SHIN into SHINE and Safia turning HUG into HUGE. It was a lot of fun!
We are workin' some serious magic using our MAGIC E wands in first grade! My little magicians read short vowel words around the room today and worked their magic to change their vowel sound to make NEW words. Below you can see Parker turning SHIN into SHINE and Safia turning HUG into HUGE. It was a lot of fun! Speaking of fun, the entire class had a blast learning about important places in our community when we shared our community projects. They are AMAZING and everyone who has seen them has been thoroughly impressed! All of the first grade projects are on display in the main hallway for the rest of this week and all of next week. If you are in the building please take a moment to admire the hard work and creativity that went in to each project.
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Thank you to all families that were able to attend our winter writing celebration! Your young authors loved sharing their small moment stories with you, one another, and familiar families! Click on the first picture and press play to view the slideshow. Thank you for being patient with me, first grade families! Report card and conference season is a busy one and I enjoyed meeting with all of you! I cannot believe it is already December and the last week of school before our extra long Winter Recess! This week promises to be a fun AND busy one with lots of photo-ops. Please check our site regularly for updates! Your First Graders are coming home with information on a community project to be completed over the Winter Recess. We have been learning about communities, community helpers, and our own community and I think they will have a lot of fun with this assignment. Please feel free to email me with any questions and see the images below for inspiration. Please have fun and be creative! I know that we are all busy and possibly traveling over the winter break but all students are expected to complete this assignment. One suggestion that might help when working on this assignment is to work a little on it each day. Have fun! We had 2 Mystery Readers visit our class this month! Thank you for surprising us, Mr. Dutkiewicz and Mrs. Kelly!Don't Let Your Snowman Have a MELTDOWN!Happy Birthday to You, Paige!I hope that everyone enjoyed the warm, sunny weekend!
Our class is in need of shared snack donations. It is expected that each student bring his or her own snack to school each day, but I know that sometimes snacks get eaten at lunch or left at home. If you have an extra box of crackers, bag of apples or cheese sticks or another snack our first graders might like, your donation would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance and please continue to send your child to school with snack each day! Happy Birthday to Lilia and Tommy!We had a great time celebrating both Lilia and Tommy's birthdays yesterday! Their moms were able to join in the fun and helped us play "What time is it, Mr. Fox?," as well as Duck Duck Tommy and Duck Duck Lilia. We spent some time in the classroom FREEZE dancing as well! What fun! We also had a celery taste test with our friends from Good Eats! We got to taste and compare celery from our community garden, Blackbird Paradise, and celery bought at the grocery store. Safia liked the celery from our garden the best! First Grade Homework FAQ'sHomework can be a trying time for first graders AND their parents!! Hopefully the questions and answers below will help. My advice is to start routines right away: decide on a time and place for homework to be done. Go over directions together and be available to help your child in case they get stuck. Make it your child's responsibility to pack their folders and backpacks so that they get used to keeping track of their work. Q: Can I help my child with their homework?
A: YES!! Please help your child read and understand directions and guide them as needed to complete each night's assignment. If they make a mistake, please leave the mistake for me to see. It helps to guide my instruction! Q: Can we go ahead and complete more than 1 page each night? A: NO!! To reinforce routine, sustain attention, and to ensure I have gotten to teaching the content, please complete ONLY the assigned page each night. Q: My child is a challenger...what does this mean? A: If your child spelled all of his/her spelling words correctly on the pretest they are issued "challenge" words; a supplemental list featuring words with our same featured vowel, and with more complicated spelling patterns. The assignments are different for challengers, too. Challengers get to choose 3 of 5 given assignments, found on the cover sheet. Your child should complete ONE ACTIVITY EACH NIGHT, in addition to the math page, poem, and reading log. Q: My child is NOT a challenger...should I be worried? A: NO!! First graders are not expected to already know the spelling words before the week begins. The words given on the pretest are developmentally appropriate words and your child will benefit from learning them. Likewise, a child who already knows the words wouldn't learn anything new if only given those words to practice for the week. Q: My child won't read to me. What should I do? A: Many first graders are resistant to reading aloud to their parents. In class we read many different and fun ways. Try suggesting... ECHO READING: Parent reads the page first and child ECHOES after. This is especially fun when done in silly voices! CHORAL READING: The child and parent read aloud at the SAME time. PARTNER READING: Take turns reading sentences or pages. If all else fails, try setting up a stuffed animal audience or having them read to a sibling. You can even try reading at a different time of day, like over breakfast or on the car ride to an activity! Q: What happens if my child doesn't complete or hand in their homework on Friday? A: He or she will not earn a sticker for the homework chart. He or she will then have to take time away from recess to complete unfinished pages or will have to complete homework over the weekend. Chance is a therapy dog that works in our school. His owner and our school physical therapist, Ms. Herzog, brought Chance to our room today so we could meet him and she could go over some rules for spending time with him. We learned that Chance often races with students who need to work on endurance and is a calming distraction for some students while Ms. Herzog helps them stretch. We are excited to welcome him to our classroom!! Happy Birthday to You, Lilia!Three girls lost a tooth in the last 24 hours!! Ainsley lost one while she was playing last night, Jayden and Safia both lost their teeth at school this
Despite the oppressive heat, new routines, and having our first week back to school be a FULL week, our first graders hit the ground running! There were NO tears, TONS of smiles, and an overall positive energy that stuck with us all week. These kids are easy to love! HAVE FUN this weekend-you have all earned it! See you on Monday, friends! Check out some highlights below from this week!! |
AuthorMrs. Molloy is a first garde teacher at Voorheesville Elementary. This blog will feature regular updates of classroom events written by Mrs. Molloy and her students. Please feel free to comment, we would love your thoughts and feedback! Archives
September 2017
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