February 27th Newlsetter

We successfully filled the bead jar by the 24th of February so we are going to  be having Camp-Read-A-Lot next Friday, March 6th.  I told the kids they could wear their pajamas to school and bring a blanket.  We are going to move our desks and pretend that we are camp for the day.  We will devote the whole day to laying around and reading.

Chinese club was a huge success Thursday night.  We played some games, learned some ribbon dancing and enjoyed some wonderful Chinese snacks.  We will not have a Chinese Club meeting in March but will be meeting with the Wellman Elementary students and their parents on April 16th to enjoy some wonderful Chinese food.

Please mark your calendars for Monday, March 23rd.  The annual spring concert will be held at the High School at 7:00

Also........please mark your calendars for Saturday, March 21st.  The annual Washington Township Carnival will be held Saturday at the High school from 5:30-8:00.

February Chinese Club

Chinese Club was a huge success again. Yemin Yu is teaching parents the names of animals.  

A relay race was played with the parents after they had practiced learning animal names.  The parents are very fast learners because the game ended in a tie.

Jean Hussey also taught the students some ribbon dancing moves.

February 20th Newlsetter

This has been such and exciting week in first grade.  Mrs. Harris and Mrs. Spenler have completed the DIBELS testing which is something that us required of first graders.  I am happy to say that according this indicator..........ALL OF THE FIRST GRADERS ARE PROFICIENT READERS.  HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We also took our next Integrated Theme Test over the sixth theme.........Animal Adventures.  These tests combine the skills they have learned as well as writing skills.  Our target score is that each child will score t 8-% or above.  I am happy to say that all of us surpassed this score.

We took our chapter 5 test in Math...Place Value, Number Stories and Basic Facts.  Once again our target score is 80% or above.  I am once again happy to tell you that everyone scored 80% or were very close to that.

As well as doing well academically, the students are also filling the bead jar quite frequently with their good behavior.  We ate lunch in the room on Friday as a reward.  I told the kids next  time they get the bead jar filled we would do something really special.  I have challenged them to see if they can get this done by next Tuesday, February 24th.  If we can do that we are going to take one whole school day and have Camp-Read-A-Lot.  I told the kids they could wear their pajamas to school and bring a blanket.  We are going to move our desks and pretend that we are at camp for the day.  We will devote the whole day to reading.........to each other, by ourselves, and to other teachers in the building.  The children seem quite excited about this project.

Don't forget about our second Chinese Club night, February 26th from 6:30-7:30.  We will continue to learn about the Chinese New Year and also learn some Chinese dances.  Yummy Chinese snacks will also be served.

There is a 2 hour early out on Thursday, February 26th for Teacher Inservice.

Balls and Ramps

Our Science unit this month has been about Balls and Ramps.  You can see us here comparing the different qualities of balls.........their bounciness, their rolling ability, as well as there physical differences.......size, color, and consistency.

Dice Sums

We practiced our sums to 12 using dice.  We tried to guess which sum would come us the most often when two dice are thrown.  We did the experiment twice.  The first time we recorded the results in one partner's journal and the second time we recorded the results in the other person's journal.  We decided that the chances to get the sum of 6, 7, or 8 were the greatest.  We got a lot of practice with our math facts in this exploration.

February 6 Newsletter

The first graders learned a little bit about Puxatawney Phil, the groundhog, on Monday, February 2nd.  We did a little bit of weather predicting ourselves.  We read three books, "Gretchen Groundhog, It's Your Day", "Groundhog's Shadow" and "It's Groundhog's Day".   After reading these books we talked a little bit about Groundhog's Day and how some people use them to predict how much winter is left.  We did indeed see our shadows, so unfortunately we will be having six more weeks of winter.  UGH!!!!!!!

Day 100 was a huge success.  We counted and grouped our objects that were brought from home.  We had a very wide collection of things:  Lego's, Skittles, Cheerios, rocks, marshmallow, raisins, pennies, baseball cards, toothpicks, Mike and Ikes, Fruit Loops, Kix, and $100 in Awana money.  We read several 100 day books and spelled 100 words. We got our exercise by doing 100 jumping jacks and 100 toe touches. We did some writing about what we would buy if we had $100 and also drew what we would look like when we are 100 years old.  The kids had a great time with all of the activities.

There is a class list in the Friday Folders this week for Valentine's Day.  the first graders will  be having their Valentine's Day party on Thursday afternoon. 

Remember that there is no school next Friday, February 13th, but we will be having school on Monday, February 16th as a snow make-up day!

In reading this week we worked on blending long e words (CVCe), noting details in a story, nouns or naming words for places and things, and also writing answers to comprehension questions.  The kids continue to amaze me with their reading skills.

Day 100

Day 100 was a  huge success.  We did many fun activities.  We started the day by making 100 Day headbands.

We read several books about Day 100, including the book "I'll Teach My Dog 100 Words".  We got into groups and spelled as many words as we could and then combined them into a chart and realized that we could indeed spell 100 words.

We definitely got our exercise.  We each did 100 jumping jacks and 100 toe touches.

We worked with the collections of 100 objects we brought from home.  We had quite a variety of objects.........Legos, Skittles, Cheerios, rock, raisins, pennies, marshmallows, baseball cards, toothpicks, Mike and Ikes, Fruit Loops, and $100 in Awana money.  We read the book "One Hundred Hungry Ants" and manipulated our objects the way the ants marched to the picnic.  We also used our objects to count tens and ones.

We drew pictures of what we look like in first grade and what we would look like when we are 100 years old.  It was definitely a fun day!!!