Updates January 28th - February 1st

Happy end of January.  This month flew by so fast.  We are definitely back into all our routines now, and the students are doing a great job taking their learning seriously and still having such a great time as a classroom community.  Here is what we are working on next week in room 9:

Math:  We started measuring with centimeter cubes on Friday.  We will finish this unit this week with an assessment.  Then we will move into data and graphing.

ELA:  This week we will finish our NatGeo unit on Animal Features as well as our coinciding Lit Study on "Over and Under the Snow."  

Science:  We will continue learning about balance and finding stable position with counterweights this week.

Social Studies:  The students are finishing up their map unit with Mrs. Ogg.  After this they will be moving onto learning about American Symbols.

Science Fair Family Help Night:  This Wednesday, January 29th is our Science Fair Family Help Night.  Partaking in the science fair is not a requirement in the first grade, and we will not be doing science fair projects in class.  However, if your child is interested in doing a science fair project, they may.  You may ask me for a science fair packet and I will make sure I can get you the information.  I will only give this to those who request it.  Science Fair Help Night may be geared for 3rd grade up, but might give some helpful insight to those interested in participating, and will be a good luck into what is required in a couple of years.  Childcare will be provided for younger siblings.  This event takes place from 5:30-6:30 in room 20.

Report Card Envelopes:  I have most of the envelopes back from the report cards.  If you still have an envelope, please sign and return ASAP.  Thank you.

Bus Duty:  Thank you all for being patient with us during our first week of bus duty.  I have one day of duty this week (Monday) because I had to trade a day last week, and then I do not have duty again until the week before Spring Break.  Please remember when I am on duty that if you are not right outside my door for pick up, your child will be waiting for you in the office.  This is because I do have to get to the gym immediately to load buses.  Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Change In How Your Child Is Going Home:  Please remember if there is going to be a change in how your child is going home your must notify the school.  Please write it in the agenda or call the office.  Even if this is just for the day, we need to know!  Telling your first grader to tell me is not an official notification.  I do not take their word because often they have mistaken what was said to them (wrong day, mom said she will pick me up and not to ride the bus when mom never said that, etc...).  If I do not have official notification from a parent (note/phone call) I will stick with the normal dismissal routine.  Thank you for your understanding.  It's all about the safety of the children!

Hope everyone has had a great weekend. - Ms. Shaw

January Two in One Post

Hello families.  Sorry about my lack of a blog on Sunday, life was a little busy. Since we skipped last week, and tomorrow is already Friday, I am going to make this a two for one post, covering last week and next week all at once.  Kind of an extra scoop of information all at once!  Here's what we have going on in room 9...

Math:  This week we revisited making two expressions equal (the meaning of the equal sign) and how to fix a false number sentence with teen numbers.  This was quite a challenging concept, and not one I expected mastery of.  I was quite pleased with how well the students did with their understanding of this, having done similar lessons with smaller numbers and recalling their prior knowledge.  This wrapped up Module 2 and we are finally done with Operations and Algebraic Thinking (at least for the time being)!  Woo hoo.  Wednesday we were able to start our unit on Measurement and Data.  We begun this week with learning how to measure and compare the length of up to three objects (longer than/shorter than).  Next week we will learn to measure with standard length units (centimeter cubes).  

ELA:  Last weeks boot camp was a huge success, and just the reminders and reset our kiddos needed to implement Daily 5 successfully this semester.  They are really taking their Daily 5 time seriously, and doing a much better job implementing the strategies and structure involved in making the program successful for themselves.  This is allowing me to work with children in reading groups using our leveled readers from our NatGeo or work on site words without interruptions (or at least a lot less interruptions 😉).  Our Nat Geo stories have been about Animal Features.   We are also doing a book study on the story "Over and Under the Snow."  We will use this to discuss what animals do to survive the winter, learn about prepositions, and learn new vocabulary.  We will wrap up our study with an art over and under the snow art project.

Science:  This week we learned about counterweight and it's importance in placement in making an object balance.  Next week we will continue to explore balance and introduce terms such as balancing points and stable position.  

Social Studies:  The students will continue their geography unit with Mrs. Ogg.

Martin Luther King Day:  We will spend time tomorrow (and perhaps Monday if needed) learning about Dr. Martin Luther King, his life, and his contributions to our society.  Did you know he would have been 90 years old this year?  Please remember Monday, January 21st schools will be closed for MLK day.

Report Cards:  All report cards (and our first grade progress reports) went home last Friday.  Please keep the reports, but make sure to sign and return the manilla envelopes they went home in.  By signing them I know you received and reviewed your chid's progress report.  By returning the envelope I will have it for the next time around.  Without it, I may not.

*Change in Dismissal*:  As of Wednesday there has been a change in our dismissal routine.  When the bell rings there will no longer be any announcements dismissing any groups of children.  Instead, all children are to be dismissed when the bell rings.  In first grade we are going to let the parent pick-up's, walkers, FACTS, bike riders, and Co-Op kids go first, and then have the bus riders follow.  However, there is not much time allotted in between.  The bus riders are walking to the gym where they are lining up in their respective bus lines.  This is where they will load the buses from.  First grade teachers will be on bus duty every 5 weeks, starting next week.  This means that on my duty week I will not be available to be in my room with students to be picked up.  Therefore students who do not have parents at the door on my duty week will be able to find their kids in the office waiting for them.  During the weeks I am not on duty I am perfectly fine with the parent pick ups waiting with me in my room until you can make it in.  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

As always, I feel like I am forgetting something but cannot think what it might be.  Science fair info will be coming soon.  Kinder registration is next month.  If I think of anything else, I will send out an email and amend the blog.  Hope you all enjoy your three day weekend. -Ms. Shaw

Happy New Year 2019!

Happy New Year families!  We are nearing our return to school on Monday (January 7th), so I thought I would send out the first blog of 2019.  Before we get into what is coming up when we return (and some pictures from our Hanukkah celebration from the Friday before break) I wanted to share my New Year's motto with you...

I don't really do resolutions but I love a good motto, when I saw this I thought about how cool this was for my class.  Everyday they walk in is a new day.  A new day to learn something new, which is always my goal to teach them something new.  A new day to make a new friend, to make someone smile.  A new day to try something you've always wanted to do, to take a chance. A new day to make a mistake and learn or to master a concept. A new day to have a good day.  Endless possibilities and a clean slate everyday.  I love this!  Welcome 2019!  Here's what is in store for the beginning of our year...

Math:  We will finish our unit on subtracting 7, 8, and 9 from a teen number.

ELA:  Since we have had a couple of week off we will spend this week in Daily 5 boot camp.  Each day we will review and practice one of the Daily 5 concepts- Read to Self, Work on Writing, Read to Someone, Word Work, and Listen to Reading.  This is just an opportunity to remember and practice the procedures we have set in place to become better readers and writers.  We will also be reading the story "The Mitten" by Jan Brett.  Next week we will read her story "The Hat" and do a little story comparison.

Science:  We will begin the new year reviewing and testing on the scientific method.  After this we will begin our new unit on balance and motion.

Social Studies:  The students will be joining Mrs. Ogg across the hall to begin their unit on maps, which will include learning about cardinal directions and map symbols.  

Date to remember:  That's right, just one for now.  January is shaping up to be a relatively quiet month for the time being.  Mark your calendars for Monday January 21st.  School will be closed for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  As the day gets closer we will be studying Dr. King, his life and his contributions to society, and why we have a day off in his honor.

Hanukkah Celebration:  I know it feels like it's been a while, but thank you to everyone who contributed supplies to our Hanukkah celebration.  Thank you to our parents who came in and helped make our delicious latkes.  It was an unusually loud morning 😄, but it was because everyone was having so much fun playing the dreidel game.  The laughter was contagious.  Here are some pictures of our festive morning.

I look forward to seeing everyone back at school tomorrow.  Please remember to dress your kiddos appropriately for the weather - winter jacket, gloves, hats, snow gear, boots.  Thank you.  -Ms. Shaw