Mr. DePauw was absent on a day last week when one of our specials was Latin so I led the specials class. Having not been taught any Latin, I was at a bit of a loss and kept pronouncing the words wrong. Soon it was my students who were teaching me. I was very impressed at the knowledge of the Latin words.
We have a lot of interesting discussions in class. During math we discussed the difference between a number and digit. In science we discussed ways to stay healthy. That discussion led to a rather serious discussion about how it is important to use a tissue so you don't get your boogers on the basketballs. (I love teaching first grade!) PLEASE BE ON TIME: School starts at 7:50. It usually takes about 5 minutes for everyone to get unpacked and settled in their seats so math begins no later than about 7:55. It never ceases to amaze me how much instruction and learning takes places just in the first several minutes of a math lesson. When students arrive around 8:00 or later they have already missed a good portion of the math lesson and then have to spend the rest of the lesson trying to catch up. Prompt arrival to school so your scholars can be present for the whole lesson is very important. Please make sure your scholar arrives to school on time. SUPPLIES NEEDED: Our classroom is running low and/or has run out of the following supplies: Paper towel Clorox/sanitizing/cleaning wipes Pencils (yellow #2) If you are able to donate any of the above supplies to our classroom it would be greatly appreciated. GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Students will learn 9 new words on Monday - Wednesday, review the 27 words on Thursday, and take the spelling test on Friday. Math - Adding and subtracting numbers through 40 - The next "Friendly Notes" information pages for this unit are being sent home in the red homework folders on Wednesday. Please keep them at use them as reference when helping your scholar with math homework. Science - A study guide for the human body unit went home in the red homework folders last Thursday. Today, students reviewed the unit's concepts in class. the Human Body unit test is Tuesday. History - Early American explorers, first American colonies Literature - Bargain for Frances Grammar - Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs Poetry - "My Shadow" by Robert Lewis Stevenson *Note - Poetry recitations begin next week!* UPCOMING DATES: Friday, February 5 - Half Day Dismissal - 12 PM * Trivium Spirit Day * Tuesday, February 9 - PSO Night at Panera Bread, 4-8 PM Monday, February 15 - No School: Presidents Day/R&R NAMING THE GOOD: - I love 1st grade discussions. - There are nine birthdays in February for our class. I don't think I have ever had a month where there were so many birthdays. The most I usually have in one months is 3. Have February!!
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Just a short blog this week. :-) GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Students will learn 8 new words on Monday, 8 new words on Tuesday, and 9 new words on Wednesday. The review of the 25 words is on Thursday and the spelling test is on Friday. Math - Comparing numbers, adding and subtracting a 2-digit number and a 1-digit number, adding tens and ones, counting on or back to add or subtract Science - The Human Body Writing - Abbreviations, 5 parts of a sentence, Titles of respect Grammar - Review of nouns, pronouns, and verbs Poetry - "My Shadow" by Robert Lewis Stevenson *Note* - This week continue to review and practice the first three stanzas of the poem. Focus on memorizing the 4th stanza of the poem. UPCOMING DATES: Wednesday, January 27 - PSO Night at Chipotle Goodyear, 4-8 PM Wednesday, February 3 - PSO Night at Papa Murphy's Pizza (Dysart Rd), 10 AM-8 PM Friday, February 5 - Half Day Dismissal - 12 PM, Trivium Spirit Day Tuesday, February 9 - PSO Night at Panera Bread Monday, February 15 - No School: Presidents Day/R&R Happy last week of January! Oh my goodness. Has it really only been a week since the students came to school as characters from Ancient Egypt?!?! The students looked so amazing! The good news is our class was scheduled to go out to the field for the wax museum presentation just after 8AM. That early in the day their costumes were still full on and intact. As the day wore on, headdresses, wrist bands, capes, and scarves ended up on the floor instead of students. Truth be told, as fun as the day was, I am glad the presentations and "wax museum" was on the shorter Wednesday. It was a bit difficult for students to concentrate on math, Spalding, and school procedures when there was so many cool costume pieces and props to play with. :-) REMINDERS: -As stated in the family handbook, students must wear belts with uniform pants and shorts. - First grade is now into Math workbook 1B. If you scholar does not have the workbook, please send it to school. Please e-mail us and let us know if the book has been ordered and you are waiting for the arrival. - There are three tall towers of Archway fleeces and sweaters in the front office. If your scholar is missing a sweater or fleece please visit the front office to look. I do suggest that you call the office ahead of time so they know to expect you. GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Students will learn 8 new words on Tuesday and Wednesday. The 16-word review is on Thursday and the spelling test is on Friday. Math - Numbers within 40 with a focus on Number Sense. This is a large unit. The concepts taught are no longer being built on review concepts from kindergarten. the concepts taught are now building on what was taught during the "Numbers to 20" unit at the beginning of second quarter. Science - Human body systems Literature - "The Tale of Benjamin Bunny" - Five parts of a sentence Grammar - Nouns, pronouns and verbs Poetry - "My Shadow" by Robert Lewis Stevenson *Note - By now your scholar should have at least the first two stanzas completely memorized. This week be sure to focus on the 3rd stanza and begin to be familiar with the fourth stanza. - You can always find the current poem on the homework logs each week. HOW CAN I HELP MY CHILD IN MATH?: I do get asked that question from time to time. A few general tips are listed as follows: - A "Friendly Notes" information packet was placed in your child's red homework folder today. The "Friendly Notes" give general information and steps that are taught in the classroom. Use it as a guide when helping with homework. - Look over your scholar's workbook pages. If you notice mistakes or a particular page in which your scholar struggled and they did not have time to correct them in class, work with them to correct their mistakes. - Look over the weekly math quiz that goes home in the blue folders each week. - Keep workbook 1A. Since the math concepts do build on each other, use it as a review and extra practice. If you have specific questions please e-mail me. UPCOMING DATES: Friday, January 22 - Trivium Spirit Day Wednesday, January 27 - PSO Night at Chipotle Goodyear, 4-8 PM Wednesday, February 3 - PSO Night at Papa Murphy's Pizza (Dysart Rd), 10 AM-8 PM Friday, February 5 - Half Day Dismissal - 12 PM, Trivium Spirit Day ON A PERSONAL NOTE: Sometimes, when an event takes place or a situation arises that isn't very comfortable, you have to just stop, take a breath, and switch your perspective. I had to really practice that when I went out for traffic duty at dismissal last Wednesday. I was the only one out there! After several moments of panic I took a breath and started looking at how I was going to direct the traffic going around the first loop AND the traffic coming off McDowell. The next day, on Thursday, I had a few more moments of panic as there was car parked right in the middle of the route and there was no one in the car. After several calming breaths I switched my perspective from "Uh-oh!!!!" to "Okay. I can do this. It isn't going to be flowy and pretty, but I can make it work. I got this. Time for an adventure." On both days I went weak in the knees with relief when Mr. Philabaum came out to help direct and I didn't have to do it by myself but I am thankful for the switch in perspective so that, if there ever is an unexpected solo day, I know I will be fine. Not pretty, maybe a bit ragged, but fine. NAMING THE GOOD: - Traffic duty actually is a lot of fun. - My kitty recovered just fine from her surgery and is back to her crazy kitty self. - Spalding is so much fun to teach!!!! - The scholars looked so amazing last Wednesday! (Yes, I know. I already said that.) Have a happy week! Hi there! I think that sometimes it is easy to underestimate the knowledge, understanding, and awareness that our young ones have of this world. Through classroom discussions and individual conversations I am reminded daily to never underestimate my students.
Last week we focused on how ideas are also nouns. I asked my class what an idea was. Their answer - an idea is a thought, something that is in the mind. I asked my class to give me examples of ideas. They were not sure of what examples to give... at first. Mrs. Garza and I listed three: energy, disappointment, and awe. It took just those three words on the boards to help the students understand what we were looking for. Several hands when up and for more than ten minutes all I did was write their words on the board: confusion, pain, joy, happiness, excitement, contentment, frustration, confusion, anger, fear, tired, understanding, friendship, wisdom, love, mad, sadness, kindness The above words are only the few that I remember. The board entire board was full! Also last week - I read a folk tale to the students called "Medio Pollito - Little Half-Chick." In the story a very unkind Medio Pollito refused to help other characters in the story. Then, Medio Pollito needed their help. Because of his unkindness they refused to help. After discussing the basic elements of the story I asked, "Should the other characters have helped Medio Pollito?" That question led to a long, in-depth discussion amongst the students. One student stated, "Two wrongs don't make a right. It was wrong of Medio Pollito to be unkind and not help them. But it was also wrong that they did not help him. That was two wrongs. It didn't make it right." Several other students were in agreement while others did not agree and had valid reasons as to why the characters were just in not helping him. At the end of both of these lessons, Mrs. Garza and I could only look at each other and say to ourselves, "Wow." REPORT CARDS/EVALUATIONS: It was announced in the Athenian Echo on Friday that report cards are available on the Power School Parent Portal. If you are have password trouble and are unable to log onto the portal please contact Mrs.- Miller at [email protected]. I have had a couple of parents e-mail me and ask me how to access the grades on the parent portal. If you are having trouble seeing the grades, one of our scholar's parent wrote out some great steps, tips, and explanations on how to easily access them. The parent wrote as follows: "Here’s how I look at the grades on my iPhone. I’m not sure if it will look different on android phones. I open the link sent by the school and log in. I then turn my phone sideways to get the biggest view of the website. It really helps!!! At the top left corner, directly under the students names, there are 2 arrows. One Up/down arrow and one side to side arrow. Open the side to side arrow by clicking on it. This opens a menu on the left hand side. The menu has links for report card, grades and grade history and some other items that don’t seem to give any real information. Click on The report card link. That gives access to your comments and number grades for each subject. You have to keep scrolling down to see everything. This gives the most information. It also gives last quarters grades so you can compare. The grades link is where I find the “IP” and “P” grades for classes including specials. The Grade history link shows me kinder and first grade “P” and “IP” grades. I find the report card and grades to be the most beneficial links in the menu. PROJECT WEEK: Last week the first grade team sent home a letter about the project week presentation taking place this Wednesday, January 13th. The letter was placed in your scholar's red homework folder. I also attached a copy of it to the e-mail that contained this blog link. There was additional information included in the Athenian Echo that was sent out on Friday. As far as for the written essay, today (Monday) we are going to continue to work on it in class. Those students who are finished with their final draft will have a copy to bring home and be able to look at and practice presenting. Those who have not finished their final draft will be able to finish it Monday night. Students will also have their copy for Tuesday night so they can be confident when presenting their information to the class on Wednesday. I have attached the rubric of how students will be graded to the e-mail that include this blog link. CLASSROOM SUPPLY REMINDERS: As stated in the blog last week, scholars will need math WORKBOOK 1B - COMMON CORE edition starting tomorrow (Tuesday the 12th) If you scholar does not have the workbook at school, please make sure it is here tomorrow. Thanks! Also, Please make sure that your scholar has Bargain for Frances at school by this Friday. Thanks! GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Students will learn 8 new words on Monday - Wednesday. The 24-word review is on Thursday and the spelling test is on Friday. Math - Graphs, Numbers to 40 (Students need to have their 1B workbook starting Tuesday.) History - Project week lessons and presentations Monday - Wednesday Science - The Human Body (Starting Thursday) Literature - The Tales of Peter Rabbit Grammar - Introduction of verbs, parsing nouns, verbs ,and pronouns in sentences Poetry - "My Shadow" by Robert Lewis Stevenson *Note - By now students should have the first stanza memorized. This week focus on the second stanza. ON A PERSONAL NOTE / NAMING THE GOOD: The good thing is I could write a lot here, particularly for the "Naming the Good" section but this is a long blog - full of a lot of information so I will just keep it short. I am very thankful that report cards are done and everything got entered and saved the first time around! Have a happy week!! Whoa! This half day went fast! Whooshhhhhhh! It was done. Remember that tomorrow is a Wednesday and we get out at 1:00. Thursday and Friday are the normal 3:10 release times.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Thank you so much to everyone who gave me such fun gifts. I loved opening every single one of them. I am sending home handwritten thank you cards. I know from past experiences that the thank you cards placed in the red homework folders do not always make it home. Even when I tape the notes to the inside of the folders, many somehow end up at the back of desks, crushed at the bottom of backpacks, and sometimes disappear entirely. If you sent a gift and don't end up getting a thank you note, please know that one was written and getting sent home this week. ;-) Thank you so much to everyone who donated to the teacher snowstorm. That is always a fun gift too! WHAT TO EXPECT FOR 2ND SEMESTER / 3RD QUARTER: From a teacher's perspective, each quarter of the year brings its unique challenges, and unique gifts. The gift of 3rd quarter is that the scholars are settled. They are settled into the classroom and they are settled into their own first grade bodies. They generally know what to expect. They have confidence with procedures, classroom rules, and their ability to learn. Second semester academics are more challenging. Books, discussions, and history journals are more detailed. In math we are now building on new concepts that were taught during the 3rd quarter. It is important that students are confident and knowledgeable with all 70 phonograms. Do not hesitate to e-mail me if you have questions or would like tips on how to support your scholar at home. HOMEWORK THIS WEEK: In order to allow time for your scholar to complete the history homework for project week, there will be no math or spelling homework. Xtramath is listed on the homework log. For this week only, Xtramath is optional. 1B MATH WORKBOOKS: Please make sure your scholar brings his/her Math Workbook 1B to school by this Friday, January 8th! Remember, the math workbook MUST say, "Primary Mathematics Workbook 1B - Common Core Edition" If it doesn't say all of those things on the cover it is not the correct workbook. GENERAL ACADEMICS: Spalding - Students will learn 5 new words on Tuesday and 5 new words on Wednesday. The 10-word review will be on Thursday and the spelling test will be on Friday. In order to allow time for you and your scholar to focus on project week assignments, the spelling homework which is usually sent to be completed at home will be completed in class. The words that students will be learning and then practicing in class are: away, paper, put, each soon (Tuesday) and came, Sunday, show, Monday, moon (Wednesday) Math - Looking at a graph and interpreting the information. There will be no math homework for this week. However, a "Friendly Notes" packet will be sent home in the red homework folders. Completing Xtramath is encouraged but not required for this week. History - Project Week with the focus on the Ancient Egyptians. Grammar - Nouns with a focus on ideas as nouns Poetry - "My Shadow" by Robert Lewis Stevenson *Note - The poem, "My Shadow" is a longer poem and includes four full stanzas. Instead of focusing on all four stanzas at once which can be intimidating, focus on only the first stanza this week. From my experiences over the last several years, I have found that when students focus on one stanza each week, they are able to memorize the poem with ease and confidence. PROJECT WEEK: A parent letter, an example packet, and your scholar's assigned character was sent home in the red homework folders today. Please look over the parent letter and example packet carefully as it will give you the information needed for this week's history homework. It is important that that the history homework packet and example packet get sent back to school everyday as we are also using it in the classroom. ON A PERSONAL NOTE: Oh! I do hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break. My break was so much fun! |
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May 2022
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