After a hectic start to the week, today was a dream! The kids wrote in their Christmas cards for you and wrapped their presents quietly and calmly. We watched part of The Polar Express this morning and followed up with the end after lunch. We served hot chocolate with peppermint sticks...yum! Then off to the singalong where our class sang "I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas" to the rest of the kindergarten, first and second graders! Very cute! The day ended when they opened their gifts from me...a book, of course! I asked them to put several books into their homework bags for the long break. However, I didn't supervise each child as they packed their bag...hopefully you'll find reading material! I had planned on sending the first packets of math work home today, but with all the other stuff headed your way, I decided to wait until after the holiday.
Have a very Merry Christmas and see you in the New Year!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Tomorrow and beyond...
Your children are SO very excited about Christmas! Each moment is more exciting than the next! Tomorrow they'll be bringing home so many things...crafts, corrected work, books borrowed for vacation, etc. Much of it I'll be able to put into their homework folders, but please check the folders right off because your Christmas cards and the like will be inside!
Tomorrow we'll see The Polar Express and the kids are invited to wear and/or bring pajamas to wear while they watch. We'll be having hot chocolate with peppermint sticks while we're on the Polar Express! We'll also meet with the kindergarten, first and second grade classes for our annual sing along...this isn't a concert for an outside audience, but I'll take pictures!
Whew! One more day for me and then you get them for the last two, long days before Christmas! Have fun!
Merry Christmas!
Michelle
Tomorrow we'll see The Polar Express and the kids are invited to wear and/or bring pajamas to wear while they watch. We'll be having hot chocolate with peppermint sticks while we're on the Polar Express! We'll also meet with the kindergarten, first and second grade classes for our annual sing along...this isn't a concert for an outside audience, but I'll take pictures!
Whew! One more day for me and then you get them for the last two, long days before Christmas! Have fun!
Merry Christmas!
Michelle
Friday, December 17, 2010
Gingerbread Houses!
Here's a slide show of our class making the gingerbread houses! They loved making them and were very creative with the decorating! They did really well spreading frosting on the graham crackers...I thought they'd need more help. Enjoy!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Brrr!
What a change in temperature! You don't need me to tell you that it's been COLD! I am happy to say that each child went out in a warm coat with snow pants today! Unless the wind chill is below 0 degrees, children go out to recess every day!
It was great to see so many families at Open House! The kids were SO excited to write you the letters inviting you to this special night! And I'm happy to report that the Smart Board is now functional and we used it today for reading groups (the books they read can be projected on a Smart Board) and Fundations (after each practice word, one child was chosen to write the word on the Smart Board). They are more excited than I thought they might be...I suppose the novelty will wear off! Now I've got to find a way to use it for the overheads our math program uses each day...
Speaking of reading groups...what a bunch of readers we have here! They're starting to read anything they can get their hands on! I'm happy to say that they love books and are very excited to be learning to read! I sure hope Santa brings books this year! I've been asking children to choose more than one book each night and more and more the extra books they choose are books of their own choosing from our classroom library-AND they really can read these books! Please try to avoid telling them words that stump them and instead ask questions like, "What would make sense?" Some words you will need to just tell them (today one reading group had the word "proud" which is tricky to read and many kids didn't know the meaning) but as they become better readers, they'll be more likely to read tricky words in the proper context!
We've embraced the holiday season! We've studied the Jewish holiday Hanukkah and Christmas traditions in several places in the world. We plan to make gingerbread houses on Friday and I hope you don't mind donating the necessary supplies! I've begun saving milk cartons and we'll be using frosting to "glue" graham crackers to the cartons. Then they'll be able to use candy to decorate them! It should be an exciting Friday!
We'll be spending one more week practicing Unit 4 skills in Fundations...words with -ll, -ss, and -ff as well as words with -all. The trick words are really "tricky" this unit and require one more week of practice as well as continued practice with past skills and trick words! SO much to learn!
Have a great weekend!
Michelle
It was great to see so many families at Open House! The kids were SO excited to write you the letters inviting you to this special night! And I'm happy to report that the Smart Board is now functional and we used it today for reading groups (the books they read can be projected on a Smart Board) and Fundations (after each practice word, one child was chosen to write the word on the Smart Board). They are more excited than I thought they might be...I suppose the novelty will wear off! Now I've got to find a way to use it for the overheads our math program uses each day...
Speaking of reading groups...what a bunch of readers we have here! They're starting to read anything they can get their hands on! I'm happy to say that they love books and are very excited to be learning to read! I sure hope Santa brings books this year! I've been asking children to choose more than one book each night and more and more the extra books they choose are books of their own choosing from our classroom library-AND they really can read these books! Please try to avoid telling them words that stump them and instead ask questions like, "What would make sense?" Some words you will need to just tell them (today one reading group had the word "proud" which is tricky to read and many kids didn't know the meaning) but as they become better readers, they'll be more likely to read tricky words in the proper context!
We've embraced the holiday season! We've studied the Jewish holiday Hanukkah and Christmas traditions in several places in the world. We plan to make gingerbread houses on Friday and I hope you don't mind donating the necessary supplies! I've begun saving milk cartons and we'll be using frosting to "glue" graham crackers to the cartons. Then they'll be able to use candy to decorate them! It should be an exciting Friday!
We'll be spending one more week practicing Unit 4 skills in Fundations...words with -ll, -ss, and -ff as well as words with -all. The trick words are really "tricky" this unit and require one more week of practice as well as continued practice with past skills and trick words! SO much to learn!
Have a great weekend!
Michelle
Friday, December 3, 2010
Fantastic Friday!
What a busy week! We had our field trip to the Flynn Theater yesterday to see the Vermont Symphony Orchestra along with Bill Shontz, from the children's musical duo Rosenshontz! Bill Shontz sang and the audience had a chance to participate and sing along with him...it was really fun!
Next week our school's Open House is scheduled for December 8th from 6-7:00! The kids are excited to show off their new room and show you all around their classroom and the rest of the school building! You have very excited tour guides!
December is a very exciting month for first graders! We began learning about December holidays celebrated by families in our country and around the world. Because December 2 was the first night of Hanukkah, we read a story explaining why Jews celebrate Hanukkah. Several hands shot up as children made the connection between the King of Syria and the King of England...both the Jews and the Pilgrims fought for religious freedom! We'll be learning about how Christmas is celebrated in several places around the world and have many projects and activities planned!
Math homework tonight is a math game...we've played a version of the game in class and your child will recognize it and want to "beat" you! Have fun!
I'm placing a link to an article that I enjoyed reading about "curiosity" in young children! It was written by Bruce Perry who is well known as an authority in brain development. It might help you understand why very young children ask, "What's that?" over and over and over...I hope you enjoy reading it! Click here to check out the article!
Have a great weekend!
Next week our school's Open House is scheduled for December 8th from 6-7:00! The kids are excited to show off their new room and show you all around their classroom and the rest of the school building! You have very excited tour guides!
December is a very exciting month for first graders! We began learning about December holidays celebrated by families in our country and around the world. Because December 2 was the first night of Hanukkah, we read a story explaining why Jews celebrate Hanukkah. Several hands shot up as children made the connection between the King of Syria and the King of England...both the Jews and the Pilgrims fought for religious freedom! We'll be learning about how Christmas is celebrated in several places around the world and have many projects and activities planned!
Math homework tonight is a math game...we've played a version of the game in class and your child will recognize it and want to "beat" you! Have fun!
I'm placing a link to an article that I enjoyed reading about "curiosity" in young children! It was written by Bruce Perry who is well known as an authority in brain development. It might help you understand why very young children ask, "What's that?" over and over and over...I hope you enjoy reading it! Click here to check out the article!
Have a great weekend!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Welcome December!
Just a quick reminder that our field trip to see the Vermont Symphony Orchestra is tomorrow. We leave at 10:30 and will return at 1:00. The cafeteria will be closed at that time and children need to bring lunches from home!
We've just begun a new writing unit about "small moments." The lessons are designed to help kids "slow down" their writing and include many rich details about one event. Now that they're able to write for extended periods of time and use spaces and approximate spelling, the writing content can become more complex. We read a book called A Chair For My Mother which has an example of a small moment. Ask your child to tell you about the book (the family has a house fire and needs to save money to buy a chair) and small moments!
We've just begun a new writing unit about "small moments." The lessons are designed to help kids "slow down" their writing and include many rich details about one event. Now that they're able to write for extended periods of time and use spaces and approximate spelling, the writing content can become more complex. We read a book called A Chair For My Mother which has an example of a small moment. Ask your child to tell you about the book (the family has a house fire and needs to save money to buy a chair) and small moments!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)