Engaged Researchers!

First graders worked with partners to research their topic (spiders, bats, or pumpkins) using iPads. 

November Lunch Menu

October 26-30 Updates

October 26-30 Weekly Updates

I can't believe it's the last week of October! This Friday marks the end of our first quarter. Notes will be coming home today with your portfolio conference times. I can't wait the share all the gains your child has made so far this year as a first grader. 

Please return permission slips and money for our Building for Kids field trip scheduled for November 6th if you haven't already. Thank you!

Red Ribbon Week:

Red Ribbon Week is an alcohol, tobacco and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign observed annually in October in the United States.

Tues. Oct. 27th....no sweat being drug free...wear sweats
Wed. Oct. 28th....Red Day
Thurs. Oct. 29th...drug free is double the fun....twinning
Fri. Oct. 30th...we're the ghosts. ..say BOO to drugs....wear orange and black!

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: This week we will be focusing on reading with smooth, fluent voices. One strategy to smooth out our reading is to scan the page to notice how much we will need to read and notice the punctuation first, before reading. We will also be focusing on retelling by using our fingers and words such as first, next, then, after that, and finally. Towards the end of the week we will be thinking about the lesson the author was trying to teach the character, or even us sometimes!

Writers' Workshop: First graders have so much to teach and have been writing lots of How-Tos! This week we will be looking at published how-to texts to notice things such as warnings, tips, introductions and conclusions we can add to our own writing. We will also be adding more details to our steps, making sure our pictures teach, and edit our writing for punctuation. 

Math Workshop: We will be focusing on subtraction and noticing that there are addition and subtraction relationships (i.e. I know that  7 + 3= 10, so 10 - 3=7). These relationships can help us become fluent with our facts. Each day in math workshop we have also been working on solving problems and trying to use at least two strategies. Here's an example of a first grade problem: 

Students are working on choosing numbers that are just right for them, with teacher assistance! We will also be studying equations and story problems carefully to decide if we need to add or subtract.

Science/Social Studies:  We have finished our organisms study. First graders were sad to say good-bye to our critters, but they learned so much about what living things need to live and grow. This week we will be learning about fire safety, and be conducting a mini research unit on bats, spiders and pumpkins. We will even be using the ipads to research online using Pebblego. If you'd like to access this site at home the usename is electa and the password is electa. The information is easily accessible for first graders. We will be visiting this website throughout the year.

Word Study: We introduced 5 new word wall words today. The words are: for, come, in, am, us. We will be assessing these words on Friday. These are words we want students to be able to read and write automatically without having to think to sound them out. Students also continue to work on phonics skills and word sorts at their developmental level.

As always, let me know if you have any questions.

Kathy Zobel

First Grade

New Directions Learning Community

Help spread the word!

New Directions Learning Community will be offering a free event

for senior citizens in the Fox Valley.

On Thursday November 5^th  from 8:30 – 9:15 am

seniors are welcome to visit our school.

Coffee and pastries will be served while they

learn about how school is different today than it was when they were young.

Weekly Updates October 19-23

It's a short week this week, so we will have a short update! We will have 3 new word wall words this week: up, do, go.  These words will be assessed on Wednesday.

If you haven't returned your conference sheets, please do so. I will be sending your scheduled time home next week.

Oct.  20th-Grandparents and Goodies Family Night 4:30-5:30

Oct. 23 & 24-No School Enjoy the long weekend!

Red Ribbon Week:

Red Ribbon Week is an alcohol, tobacco and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign observed annually in October in the United States.

Tues. Oct. 27th....no sweat being drug free...wear sweats
Wed. Oct. 28th....Red Day
Thurs. Oct. 29th...drug free is double the fun....twinning
Fri. Oct. 30th...we're the ghosts. ..say BOO to drugs....wear orange and black!

Help spread the word!

New Directions Learning Community will be offering a free event

for senior citizens in the Fox Valley.

On Thursday November 5^th  from 8:30 – 9:15 am

seniors are welcome to visit our school.

Coffee and pastries will be served while they

learn about how school is different today than it was when they were young.

As always, let me know if you have any questions.

Kathy Zobel

First Grade

New Directions Learning Community

Yoga

Look at our poses! Thank you Mrs. McEneany!

Look At Us Go!

We are working hard as we ride bicycles in phy. ed. Wheee!

Weekly Updates October 12-16

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. It was an exciting end to our week last week with all of our orange and black!

Oct. 14th-Yoga-Mrs. McEneany will be leading us in yoga at the end of the day. Wear comfy clothes! Pants under dresses are a good idea :)
Oct. 16th-Math Morning 7:30-8:15 AM Ryan Flessner, our math consultant from Butler, will be presenting information about math instruction.

Oct.  20th-Grandparents and Goodies Family Night-Please RSVP if you haven't and are attending.

Oct. 23 & 24-No School Enjoy the long weekend!

Red Ribbon Week:

Red Ribbon Week is an alcohol, tobacco and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign observed annually in October in the United States.

Tues. Oct. 27th....no sweat being drug free...wear sweats
Wed. Oct. 28th....Red Day
Thurs. Oct. 29th...drug free is double the fun....twinning
Fri. Oct. 30th...we're the ghosts. ..say BOO to drugs....wear orange and black!

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: This week we will be focusing on using specific word solving strategies when coming to tricky words. Some of the strategies we will use include: readers look closely at words by looking at chunks, rather than letter by letter, readers use blends (bl, cl, sp), diagraphs (ch, sh, th) and endings (ed, ing) when figuring out tricky words, and readers use word wall words as stepping stones when reading (over half of the words students encounter are typically the same 30ish high frequency words).

Writers' Workshop: Hopefully you had a chance to enjoy the small moment stories students brought home on Friday. First grade writers were very busy the first month of school! This week we are starting our How-To unit. How-to texts are procedural texts that teach readers how to do something. We will be writing lots of books that teach people how to do something. This week we will be focusing on thinking of topics, rehearsing and writing lots of teaching books. Students will be thinking of things they care about and how they could use this topic to teach someone how to do something. For example, if a writer cares about soccer he or she could teach a reader how to dribble the ball, how to kick a goal, how to do a throw-in, etc. You could help your child brainstorm ideas for what he or she could teach others by noticing activities in and outside of home!

Math Workshop: This week in math we will be focusing on the strategy of 'counting on' when solving addition equations. We will learn how mathematicians count on from the larger number and reinforce this strategy through math activities and story problems. 

Science:  Last week we added pill bugs and bess beetles to our terrariums. We have many brave first graders who couldn't wait to touch and hold our critters! This week we will be noticing what's happening in the aquariums and terrariums. 

Word Study: We introduced 5 new word wall words today. The words are: he, she, can, play, to. We will be assessing these words on Friday. These are words we want students to be able to read and write automatically without having to think to sound them out.

As always, let me know if you have any questions.

Kathy Zobel

First Grade

New Directions Learning Community

Help spread the word!

New Directions Learning Community will be offering a free event

for senior citizens in the Fox Valley.

On Thursday November 5^th  from 8:30 – 9:15 am

seniors are welcome to visit our school.

Coffee and pastries will be served while they

learn about how school is different today than it was when they were young.

More Bugs!

We added bess beetles to our terrariums! We were a little more hesitant to hold these. They were big!

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!

We added pill bugs to our terrariums!

Playing in the leaves.

What a beautiful day! Now we have more small moment stories to write about.

Weekly Updates October 5-9

Hello,

Lots of exciting things have been happening in first grade! First graders have been reading longer and stronger and are writing up a storm. We have also been active scientists! W have aquariums and terrariums at each of our tables that we are studying and learning from everyday. We are looking forward to another full week of learning and growing! Please check our blog as you can. I'll be working to add pictures of our weekly events for you to check out!

Upcoming events:

Oct. 9th-Homecoming Parade-We hope you can join us. Wear orange and black to school today! Crazy Hair Day!

Oct. 16th-Math Morning 7:30-8:15 AM Ryan Flessner, our math consultant from Butler, will be presenting information about math instruction.

Oct.  20th   Grandparents and Goodies Family Night-Please RSVP if you haven't and are attending.

Oct. 23 & 24-No School

Red Ribbon Week:

Red Ribbon Week is an alcohol, tobacco and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign observed annually in October in the United States.

Tues. Oct. 27th....no sweat being drug free...wear sweats
Wed. Oct. 28th....Red Day
Thurs. Oct. 29th...drug free is double the fun....twinning
Fri. Oct. 30th...we're the ghosts. ..say BOO to drugs....wear orange and black!

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: We finished our Building Good Reading Habits unit by sharing the habits we are great at and ones we are still working on. We began our new unit today: Word Detectives Ues All They Know to Solve Words. In this unit we will work on our word solving skills. When readers get stuck, they think, "Does it look right? Does it make sense? Does it sound right?" We will also work on more word solving strategies as our books become trickier. At the end of our unit, we will be spending time working on fluency and using punctuation clues to help make our reading voices smooth like talking. I have also begun meeting with students in guided reading groups. During guided reading we read books that are just a little bit trickier than students' independent levels. It's a great time to try out some of our newest strategies!

Writers' Workshop: We will be wrapping up our small moment stories this week. We have been using Night of the Veggie Monster, by George McClements, to notice and try new things in our writing. Last week we tried writing exact actions just like George. This week we will try out POP OUT words and ellipses (...). We will also be choosing our best piece to edit, revise and celebrate as first graders.

Math Workshop: We finished up our first math unit, Partners and Number Patterns through 10. Students did an amazing job with these concepts! Our next unit is Addition and Subtraction strategies. In this unit we will be representing problems with objects, drawings, fingers or equations, learning strategies for solving equations (counting on and counting on from the greater number), solving subtraction equations and working towards fluency for addition and subtraction within 10. Look for a math homework sheet to come home on Wednesday.

Science: Our aquariums and terrariums are growing! Last week we added snails and guppies to our aquariums. This week we will be adding bess beetles and pill bugs to our terrariums. Very exciting times in first grade! We will be bringing home our plants today. Hopefully they make it home safely! We learned what plants need to live and grow.

Word Study: We introduced 5 new word wall words today. The words are: the, went, is, are, be. We will be assessing these words on Friday. These are words we want students to be able to read and write automatically without having to think to sound them out.

As always, let me know if you have any questions.

Kathy Zobel

First Grade

New Directions Learning Community

Our Snails and Guppies Have Arrived!

We observed our guppies before adding them to our aquarium to join our snails.

Great Reading Habits

We ended our Building Good Reading Habits unit by writing our best habits on sentence strips and hanging them up for everyone to read!