Week 23  February 1-5, 2016

Great Hearts Day is February 11.
This is a wonderful day where we celebrate the friendship of our classmates and also, as a school, give back to the community.
Many of you have come from the background of giving valentine cards to friends at school.  Here at Great Hearts we will not be giving out valentine cards.  If they are sent to the classroom, they will be returned (gently) to you in your child's backpack.  As a class, on February ll, we will create a class card of adjectives describing our friends.  Also, our first grade class will be collecting NEW  bath towels and wash cloths to give to New Leaf.  It is our opportunity to partner with a great service organization to serve our community.

The 100th Day of School was a success!!!!

We had a fun time with our Hundreds Chart and then we made our 1B Trail Mix!

A special note:  Please make sure you check your child's planner daily for information concerning their homework.  I send the spelling tests back in the planner on Mondays, so please keep an eye out for them.
We start A Bargain for Francis this Monday, and many of you have already sent in your books, thank you for that!

ELA

Spelling:
Monday: pass, shut, easy, ease, bone, cloud, draw, drink, garden, goose
Tuesday: hopping, hop, knife, mouth, oak, peach, pole, queen, rope, season
Wednesday: sign, space, wagon, wheat, window, catch, catcher, kitchen, butcher, black
Thursday: Write each word once with markings to prepare for the spelling test tomorrow.
Practice the dictation sentence each night!

Literature:
A Bargain for Francis reading with a focus on main idea and details.  We are also focusing on what a good paragraph looks like, and creating our own class paragraphs.

History:
We are studying Mexico this week and the Rio Grande river as a border to the U.S. and Mexico.  We will learn about Mexico's Independence and learn a few Spanish words!

Science:
We are learning about the phases of the moon and will be labeling them.

Math:
This week we are introducing multiplication as a quick way to add like numbers.
Homework:
Monday: Wkbk pages  74-77
Tuesday: Wkbk page 78-79
Wednesday:  Packet
Thursday: Wkbk page 80-81
Friday: Wkbk page 82

P.E. Fun

We continue to enjoy studying our Rocks and Minerals in class, and bringing in new samples to share!

Have a wonderful week!

Week 23  January 25-29, 2016

I hope you all had a wonderful week!  I have put a new link on the blog for traffic duty sign-up.  They are requesting parent volunteers for this.  If you would like to take my duty let me know.  My duty is on odd weeks at 3:05-3:25.  I shepherd the children in the MPR for parent pick-up.

There are many students who are in chapter books now.  Their reading log will be the daily summary so they don't have to fill out the other one.  A sentence or two is fine.  They will keep this for two weeks (they are double sided), then turn them in to Mrs. Vance.

ELA

Literature 
We will be introducing paragraph structure and reading a variety of non-fiction stories.

ALERT!!!!!!!!  Next week we will begin reading Bargain for Francis... Please make sure your child has his or her book.  They may bring them in anytime this week.

Spelling

Monday: pound, behind, around, burn, camp, bear, bare, clear, spell
Tuesday: poor, finish, hurt, maybe, across, tonight tenth, sir, these, those
Wednesday: club, see, felt, full, fail, setting, set, stamp, light, night
Thursday: Practice 30 words for the test tomorrow

Math
Monday: Wkbk p. 133-136
Tuesday: Wkbk p. 63-65
Wednesday: Wkbk p. 137-138
Thursday: Wkbk p. 66-67
Friday: Wkbk p. 139-140


History
This week we will continue our study of early civilizations with the Inca people.

                                                

Our salt map is coming along nicely!

Science
This week we will study stars and constellations.  We are planning to have a field trip to a planetarium at the end of February when we finish our study.
Thank you parents for helping your children with their science experiment.  We conducted another (smaller) one in class and they absolutely enjoyed it!

 

We also are enjoying our little rock center.  Each day students come in with new "beautiful" rocks they have found to share.
                                                 

 

 

 Have a wonderful week!

Week 21  January 18-22

No School on Monday - MLK Holiday

Thank you to all the parents who are making sure the reading is being completed each night.  It is so critical at this juncture that we all continue to help our students increase their fluency and comprehension.

ELA

Spelling
Monday - No school
Tuesday - state, July, head, story, open, short, lady, reach, better, water
Wednesday - round, cost, price, become, class, horse, care, try, move, delay
Thursday - Practice 20 words for the test tomorrow.
Sentences - Parents, the sentences at the bottom of their spelling sheet are for dictation each day!
Please make sure that you read them to your child three times....then have them write it from memory.  You can check it after they write it.  We are practicing this skill each day, and they will be tested on it each Friday.

Literature
We will continue to read our African folktale... Anansi and discuss the characters in our stories.
We will review recognizing the problems in our stories, and then finding the solutions.
Grammar
We are focusing on pronouns this week while continuing to review nouns, verbs, and adjectives in sentences.

History
We will finish our study of the Maya people, and introduce the Aztec people. We are discussing early civilizations and how they were formed. We are also discussing the word "theory" in relation to what happened to the Mayan People.
Here are some pictures of some of our classmates making their Steles (large stone monuments).

Science
This week we will review geology and Earth's layers, and then begin our study of the solar system with the sun.
Math
Our focus this week is "counting on and counting back", strategies for making ten, and subtracting ten.
Homework:
Tuesday - Workbook pages 49-50
Wednesday - Workbook pages 51-57
Thursday - Packet
Friday - Workbook pages 58-62

Quote of the week:
"The fullest and best ears of corn hang lowest toward the ground."  Bishop Reynolds

Keep warm and have a wonderful week!




 

Week 20  January 11-15, 2016

Congratulations to Brayden Hayes for representing our class in the Spelling Bee!  We were all very proud of him.

What a wet and rainy week we had.  Here are a few students playing indoor games and coloring.

 

 

 

 ELA
 
We will continue our reading groups on Tuesday and Thursday.  Let me know if you would like to help with that.
 
Spelling
 
Please note parents:  We have added dictation sentences to be given to your child each night.  They have to write a five sentence paragraph by the end of the semester, and we are trying to get them used to writing these sentences.  Say the sentence three times, and then have them write it from memory.  This also is a new skill.
 
Monday: upon, two, twin, twice, twelve, twenty, between, they, would, could
Tuesday: should, any, many, city, only, where, week, weak, first, sent
Wednesday: cent, mile, seem, even, without, afternoon, Friday, hour, our, wife
Thursday: Practice writing the 30 words this week with markings.
 
History
We will continue our study of the Maya and Aztec people.
 
Science
We will study volcanoes this week!  There is a wonderful experiment I would love to complete in class, but do not have the time.  I will send the directions home and students may complete for extra credit if they want.
We had a great time studying our various rock types. Here are some pics from our fun week!
 
Sedimentary Rock and Igneous Rock Experiments!  Ask them about the starbursts they used.

                                     
                

Yes these are your delightful children!

 

 

 

 Math

Lessons will be on addition and subtraction with and without renaming.

Monday: Workbook pages 42-44
Tuesday: Packet from class.
Wednesday: Packet from class.
Thursday: Workbook pages 45-48
Friday: Workbook pages 49-50



Humility is the virtue we will continue to focus on this month.

Hold strong to your convictions.
Remain humble in your speech.
Let your actions tell your story.


Have a great week!

Week 19  January 5-8, 2016

I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday break!  I was blessed to help bring a new life into the world. Our little granddaughter Rose Elise was born December 22 weighing 6 lbs. 12 oz.  She was a month early but is doing fine!

I would like to also express my thanks for the beautiful gifts given to me and for all the wonderful gift cards.  It is really nice to be appreciated!

I am not the Study Hall teacher this quarter so I will not be available for after school spelling.  My room will be used for the after school program this quarter.

ELA

Proverb for the month:   Practice makes perfect!

Poem:  Sing a Song of People by Lois Lenski (1893-1974) Author and illustrator who wrote children's fiction and poetry.  Many of her poems were put to music.

Spelling:

Tuesday: hang, meat, mouse, phone, store, supper, through, toe, became, brother
Wednesday: rain, keep, start, mail, male, female, eye, I , glass, party
Thursday: Practice writing the twenty words with markings for the spelling test tomorrow.

Reading:

This week we will be reading the Pied Piper of Hamelin.  If you are not familiar with the story, it is located on page 76 of What Your First Grader Needs to Know.

History:

We will begin our study of the Maya, Inca, and Aztecs.  Students will be able to discuss the importance of the land bridge and how it brought about early civilizations.  We will make a salt map for this unit.  If you would like to read more about this it is located on page 135 in the book, What Your First Grader Needs to Know (WYFGNK).

Science:

This week we will begin our study of the different types of rocks, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.  For more information about this please read page 312 in WYFGNK.

Math:

Students will be counting within 40 and making tens.  They will learn corresponding number words to match number symbols 21-40.

Homework:
Tuesday: Wkbk pages 30-33
Wednesday: Wkbk pages 34-36
Thursday: Wkbk pages 37-39
Friday: None

Virtue of the month: Humility

Quote of the Week:

Humility, that low, sweet root, from which all heavenly virtues shoot. - Thomas Moore

Have a wonderful week!