Fifty Nifty United States

 

Fifty nifty United States from thirteen original colonies;
Fifty nifty stars in the flag that billows so beautif'ly in the breeze.
Each individual state contributes a quality that is great.
Each individual state deserves a bow, we salute them now.
Fifty nifty United States from thirteen original colonies,
Shout 'em, scout 'em, Tell all about 'em,
One by one till we've given a day to ev'ry state in the U.S.A.

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut;
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana;
Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan;
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada;
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina,
North Dakota, Ohio;
Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas;
Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming...

North, south, east, west, in our calm, objective opinion,
(name of home state) is the best of the
Fifty nifty United States from thirteen original colonies,
Shout 'em, scout 'em, Tell all about 'em,
One by one till we've given a day to ev'ry state in the good old U. S. A.


**YouTube the Fifty Nifty song for your kiddos**

THEY LOVE IT! :)

This week has been RED RIBBON WEEK!

 

Please discuss with your child the importance of staying drug FREE, and talk with them (on a first grade level) about the dangers of drugs!!!

 

Monday-Red Ribbon Bracelets

Tuesday-Jersey Day-Team Up Against Drugs Day

Wednesday-Slipper Day-Don't Slip Into Drugs Day

Thursday-Wear Red Day (Assembly at 1:15)

Friday-Hat Day-Put a Lid on Drugs Day

 

 

This Week's Spelling Words-short e

-beg

-ten

-yes

-pet

-bet

-set

 

We are learning SO much and I just can't wait to fill you all in! Please go over some of this content at home with your students in addition to homework. Just talk about it! If you apply what they learn here at school to everyday life, the information will be much more valuable to them! Thank you! You all are so helpful in your child's learning.

 

Math- We are discussing flat shapes and 3-D shapes. We are talking about all kinds of shapes. Circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, hexagons, pentagos, octagons, parallelograms, trapezoids, etc. Ask your kids what things at home have what shape! Also, ask them to talk to you about shapes. How many corners (vertices) does this shape have? How many sides does it have? Could this 3-D shape roll? Could it slide? Does it stack? These are the types of questions that will start turning those wheels!!!

 

Social Studies- We are learning a ton in Social Studies right now! We are beginning to talk about geography and geographic features. We are learning about maps right now and how to read them. We are also really studying KEYS or LEGENDS on maps and how these help us to read and better understand the map we are studying. At home, please talk to your child about different maps and the importance of a map. Show them some maps. We talked about how our school has a map, our state has a map, our city has a map, and the world has a map. We even made a map of our classroom! Also at home, you can talk to your child about our state and the others 49 states in our country. We will be examining a map of the United States and learning the other state's names as best as we can. Hearing this at home and learning there too will be most beneficial.

 

Language Arts- Practice, practice, practice punctuation!!! We are still practicing punctuation and can probably never get enough practice in. At home, have your children write sentences and make sure their punctuation is correct. Do they have a capital letter at the beginning? Are names and important places capitalized? Is there a punctuation mark at the end of the sentence (? . !). Double check all of this please. 

 

We also are talking about how two words can be blended into one in order to form what is called a contraction! We made "Candy Corn Contractions" in class one day and the kids really grasped the concept! Please have them tell you some contractions and give you the two words they have to have to make the contraction (i.e. they+will=they'll, we+have=we've, did+not=didn't, will+not=won't). This concept is challenging but we will get it!!!

  

Reading- We currently are reading books and talking about main idea and key details. We also are talking about who the characters are in a text, what the setting is, and what the plot is as well. Have your children tell you what these things are in the books they're reading nightly. This is a good use of their "re-telling" skills which is one thing we are really working on in reading as well. I want for your child to be able to read a book, or hear a book, and then be able to retell what their brain soaked in. This helps them greatly when it comes to comprehending literature.

**Important Announcements**

-I sent a list of sight words home with your kiddos today! I have highlighted a column titled with a certain color that I'd like them to work on. You can have them read the word (you point and show, then they read), and also write the word (you say and don't show, they write). This will help them with sight word recognition. This also will hopefully help to improve their spelling!

-I also am sending our class BUDDY home this weekend! We have selected a student to spend the weekend with him and we are sending his journal along too! Look at the story example that I have on the front page! Read this to your child (this won't be the first time they've heard it) and help them neatly write a story of their own! This will help build their writing skills, their "retelling" skills as they have to retell their weekend, and their abilities to better understand personal narratives!

 

 

 

 



Weekly Update!

 

This week's Spelling Words- Words with "short u":

 

*Gum

*Hut

*Mud

*Nut

*Pup

**Full-Bonus

**Jump-Bonus

 

Math: We are learning about shapes and the different types of shapes that exist. We are starting our geometry unit! The kids love it so far and are really enjoying working with the different shapes. We have discussed what it looks like to slide a shape, flip a shape, turn a shape, etc. Ask your kids to talk with you about shapes at home (i.e. Q: What shape is a tire? A: Circle, or What shapes roll?)

 

Reading: We are reading stories that will help us with our personal narrative writing. We are also reading stories that contribute to what we are learning in math.

 

Writing: Today we wrote about what we did at the orchard last week. We wrote in sequential order!

 

Science: We are still talking about things that can melt and how liquid can change states.

 



Thank you to all of the SPECIAL parents and grandparents that helped chaperone our Boyd's Orchard field trip!!! Thank you also to those family members who just popped in for a sweet visit! Your help and your support means so much and we could not do half of the activities we plan without your help! Thanks!!!

 

 

We had an amazing, and exhausting (haha) day at Boyd's Orchard last Wednesday before Fall Break! So glad that we were able to finish our week before the break with a fun field trip for our kiddos! At the orchard, we learned about bees and apples! We got to eat some yummy doughnuts and drink apple cider! We went on a hayride and we picked apples from an apple tree! We also got to pet/feed animals, and we were able to play on the fun playground that had huge slides! What a great experience!!!

 

Boyd's Orchard Photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Snapshots!!!

 

It's been a while since I've posted some photos of your students, so, I thought I'd add some to the blog! Hope you like them!!!

 

 

Ms. Banks (another First Grade teacher) arranged for the fire department to come out today! We learned all about fire safety and we loved meeting the fire men! They were so nice! All of the students got to go inside of the fire truck and learn about the different functions that the truck serves. We are very grateful for our fire men! Thanks so much for the service!!!

 

 

 

 

Here are some pictures from within the classroom! Each week we have continued to be SO lucky to have Vadar! He has been the BEST "class dog". The kids love him and love to read to him! He's a great listener :). Also, we love our celebrity readers! Here are some pictures of our past couple "celebrities". You all are so famous to all of our kiddos! How special is it to have mom or dad come read!? It's really special when grandparents get to come read too. Tessa's grandmother was a teacher in Ohio! She came and surprised Tessa and the rest of our class with one of Tessa's favorite books!

 

Will & his mom!!!

Tessa & her grandma!!!

Reading to Vadar!!!

Sitting "EEKK" during Daily 5!

These two love reading to a buddy!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 



Our Week Before Fall Break!

 

Note: There is no homework this week! There also will not be a spelling test! Our week is very short and with our field trip on Wednesday, there really is not much time to get it all done! Thanks for your understanding! I'm sure it is a nice break for not only your students, but also you! Enjoy!!! :)

 

Announcements:

 

*We will be going to the Pumpkin Patch this Wednesday! Thank you all for returning your child's permission slip in a timely fashion! That made things SO very easy on me as this is my very FIRST field trip! I am so excited to be experiencing it with such an awesome class! (For those of you who have signed up to chaperone: I sent home a chaperone sheet with your student today. It has your name along with the group of students you will be in charge of at the Pumpking Patch. Thank you for all you do for our students! It makes everything so much nicer for everyone involved!)

*Parent/Teacher conferences are just around the corner. I have sent home a sign up sheet for you to fill in a day and time which is most convenient for you and your family's schedule. I would like to have this returned no later than Monday, October 14th so that I can have time to solidify the schedule. This will be the first time I have conferenced with parents before and I am still getting to know your students, so please bare with me as I do my very best to communicate all of the important information about your child's learning with you! I am very happy to be given the opportunity to do so, and I look forward to meeting!

*Look for the form about our class "Buddy" that will be going home to spend the weekend with a different student each week. Anything you might want to know about this new, fun activity is in the letter that your child brought home in their "take home" folder last Friday.

 

**Today we had an exciting morning! We learned about fire safety and had a fire truck with firemen come out to teach our students! The boys and girls got to walk around the truck and learn about the truck's functions, as well as ask questions about fire safety! Ask them about this neat experience!!** 

 

Have a GREAT Fall Break!!!

This week's update!

Here is a list of this week's words, and below is also a summary of what we will be learning before Fall Break! I know everyone is excited for a mini break :)!

 

Spelling Words (-in and -ip words):

In

Dip

Thin

Pin

Rip

Zip

 

Reading: We are talking about Main Idea and how to determine the main idea in stories we read! We also are talking about Key Details still and how to differentiate main idea and key details from one another. Key details support our main idea and we have really emphasized that during our learning. While reading at home, have your kids tell you what the main idea is in each book you read. That will benefit them immensely! Also during reading, have students point out some -ip and -in words! We are working with these words this week and our spelling words include ones with these two endings.

In addition to this, we are reading books that are fiction and non-fiction. We are studying the difference between the two types of literature and classifying books into the two categories. Talk about fiction and non-fiction books at home with your kids!

Language Arts: Students are learning to write in sequential order. They are telling me about their morning routine by using words which signify the order in which things happen (after, now, before, then, lastly, etc.) Also, we have wrapped up our unit on opinion writing and will move into narrative writing. We have a special project that we will be doing to help us strenghten our ability to write narratives. You will receive a letter regarding this by the end of the week!

 

 

Math: Students are working on counting back to subtract. Please practice their math with them at home by asking them questions like this- What is 3 less than 10? What is the same as 7-3=4 ( for the second example question, give them a couple of addition problems to choose from with one having the same answer as the subtraction problem).

 

Science: We are still talking about what can melt and about how heat causes change. Keep the conversations going at home as well please. We will be learning about mammals, reptiles and amphibians too! We've already started this! Amphibians have been introduced first! Classify some animals with your kids at home by asking them what kinds of animals belong to which group!

 

 

Thank you for going over the material at home with your kids! It is great to refresh their minds and to continue hilighting what has been discussed in the classroom! It definitely strengthens their learning! You are an amazing contribution to their growth! Also, please make sure if you have not sent in your child's permission slip for the Pumpkin Patch that you do so! We are leaving one week from today! :)