Wonderful news from first grade-

We made it through book 6.  This does not mean we will stop reading and taking a spelling test.  It does mean we will switch books.  We will be reading the story JUST A LITTLE BIT.  This is about an elephant that wants to seesaw with a mouse.  The animals have to help out to make this happen.  You may also read some of the other stories in this book.

Our spelling words are easy this week.  I predict everyone will do well.  The words all have the same word family inside of them.  They have the letters -own in them.

We had a great day at the zoo.  I am thankful it only rained on the way to Chicago.  The weather was just perfect when we arrived.  Thank you parents for giving up your day to chaperone.

We have 11 days left of school.  I need to accomplish some things before your child becomes a second grader.  Keep reading at home and practicing math facts.  Thank you for all you do to help me.

Dear Parents-

Our field trip to Lincoln Park Zoo is Wednesday.  The temperature sounds like it will be in the 80’s.  We will have a great day.

Try to find your Grant Park green T-shirt so we will be able to spot our children in a crowd.  If you do not have this shirt, any green shirt will work.  Please make your lunch disposable.  After we eat, parents do not want to carry around a lunch box.  Put your lunch in a brown paper sack so everything can be thrown away.  For safety reasons, please do not send glass containers.  Juice containers work wonderfully.

The bus will leave as close to 8:30 AM as possible.  You do not want to be late on this day.  We can not wait for you.  You want to wear comfortable shoes since we will do a lot of walking.  Make sure you eat breakfast.  We will not have a snack that morning.

I can hardly wait for Wednesday to come.  I love the giraffes!  My first stop will be the giraffe house.

Dear Parents-

Next week our main story is Cool Jobs.  We will read about a zoo dentist, a flavor maker, and a bee keeper.  The vocabulary words are laugh, only, goes, and ever.  The challenge vocabulary words are ordinary and interesting.  The spelling words are pool, cool, soon, moon,broom, and room.

Please remember to send in your child’s zoo permission slip and $1.00 for the habitat workshop by Tuesday.  We have a 1:55PM dismissal on Wednesday and an 11:30AM dismissal on Friday. 

Dear Parents-

We will begin discussing space this week with our main selection Blue Jay Finds a Way.  Our vocabulary words are birds, Earth, table, and bear.  Spelling words have the double o.  The words are book, took, look, cook, hood, and wood.  I am glad the words do not have the same sound spelled with different letters as we had the last two weeks.  Everyone should do well this week with a little study time.

In math we ended the minute quizzes with subtraction problems less than 10.  We will begin quizzes with addition problems to 20.  I can tell some of your children are getting to be speed wizards on these quizzes.  Keep up the good work!

Hello Parents-  We will be reading the story Dot and Jabber this week.  This is a story about camouflaged bugs.  This will begin discussions on how animals can blend into their habitats and be safe.  Vocabulary words to know are been, gone, and other.  Challenge vocabulary words are invisible, clues, and searching. Spelling words this week have ou and ow in them.  Once again you need to study early with your child so they know which vowel combination to use.  The words to study are cow, how, town, out, mouse, and mouth. In math we are hitting the facts to 20 hard in order to memorize them.  Our minute quizzes will continue with subtraction.

Hello parents-

We have begun assessing math facts with short quizzes.  Each quiz has 15 problems.  On Tuesday and Wednesday I gave the students 2 minutes to answer the problems.  On Thursday and Friday I gave the students 1 minute to complete the quiz.  The minute went by quickly but quite a few finished the 15 problems.  The sums were less than 10.  Next week we will begin to assess using subtraction problems with the differences less than 10.  You can help your child get faster on the facts by practicing at home.

Our spelling words next week are very tricky.  The words have r-controlled vowels with ir, er, and ur spelling patterns.  These spelling patterns sound the same in the words her, fern, bird, dirt, fur, and burn.  Study early in the week.

We finished the fun story about Frog and Toad trying to fly a kite.  The class decided the birds were bullies.  They made fun of Toad and Frog and called their kite junk.  Toad and Frog won out in the end by having the kite fly higher than the birds could fly.

This coming week we will be reading about inventions kids make.  One child makes a new kind of useful bat.  Another child makes a new kind of alarm clock.  The last child invents a new way to carry the I.V. pole for children in the hospital.  Who knows what your child is capable of inventing?  The potential is there for each and every one of them.

The vocabulary words are better, children, or, and round.  The spelling words have the r-controlled vowel in them.  The words are cart, art, barn, yarn, arm, and harm.

The students wrote about catching a leprechaun.  I hope they spot one over the weekend.  Remember early dismissal on Friday—1:55PM. 

Hello parents-

Having a snow day on Tuesday changed all my plans for reading and spelling.  Please see the blog entry for last week March 4-8 to check on vocabulary and spelling words.  We will be doing the story THE KITE next week.  This past week we read out of our old reading series and enjoyed the story THE SHOPPING LIST. 

I do not know about you but I am ready for spring.  Hopefully we will not have any more snow days!

We finished a fun story this week-Olivia.  The class loved how the pig got in trouble and was not very nice to her brother.  We decided she deserved a time out.  I have been reading the other Olivia books found in the library.  They are also fun to read and see what Olivia is doing.

This week we have another fiction based story-The Kite.  The class will enjoy the antics of Frog and Toad.  We will also watch a video and compare and contrast differences in the written and visual media forms.  Words for the story are-shout, ball, head, should, never, laughter, and meadow. 

The spelling words have the long i pattern spelled with igh, ind, and the y.  The words are-find, kind, night, right, by, and my. 

Enjoy the three day weekend!  I will see my class back on Tuesday, March 5th.

What a great Valentine’s Day party we had!  Thank you room parents for the organized fun.  How wonderful—-we have a three day weekend.  Our last story was a biography about Benjamin Franklin.  We covered many things Benjamin Franklin invented or started.  See if your child can tell you something learned this past week.  We will be studying President Washington and President Lincoln this week to honor Presidents’ Day.

Our story this coming week is a folk tale – Little Rabbit.  The focus is stories need a beginning, middle, and end.  Vocabulary words are – before, happen, began, told, heard, and falls.  Spelling words have the y which makes the long e sound – bumpy, penny, puppy, sandy, funny, and bunny.

In math we will be reviewing facts to 12 and begin memorizing facts to 20.  My plan last week was to work on counting money.  It did not happen so we will try to begin this week.  We spent a lot of time on strategies to help with facts to 20.