Thrilling Thursday!

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

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

Tuesday Catch-Up

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

Here we go!

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

Zoo=WHEW!

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

Our newest slideshow...ENJOY!

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WIld FRIDAY!

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

Wednesday Already?

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

Short E is our Sound of the Week!

Welcome October!

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

Thursday Check-In

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

Picture Day Tomorrow!

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