I can't believe it is the last week of school! Wow! What an amazing year it has been! These first graders have grown taller, lost
a lot of teeth, and learned an incredible amount of knowledge! It amazes me every year how much first graders grow! It has been an honor to teach this wonderful group of kids!
This last week we've still been busy. Here's a little of what we have been up to -
Math - We have been working really hard on two digit equations. We have even learned how to add with making a new ten. (carrying a number) We learned four methods to add two digit numbers. The methods are called 1. New groups above, 2. New groups below, 3. Show all totals, and 4. Balls and Sticks.
We are so close to getting to 1,000 milk rings! If you have any milk rings, Gatorade rings, juice rings, etc. send them in! We would love to see what 1,000 (10 groups of hundreds!) looks like!
Phonics - We finished up our final phonics unit! Our final unit was about suffix s, suffix es, and when you change the y to i and add suffix es. This year these kids have learned long and short vowels, vowel teams, digraphs, blends, bonus letters, glued sounds, closed syllable, v-e syllables, scooping syllables and sentences, spelling rules, etc. It really is amazing how much they learn in phonics/spelling/reading!
Religion - This last week we have been going through our Religion book and finishing up pages, reviewing Bible stories, and working on our virtue cards of self-control.
Reading - We finished up running records and sight word checks. We have been working in guided reading groups and daily 5 centers.
On Friday we had reading buddies for the last time. Miles was drawing with his buddy. Miles finished later in the afternoon and this was his final product. He worked so hard and he was so proud!
Science - We are finishing up our organisms unit. This week we'll have to take our aquariums and terrariums apart and send everything back to The Einstein Project. It has been so fun watching our seeds grow, and learning about water and land plants and animals!
I planted a few extra seeds in case some students plants didn't grow. Look at them now! We are hoping to transplant these plants into our school garden.
Speaking of our garden, Mrs. Anderson and I tilled it up last week. It was all weeds! During recess the students have been helping us dig it up. This week we're hoping to get some seeds and plants planted in the garden for the summer.
Read-Aloud - In honor of field day, we are reading Junie B. Jones - Captain Field Day.
Writing - On the first day of school I had the kids write about their first day of school. Today I had them write about their weekend. When everyone was finished we read all of them - first day and last week of school. The kids loved seeing their progress! Their words, letters, handwriting, and illustrating have improved immensely! It was so fun to see! I took a picture of everyone with both of their writing samples. They are taking them home today. :)
As the year comes to a close - here's a great memory. Here are the pictures of all of the students on the first day of school.
On the first day of school we made a chain with 180 links. Each day we took one link off of our chain. This is our chain on the first day of school and also this morning. :)
Have a great week! :)
