Reading - This week we have been celebrating Dr. Seuss!  All of our daily 5 word work and writing centers have something to do with Dr. Seuss.  We have TONS of Dr. Seuss books available in our classroom for read to self and read to someone.  We have been having so much fun learning with Dr. Seuss books.  This Friday, all the classes will come together to celebrate Read Across America Day with DEAR - Drop Everything And Read.

Read to Someone

Word Work - Dr. Seuss word search

Word Work - Assorted centers - The Lorax find the missing code and 

a Green Eggs and Ham cloze activity

Making a waterfall book about Dr. Seuss books

Reading and Writing the room - Finding words that

 start with the letters in The Cat's Hat

Cloze Activity - Finding the missing words in Green Eggs and Ham

Writing - In writer's workshop the students either worked in their writer's workshop notebooks, worked on illustrating their published stories, or worked on Dr. Seuss stories.  The Dr. Seuss stories are awesome!  There were three choices - write and illustrate how you would get rid of the cat in the hat if he came to your house, write like Sam-I-Am in Green Eggs and Ham - but write what you would eat - and make it rhyme, or write rhyming words of where you will read.  I'll have to get some pictures tomorrow.  They really are fantastic!

Math - Our math groups are working hard as always!  It is amazing what we accomplish every day!  The yellow group is working on counting on.  They are underlining the bigger number and putting dots above the smaller number to remind them how to count on.  The green group is working on figuring out the missing addend.  Then they are using circle drawings to show the equation - and then matching the drawings to the equations.  The red group finished up their unit yesterday.  They are working on story problems, figuring out which number is missing in the story problem, story problems with three numbers, and making a ten to find the answer.  The blue group is working on comparison bars.  They read the story problem, figure out who has more/less, plug in the numbers, and figure out the missing number.  

 Working on spider addition in the hands on center.  The spider

body has a number.  The students need to find 8 legs that have

the 8 equations that match the number on the body.

Last Friday we had a math game day.  Each group worked on a game with an adult helper.

The yellow group played Sequence Dice with Miss Jan.

The green group played Uno with Mrs. Curran

 The red group played Yahtzee with Ms. Mac

The blue group was learning how to play cribbage with me.

Religion - Each day we talk about our Lenten journey as we color each day on our Lenten path.  Tomorrow we will be "counting our blessings" and writing things we are blessed with / thankful for on shamrocks.  Friday we will learn about the Sunday Gospel in our Promise Paper.

Read - Aloud - We just finished reading Flat Stanley  Today we made our own Stanleys.  A letter went home today to tell you about our Flate Stanley project.  We are going to send our Stanleys in the mail to someone.  (That's how Stanley traveled in the book.)  (The students can send Stanley to grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles, cousins, friends, etc.)The person we send Stanley to is going to write about their adventures with Stanley, take some pictures, and then return Stanley, a letter, and the pictures to us.  We need help your help.  Please decide who you would like to send Stanley to .  Please write their address on the back of the sheet that went home today.  Then send the sheet back to school.  Please also send a stamped letter sized envelope.  Do not write on the envelope - the students will be learning how to address envelopes.  I'd like to write the letters / address the envelopes next week before spring break.  Please send your address/envelopes by Monday, March 5th.

I've done this project twice with a class.  It has been so much fun!  Our Stanleys have gone to Canada, England, Afghanistan, Ireland, Hawaii, Germany, Wyoming, Arizona, California, Florida, Washington D.C, New York, etc.  When the Stanleys come back - we put them on the Stanley map - and we learn where that place is.  We learn a little something about that place.  People send us back letters and pictures - and sometimes people have sent us more.  We've received post cards and travel brochures from where Stanley was, a special candy from Colorado, and other trinkets / goodies from where Stanley has traveled.  The students so look forward to getting their Stanleys back in the mail, opening the packages, reading the letters, and sharing with the class.

Working on Flat Stanley

Today we had a great time at Osprey Point!  We got to learn some fun nature songs from our preschool friends!  We hiked out to the big tree.  We learned about our next Einstein Kit - organisms.  We learned that organisms are living things.  We discussed some living things that we were seeing.  We saw the trees, moss, geese, and ducks.  We heard cardinals, but we didn't see them.  We saw deer tracks - and poop.  :)  We talked about how we are in their territory - their habitat.  Then we made some shelters for the animals out of sticks.

Today in writer's workshop we celebrated one of our volunteers - Mrs. Johnson.  Her birthday is this week.  We made her a book, sang happy birthday, and celebrated with some yummy chocolate chip cookies.  Here's what Brady has to say about cookies...

Reading - We continue to work on reading in daily 5.  (Read to self, read to someone, listening, work on writing, word work, meet with teacher)  Our word work focus is plurals. 

Valeria, Will, and Brady practicing their spelling words with Play-Doh and Wikki Stix during daily 5.

Science - This week we tested liquids to see if they had buoyancy or miscibility.  We found out that glue and water mixed together, glue and shampoo mixed together, and that oil and water do not mix.  The oil floats on top of the water.  We have one more lesson left for next week in our solids and liquids Einstein kit.

Religion - This week we spent most of our time practicing for mass.  The students did an amazing job yesterday!  We will also work on our Promise Paper this morning - which teaches us about the Gospel for this Sunday.

Writing - We continue to write in writer's workshop, as well as work on writing in daily 5.  The students make a web of ideas, write a rough draft, edit, rewrite, and illustrate their stories.  They write in their journals.  They also write friendly letters - and recently - some awesome poems for Valentine's Day.  We continue to work on handwriting as well - writing on the correct lines and forming the letters correctly.

Aaron working in his writer's workshop notebook

Lizzie sharing what she wrote in her journal

Phonics - This week we learned about the vowel teams ai, ay, ee, ea, ey, oi, and oy.

***Next week Wednesday we are scheduled to go to Osprey Point.  If it would get cancelled, we will know by the end of the day on Tuesday.

Weekly Spelling Lists -

Phonetic List - Vowel Teams - ai, ay, ee, ea, ey, oi, oy
main
say
paid
tree
seat
key
green
join
toy
foil

High-Frequency List - Trick Words - Words 101-110
get
through
back
much
go
good
new
write
our
me

Math - We continue to work in our groups and centers.  The green group is working We partners and totals up to 10.  The yellow group is working on adding a two digit number and a one digit number.  (Ex. 47+6=53)  The red group is working on story problems, deciding if the problem is addition or subtraction, and figuring out where the missing number is going to be.  (Ex. 8+7=___,   8+___=15,  or  ___+7=15)  The blue group is working on comparison bars. 

We did some graphing of heart candies on Valentine's Day.  We found out the the bags had the most purple and green candies.  The bags had the least amount of yellow and white candies.

Religion - This week we have been talking about Lent.  We talked about Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, Palm Sunday, and Easter.  We have a Lenten path that we are coloring in our classroom.  We colored some beautiful Alleluia signs - and then we "buried" them.  We will get our Alleluia's back after Jesus is risen.  :)  We think it's pretty cool that the word Lent is inside of vaLENTine!  

Next week first grade has mass. (February 22nd)  The reading parts went home today.  The parts this time are -

Greeters - Aiden, Gabriella, Guadalupe, Mason, Dylan

Introduction - David

First Reading - Aaron, Suzi

Petitions - Alex, Madison, Lillian, Elliot, Canon, Brady, Joah

Bread - Mia

Wine - Emma

Thanksgiving Prayer - Will, Lucy

Leader of the Pack Cards - Johanna

Leader of the Pack Reader - Lizzie

Song Readers  Samuel, Jake, Valeria

Reading - We continue to work in reading groups and centers.  This week our word work focus is words that are singular and plural.  We learned that many plurals end in s.  However, if a word ends in ch, sh, x, s, ss, and sometimes o - then you add -es.  We learned that when a word ends in y - you change the y, to i, and add -es.  We also learned that some plurals are irregular, such as children and feet.  

Samuel and Will sorting words into singular and plural

Last week one of our groups worked on a little play in their group.  The play was the story of The Little Red Hen.  We had the Little Red Hen, a narrator, a cat, a pig, and a dog.  Here are the characters -

Phonics - In phonics we are learning about closed syllable words.  A closed syllable is one syllable, has one vowel, the vowel is short, and it is closed in at the end of the word.

Writing - Wow!  I am blown away at some of the stories that are coming out of writer's workshop!  Many students are going from writing a word or a sentence to writing paragraphs!  The growth is amazing!  We are also working on writing on the lines and working on our handwriting.  All of this, together with the writing process, is a big deal!

Science - We learned the words fluid and viscous.  Fluid = fast and viscous = slow.  We had "drop races"  We put our liquids on a tray and then tilted them to race them.  We found out that water was our most fluid liquid - and shampoo was actually the slowest.  In our next lesson we are going to mix the liquids and see if they have "miscibility" or "buoyancy"  (Do they mix or do they float on top of each other?)

We just finished reading Charlotte's Web today.  What a great story of friendship!  We are going to take some time to watch the movie over the next couple of days.  The students voted on watching the newer version.  (Both versions are fantastic!  The newer version is from the 2000's and has actors.  The older version is from the 1970's and it's a cartoon.)  We are going to compare and contrast the book to the movie.  The next story we will be reading aloud is Flat Stanley.

A few pictures from Valentine's Day!  Thank you Mrs. Gelb for organizing the activities!

The exchange!

And - this week we welcomed back Aaron from California!  We missed him terribly and are so glad he's back!

***Reminder - We are having our Valentine exchange and celebration tomorrow, February 13th.  :)

Weekly Spelling Lists -

Phonetic List - Closed Syllable Words
trim
flat
kept
crop
pluck
clip
mask
west
chomp
rush

High-Frequency List - Trick Words - Words 91-100
long
little
very
after
words
called
just
where
most
know

Valentine's Day - We will celebrate Valentine's Day on Wednesday, February 14th.  We will make Valentine baskets at school next week.  We will exchange Valentines at the end of the day - as well as have a small celebration - a craft / activity.  The students have a class list in their mailboxes to take home to help out with writing Valentines.  They will bring home the lists tomorrow

The 100th Day!  Such a fun celebration of learning!  Everything that we did all day long centered around the number 100!  I took a lot of pictures!  Enjoy!

Alex and Brady brought in their 100th day projects today!

Some of our classmates dressed like they were 100 years old!  Adorable!

Here is the 100 inch man.  All of the students were measured by him.

Valeria and Lucy were holding the 100 inch man's hands.

The 100 banner!

Walking our way through 100 days!

One of our activities was building stations.  We built and created out of 100 items.  For example, we had 100 Lincoln Logs, 100 Legos, 100 Duplos, 100 Tinker Toys, 100 cubes, 100 blocks, 100 cups, 100 pattern blocks, 100 piece puzzles, etc.  

I love this project!  The students were given the number 100 in black die cut numbers.  They had to glue them onto white paper and create something out of the number 100.  Boy were they creative!

The students had to string 100 beads onto string to make a 100 necklace!  This took quite a while and they had a great time doing it!  They came up with a few different methods to count out 100 beads.  

We made 100th day crowns, wore 100th day glasses, and made pennants to celebrate the day!

We were going to do 100 exercises - but they ended up doing 500 exercises in gym today!  Mrs. Petrick worked them!  :)  I didn't want to tire them out any more!

We wrote a class story today - using exactly 100 words!

We counted to 100 - By tens, by fives, by twos, and by ones.

We talked about what we would do with $100.  

We ended the day by rolling dice on the SMART Board.  We had to roll and count.  We had to figure out how many rolls it would take us to count up to the number 100!  We rolled quite a few 1's - and it took us 35 rolls to get to the number 100!

What a fantastic day!