What a Busy Week!

 Here are a few snapshots of what we have been up to this week!

 

 

 

 In class we have also been very busy using our ten frames and our new rekenreks!   These new manipulatives are working perfect for our Number Talks and daily math lessons.  We continue to work on our doubles.

 

 

 

 

Our focus in comprehension has been SCHEMA!  We used the idea from Tammy McGregor's Comprehension Connections book           to use the lint roller!   Each child wrote about their schema about school on a sheet like the one below.

 

Then, in their Reader Response notebook, they chose a topic to write about their schema.  The student below wrote about her schema on gymnastics.

 

We have been busy learning many of our word chunks! 

 

 

Have a great weekend!

 

 

 

Fall Has Arrived!

 

Last week we studied about apples!  We made a sweet treat....apple turnovers! 

 

 

 

We have been learning about nouns!  Ask your child about it1

 

 

We have also been working hard on our writing!  This week we practiced using marshmallows to remind us to use spaces.  We also circled our nouns!

 

On Friday, we began our study of diagraphs.  We started with /th/.  We made "thinking thumbs" and brainstormed th words. 

 

 

Our class also made fall trees.  These will be on display during conferences.

 

 

We were introduced to adding doubles.  We used ten frames to help us with this skill.

 

 

 

 

We have loved earning gold tags each and every day.  We love using them for Fun Friday even more!  Here is our chart of choices and some pictures of our activities!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Our Blog!

I will be posting pictures of our classroom activities here as often as possible.  Below are some of the activities that we have participated in recently.

 

Sight Word Art

During Daily 5 we spend time reading to ourselves and with someone.  We have spent a lot of time working on how to handle our books with care.

 

We are learning to write narratives that have a beginning, middle, and end.

We are learning about metacognition by making reading salads! Real reading combines our thinking with the text.

 

We read the book, Chrysanthemum and learned how our words can hurt or help others.  When we use hurtful words or "dip in someone's bucket," it can have a lasting effect.  In our Readers Response Notebooks, we created a reminder to use kinds words.

 

 

 

Spring is Finally Here!

We began our study of plants last week.  We began by studying the different parts of the plant.  This week we will continue with what plants need to live and the functions of the the parts of the plant.

Mrs. Bella’s First Grade News

Monday, May 13, 2013

Zoo Field Trip:  We will be traveling to the Toledo Zoo on May 29^th!  Permission slips have been sent home that includes all of the details.  If you have a zoo membership, you may send that in to me for you and/or your child.  This will then be returned to you the day of our trip.  The permission slip and fee will be due by WEDNESDAY. We are looking for more parent chaperones!  Not all parents will be able to ride the bus.  Please see the letter for more details.   If you are interested in joining us, please let me know as soon as possible.  All chaperones will have to file for a background check.  If you have not yet done this and need a form, please let me know. Thank you.

Science-We are currently studying plants.  Last week, we completed an art project that helped us identify the different parts of the plant.  This week we will focus on the functions of the parts of the plant and what plants need to live.

Open Court Reading:  This week we will be reading the story, The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Saxon Math:  We will focus on the following skills: subtraction facts-difference of 1, subtracting 10 from a number, and identifying and drawing polygons.

Spelling: This week’s spelling list is attached.  The list includes: sing, bring, sting, string, swing.  Sight words: want, why.   Sentence:  I will play at the park in spring.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Bella

458-7504                                          hrbella@morenci.k12.mi.us

Earth, Moon, Sun, and Stars

Last week we learned about our Earth, the Moon, Sun, and stars!

Mrs. Bella’s First Grade News

Monday, May 6, 2013

**Our whole class has met their AR Points Goal!  Congratulations for all of your hard work!!

Zoo Field Trip:  We will be traveling to the Toledo Zoo on May 29^th!  Last week, a letter/permission slip was sent home regarding all of the details.  If you have a zoo membership, you may send that in to me for you and/or your child.  This will then be returned to you the day of our trip.  The permission slip and fee will be due by May 15^th. We are looking for more parent chaperones!  Not all parents will be able to ride the bus.  Please see the letter for more details.   If you are interested in joining us, please let me know as soon as possible.  All chaperones will have to file for a background check.  If you have not yet done this and need a form, please let me know. Thank you.

Fluency Homework: This will be our LAST week of Fluency Homework.  Thank you for supporting your child with this weekly assignment.  It has a made a huge difference! 

Open Court Reading:  This week we will be reading the story, Ira Sleeps Over.

Saxon Math:  We will focus on the following skills: identifying geometric solids-cubes and cylinders, subtraction facts-difference of 1, and identifying a fraction of a part of a set.

Spelling: This week’s spelling list is attached.  The list includes: more, wore, chore, score, shore, store.  Sight words: her, hour.   Sentence:  Her score is four.

This Week:

Monday-Thursday:  Math homework

Friday:  Spelling and Reading tests

1-2 times per week:  Read an AR book and take a test in class, review word ring and guided reading book found in their reading bag.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Bella

458-7504                                                   hrbella@morenci.k12.mi.us

Word Surgery

This week we were learning about contractions!  So, thanks to donations from parents, we were able to "dress the part," as we became word surgeons!  Each child reconstructed their words and mended them back together with bandaids! 

Next week, we will perform more word surgery with compound words!

NEWSLETTER for March 25th:

 Spring Break begins this Friday!  School will resume on Tuesday, April 9^th.  Have a wonderful vacation!

Pajama Day!  On Thursday, our class will have pajama day!  We will spend some time relaxing and reading our favorite books!  Students may bring in a blanket, pillow and a few favorite books to read if they wish!

Fluency Homework- There will be no fluency homework this week.  We will resume after Spring Break.

Sight Words: This week we will focus on the following sight words:  happy, hello, lunch, and month.

Open Court Reading:  This week we are reading our next story:  The Big Team Relay Race.   We will focus on summarizing, cause and effect, predicting, and compound words.  We will perform more “word surgery” to help us learn about compound words such as rainbow and cupcake.      

Saxon Math:  The following skills will be covered this week: identifying one half, one third, and one sixth, using comparison symbols <, >, and =, and dividing a set of objects by sharing.

Spelling words: There will be no spelling this week.

This Week:

Monday-Wednesday:  Math homework sheets

Thursday:  Math and Reading tests

1-2 times per week:  Read an AR book and take the test in class, read book(s) and review word ring that are found in your reading bag/folder.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Bella

St. Patrick's Day Fun

Last week, we participated in a few St. Patrick's Day activities.

Mrs. Harsh made these fun treats to share with the class!  Thank you!

On Friday, we made Leprechaun Shakes!  Thank you Mrs. Spiess for the ice cream!

We then wrote "how-to" papers explaining how we made them!  Our leprechaun art projects that we made were sent home last week.