We're Having a BLAST in First Grade!

Even though it was a short week, it has been a busy one!

We jumped right into our language arts centers.  This week in our WORD WORK center, we have focused on the short i sound for a review. We also reviewed the -ap, -ag, -and, -at word families and we introduced the -it word family as our WORD FAMILY OF THE WEEK. At this point in the year, much of our work is a review, as a result, we can make sure we are on the right track. The students used and visited www.starfall.com to review the short i sound. 

Short i Cut and Paste Activity

Making words at Dottie's Diner

Reviewing short i words at Starfall.com

This week in our WRITING CENTER the children worked independently in the phonics books to review the short i and short a sounds.  They completed pages in their theme notebook and wrote sentences using words on the word wall.  We continue to review what needs to happen at the beginning and end of sentences.

ABC Order with our class names

Describing our favorite things about Fall!

 In our READING center the students listened to: MISS NELSON HAS A FIELD DAY and completed a follow-up activity independently.  They identified words rhyming with the -it family, reviewed the -at, -ag, -and, -ap families by playing a pom pom toss game and they read through three different scholastic magazines about rules and did reflection activities. 

Pom Pom Toss!

 

Henry LOVES the iPads!

 

Your children are learning how to follow multiple directions. When they are working independently with their TIC-TAC-TOE boards, first they are encouraged to problem solve alone when they are unsure or cannot remember a direction. If they are unable to come up with an answer on their own, they then go to a friend in their group. The last resort is to come up to a teacher, because the teacher is working with small groups of students and should not be interrupted.  They are becoming very independent learners!

This week we jumped into guided centers with the teachers as well as the independent centers.  Mrs. Sansale worked with the students on guided reading and introduced the grammar book we will be using throughout the year.  Miss O’Connor worked on compound words.  We did worksheets, played a compound word game, and made compound word flap books!  Mrs. Pink did some reading assessments with all of the children last week and this week.

Sight Words

The first day of guided reading!!

 

Making Compound Word flap books

In TNT on Wednesday, we played BACK TO SCHOOL JINGO! Your children LOVED it and were really good sports!

Back to School Jingo

In Social Studies we continue our theme. The family collage has come home....the students are excited about this first big project. The students have also been working hard in their theme notebooks.

The ones we have so far are great!!

Miss O’Connor read a special book, THE INCREDIBLE YOU, and we started working on our second class book of the year!

 

In Math this week we are continuing to build our number sense.  The kids went on a tally scavenger hunt with Mrs. Sansale and tallied the answers to questions all around the classroom. With Miss O’Connor we learned about “Friends of Ten” and how to use number lines and math manipulatives to solve missing addend math problems.

Tally O'Mally Scavenger Hunt!

Working hard to tally up all the things in our classroom

 

Some students even went home and tallied things at their house!

 

We used math manipulatives to help us solve missing addend problems

 

In Hands on Science we learned the difference between non-living and living things.  Then, we made a big mural collage with magazines. It was really cool! The kids used the iPads this week.  The apps they used were ABC Lite, Bubble Ball, & ABC Phonics.

We had a special Initiation Service for Mr. Myler on Friday as well.  Each grade level presented him with a gift for his service to the school.  Since he loves to wear bowties, we made him a serving tray filled with colorful bowties and our signatures!  Your children also colored oversized bowties to wear to chapel.  It was a BLAST!  

REMINDERS:

*Bring your picture packet order forms back to us.  

MONDAY, September 15th, Family Collage Due

TUESDAY, September 16th, PICTURE DAY!

FRIDAY, September 19th, Pet Blessing
The Pet Blessing will take place on the upper field at 8:30am on Friday, September 19^th. While live animals are welcome in all grade levels, stuffed animals and pictures of your pets are also encouraged. Parents or other caregivers are responsible for bringing live animals directly to the field following carpool, live animals are not allowed inside the school building for obvious reasons. Please be conscious of how well your pet handles loud, stressful environments, and be considerate of the school community and clean up after your pet. Parents and caregivers are asked to remain with the class during the event. For safety reasons, students need to stay with their classes as they travel to and from the field. If you do need to leave the field with your child for some reason, you must inform your child’s teacher prior to leaving and plan on meeting them back in the classroom.

Separation from parents for our younger students is often an issue so please don’t feel like you have to attend this event.  The Pet Blessing takes place every year at St. Paul’s so other opportunities for you to attend will be available in the years to come. Sending a stuffed animal or a picture will allow your child to participate at a level that may be more appropriate at this time.
SATURDAY, September 27th, Scholastic Book Orders are due online

We have had another great week. Have a wonderful weekend.

Love,
Mrs. Sansale and Miss O'Connor