Baby Watch is ON!!!

Hi families! Just wanted to let you know that the baby countdown is on and I am heading to the hospital tonight! After this afternoon's doctor appointment, my doctor said it was time and is sending me to the hospital tonight. I would appreciate any prayers, as I have a house full of sick kids myself! Thank you for all of your care and love. Please love on your first grader for me and tell them I will be back soon. Don't forget that tomorrow is 100's day and we will be having all sorts of fun activities going on! It is a big deal to be celebrating 100 days of first grade! I am so sorry to miss it! Love to all...we will keep you posted on the Baby Watch....

We painted like the elephants in our story this week. Have your child about this NON-Fiction story about Lucky the elephant and then enjoy the pictures of our first graders giving it a try!

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Mid-Week Check In

Happy Wednesday, first grade families! I hope this post finds you all healthy and warm after a beautiful, spring-like 3-day weekend. We are getting back into our groove this week and I am still here waddling away as we await the arrival of this huge baby! :) The kids have been terrific this week and we have been busy getting back into the routine. Did your first grader come home talking about Raz-Kids? They were off-charts-excited today when they learned about this awesome computer club they are now members of. Your first grader should have come home today with a little ticket with a Raz-kids website and password on it. Raz-Kids is a wonderful, individual reading website with interactive features that encourage kids to listen to reading, read on their own and strengthen their comprehension skills by engaging them in various online quizzes based on how well they have read and listened to different texts. I LOVE this program!!! Our first grade team used money from our AMAZING PTO to purchase memeberships for each first grader to Raz-Kids. Your child is able to work on their personal library at home with the help of the ticket I sent with them today (including the website and teacher name login). They spent the end of their day learning how the site works and how they have their own personalized reading library where they can earn "Star Bucks" to "buy" things for the Raz-Rocket and Raz-Robot. They were PSYCHED when it was time to go home! Have them tell you about it tonight at dinner. I have not been able to provide this to my students in several years, due to funding. I am so grateful to ALL of you wonderful parents and PTO members for working so hard to provide our kids with the funds to purchase this terrific and motivating program. I love that it is individualized, based on your child's reading strengths and that they are able to move at their own pace. Please let me know if you have any questions about this exciting option for reading. It is also important for you to know that your child's membership is good for one full YEAR, which means during the summer and into next fall they can keep working to improve their reading skills and build their rockets up even more! Today in math we learned about the number-hungry Mr. Munch...otherwise know as "greater than/less than". Have your child tell you what they learned today about Mr. Munch. Give them extra practice by providing two different numbers and ask them to draw which one Mr. Munch would eat: 37 < 45. Or 89 > 22. Can they "read" the math sentence using the big-kids words "greater than" or "less than"? On a baby-watch note, I wanted to let you all know that our baby could make her big debut at any moment. At last check my doctor said anytime in the next 7-10 days...that sounds like a looooong time to me right now! My wonderful substitute, Mrs. Godwin, has been checking in on us this week and making herself a frequent guest in anticipation for my short time away. I have talked to the kids about being gone for a little bit...although many of them were confused why I wouldn't come back the day after the baby was here! :) I will keep you posted via the blog as to when we welcome this newest blessing. Thank you to all of your for your well-wishes, check-ins, love and support. You have no idea how much it helps me. I am so blessed to know you all! Let me know if you need anything. Stay warm tonight...it's going to get COLD!!!!

Pajama Day FRIDAY!

We've done it again! Our amazing first graders have filled up another class compliment chain and in celebration, we will have another Pajamma Day tomorrow--January 17. Your child is invited to wear their comfy, cozy jammies, bring a blanket and favorite stuffed animal. We will kick back and work in our jammies tomorrow and maybe have a little treat at the end of the day. Don't forget our spelling test tomorrow, too! Book orders went home last Friday in our Home Folders and they are due back tomorrow, if you are intersted. Remember the coupon for a free book if you spend $10! Have a super night!

The Lion and the Mouse--this is our read aloud fable for the week. Ask your child to tell you the message in the story!

Tuesday Check-In

Happy Tuesday families! I hope you are having a wonderful start to the week. I just wanted to let you know about two papers that came home today. First, tonight is our PTO Chuck E. Cheese night! Your child is bringing home a letter and coupon for 10 free tokens to use at tonight's event. Chuck E. Cheese even made a surprise appearance in our classroom this afternoon! WOW! I also wanted to let you know that your first grader is bringing home a letter and flyer home tonight to support our classmate, Tyler. The kids and I had a class family meeting this afternoon and talked about the book and toy drive that our classroom will be participating in. Please be sure check your child's backpack and talk with them about this project. Your child also learned about a new online math game to help them polish up on their double facts! Be sure to check the sidebar on this blog under "Math Games" and have your first grader show you how to play "Monkey Drive"! They LOVED it! Have a wonderful evening together!

What a GREAT start to 2014!

Happy Friday families! We had a wonderful week back in action in first grade. The kids came back ready to learn and excited to share stories of their Winter Break Adventures. I am thrilled to see all 25 of my kiddos again. It sounds like a good time was had by all this holiday season. We didn't waste any time getting back into action! The kids were ready to kick it and work hard. We did lots of writing this week-reflecting on our break, inventing our own secret hideout and describing it, writing a rhyming poem about cardinal birds AND writing about our own resolutions for 2014! In math we are working hard to learn, understand and MEMORIZE our double facts. Extra practice at home will help your child become more fluent in this department. Knowing our double facts will help us farther down the road as our math facts grow increasingly more challenging. Have your child tell you about their double stamping book they worked on today. Next week we are moving on to learning about MATTER, two-digit numbers, the Bossy R, and Greater Than/Less Than. Enjoy the projected nice-weather weekend! Let me know if you need anything...we are in the final stretch of our Baby Watch...stay tuned! Specials for next week: Monday=A Tuesday= B Wednesday= C Thursday= D Friday= A

Doubles! Doubles! (I Can Add Doubles) song--We started working on our doubles! Sing along at home to help your child out!

Between the Lions: Blending Bowl...We watched this today! What other /wh/ words can your first grader think of?

Snow Day TOMORROW!

Hi families! I was so excited to see my first graders tomorrow, but Mother Nature did not cooperate and we will NOT be having school tomorrow MONDAY JANUARY 6th. I will have to wait until Tuesday to see your sweet kiddos and hear all about their Winter Break adventures. I hope you all had a healthy, happy break together. We are still awaiting the arrival of Baby #6...so if all goes as expected, I will be there with bells on to greet my friends on Tuesday morning. We will jump right back into our first grade routine on Tuesday, so please help your child transition as easily as possible by ensuring they get plenty of sleep and get back into a schedule. I can't wait to see them on Tuesday! Enjoy ONE more day of vacation together! Happy New Year!

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