Monday, November 30, 2009

Spelling Words November 30 - December 4

We hope that everyone had a nice Thanksgiving break! Here are this weeks spelling words that are going home with your child today (Monday 11/30). The homework is due on Friday as usual, which will also be the day we take our weekly spelling test. This weeks words are high frequency and short 'e' words.

1. for
2. some
3. good
4. want
5. too
6. met
7. ten
8. get
9. yes
10. let

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!





We had a nice Thanksgiving lunch together today in the classroom! We are thankful for such a wonderful class of First Grade students! :)
Have a great 5-day break, and don't forget to read every single day and log those books on the sheet we sent home!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Making Placemats






Today we learned how to weave! Here are some pictures of our beautiful placemats. We are looking forward to eating our lunch on them in the classroom tomorrow!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Making Coasters





Today we made turkey coasters to get us ready for thanksgiving. We are going to make a placemat on Monday, and then on Tuesday, if we are well behaved, we are going to eat our lunches in the classroom on our very own homemade placemats and put our drinks on our coasters. Sounds like fun! Here we are at work!

Weekly Homework

Since we will only be coming to school for 2 days next week, we will not be sending home the usual weekly homework. Instead, we will be sending home a book log for each day your child is home over the Thanksgiving break. It is so important that your child reads at home every single day, ESPECIALLY days that they are not in school. We told the students that we will give them a treat if they read every day over break and fill out each day on their book log.
Have a great holiday!
We are "thankful" for our wonderful class and our supportive parents from home! Thanks! :)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Geometry





We have started our new math investigations unit this week called "Quilt Squares and Block Towns". This unit deals with studying 2-D and 3-D geometry. Geometry at the first grade level involves studying shapes and the way they are are related. So far this week we have learned the names and shapes of: a square, hexagon, trapezoid, rhombus, and triangle.
Over the past couple days, we have been taking these shapes and using them to fill in an outline. Here are some pictures of us a work. See all of the different combinations of shapes we came up with to fill our outlines today!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Making Applesauce






Here are some more pictures of us writing our functional stories (How to Make Applesauce) and some pictures of us enjoying our treat at the end of the day! :)

Functional Writing






Today in functional writing we wrote our pieces on 'How to Make Applesauce'. The reason we were all able to write this, is because we all learned how to make applesauce together this morning. We all got to take a turn helping with something. Some of us used the "apple peeler/corer/slicer", some of us added tablespoons of sugar, Tristen added the water, and Isaac sprinkled on our cinnamon. It cooked all day in the back of the classroom in a slow-cooker, then after recess, we were all able to try it. Yummy! Here are some pictures of us at work today.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Spelling Words November 13 - November 20

This weeks spelling words are high frequency and short 'e' words. Please make sure your child is reading every single night!

1. help
2. now
3. said
4. so
5. who
6. red
7. bed
8. tell
9. fell
10. mess

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Functional Writing




We are continuing to learn about Functional Writing. (writing that tells 'How to do something') Yesterday, we all learned step by step how to draw a simple turkey. Today in writers workshop, we wrote a functional piece explaining how we drew them. We entitled our work "How to Draw a Turkey". Here are some pictures of our great writing!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Functional Writing




This week we began learning about a new genre of writing called "Functional Writing". Functional writing tells the reader how to do something. Yesterday, we all learned step by step how to draw a cat face and we all drew a cat face together. Today, we wrote a functional piece entitled "How to Draw a Cat Face". We wrote out the step by step directions explaining how we made our drawing. We made sure to include lots of transition words (like: first, next, then, after that etc...). Here are some pictures that show our work today.

Spelling Words November 6 - November 13

This weeks spelling words are high frequency and short 'o' words. Remember that all four parts of the homework are due on Friday...(the book log, sentences, words two times, and math sheet)

1. by
2. eat
3. sing
4. stop
5. them
6. hot
7. not
8. got
9. mop
10. top

Don't forget that Wednesday, (November 10th), is Veterans' Day and school will be closed in honor of those who have served in our wonderful military. Have a great week!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Check out our Class of Monkeys!


Thanks Parent Volunteers!






Thanks to all of our parent volunteers that were able to come with us and help out (Justin, Cory, Madison, Cheyenne, and Isaac's mothers...even Mr. Ledford)! We really appreciate your time and effort.

Our Field Trip to the Zoo






We had a great time at the zoo, and were blessed with perfect weather! We started our day by going to the educational center at the zoo. There, a zoo classroom teacher talked to us about animal life cycles and we were able to see some cool animals up-close. We were even able to touch some animals if we wanted. Some of us touched a snake, bird, bearded dragon, chinchilla, and ostrich egg. After our classroom visit, we ate lunch, then spent the rest of our time walking around the zoo. Here are some pictures of our fun day.