Thank you for coming to conferences!

It was wonderful to meet with you last week and talk about your favorite student! If you have not been able to schedule a time please email me to set up one at your convenience. It’s hard to believe that the year is almost ¾ the way through…

Reading- We continue to work on long vowels during our Storytown lessons; long a has been our focus this week and next week we will look at the patterns of long i. In all of our stories we have been trying to identify the problem and solution as well as cause and effect. A poetry book came home this Thursday… the directions are included in the booklet, but if you have any questions please let me know. This activity is intended to help support our work with reading fluency.

Writing- Writing this week has us thinking about memories. For this end of quarter writing project, each child has selected a favorite memory to write about. They have thought about what they felt, saw, heard… and maybe even smelled and tasted during that memory. They will turn this brainstorming into a final writing project after completing the writing process.

Math- We have concluded our practice of unknown addends and next week we will begin an exciting unit on shapes. In second quarter we talked about what the shapes were called and the various attributes of each. This quarter we are going to practice combining shapes in order to make new designs/shapes. We will do this with plane shapes and then 3D shapes.

Social Studies- Last week we wrapped out study of dental health with an adorable project creating tooth fairies and listening to a dentist come speak to us about how to take care of our teeth. This week has been all about the presidents! We have a few kiddos who performed a reader’s theatre about George Washington and Abe Lincoln. We have talked about their importance in our country’s history. This week we also created a portrait timeline of 18 of the past presidents in our history. (The pictures are precious.) Next week we will begin to talk about matter… solids, liquids, and gasses. You might begin talking to your child about each of these stages and where they can be found in your own home!

Just a few notes:
I am looking for a few parents who would like to help with supplying materials for Dr. Seuss day March 2nd. I am looking for help with the following: pink lemonade, blue jello jigglers, green eggs, ham, napkins, and forks. If you would like to help with some of these please email me, so we don’t double up.

On March 2nd… your child is welcome to bring in their favorite stuffed animal to read with on this special day.

If you wish to order Autism Awareness t-shirts, order forms are due Monday.

A note from Mrs. Gipson…Mark your calendars: What could be more fun than a day spent exploring the loveable characters of Dr. Seuss? Well, our lucky students will follow our tradition and enjoy such a fun-filled day on Friday, March 2nd as Nike celebrates our
5th Annual Read Across America/Dr. Seuss Day!

Many exciting activities have been planned by teachers, our kitchen, the library, special staff members, and Nike’s PTO, so how can STUDENTS make the day even more memorable? The answer lies in what we wear that day!. Students and staff alike will “dress” the part. Be creative and help your student dress as a favorite Seuss character, wear a Seuss shirt or hat, or do something as simple as dress in black, white, and red. Let’s celebrate together the joy and value of reading!

Happy Birthday Kansas!

Happy Birthday Kansas!
Last week we celebrated the birthday of our great state! We have spent so much time studying the Native American tribes and first explorers from Kansas. Last Monday we reviewed out state symbols, sang our state song, and even made our own “edible Kansas”!
In math we have been studying about “smart groupings”. Smart groups are pairs of numbers that equal 10. The equation (8+2)+3=13. By using this strategy and identifying a 10 team, we are learning a quicker way to count on when adding three digit numbers. This week we are beginning adding and subtracting with an unknown addend. 12-___= 5. This is probably the hardest concept of the quarter. Thank you for all of your support at home with homework!
In Storytown we have really been focusing on long vowel patterns. It is fun to see the kids pick out these patterns in their reading! This week we are working on long A patterns –ay, ai, and a_e. Our comprehension skill of cause and effect will carry over into this week. Have conversations with your child at home when reading about cause and effect examples you might find in their book.
In social studies we are working on our mapping skills and have been taking a look at our place on a map. This was a great subject to transition into after studying so much about our state. Your kiddos are excited to share many of the projects we have been working on at conferences with you next week! Speaking of conferences…. Thank you so much for returning conferences schedules! I am looking forward to seeing you and having your child share many special things from this quarter with you! If you have any questions on time please let me know.

Busy Times in First Grade!

We have had a busy time back from winter break! I hope the New Year is finding you all well and rested! Here are a few highlights of the things that have been keeping us busy…

Reading- In Storytown we have been working on R controlled vowels. We practice these many ways in class including practice during Daily 5. This week we are looking at words that end in –le. Thank you for continuing to practice these words with your child at home and have them turn in a spelling practice every week! Our comprehension skill we have been working on is main idea. We have been building on the skills of beginning, middle, and end to understand what the story is mostly about. This is a tough skill to pinpoint, so we are working on this through Storytown, Daily 5, in reading groups, and in writing!
Writing- In writing we have published our first writing pieces of the year! We have read MANY books about snow in class. Using these stories as inspiration each first grader composed their own “snow story” and created a sparkly snow globe scene to go with it! These are proudly displayed in the hallway. Our next project will have us looking at the structure of a friendly letter.
Social Studies- Last week and this week, we have taken a look at the lives of the plains Indians. As a class we have studied the clothes they wore, things they ate, where they lived… and other details about their lives. This will lead us into Kansas history this week in preparation for Kansas’ birthday at the end of the month!
Math- We have been working very hard the last couple of weeks on place value. We’ve been counting groups of tens and ones, representing numbers, identifying which number is more and less, and using our 100s boards to solve number problems. We will assess on this tomorrow and begin studying “greater than” and “less than”.
Last Friday we had a guest speaker, Trisha Williams, come speak to the class about healthy eating, getting enough exercise, and staying well. The kids loved hearing about germs and ways we can take care of ourselves in the winter. Thank you Trisha for taking time to come speak with the class!
Our 100th day of school is coming up at the end of the month. A note will be going home soon with information on a special class activity.

Spelling 1-9 1-13

Spelling words:
her, fur, turn, bird, girl, first, quit, when, name, and work

Just a note to pass along:
“The USD231 Bond Issue election ballots will be mailed to registered voters between January 11 and 14. The school district bond issue is extremely important to our students and the future of Gardner Edgerton School District. Please take a moment to vote and mail in your ballot. Every Vote Counts! For more information, visit usd231.com. Thank you!”

I hope you all had a wonderful break... we are finally back into the swing of things here. I will update out blog later this week with all of the fun things we have been doing here!