The End of 1st Quarter!

Can you believe we are already 1/4th of the way through 1st grade?? We can't!

Short weeks are always busy ones, and this week was no exception.  On Tuesday, we quickly explained centers, and then the kids jumped right in! They did a fantastic job.  Here is what we've been working on this week:

Sorting nouns on the SmartBoard

Reading Pumpkin, Pumpkin, a nonfiction book, on Starfall.com

Playing Sticker Sudoku on the iPads!

Sorting nouns into people, places, and things

Working on adjectives in our grammar books

Practicing our spelling words with Bananagrams!

Practicing our spelling words using screen writing

Making bear habitats!

Simon is a pro at skip counting!

ABC order bears

Reading BIG books aloud to our teddy bears

Mrs. Sansale and Miss O'Connor both worked with small groups and individuals on their spooky Halloween stories!  We can't wait for you to read them during conferences!

In math, we have been reviewing everything we have learned this quarter.  They took their First Quarter Math Assessment, and we could not be more proud of your children.  Everyone did a fantastic job!  On Thursday, we celebrated the end of a successful quarter with two iPad math activities: Mad Math and Math Games.   

During Try New Things, Pets for Life came in and did a presentation on pet safety for the first grade.  They learned when and when not to approach a dog and many other useful facts.  At the end, they earned a certificate for graduating the Leash Pals program and got to take home an activity book!  Here are some pictures from this fun event:

In Social Studies, we have been learning lots about BEARS! We've been working in our theme notebooks, reading books, and watching video clips of bears in their natural habitats. 

We continued our social studies theme during computer lab time this week.  Instead of going up to the lab, we used the Puppet Pals app on our iPads to create videos with our teddy bears!  The students interviewed their bears incorporating some of the bear facts they have learned so far. 

 

 

In Social Studies, we had learned that polar bears' black skin helps trap sunlight and keep them warm.  So in Hands on Science, we made sun prints on black construction paper.  We predicted what will happen to our sun prints when we take them down next week! 

 

 

 

REMINDERS:

 

• Our first music program is Wednesday 10/22 at 9:00am in the North MPR
• Field Trip Permission Slips for the Folly Theater are due Wednesday 10/22.  The field trip will be the following Monday, October 27th from 9:00am-11:30am.  Students will need to bring a sack lunch on this day!
• NO School Thursday 10/23 or Friday 10/24 for conferences
• Please send in the Parent Conference Questionnaire as soon as possible if you haven't done so already
• No spelling test next week! The new words will be sent home Wednesday for the following week's test. 
• Have you completed the ISACS survey?
  
  
  We are asking every member of our community to complete the ISACS (Independent School Association of the Central States) survey.  We will use the data to evaluate our performance and to plan for the future.  Please utilize the link that was emailed to you to access the survey.  Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback and to complete one survey per child.  We appreciate your input.

 

Have a wonderful weekend, and we look forward to seeing you next week!

Melissa and Maeve