Spanish - Mrs. K. is asking the students to bring in a family picture.  Please have your student bring a photo if they haven't yet.

Spelling - Bonus Letters

shell

bell

hill

chill

cuff

puff

toss

miss

mass

mess

Phonics - We are learning about bonus letters.  A bonus letter is a doubled f, l, or s at the end of a word.  The bonus letter is usually used if it is a one syllable word, the word has one short vowel, and the word ends with f, l, or s. 

Writing - We continue to practice working on handwriting.  We work on forming the letters the correct way, using the correct lines, writing neatly, and using good spacing.  We are also working in our October journals.  We practice using a capital letter for the beginning of the sentence, using punctuation at the end of the sentence, using good spacing, and adding more details to our sentences.

Religion - Our October virtues and values are trustworthiness and sincerity.  Our Promise Paper this week focused on our church.  We learned about what some things in our church our - such as the tabernacle and the holy oils.  We had a list of things to learn about - and then we did a church search.  We went over to church to find all of the items.  Our Promise Paper also had a game we played.  Friday we learned about St. Francis and we had the blessing of the pets.

Science - We are finishing up our sound centers.  This coming week we will have our light centers. Our last job was to write about what we have learned about sound in our launch logs.

Math - We are working on our plus 1 facts.  We also learned about graphs and made our own graphs.  

Read-Aloud - We finished our first chapter book of the year.  We read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Then we watched the movie from 1971.  We learned that many things in the movie were different from the book!  We are now reading Junie B. Jones - First Grader at Last!

Reading - In word work we have worked on ABC order, rhyming, and practicing spelling words.  The students are working hard on writing, reading, and listening to stories.  While the students are working in their daily 5 centers, groups of students meet with teacher and we work on reading strategies, comprehension,  and fluency.

The therapy dogs are back!  We had our first visit with Sassy and Mr. Paul!

The auction is coming up!  On Friday we worked with our 

4th grade buddies to create our auction project.  We are making a wind chime.

Sample of what we hope to create :)

And our Friday Fun Time message!

Have a great week!

A few classroom updates and pictures - 

Spanish  - Mrs. K is asking students to bring in a family picture.  They are learning about families in Spanish.

Spelling - This week we are going to have our first spelling list!  Our spelling words come from our phonics program Fundations.  The list will be going home today.  Please practice the spelling words throughout the week at home.  The students will also have a change to practice the words during daily 5.  The first list is - 

Digraphs

such

thin

fish

rich

thud

shop

quick

dock

thick

shock 

Practicing spelling words in centers -

Rainbow Writing

Wikki Stix

Religion - We finished up our first Friendzy unit - Ohana.  

Phonics - We continued to work on digraphs.  We have been working on dictation. ( I say a sound, the students write the sound.  I say a word, the students write the word.  I say a sentence.  The students write the sentence.) 

Math - In math we worked on story problems, using a 100 chart to add 1, subtract 1, add 10, and subtract 10, and counting backwards.

Science - We are continuing to learn about sound.  We learned about vibrations and sound waves.  We used a slinky to model the waves.  We used tuning forks and cup phones to model sound through vibrations.

Writing / Handwriting - We continue to write in our journals.  We are working on capitalizing the first letter of the sentence, using lowercase letters, using good spacing between words, using punctuation, forming letters the correct way, placing letters on the correct lines, and writing neatly.

Reading - We have been working for a bit on building our stamina in centers.  I have completed all the running records and sight word checks.  We have now started reading groups!  

Congratulations to Ada!  She is the first Bolt Award winner in first grade this year.  

September's traits were respect and listening. In October our focus will be 

trustworthiness and sincerity.

Have a great week!

 Here are a few pictures / updates from our classroom ~

Spanish - Mrs. K. is asking students to bring in a family picture this week.  They are learning about families in Spanish.  Our class has Spanish on Wednesday.

Calendar Time - Every morning we start the day learning about the calendar and the weather

Wednesday we had our first Adoration of the school year

Religion - We continued reading out of our Children's Bible.  This last week we read the story of Noah's Ark and worked on pages associated with that story in our Promise books.  We have started Friendzy.  Our first unit is called - Ohana.  We learned that Ohana means family and the theme of the unit is sticking together. We have been practicing the virtue of respect.  We have now also added courtesy to our virtues and values.

Phonics  - We are reviewing the digraphs learned in kindergarten - sh, ch, wh, th, and ck.  We are practicing words with those digraphs, as well as CVC words.  We are continuing to add tricks words to our list.

Math - We worked on pattern blocks.  We had outlines of shapes and we had to fill them in with different pattern blocks.  We found out that we could use different pattern blocks to fill in those creations.  We practiced ordering numbers from least to greatest.  We continue to work on doubles facts. 

Science - In our science unit Light and Sound we explored objects that make sound in our sound centers.

Reading - We continue to practice building our stamina in the daily 5 reading centers.  We are almost finished with running records.  We will also be working on sight word checks this week.

Holy Cross First Grade

Some friends we found at recess on Friday!

Friday Fun Time!