Week 20! Welcome Back!

Welcome back!  I hope you all had a wonderfully relaxing break with your families.  Although I enjoyed the rest, I am ready to be back in the swing of things with your sweet kiddos. We are going to hit the ground running in pursuit of truth, beauty and goodness!

Homework (please send in the daily planner each day)

Nightly: read for 15 minutes, phonograms to practice- ey, ou, y, ee, ea, wh, sh, i, e, f

Poem- I Know the Sounds that the Animals Make by Jack Prelutsky (http://www.tcatitans.org/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=4175434)

Monday: they, would, could, should, any, many, city, only, where, week, weak and math workbook pages 7-8

Tuesday: first, sent, cent, mile, seem, even, without, afternoon, Friday and math workbook pages 9-10

Wednesday: hour, our, wife, state, July, head, story, open, short, lady and math workbook pages 13-14

Thursday: Write and read all words once, and Test B 

Friday: Review errors from spelling test, and math workbook pg. 17-18

Calendar

Monday, January 15^th: No School, MLK observance day

Friday, January 19^th: Field Trip to the Arizona Science Center

Saturday, January 20^th: Daddy Daughter Dance

Announcements

*As we adjust back to the academic routine, thank you for ensuring that your child continues to complete their homework with neatness and accuracy.  Please ensure that your child is reading their book bag book each night and returning it on Fridays. Thank you!

Field Trip: Our field trip is coming up on 1/19! If you have not done so, please return your child’s permission slip at your earliest convenience. 

Please Label Items: It’s the time of year for sweater’s galore! Please label all of your child’s items (sweaters, lunchbox, water bottle, etc.) so if they are lost, we can find their home quickly! 

Academics

Literature:  This week in literature we will be exploring fairy tales.  We will read and respond to Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, and Hansel and Gretel.  Reading groups will also resume this week.

Poem:  I Know all the Sounds that the Animals Make          Idiom: Fish out of water.

Writing:  Students will be able to understand the basic conventions of a proper sentence and rewrite a model sentence.  We will read a section of the folk tale “Master of All Masters” and one of Aesop’s fables, “The Dog and His Reflection”

Grammar:  We will review nouns, verbs, and describing words by observing the painting “La Piñata” by Diego Rivera

Math: This week we will practice comparing numbers within 20 and identifying numbers that are "more than" and "less than". We will solve problems by using addition and subtraction and compare our answers to see which is "smallest" or "greatest"

History: This week in history we will be studying the ancient culture of the Maya.  We will learn about the cities they built in the rainforest, their ancient writings and other aspects of their everyday culture. 

Science:  We are getting right back to work this week and beginning our unit on The Human Body! We will explore our skeletal system, learning about bones, what happens when we break them and how we can keep our bones healthy and strong! We will use short stories as well as funny in class activities and demonstrations to discover the excitement that is our skeletal system.

Week 11!

Good Morning! I hope you are enjoying this long weekend!Last week was a great beginning to the second quarter! Thank you everyone for taking the time to meet with us to discuss your child's progress at conferences. It's going to be a great 2nd quarter :) 

This week in 1A:

Literature: We are beginning Frog and Toad Are Friends this week! We will begin reading from our book on Wednesday and will compare the characters of Frog and Toad.

Spalding: This week we have 20 words. Spelling Test on Friday!

Monday: No School!

Tuesday: nice, end, fall, went, back, away, paper, put, each, soon

Wednesday:  came, Sunday, show, Monday, moon, yet, find, give, new, letter

Phonograms: a, e, p, s, u, ch, ck, ee, er, ng

Writing: Our copy work and narration exercises come from Peter Rabbit.

Grammar: We will review verbs this week and practice sorting nouns and verbs.

Poem: “The Purple Cow” by Burgess – We will recite on Friday!

Idiom: “Practice makes perfect!”

Math:  In math this week we will begin working on adding numbers within 20. We will practice comparing greater and smaller numbers and putting them in order. At the end of the week we will take a chapter test before continuing on throughout the rest of the quarter in working through bigger numbers. 

History: This week we will review the knowledge we have learned about ancient Egypt and will take our ancient Egypt assessment on Friday.  A review guide will be sent home on Tuesday.

Science: We will continue to study the ocean this week. We will learn about the plants and animals that are found in different ocean zones, including some animals that live in very deep water. We will also learn about the plants and animals that live in coral reefs.

Sign Up For An Optional Specials Conference Here

Parents will meet with all K-1 Specials teachers in the Archway Art Room to discuss their child's progress over the course of the first quarter.

***Specials conferences are optional. We recommend scheduling a conference only if a parent has a particular question, concern or love for one of our Specials. Conferences will last 15 minutes. 

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080c4ca8ac2ca6f49-k1specials

Last Week of September-How Time Flies!

We had another great week in 1A! Thank you for working with your child each night to ensure that their homework is completed successfully.  Next week will be a shorter week but we will still have plenty of opportunities to explore truth, beauty and goodness!

Announcements

No School- We will not have school this Friday, September 29^th due to teacher in-service.  Enjoy the long weekend! 

Love and Logic Seminar- Come on out on Wednesday, September 27^th from 6pm-8pm to learn more about our approach to behavior and gain some helpful strategies to use at home!

Thank you! - Thank you to all of the parents who have joined us as we started reading and math groups this month.  We are so thankful for your support!

Academics

Literature – This week we are continuing Owl at Home and working in our packets. We are also continuing reading groups! We will take turns reading aloud and sequencing stories in small groups. A huge thank you to those of you signed up to read with us! Homework is to continue reading every night from the leveled readers. Please bring your books back on Thursday this week since there is no school on Friday!

Poetry- We will have our poetry recitation of The Pasture by Robert Frost on Thursday.  

Spalding – In Spalding, we only have 20 words, as it is a short week. Our spelling test will be on Thursday.

Grammar: We will begin our study of verbs! We will be learning about action and linking verbs, with more of an emphasis on action verbs this week. Students will identify verbs in sentences and create sentences with verbs. 

Idiom – It at first you don’t succeed then try, try again.

Math- We will continue to explore subtraction as we use number bonds, ten frames, number lines and number stories. 

Science- We will discuss how to care for the habitats that we have learned about. We will also read a scientist biography about Rachel Carson and learn about how she helped to lessen habitat destruction.

History- We will review the knowledge about the ancient Mesopotamians and wrap up with a test on Wednesday.  A review sheet was sent home on Friday to help prepare.

Summer Tutoring

Week 38! The Last Week!

It's our last week of 1st grade and what a beautiful week it is going to be:

Here is what you can expect:

Math:

This week we will be wrapping up our unit on money, students will have a chance to purchase real items from a class store using real money (supplied by me). We will also use our time this week to complete our end of year cumulative tests. This will allow us to double check your student's progress and ensure that they end the year where they need be! 

Science:

This week we wrap up our Astronomy unit by making a solar system crayon resist picture. Students will review the sizes, features, and colors of the planets, then draw them.

Literature: In Literature, we will finish up My Father’s Dragon packets, take a short assessment, and create dragon puppets!

Spalding: This week we will not have a Spelling Test, but we will do individual OPRs (oral phonogram reviews) on Monday and Tuesday and take a graded WPR (written phonogram review) on Wednesday. We will also learn some special words picked by the class! 

 Idiom: We will review all idioms learned this year and finish up our Phrases and Sayings packet!

Poem: “My Shadow” by Robert Louis Stevenson – We will recite this week!

History: For our last week in History, we will discuss the importance of the White House and voting! We will conclude with our own voting activity upon reading “Duck for President” by Doreen Cronin.

Summer Academy

Join us for Summer Academy this June!  There are many opportunities for your scholars to create, discover, and discuss with friends at our outstanding camps!  Farm to Table (June 5-9) and Inventions and Discoveries (June 12-16) will be taught by Mrs. Smith. Create and color on an Art-venture (June 19-23) and join us for a tale as we read and make Heroes and Villains (June 26-29) with Mr. Naaktgeboren. We have several afternoon vendor and sports camps as well. Spots are filling up fast so register soon!

http://www.greatheartsamerica.org/summeracademy/

http://www.greatheartsamerica.org/summeracademy/arete