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.