Snow-cano!!!

Dear First Graders,

I had a blast with you today!  Thanks for being so helpful as my voice wasn't working very well.  Here we are making our snow and turning it into a snow-cano!!

 

I'll post some pictures from our holiday party later this week!  If you celebrate Christmas, I hope it was wonderful! 

Bear Hugs,

Writing Celebration!

Dear First Graders,

    It was amazing sharing your wonderful stories with all the guests that were able to make it to our writing celebration!  You are becoming wonderful authors. Our next unit will be nonfiction (informational) books. A note went home Friday asking you to brainstorm ideas about what you could write about! We will need these sheets when we come back after the holiday. (another copy is posted on the sidebar).

We also enjoyed a mystery reader!  

Bear Hugs! 

Happy Chanukah!

Dear Friends,

     I loved playing dreidel with you today!  Here are some action shots.  Thanks to the two moms that I snagged last minute to help run the game.  Here are the directions we used:  "Dreidel" Game Components

Have a great weekend!

Alligator, Alligator

Dear First Graders,

     We have had a busy week!  We enjoyed hearing a story from our mystery reader this afternoon!

     Here we are practicing using our math symbols for greater than, less than.  I love our little chant that helps us remember:

             

Alligator, Alligator

Which one will you eat?

The bigger one, the greater one!

           It will taste so sweet!

     We have been working hard during writer's workshop to get ready for our publishing celebration.  It will be Friday, December 18th at 1:40.  If you are unable to attend, we will be bringing home our books and you can have your own celebration!  

Bear Hugs,

Doubles Rap

Dear First Graders,

     We are mastering our double facts to 5!  Our doubles rap and double bump game are a great way to practice our doubles (will post a copy to side bar ASAP).

Mrs. Rose created a link to some great sites that work on fact fluency:  Math Facts

0 + 0 = 0 OHHHH!

1 + 1 = 2 Booooo!

2 + 2 = 4 More

3 + 3 = 6 kicks

4 + 4 = 8 Spider Weight

5 + 5 = 10 AGAIN! 

    I hope you told mom and dad how you practiced your addition fact in the computer lap using xtramath.org  This is a great resource that you can use. The idea is that the best way to become fluent in math facts is to learn the facts through short, daily practice of a group of addends. The program takes from 5-10 minutes and then it will tell the kids that they are done for the day. Your usernames and passwords came home in your report card envelopes, but don't hesitate to email me if you can't find them! 

 A little indoor recess fun!

Bear Hugs,

Wacky Wednesday

Dear Class,

     I hope you enjoyed Wacky Wednesday and some of the jokes your friends brought in! I can't wait to hear the jokes you bring next Wednesday.

    We sang Happy Birthday to one of our amazing friends today!

    A request has been made for a book order so... If you want to order holiday books from Scholastic the link is on our blog to the right. Please do so by Tuesday so we can get them before break.

Bear Hugs,

Mystery Reader

Dear Friends,
   
       Cold weather is upon us!  Brrrrr, it can be cold when we go out at 10:30 in the morning. Remember to bring your hat and gloves so that you have the option of wearing them if needed.

      We are doing great with our math double facts to 5 and adding 0, 1 and 2. A great idea is to make flashcards to keep working on these facts.  Keep up the great job!

     Our mystery reader shared a great story!  We are booked for December mystery readers and will be looking for more in the new year.

Bear Hugs,

Thankful...

Dear First Graders,

    I have so much to be thankful for and all of you definitely top my list!  We had a blast this week learning all about the First Thanksgiving and how it is similar and different from our own. The kids also enjoyed playing some fun Thanksgiving games in the lab. Here is a link to some great games that Mrs. Rose made:  Thanksgiving Games

 We also enjoyed a mystery reader.

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Kids in Culture

Dear First Graders,

     Today we celebrated our friend's birthday! It was so neat that she also got to help during our assembly.  What a special day!

All the stories had the message of being kind, brave and persevering. 

Thanks PTO for brining us another great program.

Bear Hugs,

"Stay Curious and Creative."

Dear First Graders,

      Boy was I intrigued by the author our mystery reader brought to share with our class.  Tao Nyeu, author of the book Squid and Octopus: Friends for Always, was a Rosendale graduate! Cyrus and his mom wrote to her and asked her some questions that they shared with us. I also did some digging and believe that she had the teacher that previously taught right in our classroom!  Very cool!!

    Here is the message Tao Nyeu sent us...

Stay curious and creative.

One of the best ways to do that is to read books.

And never be afraid to make mistakes

because that is the best way to learn.

- Tao Nyeu

(click name to visit her webpage)

This is a post card Tao Nyeu sent Cyrus! 

Bear Hugs,

Battleship... Shape Version!

Dear Builders!

     You did a great job today identifying your 3D shapes by name and playing Battleship... Shape Version! Check out these two videos of 2 different groups at work! 

Shape Battleship

Shape Battleship Take 2

Keep working on identifying those 3D shapes!  Sphere and cylinder seem to trick us the most.

Bear Hugs,

PJ Day!

Dear First Graders,

     I enjoyed being all cozy in our PJs today!  Here is a cute class picture of us.  Don't forget, picture retakes are Thursday.

    Here is another twin picture from earlier this week!  We all have such good fashion taste!

     Do you celebrate Thanksgiving at home?  Talk with mom and dad about the traditions that you have as a family.

     Mrs. McCullough will be our guest teacher tomorrow. I can't wait to hear about your fabulous day!

Bear Hugs,