Short but Sweet!

Well, it was a short week here in the first grade but we still seemed to get a lot done! We did enjoy our snow days as they allowed us to get caught up on some work, which was much needed. By Wednesday, however, we were glad to welcome your children back to our classrooms! We continue to practice our vocals with Mrs. Linn. It is so fun to watch your children learn these U.S.A. songs. They are professionals by this point with two music programs and Bear Planet under their belts. We can't wait for you to see their hard work!

In our centers the students started their famous American research with Miss Fate. You can see their minds working as they begin their first academic research project. They are using books and Internet articles to learn more about their famous person. They are using a highlighter to outline the information needed to complete their rough draft. It is hard work and they are rising to the occasion.

In a center with Mrs. Waller the students were introduced to two digit addition without regrouping (24+12=36). We used dry erase boards/dry erase markers, number lines as well as the abacus. It is so beneficial to teach in these small groups. Mrs. Waller was able to reach every student and it was also apparent to her that you have been working very hard at home with your children as many of them stated, "Oh, I love this, we do this at home all the time!" Thank you for supporting your children in the home environment. This helps us to take them even further in the classroom! They are well on their way to mastering this concept.

As Miss Fate continued her work with the research project on Thursday, Mrs. Waller worked with the children as they learned facts about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We talked about his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. We located and colored this state on the U.S. map as well as Alabama, the state Dr. King started much of his life altering work. It is apparent to us every day how your children understand the concepts Dr. King worked so hard to share as they accept each other for their differences and strive in our classroom community. Independently, the children worked on their spelling words as they wrote them on an American Flag and colored it accurately. They also put together U.S.A. puzzles, this was a hit!!



In TNT, we talked about Uncle Sam, his origin, what he stands for and the fact that, no, he is not a real person! The students then constructed their own Uncle Sam out of construction paper! Take a look, they are hanging up in the room. They made great decorations for our open house this morning.






On the same day, the children were also exposed to the works of the great, late artist Mr. Alvin Ailey as a part of our amazing cultural arts program. The Ailey Trio performed various dances from Mr. Ailey's creation, Revelations. The dancers talked to us about the history of the Ailey dancers, what it takes to become a professional and all the countries they get to visit when they go on tour. Some students even made it to the stage and were taught segments of these dances by the professionals themselves. Look closely at the picture to see if you can find the two members of our class! Mrs. Waller was selected to be their musical director for one number as she pushed play and stop on the iPod during one of their performances! This was a treat for Mrs. Waller as she spent much of her younger years dancing and always respected the works of this company. This truly was a new and exciting experience for many of our students. The dancers did inform us that they will be back in Kansas City this November performing at the new Performing Arts Center!

In Math, Miss Fate continued with subtraction up to twenty. We also continue to discuss and introduce place value as this can be a difficult concept to grasp. We want to take our time and make sure each and every student understands this new knowledge, especially before moving on to the second grade. Mrs. Waller spent time on Thursday assessing each students' knowledge of money. The students were split up into three groups. Two groups worked independently on a variety of money activities, while the other group worked with Mrs. Waller. While with Mrs. Waller the students where given a money value, ie: 76 cents, and they had to show the value with coins. Once the students completed this task, the students were then shown an array of coins and they had to tell Mrs. Waller the value, ie: three dimes, two nickels, and two pennies = 42 cents. Your children love money! You can practice money with them at home. Give them the change in your pocket or piggy bank and have them count it out for you.

In Social Studies we continue with our Hooray for the U.S.A. theme. As a part of that we have studied more about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. since we will celebrate his birthday this Monday. The students have also started presenting their citizenship papers. Those that have presented have done an excellent job speaking orally and those in the audience are excelling in the arena of active listening. We have been discussing the importance of The Pledge of Allegiance, the flag, and have begun talking about the Statue of Liberty. We also continue to work in our theme notebooks.

On Friday, we had the honor of welcoming Senator Roy Blunt (A.K.A. Davis' Grandpa) to our classrooms. He spoke to both first grade classes and the kids loved it! He was impressed as the students listed the states that were a part of the original 13 colonies. He talked to the children about the three branches of government, his rise to the Senate and the famous Americans that have influenced him. As a gift the Senator brought the kids House Mouse, Senate Mouse by Peter and Cheryl Barnes. The kids listened closely to this story of mice and the process they went through to decide on a National Cheese! What a treat on our Friday morning!

Despite our guest speaker we were able to get in a Hands-On-Science lesson entitled: "Breaking Color Barriers". The children looked at and compared the physical aspects of a brown and a white egg. We re-visited the book We Are All Alike, We Are All Different and discussed the importance of accepting one another for our likenesses as well as our differences. In the end we cracked the eggs and took notice of the fact that despite the different exteriors they were the same on the inside! This prompted much discussion and went along well with the up and coming celebration of Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr.








Please stop by and notice the special banner we have hanging on our door (the one near Steve's desk) which was given to us last week as a result of winning this year's food drive! Thank you again for your awesome support!

Next Week's Spelling Words: goes, jump, new, off, play, your, up, me, she, if

Challenge Words: liberty, symbol, president, country and of course don't forget your: MYSTERY WORD?????? Can you stump your teachers?

Reminders:

No School Monday- MLK Day

Paper Dolls Due: Friday, January 21st

Start getting your famous American costume ready for our program.

Hooray for the U.S.A. Program: February 17th at 9:15am in the MPR

Spelling Packets and Spelling Test: Friday, January 21st

**Miss Fate and Mrs. Waller's class will not send Books in a Bag home this week due to the paper doll's due date. If you still have your bag at home please finish reading your books and turn it in before Friday.

A special thanks to:

Matt Mosby and Amy Blunt for helping to arrange Senator Blunt's visit!

Mr. Stephen Bough for the special Missouri State Flag that is now hanging in our room!

Our quote of the week (we will not disclose the student, we assume he/she will share with you if desired!):

"Miss Fate, I need to go to the bathroom and it's going to be a while!"

(By the way, we did let this student use the restroom at the time that the request was made!)

Please enjoy your long weekend while Miss Fate will be working on the report cards. Your children make us laugh everyday! We look forward to next week!

Mrs. Waller and Miss Fate