Only 15 more days left till Christmas! The first graders are looking forward to the upcoming holiday, the first day of winter and vacation. The snowfall last week and today was very exciting and they are anxious for a good amount to fall so they can get out and play!
No pictures this week?
Nope! We are hard at work with a top secret project and I can't give you a preview! You will be surprised on December 20th when your child brings their project home. If your child will not be in school on the 20th, please let me know so your child can bring their project home early.
New skills
Students have been introduced to two big math concepts this week: telling time to the half hour and counting/trading dimes. They have worked hard and have picked these concepts up fairly quickly. First graders are doing a fantastic job solving a variety of types of number stories and showing their work with pictures, a number model and a number line.
In reading, we have been learning about main idea and details for the past two weeks- this can be challenging for the kids. They are able to orally share and write about a main idea and details (some need a little more support than others) and we are working on identifying these elements in our reading. We will be doing lots of practice with this skill!
In phonics, we have moved on from 'glued' sounds (-am, -am, -all) and are learning about adding the suffix -s to basewords. This week, we have focused on nouns as the baseword and how it changes the meaning. Next week, we will focus on verbs.
Parent Conferences
Parent conferences will be held this Thursday and Friday. I have sent a notice confirming your time in your child's folder. Conferences are 15 minutes long and we will be talking about your child's academic and social progress. If we need a longer amount of time, we can schedule an additional meeting. Please be on time and be mindful of the 15 minute block of time as many conferences are scheduled back to back. I am looking forward to meeting with all of you!
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Friday, November 29, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! We spent a lot of time in first grade talking about Thanksgiving. We read books and poetry, sang songs, watched a movie, took surveys and made a glyph. Check out what we've been up to.
We read a great book called Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano. Turkey dresses up as other animals on the farm to try to disguise himself so he is not eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. The kids then made Wanted posters and used their creativity to disguise their turkey and offer a reward. These are hanging on our bulletin board in the hallway. Here are some highlights:
We also surveyed our whole class as we had an introductory lesson on pie charts. We found out that only 3 out of 18 students don't like turkey and 15 out of 18 do. Students then had to survey nine classmates, tally their data and then create their own pie charts and key to show their data. They did a great job doing this independently!
We also made turkey glyphs to show data about ourselves and to practice our cutting and listening/following directions skills. These were a lot of work but they came out wonderfully- plus they turned out to be a great decoration! The kids were excited to write things they were thankful for on each feather. After the turkeys were completed, we looked at them to gather data about age, favorite color and where the child would be spending Thanksgiving. We made tally charts and bar graphs to show this information. Ask your child to explain what their turkey glyph tells about them.
We spent a lot of time talking about the Mayflower voyage, the Pilgrims first year in Massachusetts and the first Thanksgiving. We looked at Plimoth Plantation online and the kids were very interested in the topic and were very excited to learn that Plimoth Plantation is not too far from Beverly. Haven't been? Great day trip once the weather warms up! We focused on 3 questions: Who sailed? Why did they sail? and What was it like? They learned lots of interesting facts about the voyage!
We read a great book called Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano. Turkey dresses up as other animals on the farm to try to disguise himself so he is not eaten for Thanksgiving dinner. The kids then made Wanted posters and used their creativity to disguise their turkey and offer a reward. These are hanging on our bulletin board in the hallway. Here are some highlights:
We also made turkey glyphs to show data about ourselves and to practice our cutting and listening/following directions skills. These were a lot of work but they came out wonderfully- plus they turned out to be a great decoration! The kids were excited to write things they were thankful for on each feather. After the turkeys were completed, we looked at them to gather data about age, favorite color and where the child would be spending Thanksgiving. We made tally charts and bar graphs to show this information. Ask your child to explain what their turkey glyph tells about them.
We spent a lot of time talking about the Mayflower voyage, the Pilgrims first year in Massachusetts and the first Thanksgiving. We looked at Plimoth Plantation online and the kids were very interested in the topic and were very excited to learn that Plimoth Plantation is not too far from Beverly. Haven't been? Great day trip once the weather warms up! We focused on 3 questions: Who sailed? Why did they sail? and What was it like? They learned lots of interesting facts about the voyage!
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Veterans Day Projects
We finished our Veterans Day projects this week! Each first grader wrote a thank you note that was delivered to Ssgt. Gary Bent. Ssgt. Bent served our country in the Army and is currently serving in the Air Force Reserves. He will be deployed again sometime this coming year. Ssgt. Bent is part of our extended Cove family as well. His wife and dog, Mrs. Bent and Serenity, work with us here at Cove. We were happy we could honor Ssgt. Bent for his service to our country and to help him celebrate his favorite holiday!
We also made our own veterans to hang on the bulletin board outside our classroom. We brainstormed some adjectives to describe veterans as well. They worked really hard on all of our Veterans Day projects and were very proud (so are Mrs. Clarke and I) of their work!
Conferences:
A purple notice was sent home this week listing available conference times. Please return ASAP and indicate your 1st, 2nd and 3rd preferred times. I will notify you of our scheduled time. If you have another child at Cove, please indicate this on the notice (include your other child's name and teacher) and I will do my best to coordinate with the other teacher so that your conferences can be scheduled back to back to make the most of your time. If you need another copy of the notice, please let me know!
Important Dates:
* Wednesday November 27- Early Release at noon. NO LUNCH SERVED!
* Thursday November 28 and Friday November 29- No School. Thanksgiving Break
*Monday December 2- Trimester 1 Report Cards go home
*Thursday December 12- Early Release at noon. Lunch is served. Parent Teacher conferences held.
*Friday December 13- No School. Parent Teacher Conferences held.
We also made our own veterans to hang on the bulletin board outside our classroom. We brainstormed some adjectives to describe veterans as well. They worked really hard on all of our Veterans Day projects and were very proud (so are Mrs. Clarke and I) of their work!
Conferences:
A purple notice was sent home this week listing available conference times. Please return ASAP and indicate your 1st, 2nd and 3rd preferred times. I will notify you of our scheduled time. If you have another child at Cove, please indicate this on the notice (include your other child's name and teacher) and I will do my best to coordinate with the other teacher so that your conferences can be scheduled back to back to make the most of your time. If you need another copy of the notice, please let me know!
Important Dates:
* Wednesday November 27- Early Release at noon. NO LUNCH SERVED!
* Thursday November 28 and Friday November 29- No School. Thanksgiving Break
*Monday December 2- Trimester 1 Report Cards go home
*Thursday December 12- Early Release at noon. Lunch is served. Parent Teacher conferences held.
*Friday December 13- No School. Parent Teacher Conferences held.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Happy Veteran's Day!
I hope you have all enjoyed the long weekend with your families. We had a much needed, relaxing weekend in my house. Both my boys finished up flag football (4 games on Sunday!!) and are looking forward to basketball season.
Social Studies
We began learning about Veteran's Day last week and the kids were very interested in this topic. The children were able to tell what a veteran is, when Veteran's Day is observed, list 5 branches of the military and list adjectives to describe veterans. To honor local veterans, we will be making a craft and writing a thank you note to a veteran. I will be delivering these this week.
Literacy
We continue to study our Big Question: How are people and animals important to one another? This past week, we have learned how animals, both tame and wild, can help people. We have also been focusing on Realistic Fiction vs. Animal Fantasy and have been studying literary elements such as character, setting and plot.
In Fundations, we have learned about 'Bonus Letters' (-ff, -ll, -ss and sometimes -zz) and continue to practice consonant digraphs (wh, ch, sh, th, ck)
Kudos to all of you for your continued work on sight words! The kids are very motivated and are moving along nicely in learning their words. We had several kids master the last (6th) list and were very proud when they were recognized for their hard work!
Math
Last week, we wrapped up our second unit in math. Homework was not sent home as many assessments were being given in school. Don't worry.....homework starts up again tomorrow! The kids have done an excellent job mastering skills such as: time to the hour, counting pennies and nickels and basic data collection and analysis. We have begun to review simple addition and related subtraction facts. As we move on, we will begin studying visual patterns, number patterns and counting. Time to the half hour, dimes and 'Frames and Arrows' will be introduced in the coming weeks.
Social Studies
We began learning about Veteran's Day last week and the kids were very interested in this topic. The children were able to tell what a veteran is, when Veteran's Day is observed, list 5 branches of the military and list adjectives to describe veterans. To honor local veterans, we will be making a craft and writing a thank you note to a veteran. I will be delivering these this week.
Literacy
We continue to study our Big Question: How are people and animals important to one another? This past week, we have learned how animals, both tame and wild, can help people. We have also been focusing on Realistic Fiction vs. Animal Fantasy and have been studying literary elements such as character, setting and plot.
In Fundations, we have learned about 'Bonus Letters' (-ff, -ll, -ss and sometimes -zz) and continue to practice consonant digraphs (wh, ch, sh, th, ck)
Kudos to all of you for your continued work on sight words! The kids are very motivated and are moving along nicely in learning their words. We had several kids master the last (6th) list and were very proud when they were recognized for their hard work!
Math
Last week, we wrapped up our second unit in math. Homework was not sent home as many assessments were being given in school. Don't worry.....homework starts up again tomorrow! The kids have done an excellent job mastering skills such as: time to the hour, counting pennies and nickels and basic data collection and analysis. We have begun to review simple addition and related subtraction facts. As we move on, we will begin studying visual patterns, number patterns and counting. Time to the half hour, dimes and 'Frames and Arrows' will be introduced in the coming weeks.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Welcome!
Welcome to Ms. Valentine's blog!
My goal is to use this blog as a way to keep you informed of what we are doing in here first grade. I will try to blog weekly to let you know what we are doing in different curriculum areas, special events and how you can help support your first grader at home. Please subscribe to the blog so that you are notified when updates are made. Also, please keep in mind that I am new to blogging....be prepared for some technical difficulties! I appreciate your patience.
Thank you!
My goal is to use this blog as a way to keep you informed of what we are doing in here first grade. I will try to blog weekly to let you know what we are doing in different curriculum areas, special events and how you can help support your first grader at home. Please subscribe to the blog so that you are notified when updates are made. Also, please keep in mind that I am new to blogging....be prepared for some technical difficulties! I appreciate your patience.
Thank you!
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