Author: Melissa Morrier-Turk

Reminders: Tuesday Vision screening – if your student wears glasses please send them with him or her.

Thursday, October 17th -Math Night 5:30-6:30

Math

There will be a math test on Monday. Please be sure your child knows what a plus sign is, equals sign, and the word “sum”. In class we have been working on learning our shape names. (Hexagon, triangle, square, trapezoid, large rhombus, and thin rhombus.) We have been using new math tools such as Anglegs, pattern blocks, and calculators. Students have learned new math games which they are looking forward to teaching you at Math Night on Thursday.

Reading

Students are making great progress in reading. Some groups are working on fluency, some are working on acquiring more sight words, some are learning about types of sentences. All students are learning about genres. Student Raz-kids accounts have bene activated. If you would like to see what your child is reading in this program go to Raz-Kids.com. Have your child log in. Our class name is smmpig and student passwords are their first initial of their first and last names. (Example: Sam Johnson’s password would be sj.) If you need help with this let me know.

Writing

Students created books called Things We See In The Fall. They did an amazing job writing and illustrating their books.

Religion

Religion and Science were integrated nicely this week. We discussed praised as a type of prayer. We praised God for the moon, starts, trees and plants. In Science this week we learned about plants and trees. We are learning about what plants and tress need to grow and stay healthy. We can help take care of God’s creating.

October 4,  2019

Reminders:  Tuesday, October 8th: Math MAP test

Coming events:  Tuesday, October, 15th: vision screening

Thursday, October, 17th: Math Night 5:30-6:30 

Math

This week students learned that addends in an addition sentence can appear in any order.  We used our number bracelets to help us see how that works. Students also learned about vertical addition sentences and how they look different from the horizontal type we have been completing.  If you want to see new vocabulary for this week click here.  Math Night is coming soon.  Save the date for October 17th.  Families in K-3 (maybe 4?) will come to school in the evening and participate in a family math night.  There will be games to play and activities for students to show parents what we have been doing in class.  It’s short and fun! Join us if you can.

Reading

We continue our search for good fit books in our classroom.  Students also added words to their word collector charts when they found interesting words.  They are learning to use them in their writing. It’s amazing how creative first graders are! When reading stories in class we attempt to identify which Genre they are.  I encourage you to do the same at home.  Our new vocabulary words can be found here.

Writing

Students completed their Ten Black Dots book this week.  In the coming week we will be naming things we see in the Fall.  (These will be nouns). Students will complete a writing project using these words.

Religion

We completed our 3rd chapter.  Students listened to Bible stories from the Gospel of Luke.  They learned about St. Augustine, who was selfish but began listening to Bible stories at Mass and changed his life.

Science

Each and every student who took the Science test this week earned 100%!!!  I believe this is the first time a class has done this. Good job 1A! In our next unit students will be learning about plants and trees.  There will be some tough vocabulary words to learn. For example, deciduous.  So take a look around you and point out evergreen trees and deciduous trees!  That will help a lot.

I hope you all have a chance to enjoy the sunshine.  Have a great week. If you have any questions, please ask.

1A News

September 27, 2019

Reminders: 
Monday, 9/30:  SMM Skate Night 6:00-8:00pm
Monday, also is the first night for homework
Tuesday, 10/01:  Picture Retake/Make up day 8:00-9:00am only
Friday, 10/04:  SVdP First Friday/Free Dress/Blessing of the  Animals

Homework

Monday, first graders will be bringing home their homework packet in their binders.  They are responsible for bringing homework binders to and from school Monday through Friday.  There will be a monthly homework calendar. Students should complete each and every activity on the calendar.  If you have more time on one evening than another please feel free to have them do more/less activities as your schedule permits.  As long as each homework assignment is completed by the end of the month your child will receive full credit. Please be sure the homework packet is in your child’s binder at the end of every month.  I will collect them and place the next calendar and homework packet in the binder. If you have any questions about this please ask.

Math

This week we continued work in our math journals, learning new vocabulary, and new math activities were introduced.  First graders completed their first math test. Most students did very well. The math activities we are working on in class will soon be coming home for homework.  You can find our new vocabulary here.  We began chapter two of our math books on Friday.

Reading

In reading we practiced finding “Good Fit Books”.  Students spent time searching our classroom library looking for books they were interested in reading.  They also took into consideration whether they could comprehend and read every word. It was fun seeing everyone discover books they could read independently.  Students in various groups are working on reading fluently, using initial sounds/ending sounds to figure out unknown words, and practice reading words with different short vowels in them.  We are also on the lookout for interesting words that we find in our reading that we can use in our writing.

Writing

Our Ten Black Dots books are over half done!  We will continue working on these in the coming week.  Students are also developing their independent writing skills.  They choose their own topics and practice writing complete sentences and using proper punctuation.

Religion

This week is our turn to attend mass again in the Parish Hall.  Please make sure your child is dressed in their full uniform on Wednesday.  We have been working on learning our first grade prayers. We are practicing the Our Father, Hail Mary, and the Guardian Angel Prayer.  Anything you can do to help your child practice these at home would be very much appreciated. I sent the words home on Curriculum Night, but please let me know if you need a new copy.  Thank you!

Science

Students are learning about things in our habitat.  We have created a class mural with our homes on it. We also added places we go in our habitat such as church, school, Subway, Red Robin, etc.  This week we will add animals. Our Science test will be coming up soon. Your child will complete a review packet in class. Once they bring it home if you quiz them on everything in the packet they will pass the test with flying colors!

That’s it for now.  If you have any questions or concerns please let me know.

1A News
September 20, 2019

Reminders:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday- Ice Cream Sandwiches can be purchased at
lunch for $1.00

Wednesday- 1A students will be taking their MAP reading test at 9:00 a.m.
(we will take the math portion on Tuesday, October 8th)

Math
This week we continued work in our math journals developing number sense. We also have been working in chapter one of our math books. We should be wrapping up this chapter next week. Our new math vocabulary for this week can be found here. It would be great if you could help your child learn the words greater than, less than, and equal to. They will be on the test. (not the symbols…just the words, identifying numbers as greater than, less than or equal to)

Reading
We have begun spending more time in our reading groups. It’s so fun listening to your children as they read new words and develop their skills. This week we worked on paying attention to beginning sounds and ending sounds in words and reading fluently. (Reading like we talk). We are learning the vocabulary word, “Genre”. Please use this word as often as you can in the coming weeks. The definition we are using is this: A particular type of story. Some genres include Fantasy, Mystery, Biography, Fairy Tale, Nonfiction, Fiction, etc. Have fun with it!

Writing
We’re still working on our 10 black dots books. We are paying close attention to complete sentences, using capital letters, and periods.

Religion
We attended our first mass in the Parish Hall. The students did an amazing job sitting quietly on the floor and were very good about following the flow of traffic during communion. You can be very proud of your child. In our religion program we discussed what we usually find inside a church.

Science
We learned about toddlers and children this week. We finally got to look at all the student baby pictures. That was fun! They did a pretty good job identifying classmates.

The fun run was a big success! Thanks to everyone for the great work.

Have a nice weekend.

1A News

1A News

September 14, 2019

Reminders:  Monday– Students will be lining up in the gym before school.

                    Wednesday- Mass in the Parish Hall (1A will attend)

                    Thursday- Library books are due

Friday- Fun Run September 20th 1:00 for more details click here.

                    We are in 6th place as of 2:40 pm on Saturday! Great work! 

Please be sure you have filled out a computer consent form and had your child sign it.  We can start computers on Monday, if everyone is up to date. You can get the form here. 

Math

We continued working in our math journals this week.  Students are getting really good at naming 5 ways to make 4, 7 ways to make 6, etc.  Using our number bracelets has helped develop this concept. There were quite a few new vocabulary words introduced.  If you would like to review them with your child that would be great. You can find them here.  Students brought home number word cards to study.  Please have them practice these words until they can read them independently.

Reading:  

Students are learning new vocabulary during our reading time.  These words can be found here.  Students have been building their reading stamina.  They can read independently for 10 minutes! They are also building their writing stamina.  They can write independently in their journals for 8 minutes. Next week word work activities will be introduced.  We have also begun meeting in small groups to work on reading skills.

Writing:

The first graders finished up their “Things I See In My Classroom” books.  Now they are working on writing a story called 10 Black Dots. They are coming up with some pretty creative ideas naming things various number of dots can be.  For example; One black dot can make a ladybug. Two black dots can make lenses on a pair of binoculars. I can’t wait to see what they think three black dots can make.

We will be continuing with our study of nouns also.

Religion:

This week students learned more about being part of a parish community.  They compared pictures of the outside of a couple of churches. We discussed what was the same and what was different.  We were able to see things that belong on the outside of all Catholic churches. On Wednesday, we will be attending our first school mass in the Parish Hall.  Please be sure your child is dressed in full uniform that day.

Science:

We continue our study as developmental scientists.  We learned about infants and toddlers and how they are similar and different from each other.  Students with younger brothers and sisters felt like experts in this area.

You can find our class schedule here. 

Thank you everyone for the great attendance at Curriculum Night.  I hope to see more of you in the coming weeks. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

If you have any questions please ask.

Maureen Buennagel