ANNOUNCEMENTS & SHENANIGANS
Wow! It’s hard to believe that we have finished half of 1st grade! We still have so much more to learn and explore in the second half of the school year but each child has already accomplished so much! I am so proud of each and everyone of them and I can’t wait to see how much more they continue to grow as 1st graders.
Thank you for a wonderful winter party today! I appreciate our room moms that got everything ready and all the volunteers and visitors who made our party go smoothly! We had a lot of fun!!!!
Thank you for all the wonderful cards, sweet and treats. and gifts. I am so blessed to teach your kids everyday and appreciate you sharing them with me! They make each day fun and exciting! Your generosity and kindness is truly appreciated. I hope you all have a wonderful winter break!!!!
We had a lot of fun during this short week. We still had some learning to do. We wrapped up our learning on time to the hour and half hour as well as fractions. Continue to practice time with your kiddos. They love being helpful and reminding me of the time throughout the day. We also started learning about objects in the sky and weather. We are excited to continue this learning when we return in January. We have some exciting this planned to show our learning that will be shown off during our STEAM night at the end of January!
We had our final German class this week. We loved getting to explore the German language each Wednesday!
We also had our school sing-a-long today before our winter party. This is always a fun tradition for our kids and Mrs. Martin does an amazing job teaching each grade level a song to sing for the school. She also has the teachers in on the fun as well. Be sure to ask your kiddos about the teachers performance at the sing-a-long. Here is a video of the 1st graders singing “We Will Jingle!” They voted as a group for this song! So cute!
Coach Barnard was also a great sport and was our Santa Claus when the teachers sang Must Be Santa Claus for the kids.
HEADPHONES AND NEW SPIRAL NOTEBOOKS:
We would like to have each child in first grade have their own set of headphones. They will be helpful as we continue to use iPads and integrate laptops into our classrooms. Too many noises coming from various computers can pose a problem, so having their own headphones is necessary. You can find inexpensive ones at places like Target or Five Below. Please send a pair of headphones with your child’s name on them in a Ziploc baggie. The headphones are needed when they return from the Winter Break. In addition to the headphones, we are asking that children bring a new spiral notebook to school after the Winter Break to be used during our Math Workshop time. We have been documenting our learning and have gone through much of our fall spiral notebook already. Thank you for your help with these needed supplies.
Calling All Glue sticks!
We have worked really hard the first part of the year and you can tell by looking at our sad glue stick drawer. We use glue sticks daily for math workshop, gluing into journals, and so much more. We would love a refresh of our glue sticks when we come back. It would be greatly appreciated!
WINTER BREAK READING:
Over the Winter Break, the first grade teachers are asking that the students read a total of 12 times between the dates of December 17th – January 7th. We will glue in new reading logs on December 17th and then your child will keep their planners with them until we return in January. Reading over the break will help ensure that your child is ready to pick up where we left off. Thank you for continuing this reading routine!
COOLER WEATHER AND JACKETS:
Now that we have enjoyed a few cooler days, we are seeing more jackets and sweaters on our students. We are also finding these items left in various areas around the school without names on them. Please label your child’s coats, jackets, and sweaters with their names. (Also include lunch boxes and water bottles, too!) This will prevent our lost and found from filling up. Thank you!
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
Dec. 20-Jan 7: Winter Holiday, No School
Jan 8: Students return to school
Jan 11: Parent Reader (Blake’s Family)
Jan. 21: MLK Holiday, No School
Jan. 24: STEAM Night
Feb. 14: Valentine’s Day Party
Feb. 18-19: Student Holiday
THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE…
READING:
– Revising our social contract
– Review reading workshop expectations
– Making inferences
– Introducing silent e in words (ex: like, bike, etc.)
WRITING:
– Using nouns and verbs in sentences
– Developing ideas for stories
– Continue to work on our handwriting
MATH:
– Introduce the make ten strategy for addition
– Understand that the equal sign means a balanced equation
SCIENCE:
– Observe and record the weather
– Learn about objects in the sky like the sun, stars, moon, clouds
– Prepare for STEAM Night
HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK:
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Read 10-15 minutes each night.
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Record responses on reading logs.