Fun in First

Many children wanted to write a Newsbook entry about this exciting week. Unfortunately, we were not able to do so on Thursday. So here is a summary of our week. This has been a week chock-full of  memorable events for our First Graders. We celebrated Miss Amanda’s birthday, enjoyed spending quality time during Dad’s Day, and finding fun ways to celebrate the 100th day of school!

Throughout the year we have focused on different ways to affirm each other, as our classroom is a “home away from home.” This was especially true on Monday, as we celebrated Miss Amanda’s birthday. The children were so pleased to bring in a special treat to create a basket of healthy snacks for her. Also, the homemade cards were such so special and warmed Miss Amanda’s heart. A big thank you to all for making Miss Amanda’s birthday so special, particularly Mary Beth, Kate, Kristy, and Penny.

On Tuesday, we loved spending the morning with the Dads. The room was abuzz with excitement! The children played games, read books, enjoyed the portraits and poems about the dads, and shared work that we have done throughout the year. It was wonderful to see the dads and their children working side by side to make a creation out of ribbons, toothpicks, a cup, balloons, rubber bands, and paper clips.  The ideas were wonderful-We saw creations from hot air balloons, to aliens, to party machines! We truly appreciate everyone who made this day such a huge success, especially Mary Beth, Kate, Susan R., Linda, and Kristy.

As we reflect on this first 100 days of school, it is truly amazing the growth that we have seen in our students.  For example, in 100 days, the children have progressed in their reading abilities, have become better writers, learned about the human body, beginning to tell time, count a mixed group of coins…the list is endless. With each year, we are amazed at the children’s capacity to learn and look forward to the next 80 days of school.

We also had a visitor from Georgia Tech that spoke about the brain. The children loved doing an experiment with Starbursts to highlight how your senses effect the sense of taste. Be sure to ask them about it.

We hope you have a great weekend!

We have had an eventful and exciting week in First Grade!  On Tuesday, the students loved presenting their “Human Body Assembly” for you and the whole school.  We hope you enjoyed our class’s segment, Fitness for Fun.  The students worked very hard researching facts about exercise and we were proud of each child for the poise and confidence they showed.  What a wonderful way to start our week!

Phonics

We are so proud with the inventive spelling that each child is using in his writing.  We continue to encourage the children to “write the sounds they hear” and it is such fun to see the words looking more and more like the “real”  spellings.  The children have been experimenting with contractions in their writing and so we started the week off with a lesson called “Contraction Action”.  This fun song is sung to the tune of the Hokey-Pokey and explains how letters are popped out to put apostrophes in.  The students have been working hard in their centers this week to practice using contractions.  Ask your child to sing the “Contraction Action” to you at home!

Science

On Wednesday, we had a special visit from Arjun Srinivasan, who has two students at Trinity.  He is a doctor at the CDC and presented an exciting program all about his work with germs and infectious diseases.  A highlight of the program was when Dr. Srinivasan showed us the special suit some of the doctors at the CDC have to wear to protect themselves from various diseases. Kate had a chance to put on the suit.  Please see the pictures on our website of this exciting opportunity!

We also had a chance to add the important parts of the respiratory system to our bodies this week.  Students added the lungs, trachea, and diaphragm to their bodies.  Throughout this unit, the students have truly gained an understanding of what it means to work in a cooperative group.  We are amazed at the growth we have seen in working as a “team” while building their bodes.  Please visit the bulletin board outside of our classroom to see our nearly completed bodies!

Birthday

On Wednesday, we celebrated Harrison’s birthday!  We all enjoyed the delicious donuts that he brought in to celebrate!  Happy Birthday, Harrison!

100th Day of School!

As you know, the 100th day of school is on Wednesday, February 1st.  Please don’t forget to work with your child to decorate a shirt with “100″ of something on it.  Please also send in your assigned item for our 100 day mix.  The children are very excited about this event!

Wow, we have had an amazing start to the New Year! Since our return to school, we have declared our resolutions, engaged in deep discussions regarding Martin Luther King’s dream, and learned about the respiratory system! During Doctor Day and we had a special visit from Dr. Perlstein a neurologist, Dr.  Petro a cardiologist,  and Ms. Em’s chiropractor who shared important facts about their areas of expertise in the medical field. But, the biggest news was the announcement that Ms. Amanda is having a baby! We are so happy for her and look forward to learning whether she will be having a boy or a girl.

CELEBRATIONS:

Happy birthday to Sam! The birthday boy was all smiles as his classmates sang to him. He also brought in yummy brownies to celebrate!

COMING UP!

The students are  very excited to present all that they have learned in Tuesday’s assembly about the Human Body. Please remember to send your child to school in workout gear. Please be creative! Sweatbands and knee highs are perfect accessories!

On Wednesday, Dr. Srinivasan, a former First Grade parent , and current Second Grade and Kindergarten father, will present information on infectious diseases. Last year, he was the highlight of Doctor Day and we just had to invite him back!

IN THE CLASSROOM:

In Math, the students are learning to tell time to the quarter hour. We have also started the number scrolls. This practice aids the children in understanding place value and helps with practicing the correct formation of the numbers. We have been with how enthusiastic the children have been about this new activity!

In Phonics, we introduced the FLOSS rule, which states that in a one syllable word, with one short vowel, ending f, l, s, and sometimes z, you double the final consonant. For example, the words puff, hill, chess, and buzz follow this rule. The students enjoyed learning this rule, and reciting it as a cheer and football huddle chant. Be sure to ask your child about it! We have also introduced contractions.

In Social Studies, we continue our study of the human body and have learned about the respiratory system. The boys and girls have impressed us with their wealth of knowledge!

We have had an exciting week preparing for all of the holiday fun! The children loved making reindeer antlers, decorating gingerbread houses, creating a personal toy soldier, and making special holiday gifts for you! To top off the holiday cheer each student was assigned lines from the beloved poem by Clement Moore, The Night Before Christmas. The children practiced their lines and drew wonderfully detailed pictures to accompany their lines.   Please click  below to enjoy this holiday Photo Story. Happy Holidays!

We wish you all a happy, safe, and wonderful holiday season!  We look forward to seeing your wonderful children in 2012!

Social Studies-

This week the children discovered the different parts of their nervous system. They delighted in learning new facts. They particularly enjoyed learning that the right side of the brain controls the left side of our body, while the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body. Working in cooperative groups the children used tinfoil to create the spinal cord and bubble wrap to represent the brain. It is wonderful to see the children connect the information they are learning with their everyday world. Be sure to ask your child about all the great things they are learning about the human body!

Science-

In Science class the children happily welcomed Ms. Anna back to school! They had a blast learning about germs and even participated in an experiment where they are growing germs! What will the children discover? We will have to wait and see!

Math-

In math class the children discovered that they can learn information quickly by using a graph. They had a great time using the Active-Inspire voting remotes to graph information about each other. As we begin Unit 4, the children will work with linear measures and review and extend their use of thermometers and clocks. We will continue the important work of achieving “automaticity” of basic addition facts.

Santa Visit

One of the most special Trinity traditions is the Santa visit. This week the children listened intently to Santa read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. After reading the story each child had the special opportunity to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. If that was not a treat itself, each child then received a yummy Christmas sugar cookie!

Guest Reader-

Thank you to Mrs. Hernandez for reading to our class. The children loved the stories she read. She read wonderful books like The Last Straw, The Giving Tree, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Library Lion! We truly enjoyed having Virginia’s mom and little sitter as our special guests!

We have officially begun the month of December and our class is definitely in the holiday spirit!  We kicked the month of December off with many impromptu Christmas carols and even a line of Rockette-like dancers.  The children have also had great fun decorating Brownie’s cage for the season.  The even made some mistletoe to hang from the top of his cage.  On Friday, we were treated to the 5th Grade production of the Nutcracker.  It is always a great way to get in the holiday spirit.  We are looking forward to a fun-filled and exciting season ahead!  Please read below to hear all that we have been up to this week.

Phonics

We are concluding our study of beginning blends.  The students have loved brainstorming words for each of the different blends we have studied. We are proud that we are seeing the students use more and more blends in their writing.  We all had fun playing “Sparkle” today to review words with beginning blends.  Please ask your child about this fun game that we love to play.   Next week we will conclude our blend study with a look at ending blends.

Math

We are nearing the end of Unit 3 in Math.  We have spent the past few days introducing the students to dollars-and-cent notation as well as counting a mixed group of coins.  The students are practicing making exchanges for coins and showing the fewest number of coins for a given amount.  Please continue to practice counting a mixed group of coins at home.

Science

We have many budding doctors and scientists in our class!  The students are all incredibly enthusiastic about our human body unit.  We had a special visit on Monday from the famous Slim Goodbody.  He sang songs and taught us all about our amazing bodies!  Ask your child about some of the interesting facts he/she learned from Slim.   This week we have focused on the Muscular System.  The students have learned all about the biceps, triceps, quadriceps, and more!  They have learned that bones and muscles work together to allow us to move.  On Thursday, we worked in cooperative groups to add the muscles to our ever-growing bodies.  Please visit the bulletin board outside of our classroom to watch these bodies grow!  Next week we will study the nervous system.

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

We would like to thank you for the conversations that we had on Tuesday and Wednesday. We truly feel like we are in a partnership with each of you, which allows us to teach your children more effectively. Through our conversations and with the reports as a guide we were able to probe more deeply to find more specific ways to personalize the learning experience for each of our students.

Thank you for working together with us in ensuring a successful and happy First Grade year for the boys and girls.

Social Studies

This week we read books to help us build our knowledge of the skeletal system. The children loved learning the names of the major bones, how many bones are in the body, and what they are made of. We brought in the skeleton, affectionately named “Mr. Bob Bones”,  from the Science Lab. We had fun labeling the different bones on a Mr. Bones.

The children also enjoyed a visit from Mrs. Verlander. She also brought in model of a skeleton to aid in a wonderful game that she and Harrison prepared for the class. While we have learned so much from our lessons in class, Mrs. Verlander also shared many interesting facts with us. Thank you to Harrison and his mom for a wonderful presentation!

Looking Ahead

• We will continue to practice telling time to the hour and half hour, as well practice our addition facts to sums of 12.
• Please remember to send your child in to school with blue jeans and a brown shirt for the Thanksgiving Program. The program will be on Tuesday, November 22nd at 9:30.
• Dismissal is at 11:00 on Tuesday, November 22.

The First Grade will be performing their annual “Turkey Dance” with Miss Em at the Thanksgiving program on Tuesday, November 22nd.  Please send your child to school that day dressed in a BROWN shirt and jeans.

We look forward to sharing this exciting tradition with the school!

First Graders have yet again had a busy week  and have loved every minute of it!

Today, we not only celebrated 11-11-11, but also celebrated Veteran’s Day.  Frank, Ms. Amanda’s husband, came to speak to the students about his experience as a Marine.  He showed pictures of his tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The children were interested to learn the differences between our culture and their culture.  They also learned that the military works to keep these places safe for the people who live there.  Later, we had a visit from Mr. Val and Mr Johnny who also served our country in the army and navy.  We are very thankful to these Veterans who served our country!

Below is a video thanking Frank for visiting our class.

This week, we started our Human Body study.  After making our Base Groups signs, the children worked together in cooperative groups to trace and cut out their own human body.  We will be adding the important organs from each body system as we move throughout our study.  We can’t wait to watch our bodies grow!

We are moving along in our Phonics study and have introduced the students to Blends this week.  They have learned that blends are two sounds that come together and make two separate sounds. This week we focused on l blends like sl, cl, pl, and bl.  We hope that you have been seeing our word splashes come home with the blends that we have brainstormed.  It is great practice to re-read these words with your child.

The students were also excited to meet with our 3rd Grade Buddies this week!  The students gathered together and used a new Web 2.0 tool called a Wordle to share their thoughts on Thanskgiving.  We hope you enjoyed seeing the “Thanksgiving” Wordles go home.

Please visit our class photo album for pictures from this busy week!

As the world becomes smaller due to technological advances, some skills are going to be ever- important as the children of today will need to be accepting of a range of ideas among the people with whom they will work and interact.  The ability to work in small cooperative groups to achieve a common goal is an important component of the learning experience at Trinity School. This is no easy task for adults a times, much less First Graders. We expect the children to learn how to be active participants, share their ideas and be willing to take risks, be willing to accept another idea other than their own, take turns, and use kind and encouraging words.

This week we began our study of the human body. One of the first tasks the children engaged in was to create a poster and a name for their new base groups. We discussed what it meant to compromise, to cooperate, and to collaborate for this project. After a skit by some of the children and teachers, the children set off to work. We were impressed to see how well each new group worked together, shared and balanced ideas, and delegated tasks. The students found ways to compromise by voting, doing rock-paper-scissor, or simply deciding to contribute in another way.  Working in cooperative groups is no easy task, but given the work we observed from our students this week, we are well on our way to a great year filled with fun projects.

Author Visit

What a special treat for us to listen to a story told and acted out by author, Carmen Deedy. This animated author had the children laughing hysterically, as she told a story of St.Peter and Wicked Joe and his three wishes. Before telling the story she explained how stories “travel” to different countries and are shared over many generations. Be sure to ask your child about this wonderful author visit.

Coming Up In First Grade

-We will be starting the human body unit in Social Studies. We have discussed healthy habits and how germs make people sick.
-In Math, the children will learn how to add and subtract using the number line and telling time to the half hour. Please continue to practice addition facts.

-In Phonics, we will focus on /l/ blends.

We hope you have a great weekend!