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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!

Another new slideshow to peek inside our classroom...Enjoy!

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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!!!!

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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!