Story Elements, Patriotism, and Graphing...Recent class happenings!

This week has been another fun week in First Grade! We are hard at work learning all we can! Here are some things we learned...


In math we reviewed all concepts.  Here we reviewed constructing and interpreting graphs, with our friends, The Gummy Bears!

We talked about Patriot Day (September 11th) as a "day to love our country."  We made tear-art bald eagles using tiny torn pieces of construction paper.  When completed, the construction paper looked like real feathers.  































In Readers' & Writers' Workshop, we discovered that every story has a Beginning, a Middle, and an End.  We read The Little Engine That Could and used a train as an example of something that had a distinguishable beginning, middle, and end.  


 

We are busy first graders, and we are loving every minute of it!  

Windsocks, Houses, & New Faces...Week 3 Happenings

We've had another great week in first grade! I have much to report...

SCIENCE:
In science last week, we observed the weather around us. Thankfully, the monsoon rains held off long enough for us to test out our windsocks and record our observations of the weather outside:

READERS'/WRITERS' WORKSHOP:

In Readers'/Writers' Workshop we focused on being able to tell what the story was about, making connections, and being able to start a story of our own. We also interpretted and retold A House is a House for Me, a darling story written by Mary Ann Hoberman:

BUS SAFETY:

We also had our annual Fire Bus Evacuation practice. Because the thought of a bus crash or a bus emergency can be a little scary for little ones, I tried to make it light and fun, reminding your children that, while it's important to know what to do in a bus emergency, that 1st Graders would always have several teachers aboard a bus to help them. Here are some pictures:

NEW FACES:

Some of you may have already heard about or seen our new student teacher. Mrs. Wendy Jones has joined our class as of August 30th and will be with us until Winter Break. Mrs. Jones is the mom of 7th grade Stafford student, Foster, and 3rd grade Robertson student, Judson. Mrs. Jones has gone back to school and is eager to be a teacher, and she is already proving to be natural with our kids! We are glad to have her.

NOTES AND REMINDERS:

*First of all, Happy Birthday to our next September birthday, Tatiana! (September 18th)


*(From the office): President Obama’s second annual back to school speech will be shown in conjunction with College Week here at Boals. The speech will be shown on Friday, Sept. 22 for all students right after Good Morning Boals.

The speech was first broadcast on Tuesday, September 14th. You may preview the speech at www.whitehouse.gov

If you would like your child to opt out of the presidential message please contact your child’s teacher. Students whose families choose to “opt out” of the speech will be sent to the library until the conclusion of the message.

*College Week is next week! (Expect to see me in a lot of BURNT ORANGE! Hook 'em!)

Here's the schedule:

Monday, September 20:
College Rocks! (Wear College gear or College school colors)
Tuesday, September 21:
School Picture Day (Put your best foot forward, wear your best for pictures)
Wednesday, September 22:
Look to your Bright Future (Wear your brightest colored clothes)
Thursday, September 23:
Heading off to College (Wear a hat on your head)
Friday, September 24:
Go Lil’ Rangers!! (Wear your Lil’ Rangers shirt or navy)

*PTA has stated that there are numerous amounts of passbooks still out and unaccounted for, so please send back your books if you're not planning on purchasing them, or send in your money if you have. Passbook sales end on Friday.

*Picture Day is Tuesday...don't forget!

Well, I think that's all from the Cowpokes' Corral for now...quite a bit I'd say!

:o) Mrs. Chamberlain

Two Weeks Down!

Hello Parents & Cowpokes!! We have finished our first two weeks of 1st Grade, and they have been wonderful! I have enjoyed getting to know your child and his/her own personality greatly. In the past two weeks we have established expectations, set the foundations for Reader's and Writer's Workshop, created puzzle pieces full of story ideas, worked on problem-solving and comparing/ordering numbers, discovered science tools, and realized that we are all scientists! Here are a few pictures from the past two weeks...

Also, Happy Birthday to this week's September birthdays (all on September 8):

Delaney, Austin, & Bryanna (not pictured...picture coming soon!)

Notices & Reminders:

--Homework begins today. Be looking for your child's homework spiral to come home today.

--"Raw" guided reading books will come home this week. This means that there will not be a formal lesson, but rather a quick overview of the book. These will be based on their end-of-the-year kindergarten level. I will begin literacy assessments this week and hope to meet with on-level guided reading groups in two - three weeks.

--Tonight is Moo Yah Burgers spirit night.

I think that's all for now! Have a great week!

--Mrs. Chamberlain