for you. Thank you so much!

Whew! What a busy week!

We crammed a lot of learning into another short day! Today we learned about root words and the inflections -ed and -ing. This was tough for many of our kiddos. Check your child's memory and understanding of root words. Check out the question of the day and see if they can answer it for you. In math we are getting very good at "put together add" and "take away subtract". While you're getting your child ready for bed, ask them to tell you what is "one more than 9" or "one less than 20". This continued practice at home will strengthen their understanding of the more challenging math concepts to come. We tried something new today, too. Ask your child to tell you about the "Race to 100" fluency challenge. We timed ourselves for one minute to see how far we could write our numbers. Ask your child to tell you how far they got in one minute. This is another great activity to practice at home. Time your child for one minute and have them write their numbers as high as they can. Your child is bringing home a purple Sight Word folder tonight. Be sure to read the yellow note inside and start practicing on List 1. The purple folder needs to remain in your child's backpack everyday. Email me if you have any questions! Also, don't forget that next week is Picture Day! If you are interested in ordering please return your order forms to school with your child when you can. Thank you to all of my friends who have returned their field trip forms. If you have not already done so, please send it back to school by September 24. Don't forget, we have a spelling test tomorrow! Busy, busy, busy! Our first graders are rocking and rolling and learning like crazy. Have a wonderful night.

We learned about NOUNS today! Can your first grader tell you what they are? Watch this to help them remember!

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Looking Ahead...

Monday= D Tuesday= A Wednesday= B Thursday= C Friday= A Happy Sunday families! I hope your child told you all about our wonderful Learning Celebration on Friday. We had a jam-packed day of patriotic fun and learning. Tomorrow we will be back to normal and ready to rock another week of first grade. Here are a few upcoming events to mark on your calendar: September 27--School Pictures September 28--Movie Night 6-9pm October 11--Field Trip to the KC Zoo! October 12--Early Dismissal, 1pm October 13-19--Fall Break/Conferences October 31--Trip to KC Pumpkin Patch & Fall Party! We are going to be very busy in the next few weeks. Before you know it, our first quarter will be over. Have a super night! I hope your first grader is looking forward to another great week of learning together!

Tomorrow Is Learning Celebration!

Happy Thursday! I hope this post finds you warm and cozy on this rainy fall afternoon. I wanted to remind you of a few things for tomorrow: First, we have Library tomorrow so please help your child remember to return their Library books! Second, tomorrow is our LEARNING CELEBRATION!!! This means that we will be celebrating our Constitution and all of the wonderful things about our wonderful country! We have lots of activities planned for tomorrow, one of which is a school wide picnic. Our amazing PTO will be providing all of our Sunflower family with a hot dog lunch. Your child is bringing home a note telling you about this special event. So please be sure to look for it in their backpack tonight. If your child does not wish to eat the free lunch provided, please send them to school with a sack lunch. Finally, don't forget that we will also have to squeeze in our spelling test sometime tomorrow. Be sure that your first grader has practiced their "ck" words and are ready to rock on tomorrow's test! Stay warm and dry tonight. Let me know if you need anything!

Happy Tuesday! We must be working hard in first grade because our days are flying by. Today we went to reading clubs and worked on Beginning, Middle and End. We created a chart about the Beginning, Middle and End of our day. Ask your child to share with you something they did at the beginning of their day at school (lunch choice, reading clubs), the middle of their day (lunch, recess, math) or the end of their day (desert habitat and extra recess with Mr. Mortenson!). Their abilibty to retell events in sequencial order will help them become stronger readers! In math we worked more with the + and - signs. Your child should be able to tell you that when they see a + sign, they are going to get bigger numbers at the end and when they see the - sign, their answers will get smaller. Your first grader got new books in their Book-in-a-Bag today. Please be sure to encourage your child to read their books each night and return them to school everyday. Our whole group story today was "Get Up, Rick!". We talked a lot about what to do when we see a comma or exclamation in our reading. Be sure to use the login directions for ThinkCentral located on the sidebar of the blog to access our textbook and read the story at home! Has your child used our "Fancy Pants" words yet this week? They should be able to tell you or show you what our 3 fancy words mean...Have a wonderful evening! Let me know if you need anything!

Monday= C Tuesday= D Wednesday= A Thursday= B Friday= C Happy Sunday families! Hope you had a great weekend. Don't forget that tomorrow is another Library day. Please help your first grader remember their books before they head out in the morning. We are going to continue to work with the short "i" sound and a new set of spelling words will be coming home tomorrow. Constition Day is this week and we have some fun activities planned for the end of our busy week! See you tomorrow! Sweet dreams...

Happy Friday!

Hi families! Happy Friday to you! We had a busy, busy day in first grade. We managed to CRAM in lots of learning before the day was through. We spent our week talking about the short "i" sound and read our story "Big Rig". Our spelling test went TERRIFIC! I am so proud of our kids for working so hard to learn these words. Thank you so much for your continued support at home. We worked in small groups today and learned about "classifying". Ask your child to tell you what it means to classify. They should be able to tell you it means to sort things out by what's the same about them. We sorted kids, animals, fruits, big things, things made out of milk, etc. We were classifying like crazy today! Your child is bringing home an easy game-in-a-bag today to play for an extra treat on Monday. Ask them to show you their "Circus Match-O" game. Have them match the pictures stories to the equation cards. If they can problem solve and match the cards with the correct pictures, sign their baggie and return it to school with them on Monday. This is a bonus homework activity that helps keep our skills sharp over the weekend. We have spent this week in math talking about "part, part, total". It is important for our kids to understand the two parts that make a total in an addition equation. Our first graders wrapped up their forest habitat study with Mrs. Rains and her student teacher today. Have them tell you something they learned about this habitat. Next week, they are on to the desert with me! Have a great weekend together. Be safe and enjoy the predicted fall-like weather! Hooray.

Terrific Tuesday!

Hi families! We had a super day back in first grade after our long Labor Day weekend. We kicked off the day in our Reading Clubs and the kids did great. We had a lot of work to cram into our morning, but we managed to get it all in. Your first grader is bringing home this week's spelling list. We are studying the short "i" sound, so you will see this sound pattern in our spelling words. Your child is also bringing home new books in their "Book in a Bag" tonight. Please encourage your child to read to their books each night and be sure your child is bringing their book-in-a-bag to school each day. You never know when I will ask them to "drop everything and read"! In math we practiced counting ON from a given number to help us when we start getting into some more challenging math problems. For example, when we see a problem such as 5 + 4 we learned that we need to "grab" the bigger number and then count ON. This group did great at this today! I was so proud at how quickly they picked up on this concept. Hooray! Extra practice at home asking you first grader to tell you "What is one MORE than 13?" or "What is one LESS than 10?" will help them further develop their number sense. Did your first grader tell you about visiting Mrs. Rains for science today? Today was our first day of science rotations. We started our unit on Habitats and during this unit our first graders will be traveling to the different teachers each week to learn about a different habitat. Be sure to check the online games on our blog under the "#3 Art, Science and Social Studies" heading and have your child play along at home. The concepts reinforced in these games directly correlates with material that we are working on in class! Tonight is our first PTO meeting at 7pm in the Sunflower Library! It is also Domino's Pizza Night. If you want to take a break from cooking, Domino's will give our school a portion of all proceeds from tonight's pizza sales. Just be sure to tell them you are will Sunflower Elementary. Have a super night! Stay cool...I know fall is just around the corner...

Monday= No School Tuesday= C (Library!) Wednesday= D Thursday= A Friday= B Hi families! I hope this post finds you all happy and well after a wonderful Labor Day weekend together. I am looking forward to seeing all of my first grade friends tomorrow. Don't forget that tomorrow is a Library day! Please help your child remember to get their books in their backpacks before they head out in the morning. Also, Wednesday the 5th is the last day to turn in your PTO cookie order forms from our fundraiser. We have lots to do in this four day week. Our letter sound is short "i". We will have our spelling pretest tomorrow, so be sure to help your child practice their words extra-hard this week since we are one day short! I can't wait to hear about all of the fun that was had by all over the long weekend. Have a great night!

Today was our first club day!

Hi families! Today in first grade we had our first round of Book Clubs. Book Clubs are our guided reading rotations that focus on specific skills. The kids did AWESOME. I am so happy with how hard they worked. Your child is bringing home a special bag tonight. Be sure they share their "Book-in-a-Bag" with you tonight. You will find a letter of explanation inside their bag today. For starters, your child is asked and expected to read the 2 books in their bag each night. You do not have to do anything to confirm they read it, nor does your child have to complete any sort of activity. This may change later in the year, but for now I just want the kids to have an opportunity to read 2 books: (1) that provides a school-home connection with the specific skills we are working on during the week and (2) a leveled reader to ensure that your child is reading a "just right" book, or one they can read with little or no help. In math we reviewed measuring and talked about shorter and longer. Have your child go on a hunt around the house and ask them to find something that is smaller than their toothbrush, or longer than a spoon. Measuring with various units is something we need to master before too long and extra practice at home always helps! Have you looked at some of the online games that are located on our class blog? Your first grader might enjoy trying some of these learning games out. These games also correlate with topics we are working on in class. Check them out! Enjoy this summer-like day. Don't forget to read with your child tonight!

Don't Forget! Library Day Tomorrow...

Hi families! I just remembered that I forgot to remind the kids that tomorrow is Library day for us! Please help your first grader remember to bring their books back so that they can check out some new ones at "Camp Read-a-Lot". Did your first grader come home and show you their new spelling words? We took another practice test today and your child has new words to practice this week. Our story today was "Sad, Sad Dan". Ask your child to tell you why Dan was so sad in the story. Then, have them tell you what cheered Dan up at the end! Did you see the book order that went home last Friday? Be sure to check out some of the super-cool books that are available this month. I will take orders until this Friday. I hope you had a wonderful evening! Talk to you soon...Don't forget those Library books!

Looking Ahead...

This week's Specials Rotation: Monday= B Tuesday= C Wednesday= D Thursday= A Friday= B Hi families! I hope you had another wonderful weekend together. My family enjoyed our rainy few days together and I hope you did too! We are getting ready for another week of first grade. Did your child share their first spelling test with you? I was so proud of them! This was new territory for our first graders and they did so well. From numbering our paper to writing spelling words all by themselves, our kids did great! Thank you for all of your help and support at home. Tomorrow we will have another pre-test, so be looking for a new set of spelling words coming home in your child's backpack. Many of our first graders came to Friday's "Movie Night". It was so fun to see some of my friends at the Movie Night Dance Party. I am anxious to see all of my kiddos tomorrow and hear about their fun weekend. Have a great night and let me know if you need anything.

First Spelling Test Tomorrow!

Oh boy! Tomorrow is our big spelling test. Has your child been practicing their short "a" words? I hope so. This is going to be a new experience for them, but I know they will do fantastic. With almost 2 weeks under our first grade belt, your child has been doing amazing things. I am so proud of how easily they have transitioned to being in school all day, without a Power Pause! Yippee!!! They are troopers. Your first grader has their first homework assignment tonight! We read a story this week called "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse" and we used the story to talk about good choices and not-so-good choices. Tonight your child is bringing home a purple (paper) purse in their backpack. We worked on sequencing the story today and put the events in the order they occurred in the story. Your child was asked to retell the story to you tonight by using the cards in their purple purse. You may need to help your child read aloud the events from the story, but they should be able to order them correctly. If your child completes this activity with you, please sign their purple purse and return it to school with them tomorrow. My friends who complete this homework assignment will earn a special treat. Don't forget that tonight is our Watch Dog dinner and tomorrow is our first Movie Night of the year! We will be watching The Lorax and we will also get to see the super-fun magician, Reggie Reg! It is always a great time! Have a super night!

Sing Along at Home! This is what we worked on today...

Happy Weekend!

Monday= A Tuesday= B Wednesday= C Thursday= D Friday= A Hello! I hope you are having a WONDERFUL weekend! I am getting ready for a second full week of fun and learning. Did your child remember to give you their cookie fundraiser packet from Friday? Has your child been using their new sign language this weekend? I can't wait to hear about everything your first grader did over their first weekend of school. Have a great day.

Getting the hang of first grade...

Hi families! Whew! What a week we have had in first grade. Is your child extra sleepy when they come home? I know I am!! We are working hard already in first grade. I am so proud of the kids as they learn the ropes of being big first graders. With almost one week under their belt, ask your first grader to tell you what they like best about school so far. This week we have been reviewing our Kindergarten skills and working to get to know our new classmates. We have read many stories, created many projects and already learned 2 fancy words. Ask your child to tell you what "fantastic" and "unique" mean. Today in math, we turned "Play"dough into "Tool" dough and used it to create numbers and solve simple addition problems. We read a story about a very unique elephant named Elmer and designed our own Elmer. Ask your child to tell you what happened in the story of Elmer the Patchwork Elephant. We also got to know our class pet, who is unique just like the rest of us! Invite your child to tell you about Rabberta when they get home. We have visited every Special this week. Today we had Library with Mrs. Preston, our new librarian. Be sure to check our Specials rotation on this blogpage so that you can help your child be prepared for each day's Special. Tomorrow is a "D" day and that means we get to go back to Music and PE. Please be sure your child has on their PE shoes! Tomorrow we have our first assembly to kick off this year's PTO Fall Fundraiser. Be looking for the information that will be coming home in tomorrow's Friday folder. I hope your child has had a great first week. I know it is challenging for some of them to get out of summer mode and into school mode. Please help them do their very best by allowing them to get plenty of rest each night. I am here to help! If you need anything, please don't hesitate to call or email. I adore your kiddos! I am so excited to share their first grade adventure with them! Have a great night.

We did it!

Tuesday= A Wednesday= B Thursday= C Friday= D We have one-half of a first grade day under our belt! Yippee! The kids have a wonderful morning. It was so great to see all of my new first grade faces today. The morning flew by. Once we did our introductions and unpacked all of our supplies, there wasn't much time left to do anything else. We had a first grade safety rally about our big-kid playground rules. Ask your child to tell you three rules to keep us safe at recess. Tomorrow we begin our full day and for my new friends who have only been half-day kinders, this will be a transition! We will also begin our lunch routine tomorrow. Please be sure to check the week's menu on the sidebar of this blog. First grade has the first lunch of the day. We eat at 11am. However, we do not have a snack in first grade. During this transition time, if you wish to send a small, healthy snack to school with your child, they will be able to eat it while they work between 2:45 and 3:15. I will provide your child with a bottle of water that they may keep on their desk and refill as necessary. Tomorrow we will also begin our Specials rotation! Be sure to look at our Secials schedule on the sidebar of this blog, too. Tomorrow is an "A" day which means our class goes to computer. On "B" and "D" days, our kids will go to Music and PE. Please be sure to send your child to school in appropriate shoes for PE to keep them safe! We have lots of crafts to make, games to play, friends to make and things to learn this week. Your child will most definitly come home sleepy. Be sure to have them get plenty of sleep in order to help them settle back into our school routine. Always feel free to call or email me with any questions. I am here to help!

'Twas the Night Before First Grade...

Here we go! I hope your new first grader is ready to rock tomorrow on their first day of FIRST GRADE! I am so excited to see all my new friends come walking down the halls. Please don't forget that tomorrow is a HALF-DAY of school. We will dismiss at 11:30 and will not be eating lunch. Tuesday we will get to have our first big kid lunch experience. Be sure to check this week's menu on the sidebar of this blog. We will spend our morning tomorrow learning some of the ropes of first grade and meeting new friends. I hope your child is as excited as I am. It's going to be a great year! See you tomorrow!

What a GREAT Back to School Night!

Hi families! Thank you to everyone who made it to Back to School Night tonight! I was so excited to meet you and your kiddos. I can't wait to get back into the groove of first grade. Don't forget that Monday the 13th is only a half-day. We will dismiss at 11:30 and will not be having lunch. If you didn't get a chance to tell me the size of t-shirt you'd like for you child, drop me an email and I will get it ordered for you. Thank you so much for taking the time to come tonight! See you on Monday! Have a great night.

Are you ready?

Hello to all of my new first graders! I am so excited to meet you. I hope you are having a good summer. Can you believe that we only have 18 days until the first day of school? I can't wait to see you and begin our first grade adventure together. Have a wonderful rest of the summer! I will be looking for you on Back-To-School night August 9th! See you soon! Love, Ms. Beverage

Do you know all of your letters?

I LOVE this song! Can you count along?

The Final Slideshow!

Thanks for an AMAZING year! I miss you already. Be in touch and have a wonderful summer! Love ya!

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Graduation TOMORROW!

Tomorrow is our Graduation! Please be sure to read the yellow note in your child's backpack tonight about tomorrow's First Grade Awards Ceremony. We will begin our program at 2pm in the commons. We would love to have you join us at that time. Please help your first grader look extra-specially nice tomorrow for the festivities. This is a big deal! Also, please have your child remember to bring their backpack to school both tomorrow and Monday. We will be sending home LOTS of materials and they will need a way to transport everything. I can't believe we are down to the final two days. Celebrate your first grader and all they have accomplished this year. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Buddy Picnic TOMORROW!

Hi families! Just a reminder that tomorrow we will be going on our Buddy Picnic to Celebration Park. Please have your child bring a sack lunch and an unbreakable drink. We will load the buses at 11 and return to school by 1. You may also want to put sunscreen on your child and make sure they wear comfy shoes to play in! Also, tomorrow will be our last day of Library. Please search high and low around your house for any Sunflower Library books. Holler at me in the morning if you have any questions. Have a super evening!

Field Day Slideshow and Final Week Reminders!

Monday= A Tuesday= B Wednesday= C(LIBRARY BOOKS!) Thursday= D Hi families! We are in our final countdown of first grade! Unbelievable! I hope you have taken a few minutes to watch the most recent slideshows of all the fun activities we have had as we wrap up our year together. I hope Mrs. Godwin sent home a note today about our Buddy Picnic on WEDNESDAY. We will be going on a picnic with our third grade buddy class on Wednesday May 16 to Celebration Park. We will board the bus at 11am and return to Sunflower at 1pm. You are welcome to join us for lunch if you are able. Your child will need to bring a sack lunch and unbreakable drink on Wednesday. Tomorrow we welcome our friends from the Sheriff's Department to give us a lesson about safety and 911. Finally, don't forget that Friday is our First Grade Award's Ceremony and Graduation at 2pm in the Commons. We hope you can make it. We are going to be so, so busy as we make the most of these last few days together. Enjoy the slideshow below!

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Field Trip to Ernie Miller

These are from Tuesday's trip to Ernie Miller Nature Center! What a beautiful day. Enjoy!

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Mock First Grade & Flower Day!

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Field Day Tomorrow!

What a week! Our class has been running around like mad trying to wrap up all of our have-to-do-things on our list. Tomorrow we are looking forward to a day of FUN and just being together! It's FIELD DAY! We will spend our morning buddied up with our third and fourth grade friends and we will be rotating through all sorts of different activities and games. We will have our annual tug-o-war, bean bag tag, dance party, snowcone station and the inflatables will be here, too! It is such a fun end-of-the-year celebration. I am anxious to spend the day with the kids just getting to play and have fun. Please be sure to send your child to school tomorrow with TENNIS SHOES and sunscreen. We will be outside the majority of the day and it is supposed to be sunny and beautiful. Also, if you could, please have your first grader wear a Sunflower t-shirt. I know we just wore our brown shirts on our field trip on Tuesday, so if it hasn't found the wash yet, don't worry. We would just like to encourage all students to wear their Sunflower shirts with pride tomorrow as we celebrate a wonderful school year. Also, please have your child bring a sack lunch and unbreakable drink. We will be eating as a whole school out on the playground at 11:30. If you can join us, we'd love to have you. It's pretty neat to sit on the playground on Field Day and look at the entire school family sitting and eating together. The kids have worked their tails off this week while I wrapped up all of my individual assessments. I am so proud of them. Right before my eyes, they have turned into second graders. I am beginning to feel very sad about letting them go. I sit here and am dumbfounded that next week will be our final week together in this wonderful, quirky class family that we have become. Wow, where did the time go? Give me a call in the morning if you have any questions. I plan to be in my room early and gather all of my energy for the wonderfully exhausting day that lies ahead. Have a great night!

Monday Madness

Monday= A Tuesday= B Wednesday= C Thursday= D Friday=A Hi families! I am so sorry for the late post. I had to leave school early today with a sick little boy of my own. It was a morning of craziness! Did your child tell you about our visit from Happy Bear today? Ask your child to tell you what they learned from Happy Bear about "welcome touches" and "unwelcome touches". Hopefully your first grader has already shared what they learned from our friendly visitor today. Did you remember that TOMORROW is our field trip to Ernie Miller???? I sure didn't! It snuck up on me! Tomorrow (Tuesday 5-8-12) we will be boarding the bus for Ernie Miller Nature Center around 8:45. Please have your child wear their brown Sunflower t-shirt, comfortable shoes and have them bring a sack lunch. Also, you may want to put sunscreen on your child as we will be outside for several hours. If you would like to join us for lunch, we would love to have you meet us at the picnic shelter at Ernie Miller around 11:45. We should be wrapping up our program at that time. We plan to have lunch and play in the grassy area for a while. If you would like to join us and bring some balls or frisbees from home, that would be a fun addition to our free-play. We are scheduled to return to school around 1:15 to make it to Specials by 1:30. I plan to be in my classroom extra early tomorrow if you need to talk to me. Feel free to call me before 8am. Isn't it impossible to believe that there are only 2 Monday left in our school year? Please encourage your child to continue to work hard and help them do their best during these last 2 weeks by keeping them on a regular schedule and ensuring they get plenty of sleep. Our schedule at school is going to be all topsy-turvy, so a routine at home will help keep them at their best! Have a great night! Don't forget to send your child in their BROWN T-Shirts TOMORROW!

First Grade Leaders

Your first grader was a wonderful host today for our Kindergarten friends. I was so proud of their hard work and effort to make their new friends feel comfortable in this crazy first grade environment. We spent the day practicing, hosting and planting flowers with our Kindergarten friends. I was so proud of them! If you can, please have your first grader bring a blue flower tomorrow to plant in our flag garden! You may also want to send your child to school in clothes that can get dirty, as we will be digging and playing in our garden to welcome Spring! Have a great night!

How Crayons Are Made...

When I was little, I used to LOVE this Mister Rogers episode on how crayons are made. Our story this week is a non-fiction piece about how crayons are made. I thought your first grader might enjoy seeing for themselves what we read about today. Enjoy! http://pbskids.org/rogers/video_crayons.html

Mid Week Check-In

Happy Wednesday! We have officially pushed our end of the year chaos button already. We are busy, busy, busy! Tomorrow we will be hosting all Kindergarteners for a "Mock First Grade" experience. Our first graders will have an opportunity to be a first grade leader for our Kindergarten friends. Please encourage your first grader to be a good role model tomorrow for the Kindergarteners that they will host. Did your first grader bring home a note about Flower Day yesterday? If you could provide your first grader with a BLUE flower, we will be planting our patriotic garden on Friday. We would love to have any blue annuals brought to school tomorrow. I had to get flowers for my daughter and found a 6-pack of bluish/purplish flowers for $1.68 at Walmart. It is our hope that each first grader will have an opportunity to plant something in our raised flower bed on Friday. Thank you so much for your continued help and support. In math we have been working with 100's charts, continuing telling time to the half hour and fractions. Extra practice and review at home helps a great deal! Thank you so much for all you do. We read our non-fiction story today "At the Crayon Factory". Your child should be able to tell you a step-by-step process of how crayons are made. It is pretty interesting! Looking ahead, here are some important events/days coming up. Mark your calendars! 1. Today = Dominoes Pizza Night 2. Thursday= Mock First Grade (host Kindergarten) 3. Friday= Movie Night! 4. Monday 5-7= Happy Bear 5. Tuesday 5-8 = FIELD TRIP! 6. Friday 5-11 = FIELD DAY! 7. Tuesday 5-15 = Talent Show! 8. Wednesday 5-16 = Buddy Picnic with third grade 9. Friday 5-18 = First Grade Awards/Graduation Ceremony 2pm 10. Monday 5-21 = LAST DAY OF SCHOOL (boo hoo) WOW! We have a lot coming up. Please help your child get plenty of sleep. We will be off our schedule quite often and we want all of our first grade friends to stay happy and healthy. Holler with any questions. Have a great evening!

Bye Bye April...

Monday= D Tuesday= A Wednesday= B Thursday= C Friday= D Hi families! I hope you had another great weekend together. Thank you to everyone who came to the school carnival on Friday. It was a great night and I am so grateful to everyone who volunteered their time and efforts to make the night so much fun for the kids! You are the BEST! It is hard to believe that we will be welcoming May this week. WOW, that means the countdown has begun. From here on out, we are extra busy, buSY, BUSY in first grade. This week, we will be hosting our Kindergarten friends and showing them the ropes of first grade for our Mock First Grade Day. Your child will get to shine and be a leader for a Kindergarten friend. We have projects and assessments galore starting in May and don't forget our Field Trip to Ernie Miller Nature Center is next week! Notes will be going home soon to the parents who were selected in the lottery to accompany us on the field trip. We are also having Flower Day on Friday. Your child will be bringing home a note about that too, but for a heads up first grade will be planting a Patriotic-themed garden in our first grade garden bed. Our class is in charge of BLUE flowers. Each one of our first grade friends is asked to bring a blue (ish) annual flower to plant in the bed. We would like the flowers to be brought to school by Thursday May 3. More to follow with this project. It is sure to be a busy time. Stay in touch and let me know if you have any questions or if you need anything! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

4-Day Week Ahead

Tuesday = D Wednesday= A Thursday= B Friday= C Hi families! I hope you had a wonderful 3-day weekend together. With the muscial behind us, we are ready to get back into our groove. With less than one month of school left (so sad!) we have lots to do. Please be sure that your first grader is getting plenty of sleep! Don't forget to return your field trip permission slips to school tomorrow if you haven't already. We have our school carnival THIS FRIDAY April 27. If you could volunteer your time, we could sure use some more helpers for 30 minutes time slots! Spelling words will be coming home tomorrow. We have a lot of learning to cram into 4 days! Let's have a great week.

The Best "Jungle Party" Ever! ENJOY!

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Last Minute Reminders...

Hi everyone! Don't forget tonight is our big show at Wheatridge! Please have your first grader there between 6:15-6:30. If they are a Safari Kid, they can arrive by 6:40. Please go to the band room (your first grader should know where to go). We will be waiting for them for make up! If we sent a shirt home with your first grade performer, please be sure to have them wear it to Wheatridge!

Also, tomorrow we will be celebrating Earth Day. As a last minute request, please try to help your child remember to wear a blue or green shirt to school. We wanted to save paper and not send a note home, so if you could help them remember their mental note, that would be great.

Your first grader has worked incredibly hard this week in preparation for tonight's show. Please celebrate their hard work! I look forward to seeing all of you tonight at Wheatridge.

Thanks so much!

Musical Eve...

Hi families! Your first grader had a VERY busy day rehearsing their big production for tomorrow night's first grade musical. We got to go over to Wheatridge this morning and rehearse our show on the big stage. We will go over again tomorrow morning to rehearse. Please help your first grader eat a good, healthy breakfast. They are working so hard on the stage, I don't want any of them to feel icky.

We have spent the past two days reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Today we made symmetrical butterfly wings. Ask your child to tell you about how they did this project. Tomorrow, we will add the finishing touches to complete the project. In math, we continue to learn about fractions. We are just working on 1/2 and 1/4, but our first graders are so smart they are ready for more challenges! I have added some new games in our Math category on this webpage to help your child practice these new skills. Have them show you how to play the new top three games.

Because this has been such a busy week, I did not send home a Power Drill. We will complete this homework in class so your child can take a break by the time they get home from school.

Your first grader should have brought home a yellow permission slip for our field trip and a carnival ticket order form yesterday. The carnival ticket orders are due by Friday. Our permission slips need to be signed and returned by Tuesday the 24.

Don't forget!:
1. Our musical is tomorrow (Thursday April 19) at 7pm at Wheatridge. Your first grader needs to arrive by 6:15 for make-up.
2. No School Monday April 23

Have a great night. See you tomorrow night at the show!

Muscial Mania!

Happy Monday, families! We had a great day as we are gearing up to our big performance this Thursday for our musical. We spent our morning rotating through all three first grade classroom working on different activities relating to Earth Day and rocks. Have you child tell you about their volcano experiment with Ms. Burks, writing about what they can do to help the Earth with Mrs. Godwin and making moon rocks with me. It was a fun morning. Because we are working hard on the musical, we are not having any Storytown homework or activities this week. This means, no spelling words or reading homework. Be sure to encourage your child to bring home an AR book or read on their own, but I will not be sending homework for reading this week.

In math we introduced FRACTIONS! Wow! Check your child's initial understanding of this concept by asking them to tell you what fractions are. We learned today that fraction are simply equal parts of something. We read a book to help introduce the concept, too, called "Give Me Half". Have your child tell you about it. Your first grader is bringing home a Homelink page. Please help them complete their Homelink and return it tomorrow. We will be working with 1/2 and 1/4 tomorrow.

Don't forget to return your spring pictures and your carnival forms. We still need volunteers to run our booth. Let me know if you would be able to help for a 30 minute shift in our room.

Have a wonderful night together. Enjoy your family. As always, let me know if you need anything.

Don't Forget!

One more thing! In celebration of Opening Day tomorrow, remember that it's HAT DAY! Your first grader can wear their favorite hat to school. See you tomorrow!

I'm back!

Friday= B Monday= C(library) Tuesday= D Wednesday= A Thursday= B Friday= C

Hi families! I finally have my family healthy and was back at school today. It was great to see the kids. We had a great reunion and they filled me in on all they had been doing the past two days. Has your first grader told you about our rock study? While I was gone, they collected all sorts of cool rocks and worked hard at sorting them and classifying them into different groups. Ask your child to come up with three adjectives that tell about their special rock. Tomorrow we will make a human Venn Diagram and classify our rocks different ways using different comparison baselines.

Don't forget to have your first grader complete their Power Drill and return in tomorrow, if they haven't already. I did not send home reading homework this week and so we will complete it together in class. Are you practicing your math facts with the flashcards I sent home last week? We continue to do our daily timed drills and this extra 5-10 minutes of practice at home really pays off!

This week we learned about plot! Have your child tell you what a plot is and then challenge them to see if they can tell you the plot of this week's main story, "Blast Off". We also reviewed contractions this week. See if your child can explain contractions to you. Challenge your first grader to find as many contractions in one of their books at home. Make a game out of it and award them imaginary "points" for each contraction they find. Double their points if they can tell you the two words the contraction stands for.

Has your child told you about our new friend Tyler that will be joining our class family next week? They were lucky enough to meet him last Friday when I was out. We are very excited to have Tyler join our crew!

Starting tomorrow the countdown begins to our first grade musical! Don't forget that next Thursday April 19 is our first grade musical. The kids have been working so hard on their show. Our performance will be Thursday the 19th at 7pm in the Wheatridge Auditorium. Mrs. Neeley always does a phenomenal job. We can't wait to polish it up and perform for all of you!

April is about to get crazy busy. Please be sure to read the notes coming home as well as checking in on this blog. From now until the end of the year, we are going to be busy as bees. Here are just a few of the events ahead:

1. April 12: Spring Picture money is due. If you choose not to purchase, please just return the pictures to school!
2. April 19: First Grade Musical
3. April 20: Earth Day Celebration
4. April 27: Carnival--please be sure to read the packet of information that went home last week. There will be another informational flyer coming home tomorrow!
5. May 4: Flower Day (more to come...)
6. May 8: Field Trip to Ernie Miller Park
7. May 11: Field Day!
WHEW! This is just SOME of what is ahead! It's going to be busy, but so much fun! Be sure your first grader is getting lots of sleep and reading every night, if only for 5-7 minutes! They are becoming second graders right before my eyes...oh that first grade magic!

Let me know if you need anything! Have a great night!

Happy Easter!

Monday= B Tuesday= C Wednesday= D Thursday= A Friday= B

Hi families! I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend together. We just got back into town from visiting family and I am gearing up for another great week of learning together. We are down to the final two weeks before our big 1st Grade Musical,"Jungle Party". Next week will be busy, busy, busy with rehearsals! As always, we have a lot on our plate for this week, too.

I can't wait to hear all about your Easter weekends tomorrow at journal time. Hope you are all well! See you soon.

Hot Monday!

Monday= A Tuesday= B Wednesday= C Thursday= D Friday= A

Hi families! Your first grader worked hard and played hard today. They should be very tired tonight. We were very busy getting our week started with our new sound of the week, spelling words, fancy pants words, story, and math theme. Whew! Ask your child to tell you what our sound of the week is (U). They should be able to tell you the different ways we can spot the "U" sound: oo, _ew, u_e. Your first grader brought home their spelling pre-test today. Please be sure to help them practice their new words daily this week.

In math, we re-visited fact families and missing addends. Quiz your child to see if they can complete some number sentences such as: 6 + ___= 13. Encourage them to use what they know (13, 6) and plug it into a subtraction equation to solve the problem. This is tricky, but with practice they will get it!

Your first grader is bringing home both reading homework and a math Power Drill. I did not give them homework last week so that we could focus on reading our leveled books. We are back on track with homework this week. Please help your first grader complete and return it by Friday.

Please be sure to read the letter from Mrs. Neeley that went home last Friday. Our first grade program is just two weeks away and we have LOTS to do! These productions are always incredible and we appreciate your support to get our kids ready for their big debut!

Looking ahead for April:

April 5 = PTO Art Walk
April 19 = First Grade Musical at Wheatridge
April 23 = No School

Have a great night! Go Jayhawks!!!!!

Drippy Mid Week Report

What a wet Wednesday! I think the kids are ready for this rain to stop for a while. We miss our playground! We have stayed busy getting back into our routine but this rainy weather is making us a little sleepy.
We worked hard in our book clubs today. Has your child been practicing their spelling words? Don't forget that our test is on Friday. We are focusing on the o_e pattern this week. Today we also learned about adding the endings -er and -est to describing words. Ask your child to tell you something that is SMALL, SMALLER and SMALLEST. Use different adjectives and see if your child can add these endings to different words.
In math, we are continuing to work on our automatic recall of addition and subtraction facts. We are reviewing fact families, but I could sure use your help at home. Ask your child to give you 3 numbers that would be in the same fact family (for example: 3, 4, 7). Have them write four eqations that they can build with that number family (two +, two -).
We learned about our friend Roy G. Biv this week. Have your child tell you about this colorful guy. We also learned about the famous painter Georges Seurat. See if your child remembers the way this artist made his creations.

Have a cozy night! Stay dry and practice those spelling words.

Welcome Back!

We had a great day back from Spring Break today! It was so fun to read about everyone's adventures in their journals today. The kids all looked huge this morning. I can't believe how much they have grown in just 10 days. Aside from several injuries, lost teeth, and some tummy trouble, it seems that somewhere in our 10 day break, fun was had by all!

We were back in action today with our routine. Your first grader is bringing home their spelling pre-test with this week's spelling words. We are focusing on the long O sound. We read a short little story today called, "Hang On, Rose!". Ask your child to give you a little summary of this short realistic-fiction piece.

There is only Power Drill homework this week! No reading homework, yay! Please be sure your child is reading at least 5-10 minutes each night. If your child participates in AR, help them remember to return their books each day in case we find a moment to read together. Also, please be sure you are practicing your child's sight words with them. Even if they have already passed all the lists, it is great practice to review these have-to-know words on occasion. We see them so often in our daily reading! Thanks so much for your support.

Don't forget tomorrow there is a PTO meeting at 7pm and this Friday the 23rd is Movie Night! We will be showing "The Muppets".

Stay dry tonight in this downpour!

Are You Ready?

Monday= C Tuesday= D Wednesday= A Thursday= B Friday= C

Hi everybody! Did you have a great Spring Break? I sure hope so! I can't wait to hear about everything you did on your vacation. I hope you are ready to jump into our last quarter of first grade. We have so much to do and I can't wait to get back into the swing of things with you. Don't forget that tomorrow is Library Day, so remember to bring your books back. I am excited to hear about all of your Spring Break adventures tomorrow. Get some good sleep tonight and I will be looking for you in the morning.

Looking ahead for the week:
March 19 = Library Day, don't forget your books
March 20 = PTO meeting 7pm
March 23 = Movie Night

Terrific Tuesday!

We had a busy day trying to wrap up our third quarter. In between math testing, we found time to unleash our creativity with our 3-D sculpture math art. Thank you to everyone who sent in recyclables. The kids had a blast creating 3 dimensional sculptures with the rectangular prisms and cylinders. We have everything from robots, to airplanes, tanks to the Titanic! As one of the kids said today while he was building his masterpiece, "This is the best idea you've had YET, Ms.Beverage!". It was so fun to set their imaginations in full gear. Ask your child to tell you about their sculpture and see if they can tell you what 3-D shapes they used.

Mrs. Neeley, our music teacher, asked me to remind everyone that the permission slips for the first grade musical are due back to school. The kids will begin practice after Spring Break. It is sure to be a wonderful show! On Thursday morning, we will be busing over to Wheatridge to watch the second grade dress rehearsal for their show. It will help give our kiddos an idea of what to expect for their production.

Don't forget that there is no school this Friday March 9th. Next week, we are out all week for Spring Break, too. Be sure your child brings home a book (or two) to read over break. I absolutely cannot believe that we are approaching on the last quarter of first grade. I hope you were able to get out and enjoy this beautiful afternoon. Let me know if you need anything!

Short Week Ahead!

Monday= C Tuesday= D Wednesday= A Thursday= B Friday= NO SCHOOL!

Hi families! I hope you had a great weekend together. Just a quick reminder that this is going to be a short week. We do not have school on Friday. It seems impossible that Spring Break is right around the corner. We will be busy in first grade as we wrap up the quarter. Thank you to everyone who sent in 3-D shapes from their recycling bin at home. We will begin our 3-D sculpture project this week. The kids are excited!

Don't forget tomorrow is a Library day! Have a restful night. See you tomorrow!

Let's Get Ready for a Great Week!

We had some sleepy-eyed kiddos today. After reading the kids' journal entries today, it sounds like everyone had a fun-filled weekend. We started our week reviewing the long I sound. This week's spelling pattern is i_e. Be sure to look for your child's pre-test in their backpack so that you know what words to practice this week. Of course, you can also find them on the sidebar of our blog. If your child already has mastered the words, challenge them to write the words in sentences, or further challenge by having them write a short story using all of the week's spelling words.

In math, we reviewed fact families and then we revisited 2-D shapes. We discovered through working with our blocks that we can create shapes using other shapes. For example, we can make a trapezoid by using 3 triangles. We made a hexagon using two trapezoids. Ask your child to tell you about the designs they created today in our fee exploration. Encourage them to find objects around your house that are: triangles, squares, a rhombus, trapezoid and a hexagon. We are going to be crazy about shapes this week!

A few reminders about what's ahead:
Library Day is TOMORROW!
Literacy Night is WEDNESDAY February 29! Come dressed in your 50's attire!
No School Friday March 9
Spring Break March 12-16

We were having so much fun with shapes this afternoon, I completely forgot to hand out the week's Power Drill! I will be sure to send it tomorrow. Enjoy your evening together! Stay healthy.

Bye Bye February...Hello March!

Monday= B Tuesday= C Wednesday= D Thursday= A Friday= B

I hope you are all out and about enjoying this beautiful Sunday! We will say goodbye to February this week, which means spring is right around the corner. I hope your first grader came home and told you all about George Washington last week. This week, we move on to learn about the 16th president-Abraham Lincoln! We will revisit shapes in math, work more on fact families and get ready to wrap up our third quarter. UNBELIEVABLE! Be sure to have your first grader read before they go to sleep tonight! This is our first full week in a while. I can't wait to see everyone back to school tomorrow. Stay healthy and enjoy the beautiful weather!

Back to Work!

Tuesday=B Wednesday= C Thursday= D Friday= A

Welcome back! I hope you all had a restful, extra-long weekend. Thank you so much to everyone for taking the time out of their schedules to come and visit with me for conferences. I truly enjoyed getting to sit down and talk to each one of you about the terrific things your first grader is doing.

We learned about fact families today in math. Ask your child to tell you about a fact family. Remind them that a fact family is only 3 numbers and they are all related. For example, 2, 4, and 6 are a fact family because 2+4=6, 4+2=6, 6-2=4 and 6-4=2! Give your child three related numbers and see if they can come up with two addition problems and two subtraction problems using only those numbers.

In preparation for George Washington's birthday tomorrow, we began learning more about this important American leader. Ask your child to tell you something they learned about him today.

Did your child show you all of their homework? We have a a Power Drill, Homelink, reading homework and this week's spelling words coming home today. The Homelink is due tomorrow and everything else is due by Friday!

Finally, don't forget TOMORROW is PICTURE DAY! We get our pictures taken at 8:50. Have your child be looking sharp. If you are interested in buying a class picture, please be sure to return the slip I gave you at conferences last week.

Looking ahead:
Wednesday the 22nd= PICTURE DAY & Library!
Friday the 24th= Movie Night
Wednesday the 29th= Family Literacy Night 5:45-7:00


Have a great night! Enjoy the beautiful weather that is coming.

Short Week Reminders!

Hi families! The snow filled us with lots of excitement and energy today. We spent our day getting ready for our families to visit our first grade room during conferences this week. Please remember that tomorrow is VALENTINE'S DAY! If your child has not brought their Valentine's Day box to school, please be sure to send it with them tomorrow. We will pass out cards in the morning, too, so if you choose to bring cards please remember one for each member of our class family. If you have misplaced the list, the members of our room are:


Makenna
Nick
Casey
Charli
Christopher
Nathan
Ashlyn
Annabelle
Mitchel
Dylan
Trevor
Patrick
Rhyan
Katie
Ella
Aidan
Kyler
Trenton
Lucas
Brandon
Ms. Beverage

Our party begins at 2:30 tomorrow in the activity room across from our classroom. I hope you can join us! Have a warm and safe night.

Freezing Friday

Whew! We made it through another week and we were yet again, busy, busy, BUSY! Our sound of the week was long A and all the ways we can make a long A sound-_ay, ai_, a_e, and a. We had wonderful scores on this week's spelling test! I am so proud of my first graders for working so hard to learn the sound patterns!

With February being dental health month, we talked about dental health this week. Did your first grader bring home a paper toothbrush? Ask your first grader to tell you about our "toothbrushing challenge". We have also worked all week on drafts of a friendly letter to the toothfairy. We finished our final copy this afternoon. Our first graders can't wait to show off their hard work on this darling project!

In math, we learned about even and odd numbers, skip counting by 2's and finally, double addition. Quiz your first grader to see if they can recite their doubles (2+2, 3+3, 4+4...). Remind them that answers to double are always EVEN!

Are you working on your Valentine's boxes? Your first grader is welcome to bring their box on Monday. Please remember that our party is Tuesday. We will distribute Valentine's on Tuesday.

I am looking forward to seeing you all at conferences next week. Thank you so much for all of your for getting your confirmation slips back to me. Have a warm and cozy weekend. See you all next week!

Looking ahead to next week:
Monday= C Tuesday=D
Early dismissal Wedensday at 1pm
No School Thursday, Friday or Monday the 20th!
Movie Night is Friday February 24!

Have a great weekend!

Monday= B Tuesday= C Wednesday= D Thursday= A Friday= B

Oops! I must be tired because I forgot to send this week's homework tonight. I am so sorry. We have reading, Power Drill AND Jump Rope for Heart information to send home. I promise I will send it all tomorrow. We were so excited to read some more of our Flat Stanley adventures, we completely forgot about homework. Enjoy a night off.

Did your first grader remember to return their Flat Stanley blue sheet? We are going to begin making our flat selves tomorrow. Have your first grader give you a summary of our Flat Stanley chapter book so far. They love this story!

We are learning all of the ways we can make a long a sound this week. Have your child tell you how we can make long a (_ay, ai_, a_e, a). Be sure to start practicing your child's spelling words with this same pattern this week. The list came home today and the words are also posted on this blog!

In math we reviewed counting by 2's. We also learned about even and odd numbers. We will begin learning our double addition facts this week and this spring board will help us master this concept. Your child is bringing home a Homelink tonight, be sure to help them work through recognizing their even and odd numbers.

Have a wonderful evening! I can't wait to see you at conferences next week!

Rainy Wrap-Up

Somehow it is already Friday! I hope you are all warm and cozy and settling back into the winter that Mr. Groundhog predicted was coming. Your child is coming home with LOTS of things in their backpack tonight. We did a major desk clean-out. If you notice lots of unfinished papers, encourage your child to complete some of them at home. The amount of unfinished work in their pile will indicate how well your child is doing at getting their work done in class. Encourage them to use their work time wisely!

Your first grader has several homework assignments over the weekend:
1. Please check the conference confirmation note and return it on Monday with your child. If the time I scheduled for you does not work, just let me know and we will find another time!
2. Please help your child create their Valentine Box. Your first grader will need to decorate a box to collect all of their Valentine's in at our party on the 14th.
3. Finally, there is a blue letter coming home about our upcoming Flat Stanley project. Please read the letter and return it with an address of someone you would like me to send your child's Flat Stanley to. We will be making our flat people here at school. I simply need the name and address of a person whom you would like me to send your child's project to. Thanks so much!

We learned so much this week! Cause and effect, adjectives, long e sounds, suffixes, breaking down numbers to find teams of 10, map skills, and much, much more! Celebrate all your child has learned. Please help them get plenty of rest and stay healthy this weekend.

Looking ahead to next week:
Monday=B Tuesday=C Wednesday= D Thursday= A Friday= B

I look forward to seeing you all at conferences in two weeks! Have a great weekend.

100's Day Tomorrow!

Don't forget we will be celebrating being 100 days smarter tomorrow, January 30. Please help your first grader remember to bring their bag with 100 things and encourage them to wear clothing with numbers on them! We have a fun-filled day of counting and celebrating all of our accomplishments in 100 days together!

This week's Specials rotation:
Monday= A Tuesday= B Wednesday= C Thursday= D Friday= A

See you tomorrow!

Already Wednesday?!?!

Monday= D Tuesday= A Wednesday= B Thursday= C Friday= D

I am so sorry that both last week and this week have gotten away from me and I didn't update you with all of the things we are working on in room 111. We hit the ground running every morning and I didn't get a chance to stop and fill you in on all of the great things we have been doing!

First, your child should have brought home a Conference Sign Up sheet today. Please check your calendars and return the note to me with your preferred conference time. If these forms could be returned by Friday, that would be wonderful. I will do my best to accommodate every one's schedule.

Did your child bring home a new sight word folder? I hope they told you all about it. Please be sure to practice a list each night with your first grader. I try to test them 2-3 times each week. The words on these lists are critical "have-to-know" words for first graders. Classic practice will help make their recognition automatic.

Did your child come home and tell you about the word "perspective"? If not, be sure to ask them what perspective is. We are focusing a lesson around this important vocabulary word. We have also had some fun changing our perspective and looking at things differently.

This Friday is FIRST GRADE'S Movie Night!!! We are hoping to have lots of kids in attendance. This month's movie is Kung Fu Panda 2. We will be having Tae-Kwon-Do demonstrations, games and of course the movie with a popcorn intermission.

Can you believe that next Monday January 30 is our 100th day of first grade? I can't believe it myself. We will be celebrating this monumental day with various counting activities. A letter will be coming home with more information, but a heads up--the kids are invited to wear clothing with numbers on them (jerseys work great) and they will also be asked to bring a bag of 100 things. The items can all be the same,or they can be mixed. Some ideas: marshmallows, M&Ms, Q-tips, cottonballs, craft sticks, pennies. Small items from around the house work perfectly. Have your child start thinking about their collection now and get a head start on their weekend homework.

Did your child tell you about Randy Nadler coming to visit us yesterday? We got to see a wonderful picture scrapbook for Mr. Nadler's trip to Vietnam. Ask your child to tell you about his visit.

Tomorrow is Library day! Help your child remember to bring back any Library books.

Don't forget to send your conference form back! Also,remember you can access our student reading book online by logging into ThinkCentral.com. The directions to log-in can be found on the bottom right-hand side bar of this blog page. Please help your child to read each and every night. We are in both a critical and monumental stage of first grade this quarter. Extra encouragement and support at home will help immensely!

Have a wonderful evening!