Update 10/29/14

Hello, all!

We are pushing through assessments and moving into our Halloween projects. You may have heard of our "Spider Soup," or inferencing lessons. We are sure having a blast!

A few notes,

I sent home conference slips (pink), 1/2 day lunch slips (purple), and a conferencing survey (white). Please look at all three pieces and send them to me before the weekend. I told the kiddos their parents had homework. They thought that was pretty funny! 

We will be having half days on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week for Parent Teacher Conferences. This is a great chance for me to talk with parents about report cards and behaviors. The conference survey will really help focus in on some reachable goals for Quarter 2!

Here is the recipe for the pumpkin bars if you were interested!

Happy-Almost-Halloween!

Courtesy of the Litzsinger Family!

Update 10/22/14

I hope you all had a great, long weekend with the kiddos. They all seemed well rested and ready to tackle the end of Quarter 1! Picture Day went smoothly and I can't wait to see the photos come back!

I updated the important date section of the blog, so you'll want to check those out. I'll be volunteering at the cake walk for the Pumpkin Patch Party! I hope to see you all there. 

Here is the homework for this week. Missing addend is a hard concept for most math brains. It involves using a given part and whole of a number sentence and solving to find the missing part. For example, 4+__= 6. We know it is 2, but how? Because we counting the difference between 6 and 4, or 4 and 6. That is how I teach students to solve these equations. 

Also, this week, we are working on our "can, have, are," writing project. Next week we start assessments. Part of Quarter 1 assessing is an expository piece of writing. We've been working on brainstorming and telling and audience about a particular topic. This week, we practiced with pumpkin writing. Here is our brainstorm!

Red Ribbon Week

Here are the dates and descriptions for Red Ribbon Week! Any volunteers to come up with an idea and decorate our door? 

Update 10/15/14

Happy Wednesday!

Remember, half day today and no school tomorrow or Friday. It will be a nice break for the kiddos (and me ; ) We've really been on a learning roll the past few weeks! End of quarter is on Halloween, so we'll be starting assessments that week. I look forward to seeing all the growth they have made in the first quarter! 

A few reminders,

1.) Picture day is Wednesday, October 22. Slips are going home today in green folders.

2.) No spelling this week, but next week, we will be working on short o.

3.)  No toys at school! We've already had a few lost toys this year. 

4.) Homework is a making 10 worksheet. They must write 11 different ways to make 10. It is okay to use the flip-flop (i.e. 2+8=10 and 8+2=10)

5.) We had Fire Safety last Friday. Here are a few photos! 

Here are some more pictures from the last week. Thanks for sharing your kiddos with me!

Update 10/8/14

Happy Wednesday! 

Here are some updates from this week:

1.) MEA week next week. No school Thursday or Friday, and a half-day on Wednesday.

2.) Homework this week is making 10. This is a first quarter skill that we will spend a lot of time on.

Fill in the missing addends to make 10!

3.) We made it 20+ minutes for our reading stamina! This a HUGE accomplishment in 1st grade! Way to go, my little firsties!

4.) Picture day is coming up on October 22nd! You should see packets coming home soon!

5.) Remember, Spelling Test this Friday! The words are on the right-hand side of the blog. Practice, practice, practice!!

As always, keep on sending binders and folders back! Have a great rest of the week!

-Mrs. Dimock

Spelling and Other Ramblings!

I hope all of you firstie families had a restful weekend! I spent the weekend recovering from a nasty virus that I had last week. No fun!

This week we start spelling tests with sentences. It is a big deal in first grade that we start showing what we know in spelling! You will be able to find the words on the far right column of the blog. I won't send home paper spelling lists, as I know they get lost in back packs and the Thursday panic is not worth it.

Our weekly routine will be...

Monday-Practice sheet, side 1

Tuesday-Practice sheet, side 2 (with corrections from page 1)

Wednesday-Practice sheet corrections, sent home in Wednesday folder

Thursday-More practice!

Friday- Test, graded and sent home

We will practice on our whiteboards daily and they will have access to practice centers.

The biggest struggle is blending sounds together and remembering capitals and periods on the sentences. If you have any questions on how they will be graded, email or comment below!

**Remember poetry binders due tomorrow with a signature on the back of the most recent poem!**

Weekly Update 10/1/14

October 1st! Can you believe it?! We are gearing up for a fun month!

Here are some updates...

1.) With the weather changing, please send a light jacket every day, even if it seems to be warm in the morning. The wind picks up on the field and makes recesses a little colder now.

2.) P.E. on Friday. Send appropriate shoes.

3.) Homework this week is a doubles page. We are working on knowing our doubles in a "snap!"

4.) We are also working on fragments vs. sentences. We did a neat picture sort to help understand the "whole" picture vs. "part" of the picture.

5.) We will be having bus safety on 10/23!

6.) Our fundraiser went great! We made  quite a bit of money in our class alone. I am excited to see the school totals. Way to go!