A few FYI's -

First Grade Math - We are working on place value - the ones place and the tens place.  We have been adding numbers on the number path up to 100!  Today we worked on adding just ones, just tens, and then combining the ones and the tens.  (Ex. 2+3=5, 20+30=50, 20+3=23)

Phonics - This week we learned four new glued sounds.  They are ank, ink, onk, and unk.  (bank, pink, honk, and junk)  We have been doing dictation, working in our student notebooks, and using the letter cards to make words with our glued sounds.

Religion - We have been learning about the season of Advent.  We started off Monday with a prayer service to light the first candle - hope.  We will meet each Monday morning during Advent to light candles.  We are also doing something called Five More.  Each week, what can we do five more of?  This first week is hope.  Each child wrote what they can do five more of to give hope.  Their papers will all be hung up in the atrium of the school.  We have also been working on making our own Advent wreaths.  Each week we will add another flame.

Writing - This week we started something new - writer's workshop!  We are learning the five steps.  They are 

1.  Prewriting - making a story web of ideas

2.  Rough Draft

3.  Editing

4.  Rewriting with corrections

5.  Publishing - In this step we will have a book typed and bound.  We get to be the illustrators.

Handwriting - We continue to work out of our handwriting books.  We are always working on forming the letters correctly and putting the letters in the correct spaces.

Reading - This week our daily five word work consists of contractions.  We have six different centers that the students can work on - such as file folder games, matching the two words to the contraction word, and using Easter eggs to put the two words together.  Each reading group continues to meet and read stories at their level.  

Science - Tomorrow we are going to learn how light interacts with different materials.  We are going to learn three words - transparent, translucent, and opaque.

Elves have taken over our classroom!  Today the students created these amazing elves, using their own faces.  They are absolutely adorable!

Tomorrow is a Packer Dress Down Day!

DECEMBER

PE

K-2

We are starting the second trimester.  As much as I am ready for winter and life should be slowing down to ready ourselves for the birth of Jesus, it seems to be going faster and faster.  Please slow down and take the time with family to ready everyone for the coming of Jesus!!

In the ½ combined class, we are working on those big gross motor skills of throwing a football, doing hoola hooping (stop smiling; it isn’t as easy as it looks), hockey stick use, trainer volleyballs, etc.  We finished up some fine motor with marbles, small foam balls, horse shoes (foam), and jump roping.  On Mondays the Kindergarten works on each specific skill that the large group works on in their class.

Fridays is going to be classified as a “cardio” day.  We will be running and I will record the laps for you to look at.  Those will be posted in Power School.  I will also post the amount of laps that are included in a mile soon.  We have practiced two times but want them to ready themselves before I start.  When they work well, as a class, they can earn a Friday for scooters.  They love scooters and they work heavily on strength of legs (hip flexors, quad and hamstring strength) and arms (biceps, triceps), as well as shoulders.  Coordination is another great benefit.  It is amazing what games they come up with on their own to play while on those scooters.  The last day earned for second grade they created a tag game and were working out pretty hard so it did turn into a “cardio” day anyway.