Gearing up for Christmas!!!

Hello!!!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families! I know I did. There is just so much to be thankful for. It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving has come & gone and now we are preparing for Christmas!!! How many of you hit up the Black Friday sales?!? Believe it or not, that is how I get in the Christmas spirit. I was out at Target at 6:00 pm waiting for a midnight opening. Can you say "cr-a-z-y!" I loved every minute of it though!
Enough of my rambling... here is what is in store this week:
Theme: Kids Around the World
Story of the Week: Kids Can Help
Spelling Pattern: S blends
Math: Addition and Subtraction to 18; fact families
Science: Earth's Surface & Water
Social Studies: Holidays Around the World unit

Don't forget to turn in your monthly Book-it-Forms. The goal for each month is for your child to read 10 books. Once they fill out the titles on their forms, they get a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut for FREE!! You can't beat free & it is a great way to motivate them.

Not much to report this week: A heads up that parents will be invited in on Tuesday December 14th at 9:00 am to watch a class play and to make a gingerbread house with your child. I will be sending home further information this week. We hope you can join us!

That's about all for now! I will keep you posted of events that are forthcoming in the near future.
Happy Holidays!!

So much to be thankful for...

Hello all,

I apologize for missing a week of blogging last week. It is such a busy time of year and the days just slip on by. We are back to our reading series after a week of review last week. This is what we are learning this week:

Theme: Being Friends
Story of the Week: Kate's Game
Spelling Pattern: Long a (words with silent e at the end).
Math: Subtraction to 20
Writing: Continuing stories, venturing into Thanksgiving writing
Science: Gravity/Force & Motion
Social Studies: Completing Veterans' Day activities & moving into Thanksgiving (Pilgrims & Indians)

Please don't forget that next week will only be a 2 day week. School will be in session on Monday & Tuesday. There will not be school Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.
*Please note that progress reports will be coming home on Wednesday!! If you have any questions, please let me know.

As you have noticed, the 1st grade curriculum is definitely picking up some speed...more weekly sight words to learn, harder spelling patterns. It is more important than ever to continue practicing skills nightly.

Thank you for all that you do & have a great week!

50 days already?!?

Okay, I don't know about you, but I am sitting here wondering where in the world these past 50 days have gone!?! 50 days ago, your little ones entered my classroom for the first time to begin a 1st grade adventure. I hope they are enjoying every minute of the adventure, as I surely am! :) The progress I am seeing is phenomenal. I think ahead in anticipation to what they will be like in another 50 days! Here is what we are focusing on this week:
Theme: Let's Laugh
Story of the Week: On My Way to School
Spelling Pattern: l blends- bl, cl, fl
Math: Addition to 18
Science: The sun
Social Studies: Life then and now

We are almost done with Unit 2!! Next week will be a review week. I will be sending home a list of sight words for your child to practice. Please continue to do the great job with the sight words, as the intensity continues to build.

The 50th day of school celebration is tomorrow (Wednesday). Please dress your child up like he/she is from the 1950s (boys- hair slicked back, white button down shirts, jeans; girls- poodle skirts, capris, sheer scarves around neck). We will have a sock hop in the morning & our coke floats will be on Friday. If you are volunteering for the sock hop, please be at school by 8:30. If you are volunteering for the coke floats on Friday, please come in at 12:50. Thanks for all of your help!

Chick Fil-A spirit night is Friday!! The 3rd grade teachers will be in charge so come out & see them!

Picture proofs went home last week. All picture money is due by Monday November 7th!!

As always, thanks for everything!! I hope you know how much I appreciate your support!!

Bats, Spiders, and Pumpkins, oh my!

Hello & Happy Marvelous Monday!,

Can you believe we are almost to the end of October?! Time is just flying by! We have another great week in store for us! Here is a sneak peek of what we are learning this week:

Theme: Singing & Dancing
Story of the Week: The Fun Kids' Band
Spelling Pattern: Short /u/ words (-un, -ut- ,-ug)
Math: Addition to 18
Science: Moon & Stars
Social Studies: Fall/Halloween activities (bats, spiders, pumpkins)

*Report cards go home on Tuesday!! Please sign the envelope and return the envelope back to school the following day! :)

On Friday, we have our annual "Pumpkin Investigations" day! We will complete various pumpkin themed activities, such as making pumpkin butter, investigating whether a pumpkin will sink or float, measuring the circumference of a pumpkin, taste testing pumpkin products (pumpkin pudding, pumpkin pie, etc), and estimating the number of seeds in a pumpkin. It will be a very educational, yet fun experience!!

This week is Red Ribbon Week. There is a schedule of events that we will follow to celebrate:
Tuesday- "Follow Your Dreams. Don't Do Drugs"- Wear your pajamas to school
Wednesday- I'm a "Jean"-ius and I'm Ready to Take a Stand"- Wear your jeans and a red shirt to school.
Thursday- "Sock it to Drugs"- Wear your mismatched, crazy socks to school
Friday- "Team Up to Drugs"- Wear your team jerseys.

Our annual 50th Day of School celebration will be on Wednesday November 2nd. We are asking for students to dress up in "50s attire". We will have a sock hop in the morning and coke floats on Friday. Last week, I sent home a list requesting a certain item needed for the celebration. Please send your item in by Wednesday October 26th so everything is accounted for. I appreciate all your help & contributions.

That's all for now! Have a wonderful week!

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Fall...

Hello!,

Another week is here!! We have quite a bit of severe weather headed our way so please stay safe. I'm don't know about you, but I am sure looking forward to the cool weather coming in behind the bad weather! :) Here are some things to update you on this week:
Theme: Animals and their Homes
Story of the Week: A Prairie Dog Home
Spelling Pattern: Words with /sh/ and /th/
Math: Subtracting from 12
Science: Objects in the Sky
Social Studies: Fall/Pumpkin activities
Writing: Stories/Animal Homes

Our annual Storybook Festival has arrived. It will take place on Friday October 21st from 5:00-8:00 pm. You may purchase tickets beforehand (25 for $5) or the night of (20 for $5). There are many fun booths to participate in. Come dressed as your favorite storybook character. Hope to see you there!

On Friday October 28th at 9:30, our class will have our annual "Pumpkin Investigations". We will do many scientific based centers where we will investigate pumpkins. I will be in need of 5 volunteers to help with those centers. I am also in need of pumpkins, if you are willing to donate one to our classroom. There will be a sign up coming home shortly. I appreciate any help you can give.

Our annual 50th day of school celebration will be on Wednesday November 2nd from 8:45-10:00. Please have your child dress in clothing from the 1950s (girls- poodle skirts, sheer scarves, blouses. Boys- white button down shirts, jeans, hair slicked back). We will have an old fashioned sock hop in the morning. We also need volunteers to help us with that. Please let me know if you are interested in helping. In addition to that, we will make Coke Floats on Friday November 4th at 1:00 (due to Early Release on the 50th day). Please let me know if you can help with that also. Thank you so much for everything. :)

Whew! That was a lot! Have a fantastic week!

Week of October 10-14, 2011

Ahoy Mateys!,

This week brings another busy week! We also only have 4 days to finish everything also! Here are the skills that we will be learning this week:

Theme: Helping Out
Spelling Word Pattern: Short e
Story of the Week: Little Red Hen
Math: Addition to 12 and learning various strategies on how to add.
Science: Continuing investigations
Social Studies: Columbus Day and Fire Safety Week
Writing: Completing our 1st 9 weeks district writing prompt

On Wednesday morning, the Deltona Fire Department will be coming to visit 1st grade! They will talk to our students about Fire Safety and show us around the fire truck. We welcome them to our classroom! :)

Homework will be due on Thursday this week. There will not be school on Friday. It is a teacher duty day!

Class pictures will be on October 20th so dress your best!!

Please continue to read and practice sight words nightly. From here on out, your child will have 5+ sight words to learn every week. This makes it so important that your child has a good grasp on the sight words every week, because we are picking up the pace!



Have a wonderful week!,

The Apples of My Eye...

Hello to everyone out there in blogging land!!!

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend!!! I can't believe this week marks week 6 of first grade. We are moving right along. There are many exciting things going on this week. Here is what we are doing academically:

Reading- Unit 1 Review Week (we are not learning new skills, just reviewing those already learned).
Language Arts- Unit 1 Review
Math- Different Ways to Make 10
Science- More inquiry skills
Social Studies- Johnny Appleseed

Please make sure that your child is studying his/her spelling words on their yellow homework contract every night!!! Many of the words can be difficult, so repetition is important. The same goes for reading nightly! This will benefit your child in the long run.

I am having my conference day on Wednesday. I am required by administration to meet with every parent by November 14th. If you are unable to meet with me on Wednesday, please let me know an alternative day/time, and I will do my absolute best to meet with you then.

We will have our Johnny Appleseed Traveling Party on Friday from 9:30-10:40. I need volunteers to help me run our various centers. So far I only have 2 volunteers & I am in need of 5. Please let me know if you can help!! I am also in need of caramel apple wraps for one of our stations!!! I am very grateful for any assistance you can give.

That's about all for now!! Have a wonderful week!

Week of September 19-23, 2011

Hello everyone,

I hope you had another fantastic weekend!! Time certainly flies when you are having fun. I hope your child enjoyed Curiosity Day on Friday and came home to tell you exciting things! We have another eventful week ahead of us this week. Our skills this week are:

Theme- Teamwork
Story of the Week- Soccer
Spelling Word Pattern: Ending blends (-nt, -nk, -st)
Grammar: Writing Sentences
Writing: Working on Handwriting, Personal Narratives
Math: Continuing Subtraction to 10
Science: Continuing Inquiry Skills and Science Process Skills
Social Studies: The U.S. Constitution

Progress reports go home on Monday September 19th. You will receive 2 copies. Please sign the highlighted copy and return it to me. You may keep the other copy. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's progress report, please let me know. We may also discuss any concerns in further detail with a conference.

Come see our classroom at Open House on Tuesday from 6:00-6:45!!!! I will be presenting a slideshow of information about 1st grade and answer any questions that you may have. There will be a sign up sheet for parent conferences the last week of September, as well as our Johnny Appleseed activities which will take place on Friday September 30th. It is imperative that I meet with every parent at least once this year!! Communication and working together is crucial to your child's success. We also have a lot of student work for you to see at Open House. Hope to see you there!!!

In the next day or two, I will post some pictures of our Curiosity Day last week. We went "bananas" over it!! :)

Have a great week!!!

Where does the time go?

Ahhhh! Where has the time gone this past week? I don't think I have ever been so busy in my life! A BIG apology for not updating this blog a few days earlier! We continue to learn many exciting things in class. Here are the skills we are learning this week:
Theme- Pets
Reading- Words with beginning /r/ blends: cr, gr, tr
Language Arts- Question & Exclamation Sentences
Math- Subtraction to 10 (finding missing parts)
Science- The Scientific Process & Inquiry Skills
Social Studies- All About Me!
Writing- We are continuing personal narratives

I hope that your child came home today excited about our visit from Captain Conservation. Captain Conservation came from Florida Power & Light to teach us about ways to conserve energy. We were very excited about his visit!!!

This Friday is Curiosity Day. We will be celebrating the author of the Curious George series, H.A. Rey by completing various Curious George activities in class. We have a few goodies in store for us. Please have your child wear yellow on Friday!

Our PTA fundraiser begins tomorrow. Your child will receive a booklet to fill out to mail to relatives for magazines. Please return these as soon as possible if you choose to participate. Thanks for your support!

Open House will be Tuesday September 20 from 6:00-6:45. Please come and see all of the exciting things we have been creating in our classroom. I will also be discussing some important topics about first grade. I look forward to seeing you there!

Apple Day will be coming in the next few weeks. We will have a "Johnny Appleseed Traveling Party" with many apple themed centers. I will need parent volunteers to help me run the centers. More information to come...

That's about all for now! Enjoy the pictures & have a great week!!!

Week 3!!!

Hello to everyone!
I hope everyone had a GREAT long weekend!! Another week down! We are definitely getting more into our routines and everything is going very nicely. We took our first round of tests on Friday and I was very impressed with how the class did overall. You will receive those tests back within the next few days with a grading explanation attached.
We began centers last week and the students have done great! Everyone was following the rules and getting their work done :).
The skills we are learning this week are:
Reading- Short i words (-in, -it, -iss word families) Keep on practicing those old and new
sight words!!!
Grammar- Types of Sentences
Math- We will finish up chapter 1 addition(another test coming...)and moving into subtraction.
Science- We will continue the 5 senses
Social Studies- Communities and Ways we love America
Writing- Personal Narratives

Homework packets are coming home on Tuesday (please make sure they are returned completed on Friday!!) We are working on handwriting in class, but I could use your help at home also. If you see your child writing his/her letters backwards, please gently remind them how to form their letters and have them correct it. Working together will help your child break that habit :).
Have a fantastic week!!

Lots of Fun in Week One and Much to Do in Week Two! :)

Hello!!!
Thank you so much for a successful first week. I appreciate all of your support, and we had so much fun together last week! We spent much of the week getting acquainted with new routines and procedures. I was very impressed with all of the students and how quickly they adapted! I can already tell that we will have a wonderful year together.
I hope you saw all of the fun activities we did together last week: The Kissing Hand "I Love You" signed handprint, our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom palm tree cookies, and our Chrysanthemum flowers that the students made based on their names. We also completed a Friendship Unit for Social Studies last week and finished the unit with "Friendship Salad" on Friday. We also learned how to take our weekly tests and reviewed many letter sounds from Kindergarten. We also went over the -at and -an word families in our 1st grade reading series.
There is much to look forward to this week!! We are beginning centers on Monday. Everyone will receive their 1st homework packet on Monday(please have them turn it in on Friday morning!)
Our skills that we are learning this week are:
Reading- more short a word families (-ad, -ack)
Language Arts- word order
Math- Addition to 10 (ways to make 6, 7, 8, 9); also how to write an addition sentence.
Science- What a Scientist Does, Science Tools
Social Studies- Families and Communities

Remember to keep checking back every week! I will update this every Monday. I hope to add some pictures in the near future of what we are doing in class.
Have a fantastic week!!!