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Last Minute FYI!!!

Happy Tuesady families! What a week we have had already...our kids have rocked the last two day and have already finished up their 73 problem math QT a day early!!! I am so proud of them. They worked diligently for the past two mornings on this "Show What You Know" test. I am so proud of their accomplishments. Have them tell you about their doozy of a QT. We have spent our afternoons playing math games, working on holiday gifts and enjoying our shared excitement for the upcoming break. I dropped the ball last week and neglected to send home our Holiday Store shopping lists and envelopes. SO, today you will find a green paper with an envelope stapled to it for your child to participate in our annual Holiday Store. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE be sure to check your child's backpack tonight and find this paper. The Holiday Store will open tomorrow (December 18th). Our kids will visit the store during their Specials time tomorrow OR Thursday December 19th. If you would like to have your child participate in this year's Holiday Shop, please return their green paper with a list of who they are to shop for and how much you would like them to spend on each family member. Also, plesase send their money with them tomorrow in the envelope so that they may start their shopping adventure tomorrow afternoon. If you are able to volunteer either day at the Holiday Shop, you can sign up by following this link: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4CABAB22ABF58-holiday If you have any questions, please drop me an email and I will try my best to answer. I am so sorry for the delay in getting these sent home. I just can't believe that we are down to the last few days of 2013 together. Yikes! Have a wonderful night. I hope you are finding wonderful opportunities for togetherness during this holiday season. Don't forget about our Grinch Day on Friday morning, as well as our holiday party and all-school sing-a-long on Friday afternoon! Have a wonderful afternoon!

Mix-Match and Grandparents Day TOMORROW!

Hi families! What a crazy few weeks it has been leading up to our holiday break and the end of our second quarter. It has felt a little bit like finals week around here with some added Book Fair craziness to stir it up! Don't forget that tomorrow is Mix-Match Day to celebrate "Mix it up with BOOKS" for our Book Fair. It is also Grandparents and Special Friends day. If your first grader is expecting a lunch guest, they are welcome to come down to our room anytime after 10:30. We will be doing several holiday crafts and stories and would love the company and togetherness. If you have any questions, please let me know. Remember, that this Friday is PAJAMA and POLAR EXPRESS DAY too! PTO is also sponsering our last movie night of 2013 by watching Snow Buddies from 6-9pm...hope your child can make it and allow you some bonus holiday shopping time! The race is on to the end of second quarter...festivities, fun and tests galore! Yippee!

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That's a Wrap!

Happy Friday night, families! What a week it has been in first grade. We had lots of fun reading our story about King Midas this week and learning how to compare and contrast. Our kids have seen or read many different versions of this old myth. They should be able to tell you about the similarities and differences between each version. From our storybook, to the old puppet movie, the Disney mini-version and even a Muppet retell, we have learned how myths and stories can change with a retell. Ask your child to tell you their favorite version and invite them to explain why they liked it so much. In math we have been drilling our 10-teams and learning how to use our 10-teams to help us solve 3-addend math equations. Quiz your child by giving them a math problem such as 6+4+8. See if they can come up with the answer mentally by finding the 10-team and doing the zero smash. Be sure to help your child strengthen their 10-team relationships next week while you are celebrating your time together at home for the holiday. When we return from Thanksgiving in December it will be off to the races as we rush to cram in lots of learning and fun before the next holiday break. This is a whirlwind time of year! Has your child been talking about Native Americans of the Plains? We have learned many things about the Plains Native Amercians this week. Today, we moved to the Southwest region and learned some things about their way of life. Ask your child to tell you about Navaho weaving and clay pottery. We tried out hand at both Southwest handicrafts today. We stretched our brains to use different patterns to create our own woven placemat, just in time for the holidays. We also sculpted our own mini pinch pot from clay. Have your child tell you about both of these projects. I will upload pictures from today's learning crafts so that you can see a snapshot into their day. Remember that we have a short week next week. I only get to spend Monday and Tuesday with your kiddos and then they will be home to celebrate all they are thankful for with you for the remainder of the week. Next week, we will have lots of review but spend the majority of our time learning about the first Thanksgiving and learning more about different Native American groups. It is a great time of year. Please be sure to continue RED folder reading with your kiddo as well as practicing those critical Sight Words in their purple folder. Have a warm and cozy weekend together. Get plenty of rest and we will see you on Monday. Happy weekend!

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Wacky Wednesday Check-In

Hi families! What a wild day!!! I think a storm must be coming because we were bouncing off the walls in room 111 today! As the holidays start approaching and our schedules get more and more booked, please remember how important routine is for your first grader. An early bedtime will help your child have happy, successful days at school. Also, please remember that as long as the wind chill is above 20 degrees and it isn't raining, we will go out to recess...PLEASE be sure your child comes to school on these cold days with a coat and hat! I don't want any of my kiddos getting sick before their turkey dinner! Your child is bringing home their first Venn Diagram about the story of King Midas and His Gold. We have been reading one story of this myth this week and today we watched a different retell of this old story. Your child created their own Venn Diagram comparing the 2 versions. They have been asked to share it with you tonight in order to help them RETELL the story and strengthen their comprehension. If you would please sign their golden Venn Diagram paper and return it tomorrow, that would be worderful! Ask your child to tell you what a myth is (it's an old story that teaches a lesson!) and ask them if they remember the message that King Midas and His Gold is supposed to teach us. In math, we worked hard at learning how to add 3 numbers together. We talked about all different strategies that we can use to help us solve tricky problems. We also realized that if we can find a 10-team, we can do the "ZERO SMASH!"...have your child tell you about the ZERO SMASH! For example, if the math problem is: 6+5+4 = ?, the kids learned today that if they find the 10-team (6+4) that the number that is left out (5) gets mad and SMASHES the 0 in the 10 to find the answer (15!). Later, we will learn how to decompose numbers when 10-teams are not part of our given equation...First grade is AMAZING, don't you think?!?! Do you remember that tomorrow is our annual Sunflower Thanksgiving lunch? We will be going to lunch 5 minutes early (10:50) and families are welcome to join us and eat together. Also, Movie Night is this Friday! Second grade will be hosting Monster's University this Friday night at 6pm. We would love to have your first grader join us for a cozy night at school. Lastly, a HUGE thank you goes out to everyone who supported our basket for the PTO auction. Our unbelievable PTO does so much for our kids and we received SO much money for our classroom!!! To everyone who donated their time, energy, supplies, and presence...THANK YOU! Have a wonderful night! Stay warm and cozy!!!!

Beans and PJs! Enjoy the show...

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10-Team Rap--Sing along and practice at home!

Surprise Pajama Day TOMORROW!

Hi everyone!! So sorry for the delay in posts lately...we have so much to catch up on. First, our kids have done it again! We have filled up another compliment chain and so I designated a last-minute PAJAMA DAY TOMORROW, Wednesday November 13th!!! Your first grader is bringing home a note about tomorrow. Since it is going to be so cold, I thought coming to school in jammies sounded pretty cozy. They are invited to bring a blanket and favorite STUFFED ANIMAL if they wish. We will have a regular day of learning and then a little special treat fun in the afternoon. With the windchill being only 18 degrees today, we were unable to go outside for recess and I can tell that the kids are getting a little stir crazy already. Please help your child get plenty of rest in order to stay healthy, happy and helpful in the upcoming weeks. Have you been practicing 10-Teams with your first grader? Your child needs to be able to know their 10-Teams accross the board. 10-Teams are the partners that, when added together, make a sum of 10: 9+1, 8+2, 7+3, 6+4, 5+5, 10+0. We have had our first Around the World champion today for our game of 10-team Around the World game! Congratulations to Bryce for knowing his 10-Teams SUPER FAST!!! Keep practicing and we will have a new champion soon! Did you see the new book order that came home yesterday? There are some wonderful titles in this month's order, so be sure to check it out. I would love to have orders back to school by this Friday. Also, did your child bring home their paper shopping bag? This week is our annual food drive and we would love any donations you would be able to send in order to help us reach our Sunflower goal of 1000. We will be taking donations until Friday November 22th. Thank you in advance for your support! Don't forget about tomorrow's cozy PJ day! Have a cozy night together!

Happy November!!! What a Week!

November already? Amazing! What an incredible week this has been in Room 111. First, I have to tell you ALL thank you so much for makinig my birthday this past Tuesday SO wonderful. The surprise party that the kids had for me and the dear cards, pictures and gifts are received touched my heart more than you can know. My cup truly runneth over. Thank you to all for your amazing children. It was the best birthday I have had in a long time! Thank you also to everyone who helped at our Pumpkin Festival and Fall Party yesterday. I was so sad to miss the festivities as I stayed home with a sick baby of my own. I heard all about it today and it sounds like it was a success. If anyone has any pictures from yesterday, please email them to me so that I may include them in this blog. Our post-Halloween day has brought some very excited, turned exhausted kiddos. We have kept our day very low-key and will save our big activities for next week after we are all rested up and healthy again. Today we made our flat selves to send off for our Flat Stanley project. If you have not already done so, please return the Flat Stanley letter that came home last Friday to school asap. If you need another copy of the letter, shoot me an email and I will send another one your way! Did your child tell you that they wrote their OWN math subtration story this week? Be sure to ask them about their pumpkin math story and see if they can retell you how their story goes. They did a great job...it is my hope to get the pictures or video feed uploaded next week so that you can see their brillance in action...stay tuned. Did you hear about our disgusting pumpkin? We are learning about plant lifecycles and we discovered that we had an experiment happening in our room and we did not even know it until Wednesday! Our giant pumpkin was going through one of the lifecycle changes right in our very room...it wasn't until we SMELLED it that we knew something was happening. Have your child tell you about the rotten pumpkin and what we did with it. Our bean seeds are growing like crazy! Did you child tell you about the changes their bean seed has encountered since we first started the experiment? Be sure to ask them to describe their seed so far...next week, we will unveil them again and see even MORE transformation. There is some seriously exciting stuff happening in our classroom this quarter. I am sending home a new "Book-It" log for November this afternoon! If your child would like to earn their free mini pizza, have them bring it back before November is over...I am also taking the pizza sheets from October if you haven't sent yours back yet. Remember this is optional!!! This month always flies by so quickly, so please be sure you don't hesitate to ask any questions and check our blog frequently! Thank you so much for an amazing week! Get some rest and stay HEALTHY!!! There is lots more learning ahead! Have a great weekend!

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Picture Retakes TOMORROW!

Hi parents! Quick reminder that tomorrow is our PICTURE RETAKE day! If you would like to have your child's pictures re-taken, or if your child was absent on Picture Day please remember that they will have an opportunity to have them taken again tomorrow. Also, be sure to ask your child about their "baby bean". We had an awesome science discussion on living vs. non-living things and began the first step in a bean-growing experiment. Be sure to watch the video below with your child and have them explain to you what is happening with different beans in the video. As we dive in to our lifecycle unit, we are going to be uncovering all sorts of cool truths. You should be proud of your little scientist, they worked hard today! Have a great night!

We started a bean experiment today--CHECK THIS OUT!

Cookie Dough Pick-Up and Taco Dinner

Happy Tuesday, families! Just a quick reminder that TONIGHT is our FREE taco dinner and cookie dough pick-up. If you have no already come by to pick up your cookie dough, it is waiting for you in the gym. Grab some free dinner when you're here, too! Also, your child brought home a baggie tonight to begin their seed collection. They have been asked to go on a seed hunt and collect any kinds of seeds they can find. Please help them to remember to put their names on the baggies and return them to school by Thursday October 24. Also, have your child tell you about our newest computer math game-Monster Crossing. To help us sharpen our skills on word problems, we have found a great game. I have attached the link to the game on our website under "Math Games". Look for "Monster Crossing" and have your child teach you how to play! Have a great night! Stay warm and cozy...it looks like rain!

We learned about NOUNS today! See how many nouns your child can find at home!

We're BACK!!! Quarter 2, HERE WE COME!

Happy Monday everybody!!! We are back in action! First of all, thank you so much to everyone for taking time out of your busy lives to come to conferences last week and learn about all of the wonderful things your child is doing in first grade! I loved having the opportunity to visit with each one of you about your amazing children. We got right back into the swing of things today. I enjoyed hearing about all of your fall break adventures in their journals this morning. Sounds like everyone had a good or adventurous time! A few injuries, stings, vacations, staycations and playdates made for some great share-outs today. We kicked off second quarter in math today with learning some tricks for story problems. Today we learned about some "brain alarm" words to help us know what to do when we are reading story problems. Check with your child to see if they can remember what the words are in a story problem to help us to we are going to PT+ to find the answer. Also, we learned about the strategy of drawing pictures in story problems because the "PROOF IS IN THE PICTURE!". Thank you to everyone who brought us apples for Apple Week this week! If you did not send an apple in today, no worries! Feel free to send one in tomorrow. We had so much generosity that I think we have plenty for everyone! Thank you so much. Don't forget that next week is Pumpkin Week and we need each child to have their own pumpkin. I noticed that they marked them 1/2 off at Walmart this weekend, if you still need one! Thank you in advance. Don't forget that tomorrow is our annual Taco Dinner and Cookie Dough Pick-Up! We will be serving a FREE taco dinner from 5-7 for families, so come on over! Also, if you sold Cookie Dough (and LOTS of you did since we were the top-selling class) it will be available to pickup tomorrow as well! Did you get our letter about our Basket for our annual Basket Auction? We have a Family Golf-themed basket cooking, so if you can donate any items big or small to our collection it would be awesome! All the proceeds from this awesome event go directly back into the classrooms. Let me know if you have any questions. Finally, next week is our Fall Party already! Where did October go? Yikes! Please mark your calendars that next Thursday October 31 from 12-1:30 will be our "Fall Festival". This will be a first grade opportunity to showcase what we've learned about plant lifecycles and experiment with some different activities. Parents are invited to help run different stations and hang out with us! THEN, at 2:30 we will be having our traditional Fall PARTY! This is where we will eat our treats, play games and make crafts before we head out for the evening festivities. As always, parents are welcome to attend one or all of the day's events. Let me know if you have any questions or if I can plan on you to come by and help us out! Here is a schedule of our Specials for the week: Monday= B Tuesday= C Wednesday= D Thursday= A Friday= B Have a wonderful night! Don't forget to send your child in a jacket tomorrow...it was pretty chilly at recess this morning. See you soon!

One Version of Our Story This Week... The Little Red Hen PBS Kids.rm

Today's Field Trip...ENJOY!

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Metamorphosis From Caterpillar To Butterfly

Practically Perfect Day!

Hi everybody! We made it back from our first field trip and WHAT an adventure it was! We had a wonderful time at Pendleton Farms in Lawrence, today. We made it through a surprise thunder storm, hunted for butterfly eggs, searched for caterpillars, chased butterflies, picked pumpkins, played in a corn bath, learned fancy science words like "metamorphis" and "proboscis" and even fed tomatoes to chickens! WHEW! Your child is coming home with their self-selected pumpkin. They are probably worn out, dirty and (hopefully) very happy and excited to tell you about our day. Be sure to ask them about the rain storm and camping on the bus, the butterfly pavillion, corn bath and ask them about tagging live butterflies and setting them free. Thank you SO much for all of the moms who were able to come with us today. It was a fun-filled day together and a WONDERFUL way to jump-start our next unit on lifecycles! I took so many pictures that I wore out my camera battery...I will run to the store this afternoon and get more so that I can upload a new slideshow for you to enjoy. Our kids were amazing (especially with waiting out the rain storm). It should be an interesting dinner conversation as your child shares their favorite parts of today with you this evening. Check back soon for the latest pictures from our adventures at Pendleton Farms!

Sesame Street - Words that rhyme with "ball"

Field Trip TOMORROW!

Happy Wednesday everyone! Don't forget that tomorrow is our much-awaited field trip to Pendleton Farms in Lawrence. Your child needs to wear their NEW light blue Sunflower t-shirt, comfy shoes and they need to bring a disposable sack lunch with an unbreakable drink. We will be learning about butterflies, going into a butterfly garden and traveling through a pumpkin patch. This field trip will gear us up for our upcoming science unit on LIFECYCLES. If you volunteered to come with us, your child should have brought you a reminder note. We will be leaving at 9am, so if you wish to follow us you need to arrive at Sunflower by 8:50. We will return to school around 1 or 1:30, just in time for Specials. Has your child told your about our new friend, Katie? We are so happy to have Katie back at Sunflower and joining our class family. The kids have been wonderful to her! Welcome, Katie! Has your child been talking about shapes this week? We are learning and reviewing our knowledge of 2D shapes this week. Ask your child to tell you about a trapezoid. They should also be able to tell you the fancy name for an oval AND a diamond. Challenge them by asking if they can tell you how many sides and angles each shape has. We have spent a lot of time talking about defining attributes, so check their learning and retention! It is almost impossible to believe that next week marks the end of first quarter! If you have not already done so, please return your conference preference slip asap. I am trying to get all of my families scheduled and am missing about 5 responses. It is so important to me to get the opportunity to briefly meet with you and catch you up to speed on the wonderful things your child is doing, so let me know when a convienent time is for you to meet. If you are in the market for some cheap entertainment, our Sunflower 4th graders are preforming their musical tonight at Wheatridge Middle School. The show is usually about 20 minutes and it is always very entertaining. Swing by to watch our Sunflower kids in action, if you are looking for something to do this evening. Show starts at 7pm. Has your child been practicing their /all/ words? This is a tougher spelling pattern and extra practice will help them find greater success. Are you reading your RED folder books daily? Be sure to read each night with your first grader for 5-10 minutes. When your child is ready to read their story, please return it to school in their RED foler. Our goal is to read 25 just-right books by March. Let's get a jump on it now! As always, let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything I can do for you. I will be sure and post some pictures of tomorrow's field trip. It is sure to be a great time!

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Thursday Check-In

It was a super speedy day today! Your first grader worked hard and should be pretty worn out this evening. Picture day was great. Thank you to everyone for returning their envelopes today. I am still missing 4 permission slips for next week's field trip. If you have not sent it back, please try to do that tomorrow! Thank you also to those of you who already returned your conference request forms! You are on the ball! As soon as I have all of my forms back, I will make up a master schedule and let you know your definite time slot. If you haven't already done so, please return that form tomorrow, too. The kids have learned something new today--ask them about ROOT WORDS and endings! Your first grader should be able to tell you what a root word is. If they forget, they are bringing home a little flip book they made today to help them remember. Please be sure to ask your child to tell you what they know about root words and see if they can give you an example (they can use their flip book for help!). We have also been learning about characters this week. Today we created a poster of characters from the story "A Bad Case Of Stripes". Have your child explain why one character in their story is bigger than the others. In math, we have been working hard on our + and - fluency. Tomorrow we will show what we know and try our luck at our first real timed test! The kids will be expected to answer + and - problems of + or - 1 or 2 in one minute and 15 seconds. Extra practice at home will help your child find further success. We have also worked hard at going back and double checking our work. Be sure to ask your child how they feel about these timed practice tests...Did you remember that tomorrow is Movie Night? Third grade will be hosting our second movie night and we will be showing the original Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. We would love to have all of our friends there, so if you can make it head on over! Study those spelling words tonight for our big short /o/ spelling test tomorrow! Enjoy this summer-like night!

Picture Day TOMORROW!!!!

Hi families! Your first grader is coming home tonight with 2 very important homework assignments for you: Assignment #1= Fall Pictures are TOMORROW September 26! Order envelopes went home last Friday in our green home folders. If you wish to order pictures, please be sure to return that envelope to school in the morning with your child. I told them to look extra sharp tomorrow for their pictures (these are the ones that will go in the yearbook). We are scheduled to have our turn at 9am, so there shouldn't be too much time for hair to get messed up or clothes to get dirty! Assignment #2= Conference Note! Your child is bringing home a conference request time. Please look at your calendar and fill out your top 2 or 3 choices on the paper. Return it to me ASAP and I will start working on my Conference Schedule. It's hard to believe that we are almost to our first conference! I am anxious to sit down with each of you and talk about all of the wonderful things your first grader is doing this quarter. Finally, if you have not already done so, please return your child's field trip permission slip. Our field trip is set for next Thursday October 3rd. I am missiong about 7 permission slips from my kids. If you need a new copy, just give me a call or drop me an email and I will send one home with your kiddo. Are you reading your RED folders each night with your child? Please try to set aside 5-10 minutes each night to have your child read to you. It is so beneficial to them in so many ways. Thank you so for your continued support at home! Your first graders are amazing. Don't forget about picture day tomorrow! Holler if you need anything!

Wild, Wacky and WONDERFUL day!

WOW-IE! What a wild day...Learning Celebration was action-packed today. You should have a very tired first grader tonight because they worked and played their tails off today. We spent our morning visiting all of the first grade teachers and doing different activities and crafts while we learned about our Constitution and great country (here is where the kids started chanting "USA! USA! USA!"). We learned about symbols and what the Constitution is all about. Our all-school assembly was interesting and very unique as it tried to teach us about the different character traits. We celebrated our morning with an all-school picnic lunch outside and then learned about the Pledge of Allegiance and what it means, got a lesson on our salt water aquarium and did some cool crafts in our "special" Specials. Since our class was the big winner from the cookie dough sales, we were one of the top 3 classes who got to go into the MONEY MACHINE at the end of the day. I was nervous to try it, but we ended up grabbing a lot of dough for our kids. Have them tell you all about it. They were so awesome and supportive as they cheered me on. It was so much fun! Needless to say, after all of these activities that were out of the norm, we ran short on time and did not get a chance to take our spelling test with that /ck/ sound. SO, you have several extra days to practice these words and we will take the test on Monday morning before moving on to our new sound (which will be the short /o/). Did your child come home and tell you about our Code Red drill yesterday? We talked at great length about our different safety drills and reasons for which we practice all of them. We also have watched 2 different music videos to help us remember what to do in emergencies and when to recognize danger. These topics can be a little scary for our first graders and so it is essential that there is follow-up conversations at home about things we discussed in class. Please be sure to talk with your child and give them plenty of reassurance that they are safe. I will attach a link of the two different music videos to our blog if you would like to view them with your child at home. I will also upload some of the pictures we took today at Learning Celebration later this evening so that you can see some of the action. I hope your child enjoys their new blue Sunflower t-shirt. This is the shirt that they are asked to wear on our field trip in 2 weeks. Speaking of field trips, please remember to return your permission slip and admission fee next week if you have not already done so. Have an AWESOME fall weekend with your family. Stay safe and healthy. Thank you for having such wonderful kids!! Holler if you need anything! Looking ahead to next week, our Specials rotation is: Monday= C Tuesday= D Wednesday= A Thursday= B Friday= C

Mid-Week Check In

Happy Wednesday everyone! Here are a few highlights of our past few days. We continue to work hard at learning to identify when the /ck/ gets to go on their playdate. Ask your child to explain when a /ck/ gets together to make the /K/ sound. They should be able to verbalize that if the /ck/ sound follows a SHORT vowel sound, the c and k get to play together on their playdate. In math we are working hard on our math fact fluency. The kids have started timed math tests with both addition and subtraction mixed together! Yikes! That is a lot to think about. We are starting off trying to work our facts of +/- 1 or 2 in about 3 minutes. The goal for first grade in to complete 10 problems (+/- 1 or 2) in just one minute and fifteen seconds. Extra practice at home will help your child greatly! The Grab and Go strategy helps out a bunch with this endeavor. Has your child come home talking about safety tips? With this being Safety Week, we have spent our afternoons brainstorming different ways to stay safe both at home and at school. The kids are coming up with some AWESOME ideas. Today we spent a lot of time on stranger dangers. Please follow up with your child about the importance of this safety tip. We also talked at length about looking BOTH ways before you cross the street. Remember that you can never remind your child too often about ways to stay safe. Your follow-up at home really reinforces what we are discussing and thinking about here at school. Yesterday we had our first tornado drill. Did your child tell you about it? Our class was awesome and did a great job getting safely to the bathroom and staying quiet for the drill. Tomorrow we will practice our Code Red drill. This will come with it an opportunity for me to talk with the kids further about stranger danger and ways to stay safe in various situations. This Friday brings with it several exciting things. First, it is Walk to School Day! Sunflower families are meeting at the Gardner Pool and we are walking as a group to school on Friday. Not only does this help us practice safety when walking to school (looking both ways before you cross the street) but it also is a great reminder about the Buddy System (a favorite in our class family!). To culminate our safety week, we have many Sunflower families participating in Saturday's Kade Meyer Walk/Run. I hope to see your family bright and early on Saturday morning running (or walking in my case) for a wonderful cause. This Friday is also our annual Learning Celebration day! All of Sunflower will spend the day learning about our great nation (and state). Your child will also be receiving their brand new Sunflower "The Sky's the Limit" t-shirt, thanks to our amazing PTO. Please be sure to check your child's backpack tonight because a note went home today about lunch on Friday. In honor of Learning Celebration, we will be taking part in an all-school picnic. Your child is asked to bring a sack lunch from home on FRIDAY September 20. If you would rather have the school prepare a lunch for your child, please let me know by tomorrow or Friday morning so that I can give the kitchen a count. There will be no hot lunches served on Friday, so please start making arrangements to plan accordingly! Have a wonderful summer-like night. Be sure to talk with your kiddos about some of the safety tips we came up with today. Let me know if you have any questions. Hope to see you at Walk to School day on Friday! Be safe!

LL Cool J - "Punctuation" Music Video (The Electric Company)--We are working on our expression in our reading!

Sing Along! We watched this today to help us remember about beginning, middle and end!

Happy Monday! Happy Safety Week!

Monday= B Tuesday= C Wednesday= D Thursday= A Friday= C Hi families! Happy Monday to you. I hope this post finds you doing great after a beautiful fall weekend together. We had great Monday and have lots of good things to fill you in on. We have kicked off Safety Week here at Sunflower! First, did your child tell you about our visit from Happy Bear today? A note when home several weeks ago letting you know about Happy Bear's visit today. The kids did a WONDERFUL job during the program learning about welcome and unwelcome touches. Be sure to follow up with your child and invite them to tell you what they learned about Happy Bear's message. We practiced our first tornado drill this afternoon. This week we will practice other safety drills (fire and code red), learn about safety tips in all areas of first grade life, among other things! Be sure to have your child update you on each day's safety tips! In reading today, we started learning about our tricky new sound this week. Ask your child if they can tell you when the /ck/ gets their playdate in a word. We learned today that when the /ck/ sound comes after a SHORT vowel sound, the c and the k get to have their playdate together. Our spelling words this week help us to practice this skill. Help your child strengthen their understanding of this tricky rule by looking for words in their library books, books from home, signs on the road, etc. Our stories this week (Pick a Sack and Get Up, Rick!) are both jam-packed full of these /ck/ date words. Help your child hunt them out on Thinkcentral! Did your child show you their RED folder today? This was an exciting day in first grade, as the kids got their first taste of daily homework! Your child is bringing home a red folder in their backpack, called their "RED" folder ("read-every-day"). Inside the folder you will find a letter explaining the expectations, a book log and a list of questions designed to help your child develop and strengthen their comprehension skills. Please look through it carefully and let me know if you have any questions. When your child feels they are ready to fluently read their book, return the folder to school and an adult with read it and book talk it with them. If they can read it fluently, I will replace their book with a new book and the pattern starts again! Our goal is to try and read 25 books during the school year on each child's level. Please remember the importance of reading each day. Your child should not be reading more than 10-15 minutes each night (unless they are on a roll and loving it!) and they should not struggle too much through the book that has been sent home. If you feel the book is too difficult for your child please return it with a note letting me know. The letter in the RED folder will explain in more detail. Holler if you have any questions. Has your child told you about the "Grab and Go" strategy we've been working on in math? Ask them to teach you this strategy. (Here is a Cliff's Notes version for you: If a problem is 5+6= ?, your child is learning to grab the first number and say it ("5")then make dots for the second number. It would look like this: 5+......=? They grab the five and say "5", then count on from the dots ("6,7, 8, 9, 10, 11"). Have your child practice this strategy tonight with several other addition problems. Mark your calendars that this FRIDAY September 20 is our annual Sunflower LEARNING CELEBRATION! As Constitution Day approaches, we spend the day celebrating our great nation and learning all sorts of things that make our country so amazing. Please plan on sending a SACK LUNCH to school with your child this Friday or let me know if you would like me to have the kitchen prepare a sack lunch for your child. As part of this annual celebration, all of Sunflower will eat lunch together in an all-school picnic on Friday. Finally, thank you to the families who have already returned their field trip permission slips. Please try to have them back as soon as possible.

The Big Pig Song--Check this out, we've been singing it all week!

PAJAMA DAY TOMORROW!!!

Hi families! I hope this latest post finds you all healthy and enjoying our start to September! I am so sorry for the delay in posts this week. Yikes! Time is flying by in first grade and I haven't found a moment to fill you in....Hopefullly your first grader brought home a blue note about PAJAMA DAY tomorrow, September 13th! We have filled up our compliment chain for the second time and this time we are going to celebrate by being comfy and cozy in our pjs. Your child is welcome to wear their jammies, bring a pillow, blanket and/or a favorite stuffed animal. We will make reading forts in the afternoon and celebrate being awesome. We have been over-the-top busy with learning new things this week. We've spent the week learning about classifying, contractions, the sound of stinky short /i/, writing sentences, the meaning of the equals sign and different strategies to solving math problems. WHEW! Have your child share what they know so far about these topics. You will be amazed! Two of our classmates grew one year older this week! Happy birthday to Bryce and Jake!! Thank you for sharing your birthday with us and for sharing such yummy treats. Don't forget that we have another spelling test tomorrow. Hopefully your child is ready to show what they know about the short /i/ sound! Be looking for our first field trip permission slip to be coming home in your child's Friday folder tomorrow. The year is off and rolling and your kids are rocking right along. Let me know if you need anything! Happy Thursday!

Another Slideshow--Today's Surprise Snow Cone Party!

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Our First Slideshow!!!

Look at all of the fun we have had these first few weeks as FIRST GRADERS! Enjoy!

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Fun Friday!

Hi families!!! Happy Friday to everyone. What a fun day we have had in first grade. We kicked off our morning by wrapping up our August journal. Today we wrote about the best part of first grade so far. Invite your child to tell you what they wrote about and have them tell you WHY they like their topic so much. We tried out our first "Fun Friday" in first grade. Fun Friday is modeled after Kindergarten Mania and it was our first attempt at this in first grade. It went AWESOME! All 3 first grade classrooms were opened up for the kids to explore. Each classroom had different activities that showcased things we have been working on for the past 2 weeks. Be sure to have your child tell you what classrooms they visited and what activities they liked the best. The kids were experts at transitioning and staying on task. I was so happy with how this first trial run of Fun Friday went. Way to go Firsties!!! Has your child told you about "EEKK!" buddies yet? Be sure to ask them what "EEKK" stands for and what you do at EEKK buddy time. Today we tried out our first Reader's Theater with our EEKK buddy. We made stick puppets and took turns reading this week's story "Let's Tap!". This activity encourages the children to not only take turns with their reading, but allows them to try out different vocal expressions as we begin to tackle fluency. It also requires the kids to use the pictures to help them determine what is happening in the story and use the appropriate characters at the correct times. These are great comprehension skill builders and the kids did GREAT! We have spent all week talking about the 3 ways to read a book: 1. Look at the pictures 2. Look at the Words 3. RE-TELL! I have given the kids a long-weekend homework assignment. They are bringing home their "Let's Tap!" puppets and they are asked to re-tell the story to someone at home using their puppets. This will help your child strengthen their comprehension skills. You can check their comprehension by logging into ThinkCentral.com because it is finally up and running! The (very long) directions on how to login to our text book website on located on the sidebar of this blog. Check it out! In math, we finally got to work on our BRAND NEW laptops. They are fancy. We experimented with some learning games, many of which you can play at home if you click the links on the sidebar of this webpage, too! The most exciting news for the kids today was that the first grade classes were the TOP sellers of cookie dough so far. What did that mean for us? SNOW CONE PARTY!!!! Yep, all of the first graders got to enjoy the end of their day with a nice, cool, yummy snow cone. Thank you SO much to everyone for your effort to make that possible for the kids. They were thrilled. I will post pictures later....Speaking of pictures, don't worry I have heard back from everyone and am in the process of putting together our beginning-of-the-year slideshow so that you can see what we have been up to. You may want to watch the show with your child so that they can RE-TELL you what is happening in all of the pictures! It is my goal to have the show uploaded and on our page tonight after my babies go to bed....check back. If you are a Wildcat, enjoy the game tonight! If you are not, enjoy your night! Don't forget NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY!!! Happy Labor Day. Let me know if you need anything! Thanks so much!

Here's Another Prediction Clue...We Watched This One Too! Can You Guess???

We Watched This Clip to Help Us Learn About Predictions Today!

Can YOU predict what today's story was about? Here's a hint: It had NOTHING to do with penguins!!!

Sing Along With the Short /a/ Sound!

Second Week, Here We Come!

Monday= D Tuesday= A Wednesday= B Thursday= C Friday= D Happy Sunday, families! I hope you made it through a VERY hot weekend with your family. Thank you to everyone who made it to Movie Night on Friday. It was one of the best turnouts ever. I peeked in a few times and saw lots of our class family snugged up and watching Epic. It was a wonderful time. We are set for a full week as we start to settle in to a more typical first grade routine. Last week was spent testing and reading with my kids one-on-one and this week we begin our reading curriculum. The kids will be getting their new text books tomorrow and we will kick our week off reviewing the short sound of /a/. This week brings with it our first SPELLING TEST! Tomorrow we will be having our fist PRACTICE test. Your child will bring their words home for the week on Monday and we will have our POST test on Friday. Our spelling words share the sound pattern that we focus on each week. We also will introduce new "have-to-know" words that will be found throughout our first grade texts. Finally, we introduce "fancy pants" words in which I try to encourage the kids to use in context in their daily vocabulary. For example, last week our word was "UNIQUE". Have you heard this one at home a lot? Be sure to check our blog page each week to know the have-to-know words as well as the fancy pants words and help your child read and use these words at home. In math we will continue to work on writing our numbers, as well as putting them in order to the number 30. Please practice with you child at home by asking them things such as: "What number comes after 22?" or "What number comes before 13?" Number fluency is a critical skill as we begin our first grade learning and asking these simple questions as you are driving in the car help connect the kids more to what they are doing in the classroom. We are also continuing our work with measurement. Using comparison words such as "bigger", "taller", "longer" and "smaller" we have been working at measuring with different units. In first grade we use things like unifix cubes and links to determine what is bigger, longer or smaller. Extra practice at home will help us strengthen these skills and gear us up for our first math quiz this week! Did your child bring home their PTO Cookie Packets last week? Sunflower PTO does absolutely incredible things for our kids and if you are able to help support them in this big fundraiser, we would all be so grateful. It's going to be super-duper hot again this week, so that means super worn out kids. Please continue to help your first grader do their best by allowing them plenty of sleep. If you haven't let me know about posting your child's picture to the web for our website, please send me a quick email and let me know. I am so anxious to share the darling photos of what your kids have been up to so far! Let me know if you need anything. Let's have a great last week of August!

Wednesday Wrap-Up

Hi families! We made it through mid-week. Whew...the kids are getting worn out as they settle into their new school routine. Is your first grader sleepy earlier than usual? I know my own kids are wiped out at night. Please continue to help them get plenty of rest and stick to their new school routine in order to help them do their best at school. Today, we finished up our unique cows from Tuesday. Ask your child to describe their cow and the things that make it unique. Tomorrow we are going to try our first cooperative learning activity as we keep learning about the word UNIQUE. The kids reviewed some more letters and went on a letter hunt around our room. They played a trick on me, too. Be sure to have your child tell you what they did to outsmart me with the letter "i". It was a good one!!! Today our story was Lily's Purple Plastic Purse. Have your child tell you some of the main parts of this story. We used the story to help us learn about "Good" and "Not-so-good" choices. We welcomed a little visitor today in the form of our story's main character, Lily. A little plush Lily is going to spend the rest of the week traveling from desk to desk looking for friends who are making good choices. Ask your child if Lily has visited them yet. You may also want to brainstorm some ideas of what they could do so that Lily will see the good choices they are making (raising their hand, following directions, being a kind friend, not giving up, being respectful, etc.) Lily will be sure to sit on every desk before she has to leave... Your child might also be talking AND super psyched about our class chain...we have been working together to complete our chain link and today was the day that the chain touched the ground!!! Yippee! Usually, it takes my classes MANY weeks (if not months) to fill up a chain. I am so proud of them and how they work together. Friday we will be having a celebration of sorts. I will let you know what our special treat will be...hmmmm. I wasn't ready to have this happen so soon! I tell you, they are an awesome bunch! Finally, don't forget that TOMORROW is our Watchdog Dinner! A flyer will be coming home tomorrow, but we would love to see you all at Sunflower for a pizza dinner! Be sure to look for the information that is coming home in your child's backpack TOMORROW. It's always a great night! Have a wonderful evening.

Happy Tuesday!

Hi families! Hope this post finds you enjoying a peaceful (and cool) Tuesday evening. We had another great day in first grade. I cannot begin to tell you how much I LOVE THIS GROUP OF KIDS!!! They are so much fun to be with. I have absolutely loved each moment with them as we dive into first grade. Did your first grader come home today and tell you about the word "UNIQUE"? This is our word of the week. We are learning this word (a college word, I told them) and gaining an understanding of how cool it is to be unique. Ask your first grader to tell you what was unique about me today. I was sure someone would tell me a looked "weird", but not one of them did (here's a hint...it has something to do with my hair color). They only said, "Well, that's unique Ms. B". Yay! The lesson is sinking in. We created our own unique Elmer elephants from our story yesterday and today we started creating our own unique cows to match a poem we read together. Have your child how they designed their cow to be extra special and UNIQUE! Tomorrow, we will take a tour of our new Lifeskills room and see all of the neat things that happen in there. It will be exciting to see how all different kids can learn, communicate, move, laugh, play...It is definitely cool to be UNIQUE! Did your child mention their special "Jitter Juice" today? We read a poem this afternoon, and went on a letter hunt. Afterward, we talked about the word "jitters". Even though our back-to-school jitters have gone away (for the most part), we talked about how we can still feely nervous when something new is happening. After our poem, we made some delicious (and green) Jitter Juice. The unanimous vote was that it was DELICIOUS!!!! Have your child tell you about it. I have loved working one on one with the kids this week. Thank you to the wonderful Ms. Andrea for leading our whole group lessons in letter and sound review. I am overwhelmed at the skill level of this group of kids! Thank you to all of you for investing so much time into your children. They are all, off-the-charts adorable, hard-working and just FUN to be with. Have a wonderful night. Holler if you need anything! Thanks for sharing your kids with me during the day...see you soon!

Elmer the Patchwork Elephant-Our story today that reminded us that being unique is COOL!

Full Steam and Full Week Ahead!

Monday= C Tuesday= D Wednesday= A Thursday= B Friday= C Happy Sunday families! I hope this post finds you happy and rested after a wonderful weekend with your NEW first grader! Was your child extra sleepy on Friday? This transition time back to school is often tough on our first graders, so please help your child do their best by allotting earlier bedtimes and sticking with a new routine. I, too, was too pooped to participate by Friday night and so apologize for the delay in an updated post. We had a super-duper 3 days together last week. I hope your child has shared some of the things we've learned in first grade, thus far. Be sure to have them show you some of our new sign language signs that we use to communicate in first grade. Your child should also have brought home their "Me Bag" on Friday. I am asking the children to find items that tell about themselves and put them in their little "Me Bag". We will start sharing our bags tomorrow, but don't worry if you didn't get a chance to put yours together...it will take us a while to share all 24 bags. I shared my bag with the kids on Friday. Check to see what your child remembers about me from the items in my Me Bag...hmmmmm. The upcoming week is going to bring about some back-to-school assessments. It's kind of a bummer for the kids, but it is such a valuable resource for me to know where each of my kids are at in their learning journey. We are so lucky to have Ms. Andrea join us tomorrow to help us review some letters and work on some writing while I am testing the kids one at a time. On another note, I have noticed that many of our first graders are getting hungry in the afternoon. If your child would like to bring a little snack to have at 2:30 when we return from Specials, that is fine with me. I am unable to provide snacks as a class, but the invitation is open to my kids to have a snack at 2:30 from home. It will be a working snack, as we have lots to get done the last hour of our day. But I am finding that I am getting hungry by 2:30 and so I know our first graders are as well. As the year progresses and they get into their groove, my classes have usually found they no longer need a working snack. However, this early in the year it is a good idea to keep the kids fed, watered, rested and happy! Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions, concerns or comments. I have loved spending the past few days with your amazing children and am excited to see them in the morning! Have a great night!

Super-Duper First Day!

Hi families! Hopefully by now your new first grader has come home and told you something about our first half-day together...we crammed a lot into just a few hours this morning. We organized our pencil "party houses", celebrated a birthday (yay Abigail!), learned about the big kid playground, read a rhyming book about starting first grade, we were introduced to the members of our new class family, worked on our cutting and following direction skills, designed our faces, AND learned about our Starcharts!!! Whew! You should probably have a sleepy first grader this evening. Tomorrow we gear up for ALL day!!! This is tough on our first graders in the beginning, so please help your child have a great day by ensuring they get plenty of sleep tonight and help them have a great breakfast tomorrow. Remember that Sunflower serves breakfast each morning at 8am if you ever need to have your child eat at school. Speaking of eating, tomorrow will also be our first BIG KID lunch!!! We will have third grade buddies come down to help us with our lunch numbers and learning the ropes of the lunchroom. It is exciting stuff!! Your child is welcome to bring a lunch from home in the morning OR they may choose one of the 3 lunch choices. You can find the weekly choices right here on this website! I will stay with the children until everyone is served, eating and happy, so not to worry! We also get to go to Specials tomorrow!!!! Tomorrow is and "A" day, which means that we will go to Music for 30 minutes, followed by PE for 30 minutes. Please help your child remember to wear good gym shoes or bring them in their backpack when they come to school. Please let me know if you need anything! Have a wonderful night together and get ready for a BIG first grade day tomorrow! Welcome back!

'Twas the Night Before First Grade...

'Twas the night before first grade and all through our school, We new smiling faces coming in the building that is so, super cool. They met their new teacher, put their new things away And wondered what to expect on that very next day. Their teacher was THRILLED to meet her new crew She was so excited, she didn't know what to do! So she looked at the clock and said "Time for bed", There is so much fun in the days ahead. Thank you to ALL of you for making time to come to Meet-the-Teacher night tonight! We had 100% turn out!!!!! Whoo-hoo! I am beyond thrilled for our year together. It was so much fun to meet your sweet kiddos tonight. I hope they are feeling excited for our year to begin. Don't forget that we dismiss at 11:30 tomorrow, and so will NOT be having lunch. Let me know if your child's transportation plans will differ from what the office has on file for them tomorrow. Thank you so much, again, for coming tonight! What an awesome way to start our year together! Way to go families!!! See you tomorrow!

Did You Get Your Letter?

Hi everybody!!!! If you have found your way to this blog, you must have gotten your first grade letter telling you the I am going to be your new teacher this year!!! YIPPEE!!!! I can't wait to see you all again as first graders. We are going to have a BLAST this year together. Be sure to check this website often as I will continue to update and add new links as we get closer to the beginning of the year. I hope you are enjoying your last few weeks of summer and getting fired up for some FIRST GRADE FUN!!! See you soon! Love, Ms. B

Hip Hop Alphabet song--Sing Along!

Sesame Street - Count It Higher

Our Year In Pictures...

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Awards Ceremony TOMORROW!

Hi families! Well, we are down to the final days together. I hope your soon-to-be-second grader came home today and told you about our Awards Ceremony tomorrow morning. First grade will have a formal Awards Presentation right off the bat tomorrow (Thursday May 23) at 8:45 in the Commons. You and your family are invited and encouraged to come and support your child as they are recognized for their hard work this year. Immediately following the formal ceremony, we will return to our classroom for our own Candy Awards as well as a small breakfast reception. Thank you again, to my families that have volunteered to bring in various treats. Please be sure they are at school by 9:30. I will also show the children a slideshow with a collection of pictures throughout our year together. After just previewing it, I have to say it's sad to watch. This was such a wonderful year with such a wonderful group of kiddos. It is going to be very hard to watch them go...ah, this is the difficult part of teaching. Please let me know if you have any questions. I will hope to see many of you tomorrow. Please remember to send a change of clothes with your child (if they are dressing up for the ceremony), as we have a day of PLAY planned once our celebration festivities are formally over. See you soon!

Check out all the fun we've been having...

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Field Trip Tomorrow!

Hi families! Don't forget tomorrow is our field trip to the Paul Mesner Puppet Theater! Check out this link to learn more: www.paulmesnerpuppets.org/‎. Please have your child wear their blue Sunflower t-shirt, bring a sack lunch and drink and PLEASE put sunscreen on them before they head off to school in the morning. After our morning puppet show, we will be going backstage to make our own puppet craft. Then we will head back to Gardner and have a picnic lunch and playdate at Celebration Park! You are welcome to meet us at the park for lunch. We plan to arrive by 12 noon. Please call me on my cell phone tonight if you have any questions. You can reach me at: 378-7523. I will be at my son's baseball games all night and won't be able to check email. Thank you so much! The countdown is on...tomorrow will be lots of fun! Have a great night!

The Wonder of Springtime!

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Wednesday Wrap

What a week!!! Crazy weather, crazy busy! We are trying to get back into our groove after last week's musical. It's been a challenge with the crazy weather and shortened week. Whew! Let's get caught up to speed: 1. Field Trip permission slips went home last Friday. If you have not already done so, please be sure to return it to school with your child this week. We will be going to a Paul Mesner Puppet show and having a picnic. We need permission slips back and puppet show money returned soon in order to buy our tickets. Our wonderful PTO will be providing the extra money so that each child will get to make their own take-home puppet. It is going to be a lot of fun! Let me know if you need another copy of the permission slip. 2. Did you remember that THIS FRIDAY is our AMAZING school carnival???? Our PTO goes over the top to make this such a fun-filled evening. I hope to see all of you Friday night. If you have volunteered your time, you should have received a reminder slip in your child's mail last Friday. If you are unsure of your scheduled time, drop me an email or call me and I will let you know. Thank you in advance to everyone who has donated supplies or their time to making this a wonderful night for our kids. I have been asked to tell all of my families that if you purchased Magic Show tickets, there will be 2 showtimes. One will be at 5:15 and the second show will follow at 5:45. If you can make it to the 5:15 showtime, we are encouraging our families to come to that show as we are anticipating the 5:45 show to be very full. Thank you for your understanding and consideration! 3. Please remind your child's Flat Stanley recipient not to worry about sending it back by the date on the letter. We will be displaying our Flatties as they return to school until the end of the year, so when they are ready they can send it back! Have a wonderful evening. Let me know if you have any questions or if you need anything. Hope to see you Friday night at the Carnival!!!

Up and Running!

Monday= B Tuesday= C Wednesday= D Thursday= A Friday= B Happy Monday, families! I am so sorry for the delay in our posts! I have been having a tough time with this website server and am just now FINALLY able to post successfully. Whew! Thank you to everyone who made it to last week's Art Walk. I hope you all enjoyed looking through your first grader's "Pieces" of work. They were so proud of their masterpieces. Are we head into the end of our year together (CRAZY!) we are going to start picking up the pace to TURBO-speed! Here are some things to keep on your calendar: 1. Musical! Our first grade musical is NEXT Thursday April 18 at Wheatridge Middle School. This week and next will be spent polishing and perfecting this darling performance. Please be sure to read the letter that came home on Friday from Mrs. Neely with more details about costumes and details of the performance night. Let me know if you have any questions. 2. Carnival! Our school carnival is Friday April 26. We are still in need of donations of indidual bags of Goldfish crackers, as well as donations of time! If you are able to help run a station for 30 minutes, we would be so grateful. Let me know if you would be willing to volunteer your time. Thank you in advance. Power Drills and this week's spelling words are coming home today. Be sure to check your child's backpack. Ask your child to tell you about Jane Goodall and her chimpanzee, David Greybeard. We read an article today about Dr. Goodall and learned about her unique job. Check your child's comprehension to see if they remember what we learned. Please help your first grader stick to a regular bedtime. I had many sleepy kiddos today and that makes learning difficult! Let me know if you have any questions with all the activities this month. Hope you are all well. Have a great night!

Latest Slideshow--Enjoy!

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Where are you spring????

Hi families! Happy last day of Spring Break...although it certainly doesn't feel anything like spring! I hope this post finds you all happy, healthy and rested after a wonderful week together. I can't wait to hear all about your activities during your break. I know the kids will return tomorrow full of stories and things to share. Can you belive that we kick off our LAST quarter together in first grade? Unbelievable! We have a lot on our plate this month in first grade. Be prepared to be busy, busy, busy! We will get right back into our routine tomorrow with new spelling words, Power Drills, stories and projects. We are also going to start going full-speed ahead at rehearsing for our musical next month. Once this winter weather finally decides to leave us alone and spring actually begins to show itself, we are going to be busy and the year will be wrapping up before you know it. Please let me know if you need anything or if you have any questions as we head into fourth quarter. Now it's time for me to go and cheer on my Jayhawks! Have a warm and cozy night! Can't wait to see your dear ones tomorrow morning...

Enjoy...

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Wednesday Check-In...

Hi families! I hope this post finds you doing great at our mid-week point! I am so happy to have a week free of snow days...I hope your first grader is hanging in there as we get back into our routine. It's tough to re-adjust after so much unexpected time off. Let's catch you up to speed: Tomorrow morning all first graders have been invited to Wheatridge Middle School to watch the second grade dress rehearsal for their musical! The kids don't know that they are in for a surprise trip in the morning, but it will be a blast. Mrs. Neeley is so kind to extend the invitation to us in order for our kids have an opportunity to see what these amazing productions are like. It allows the kids to understand what they will be doing in the weeks to come in preparation for THEIR show in April. Speaking of which, did your first grader give you a letter from Mrs. Neeley yesterday about our show? They brought home a letter telling you what part they will be playing in this year's First Grade Performance. Be sure to read the letter carefully, as some students will be expected to attend early morning practices and I believe the first practice is this Friday for some characters. For those of you who have not seen one of Mrs. Neeley's musicals, you are in for a treat! They are amazing. Our kids will be working so, so hard in the weeks to come but the final production pays off! Next, this Friday is our First Grade "Science Day". You are welcome to come and help from 12:30-1:30. We will be doing different scientific experiments and learning more about hypothesis and observation. Friday night is also Movie Night! Don't forget check-in begins at 6pm and the fun-filled night goes until 9pm. We'd love to have you! Next week we will also begin our Quarterly Math text as we end another quarter together. Please be looking for your child's last math quiz coming home this weekend and review this skill with them. This last skill of finding missing addends through related subtraction problems has proven difficult for many of our kiddos. Extra practice and encouragement at home always helps! As always, please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions or concerns or if you need anything. We are getting ready to hit a very busy time of our year together and communication is essential! Please continue to check our blog frequently...I'm trying to keep up with our fast pace first grade journey. Have a great night...cross your fingers for some spring-like days ahead!

Snow, Snow, Snow...

Wow! Can you believe this snow??? March cannot get here fast enough. I hope you have enjoyed your snow days with your first grader. I know MY first grader is climbing the walls and ready to go back to school. I wanted to remind you all that TOMORROW (February 28) is our Picture Day Make-Up. We will be taking individual and class pictures. If you did not return your picture money, you can definitely send it tomorrow with you child. Be sure to have your child look extra sharp tomorrow for pictures! Hopefully you were able to help you child with some of their homework during the past two days. Did you see the note about Science Day? I will be sending home several more notes about some other things we have going on in March, so be looking for them. One is about a Leprechaun Trap and another is about Flat Stanley. Curious? Be watching your child's backpack for these upcoming projects and activities. We have a lot of catch up to do in order to make up for these unplanned days off, so please help your child transition back into our routine by allowing them plenty of sleep tonight! We will hit the ground running tomorrow. Finally, tomorrow is also a LIBRARY day! Please help your child return their old books so that they can have new books for the weekend! Let me know if you need anything. Enjoy this last snow day....I hope!

To Snow or Not To Snow?

Hi families! With the pending storm, we are not sure what tomorrow brings. Remember that tomorrow is our PICTURE DAY!!! We will be taking Spring Pictures AND a Class Picture!!! If school is canceled, our pictures will be rescheduled for next week. We will just have to wait and see what Mother Nature has in store for us. Has your first grader said anything about George Washington this week? We are learning all about our first president this week in honor of his birthday on Friday. Invite your child to share some of what we are learning with you tonight at dinner. Don't foget that this Friday is also MOVIE NIGHT! Mark your calendars to be here from 6-9pm as we show Hotel Transilvania! It is always a good time. Let me know if you need anything. Stay warm and cozy and practice those spelling words!

Back to Work!

Tuesday= D Wednesday= A Thursday= B Friday= C Happy President's Day! I hope this post finds you all happy and healthy after a LONG weekend together. I wanted to thank ALL of you for making it to conferences last week. It was so much fun to watch our first grader's shine and allow to to see a snapshot of their days here in room 111. I hope you found time to celebrate ALL that they have accomplished. It is always a pleasure to get to visit with parents and I truly appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedules to come watch your first grader showcase their learning. Don't let this shortened week fool you! We have a lot to cram into the next 4 days. This week will be learning about George Washington in honor of his upcoming birthday this Friday. We have some tricky math concepts ahead this week with figuring out a missing part in a subtraction problem and we have a lot on non-fiction stories to read this week. It's a doozy! Mark your calendars for this Friday's Movie Night, hosted by Kindergarten. Also, this THURSDAY is PICTURE DAY! Be sure to get your order form returned if you are interested in purchasing a class photo. Please try to have your first grader in bed early tonight so that they are ready to rock in the morning! See you soon!

Conference Week!

Happy Sunday, families! I hope this post finds you doing well after a great weekend together. Did your first grader finish their Valentine's Day box? Don't forget to have them bring it to school tomorrow. Our party is Tuesday at 2:30! Also, did your first grader show you their Mitten homework? We have been working hard on retell and they should have brought home a yellow paper mitten with story characters inside. They were asked to retell you the events from our story using their mitten to help them. Please be sure to sign the Mitten and return it to school with your child this week. Have you marked your calendars for Parent Teacher Conferences this week? I am looking forward to watching your child show you the ropes of first grade. Remember, we are doing Student-Led conferences and so your first grader will need to come with you! Let me know if you have any questions or if you are unable to make your scheduled time. I am looking forward to see all of you. Have a super night! See you soon...

Where'd the week go?

Hi families! I sit here again and cannot believe that it is already Thursday. What a great week we've had in first grade. As usual, we have been busy. Has your child told you about our new word in first grade: "perspective"? We learned this new word last week and created some terrific art displaying our newfound perspective. We can't wait for you to come to school next week for conferences and see it! Speaking of conferences, did you get your confirmation time slot last week? Don't forget that this year we are trying "Student-Led" conferences so that your first grader may showcase what they are learning and what we are currently working on as we near the spring. Your child is expected to attend the conference with you next week, so please keep that in mind. They are in charge! Let me know if you need to change your time or if you are unsure of your scheduled appointment. I am looking forward to seeing you! Also, has your child started their Valentine's Day box? Please be sure to read the pink note that came home on Tuesday. Our first graders need to decorate a box for our Valentine's Day party next week. We are asking for the boxes to be returned to school on Monday. Our Valentine's Day party will be held next Tuesday February 12 at 2:30. You are welcome to join us. If you child chooses to hand out Valentine's, please help them provide one for each member of our class family. A list of our classmates was included on the pink note! As always, let me know if you need anything. Have a wonderful night!

We've Been Working on ADJECTIVES!

Hundreds Day TOMORROW!

Monday= C Tuesday= D Wednesday= A Thursday= B Friday= C Happy Sunday, families! I hope you are out and about enjoying this beautiful day. Just wanted to remind you that tomorrow is our 100th Day of School! Be sure to help your child remember their baggie of 100 items and also to wear clothing with numbers! A note went home on Friday with more details about this assignment, so be sure to check your child's backpack. We have a jam-packed day of activities celebrating the number 100! Also, tomorrow is a LIBRARY day so help your first grader remember to get their Library books in their backpacks tonight. Friday night's Movie Night was a HUGE hit!! Thank you to all of the families who were able to make it. The money we earned comes right back into our classrooms, so THANK YOU so very much! Have a wonderful evening together!

Movie Night Tonight! Hundreds Day Monday!

Happy Friday, families! Don't forget that tonight is First Grade sponsered MOVIE NIGHT! We will open the doors at 6pm and it will last until 9pm. The more the merrier! We are showing Ice Age 4 and it is sure to be a great time. Please be sure to look through your child's mail tonight. In addition to many assessments and assignments coming home, there is a note about 100's Day on MONDAY! Your child is asked to bring a ziplock baggie of 100 small items and they are also invited to wear clothing with numbers on them. We have lots of fun little activities planned to celebrate being 100 days smarter! It's been a wild week. Ask your child about Dr. King and painting elephants. We have spent a great deal of time this week learning about main idea. Have them explain what a main idea is and then ask them to tell you the main idea of this week's story (clue: it involves painting elephants!). Let me know if you have any questions. Hope to see you at movie night tonight! Thank you in advance for your support!

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!