Teddybear Sleepover

This last week started off with lots of fun as we entered our classroom and our teddybears and other stuffed animals were gone!!  What kind of adventures did they have over the weekend during their sleepover at school??  Well, we soon found out as the stuffed animals took us on a scavenger hunt through the school to tell us the tale of their adventures!  The hunt ended in the library where we found our bears and other animals!  We enjoyed some teddy grahams as we watched a video slideshow, which captured these wonderful adventures.  Check out the video below.

http://animoto.com/play/uyk3DoqRKpCLSf7QmSwZSQ


The rest of our week consisted of some other fun events as well! We had the opportunity to hear the wonderful Jazz Ensemble from Parker High School.  We also had a whole school assembly to celebrate overall school behavior and all our efforts with PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Strategies).  Each child received a Washington T-shirt with our patriot pledge on the back. 

It was a great week!  I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday break.  See you next year!!

Mrs. Halon

Teddy Bear Sleepover

Congratulations to all the first graders on a wonderful performance in their holiday program!  The kids worked hard on their songs and parts and were very proud.  They should be! 

First graders said goodnight to their teddy bears and other stuffed animals Friday at 3pm.  Our teddy bears have spent the whole weekend at Washington Elementary School and  we can't wait to see them Monday morning!  (shhh...the kids will be in for a fun surprise when they get there Monday)

We had a fun time spending the day Friday with our special stuffed animals.  The animals watched the kids do math and write.  Best of all the animals enjoyed the children reading to them.

In class this week we have enjoyed writing descriptive paragraphs about our stuffed animals as well as other fun holiday writing.

In Math we have begun our unit that focuses on measurement.  We've learned about reading thermometers as well as measuring in inches.  We had the chance to measure some different objects in our desk to see how many inches long they were.  We have been continuing to work on our addition facts daily.

Our focus in reading this week was reality and fantasy.  The children learned that reality is something that could really happen and fantasy is make-believe.  We thought about what was reality or fantasy this week with every read aloud story, guided reading stories, and books in our read to self book bag.
We are looking forward to spending one more day with our stuffed animals at school on Monday! 

Busy Little Elves!

What were we up to last week??  A LOT!  Here's a recap of the events of our classroom:

Reading:  In reading this week we focused on comparing and contrasting.  We read passages each morning and compared and contrasted events in those passages.  Together we even used a Venn Diagram on the smartboard to visualize those events.  During literacy centers this week when the kiddos were not reading with me, Mrs. Kohl, or Mrs. Markestad, they had the opportunity to create little elves and poinsettias that are now decorating our classroom.

Along with our word wall words, we worked on the digraph "SH".  We read stories with "sh" words and searched for and read words that started and ended with "sh".  The kids really enjoyed our class story in our reading book this week titled Where Do Frogs Come From?  In this nonfiction story we learned all about the life cycle of a frog.  We talked about this change, or "metamorphosis".  We are going to continue learning about this topic this next week and do some writing about frogs and read some more books about frogs.  I think we may even compare and contrast frogs and toads. 

Math:  We finished up our third unit in math this week.  Unit 3 assessment will be coming home this week.  Take a look at your child's test.  The cover sheet will help you see the different skills that were assessed and how your child did with each skill.  If there is a particular skill your child had difficulty on, I would be happy to send home some extra practice activities/sheets/ideas to help you continue practicing at home.  Coming up in unit 4, we will be working on measurement.  We will continue practicing our addition facts each day, as well as taking our addition facts check up on Friday.  Last Friday in math we had a great time practicing different math skills in rotating centers.  Here are some of the things we did:


We practiced math facts with a fun penguin game on the Smartboard.

 

It was fun to try out the tangram puzzles!

Money counting is something we
work on everyday.  Money TOP IT
is a favorite game. 



We worked on our number writing!







*Congratulations to Lance, Parker, and Carter who all earned a free gift book this week for reading 20 books in the Reading At Home Program.  Super Reading!!!*

 

We look forward to seeing you at the holiday program Thursday afternoon at 2:00 pm.  The children have been working hard and are excited to perform for you. 

 

Have a great week!

 

Mrs. Halon

 

Kit and Kat projects were a blast!

What a fun and busy week!  I'm sure you all heard about our excitement in our classroom that involved a little furry rodent.  Even with all that excitement, we sure did manage to get a lot accomplished this week.  :)

In reading this week, we focused on sequence.  We read some passages and looked at how stories need to have details in order to make sense.  We spent the week focusing on a story by Tomie DePaola titled Kit and Kat.  It was a story about two cats that go to their grandparent's house for a sleepover.  The problem in the story is that Kit forgets his pajamas.  We sequenced the events in the story, writing about them using words such as first, next, then, and last.  The kids had a great time talking about sleepovers and what they would take on a sleepover.  We created a classroom idea map that lists all our ideas.  Click on the following link to see our classroom popplet!

http://popplet.com/app/#/617087

At the end of the week, we even got the chance to look through magazines and cut out pictures of things we would take on a sleepover.  We glued pictures into our "suitcase" and wrote about the things we would take and learned about how to use commas in a piece of writing when we are listing items.  A few students had the opportunity to share their project with the rest of the class.  They really had a great time with this project and story this week. 

We learned a new concept in math this week called Frames and Arrows Diagrams.  You saw a homelink come home this week that explained it and provided some practice for your child.  We will continue working on frames and arrows diagrams throughout the rest of the year, with both addition and subtraction.  Speaking of addition, please continue to work with your child a few minutes each night on their addition flashcard that were sent home early last week.  We will continue to have fact check-ups every Friday to monitor progress with these basic facts. 

*Congratulations to Sophia, Ayumi, and Breanna who have already read 20 books for the Reading at Home program and have earned a free gift book from me.  Keep reading!!

*The weather has been very unpredictable lately with the temps going up and down!  Please keep an eye on the forecast and dress your child appropriately for the weather.  Thanks!

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Halon

It looked like spilt milk, but it was just a cloud in the sky

With only two days this week, we took a break from our regular guided reading groups and took that time to do some other fun reading and writing activities.  One story we read was It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw.  The kids enjoyed this story about different pictures we can sometimes see in the clouds.  We used our imaginations and created our own clouds from cotton and wrote about them. 

In math this week we visited the computer lab.  We tried out a site with math games called Johnnie's Math Page.  The kids enjoyed playing number and counting games on this site. 

I hope everyone enjoyed an extended weekend and had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We are looking forward to getting back into a regular routine this week as a great start to Trimester 2.



*Please remember as the weather has now turned quite cold to send your child with the proper cold weather gear.  The students go outside for recess twice a day and need a warm winter jacket, hat, and gloves/mittens.*

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Halon

Little Bird Tales

Hooray!  First graders have finished our Little Bird Tales!  We have been working on a integrative project this fall where we have written stories all about ourselves.  We are using these stories to introduce ourselves to other first graders at Madison Elementary School here in Janesville.  We hope to keep in contact with our pen pals throughout the school year and hopefully meet up with them at the end of the year.  We began by writing a story about ourselves, including things we like to do and our favorite food and stories.  From there, Mrs. Janine (our Art teacher) worked with the children in Art class to illustrate their stories.  After that, the students worked in the computer lab with both Mrs. Janine and Ms. Block (our Innovative Learning Specialist) to navigate through the program Little Bird Tales.  They "drew" their illustrations in the program to create their pages.  Later, Ms. Block met with each child to record their voice reading their story.  It was great to collaborate with both Mrs. Janene and Ms. Block to create these awesome stories with the kids.  The kids loved seeing the end product and were very proud of their work.

(You can see these tales by clicking on the Little Bird Tales link at the top of this post)

ENJOY!!

Some other things we've been up to this week:

• reading, learning, and writing facts about pumpkins
• enjoying hearing books about Thanksgiving and writing about things we are thankful for
• hearing a Ready Freddy story Thanksgiving Turkey Trouble
• using clues in stories to predict what will happen next
• learning a new words activity "Pyramid Words" 
• adding and subtracting using our number line as a tool
• telling time to the half hour

Thank you to veterans who came for the celebration Monday morning and also thank you to grandparents that came to enjoy breakfast with your child Friday morning.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Halon

RAH Program

At conference time I spoke with all of you about our RAH program, also known as the Reading At Home program.  This simply gives the opportunity for the kids to take a book home each night from my collection at school to read and share with you.  Your child may bring home a book they have had in their "read to self" book bag here at school and has been reading for a couple weeks, or it may be a book they have not seen at all yet.  Either way, they will be bringing a book home that they can read independently to you.  Practicing this reading at home is helping your child with vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.  Have a discussion with your child about the book as they are reading it.  Ask questions such as:

• How do you think that character is feeling?
• Where does this story take place?
• What was the problem in the story?
• How was the problem solved in the end?
• What was your favorite part in the story?
• What do you think will happen next?

 If your child is struggling with a word in the story, encourage them to think about the strategies they have learned at school to help them figure out those tricky words.  Here are those strategies:

	Eagle Eye - Look at the pictures! ·       Look at the picture for clues
	Lips the Fish - Get your lips ready! ·       Say the first few sounds of the new word ·       Read to the end of sentence and say it again
	Stretchy Snake - Stretch it out! ·       Stretch the word out slowly ·       Put the sounds together
	Chunky Monkey - Chunk the Word! ·       Look for a chunk that you know (-at, -an) ·       Look for a word part (-ing, -er)
	Skippy Frog - Skip It, Skip It! ·       Skip the word ·       Read to the end of the sentence ·       Hop back and READ IT, READ IT!
	Tryin’ Lion - Try it again! ·       Try to reread the sentence ·       Try a word that makes sense
	Helpful Kangaroo - Ask for help! ·       Ask for help (after you have tried all of the other strategies

First grade is a big year in the area of reading. Your child will make so many gains in this area and your support at home is very important.  As with a lot of things, "practice makes perfect" and it takes a lot of practice every day with reading to become a better reader.  Thank you to those of you who signed the contract and are participating in the RAH program this year.  If you are still interested and need the information sheet again, please contact me and let me know.  I'll be happy to send another home for you to sign and get a book home with your child today!

HAPPY READING! 

Mrs. Halon

The Pumpkin Farm

The highlight of this week was our field trip to Skelly's Farm Market.  Boy, did we have a GREAT time!  Some highlights of our trip included:

• A wagon ride through the field, reading fun little jokes and riddles
• Going to "pumpkin school" and learning all about pumpkins, gourds, and squash
• Picking out a pumpkin and a gourd to take home
• Walking through the corn maze...and not even getting lost!
• Enjoying an apple cider donut and juice

Thanks to all the parents that joined us on the trip.

The day after our field trip, we worked hard on a piece of writing.  We discussed how to write a story using words such as first, next, then, and last to describe the order of events.  Each child then wrote a story about their experience at Skelly's using this model for writing.  We sure are becoming great little writers!

During Math this week, I introduced the children to the terms EVEN and ODD and what they mean.  We continue to practice recognizing if numbers are even or odd throughout the day.  It's easy to review this at home during your regular daily routines as learning moments.  Ask your child if a number is even or odd and see if they can explain to you how they know.

We also focused this week on Main Ideas of stories we read.  We read stories and discussed the main idea of the story and then also listed some of the details that support the main idea.  This is a great question to ask your child after they read a book to you at home or after you read a story to them.  What is this story MOSTLY about?  With that, they should be able to tell you the main idea of the story.   This helps guide your child's comprehension and understanding with the material they are reading.

We are looking forward to another busy and exciting week in first grade!  For now, I will wrap up with a few fun pictures from our field trip.

Short but Productive Week

Although we only had three days of school last week, we sure were busy and got a lot done!  Some highlights of this week included:

• Going to the computer lab to learn how to log in to RAZ kids.  The students enjoyed reading their books on the computer and earning star points.

• Learning a new word game called "Word Race".  The children reviewed word wall words during this game where they rolled dice and wrote the words in a graph.  It was a race to see which word made it to the top first!

• Hearing Poppleton stories during our classroom read aloud.  The kids have enjoyed the various Poppleton stories each day.  Some of them may even bring a Poppleton book home to read with you next week from the library. 

• Finishing up Unit 2 in Math.  We tested our 2nd unit in Math and that test came home with your child last week.  If there were any corrections to be made on the test, please have your child make those corrections at home.  

• We enjoy singing our math songs each day during our calendar routine at the smartboard.  We sing songs that help us practice skip counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's.  We also sing songs about adding doubles, making sums of 10, and counting money.  Ask your child to share these songs with you.  They sure have fun singing them in school, especially when I bring out our microphone!  

I really enjoyed meeting with all of you during parent/teacher conferences last week.  I truly enjoy sharing all of the wonderful things your child is doing and how well they are progressing in school.  Thank you for being such an intregal part of their learning.  I appreciate your support at home.

Mrs. Halon

Off And Running!

We’re off and running in first grade!  Now this blog is off and running as well!  I’m excited to begin sharing all the awesome things we are doing in first grade and show you how we are “growing!”  We spent a good portion of the beginning of the year learning our routines and rules of the classroom.  The students are now settled in to those daily routines and working hard. 

Our guided reading groups have been up and running for several weeks now.  I meet with small groups of readers and read with them at their instructional level, and work on many different elements to guide them in their reading instruction.  While I’m reading with those groups, the other children in the classroom are very busy working on meaningful activities such as:

-reading take home books and working on the phonics skill of the week with an instructional aide. 

-participating with Mrs. Markestad (ELL teacher) on an extension activity from a story they have already read during guided reading that week.

-working independently on a “words” activity to practice their word wall words or word family words of the week.

- reading to self with “just right” books they can read independently. 

I’m so proud of how well the kids work during this literacy time each day!   

Read to Self is a time when the children really enjoy sprawling out any place in the room to enjoy reading their "just right" books.





Students have been working on "tracking" the print with their fingers as they read.  This helps our little readers keep their eyes on the print, tracking it left to right and word for word.

During one center activity, students are "word detectives" and they search for vocabulary in their paper take-home books.  They enjoy this activity.  I encourage you to try this at home with an old magazine or newspaper.  See how many familiar words your child can find!


I'm looking forward to meeting with all of you and talking about your child and their progress during conferences this week.  

Mrs. Halon