See you in Second Grade!

Well, it's time for me to start a new blog for next year, so this is my last post here, but I will see you next year as second graders! Have a great last few weeks of summer!

Summer!

Aww, I miss you already! I spent the last three days in Helena at a conference with a lot of other teachers from around the state. Next week, I'll be here for another conference for teachers. I hope you are having fun so far!

Remember to read this summer to keep up your reading level! (It takes even just a few books!!)

See this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9qdECfZrJ0

And remember to make use of the library! You can ask the librarian for reading levels or make a comment and I can let you know your child's reading level!

http://www.bozemanlibrary.org/

Please comment any time to let me know what you're doing this summer! I will still do a few updates!! I hope you've had a great week!

Almost There!

Ahh! We are so close to the end of the year! Today we went down and toured the second-grade classrooms. Although there will be a little moving around of classrooms because we will be adding a fifth second-grade room, we still took a walk to check it out! The second graders read us letters and showed us some of their work. Our class got to ask questions and meet some of the teachers. A lot of our kiddos said they felt better after getting to see it and were excited about the projects, whereas others said they felt even more nervous! I tried to reassure them that ALL of the second-grade teachers are fabulous, and they will get to be with their friends! Due to Walk to Read this year, there are students from all classes who are good friends! I know that whoever your child gets for second grade will be excellent. They are all great!

Of course, I just hope they still come see me whenever they can! What a fun year we have had!

What a Fabulous Day!!!

Wow, what a great experience today was! We spent all day outside doing science-related activities and also had the Forest Service, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, and Montana Outdoor Science School teaching us!

I could tell you what we were doing in each photo, but wouldn't it be better if your child told you? :)

Thanks to our chaperones and everyone who donated time and money this year to pay Montana Outdoor Science School for their teaching today!

Bozeman Pond Trip Reminders

Weather is iffy for tomorrow's outdoor activities, so remember to send raincoats, good shoes, and sun protection! You just never know what we'll get here in Bozeman!

Wow! A great way to learn spelling!

Wow, check out this new website I just found for helping your child learn spelling words in a fun way. Start here: (or click on Spelling City under great websites bar)

http://www.spellingcity.com/laforge/

(and ignore that our school says it's in Bozeman, MO. I have emailed the website to change their abbreviation error!)

Now click on the list

HM 9.3 The Surprise Family

(because that's our list for this week)

and students can then click on Flashcards, Games, etc. to practice the spelling words and their definitions! It really is a great tool!

Have fun!

Our Class Is Totally Awesome

I just had to tell you about one thing that really warmed my heart today!!!

We do Rocket Math every afternoon, and when students open their folders and see that they have moved up to the next level, usually no one says too much to them. Today, I heard at least three separate groups of kids say, "Congratulations, _____!" And that was even if they hadn't moved up themselves. That may not seem like that big of a deal, but it showed me that we really have created a community in our class. For six and seven year olds to be truly happy when their friend moved on and they didn't????? That's HUGE. Thanks again for having such awesome kids. And once again, I keep asking but no one is answering!!! Can I keep them? :)

This afternoon all the teachers headed over to Emily Dickinson during early release to discuss some exciting new things in writing! Writing is emerging as a more and more important part of school due to the sheer amount that we are required to write as adults, especially with the increase in technology. All of the teachers commented on how amazing it is to see what students can do! Way to go first graders!

Okay I'm back!

Wow, what a busy time of year! Sorry for the absence of new posts last week! Due to site maintenance, the website wouldn't let me login to submit new posts...of course it probably would've helped if I would have tried more than one day! Sorry!

Thank you chaperones for the great field trip! Our class showed excellent behavior, learning, and had a lot of fun!! Remember our next field trip up at Hyalite on June 2. We will just be going for the morning, so hopefully some of you can come!

Last week we also had our guests from the Billings Special Olympics team join us for about an hour in our classroom! It was a great experience to be able to support the athletes!

Just yesterday we had a police officer come to our class and tell us about his job and safety. The police car was especially a favorite, and students got to slide through the back seat to see just what an uncomfortable place it is! Thanks to all of our police officers for keeping us safe!

Here are some pictures from the Fun Run, which was TOTALLY fun! The kids really did run for 30 minutes straight, which was between 20 and 40 laps for most students. They ran about 2 miles! They were amazing! Thank you for your support with sponsoring and collecting pledges. Remember, you can turn those in right away!











Here is almost everyone in our class. Don't they look so much bigger than at the beginning of the year!?

On the horizon--

We have several other fun presentations coming up: U.S. flag, recycling, and our last Junior Achievement session this week.

I will be out the 20th and 25th, so there will be a sub. As much as I hate to be out, I am on the social studies curriculum committee, and we are trying to finish up before the end of the year.

In math, we are finishing our unit with tens/ones and fractions.

Science will be states of matter (solid, liquid, gas) from here on out.

Social Studies--We just finished up slavery and will be going through the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement.

Walk to Read will be finishing strong with reviews and assessments. Keep sending those reading bags!

Updates

Hi everyone! I hope your newsletter made it home in one piece! It looks like we have the perfect number of field-trip chaperones, so thank you for taking time for that!!! I'll let you know more as May 11 approaches, but what I know right now is that the buses will be leaving from school at 9:30 and leaving the museum at 2:00. We should have enough space on the buses if you want to ride with us because we will be taking two at this point, but you can also meet us there.

Another even bigger field trip to keep in mind is our field trip to Hyalite Reservoir on June 2nd. Last year, the first graders piloted the whole trip from a grant we received, and this year, Mrs. Hamburgh has decided to make it a whole-school affair! I would really like to thank you for supporting the Fall Festival and the many other fundraisers we have had this year because that is what makes this trip possible! We had so much fun last year and got to do stations that fit right in with our science standards. So, if you are at all interested in spending a day outside with us at the end of the year, we will need LOTS of volunteers! Again, more info to come, but it's something to think about!

READING--A note about reading. Please keep in mind that all first graders should be reading at home nightly whether they have a book sent home or not! It is crucial for them to be rereading if something doesn't make sense and reading fluently at this point of the year, so keep it up! Also, this month is our READING CONTEST! For every five minutes your child reads at home, jot me a quick note or just write it on their reading record (yes, YOU must at least initial it) with your child's name, number of minutes read, and your initials. This is to avoid students being tempted to go cross off minutes that weren't read just because their friend is. The competition is tough! For every 50 minutes, their name will be entered into a drawing for a prize!! They only have until April 30, so get those minutes in now! Even reading to your child can be counted in some cases!

This time of year is super busy and flies by, but it is also my favorite time of year. Every day your kiddos make me laugh, and I hate to think I have to let them go on to second grade soon! They make my day every day! You should see their writing samples. WOW.

Okay, last, and then I'll be quiet, please please please go ahead and leave comments on this blog if you have one, even just to say you liked a picture! I love to hear from you, and it has been so quiet this year! Last year, I even had parents who would help their child post a comment, and we continued to write to each other during the summer! I would love to get that started now, so go ahead, post a comment! :)

Once again, thank you for being awesome and for letting me work with your awesome kids!

Shopping, Story Problems, and Making Change

This week we have been doing some shopping at our make-believe classroom store so that students have practice counting money, exchanging money, and making change. Change is a difficult concept for many first graders, so don't worry if your child needs extra practice. You can help by pointing out price tags while you are shopping together and then having your child count the coins for the cashier if possible. You can also point out when you get change from the cashier. Because of the common use of debit cards, some children did not realize that if you give the store too much cash, they give you money back! They thought the store just keeps the extra.

Here is one student being the cashier.

We are also working on writing number stories (story problems.) When they shop at the store, students had to write a number story for the items they were going to buy and calculate the total.

This student had one dollar to spend at the store, so he found as many items as he could that would add up to less than one dollar so he could buy them all!

Here he is calculating his total on the number grid. Nice work!!!

These two chose to finish their math during recess. They worked on a challenge problem then helped each other finish math pages. Way to go!!!

I absolutely love this time of year!! Students have grown so much, and we can work on more and more challenging concepts. They have truly formed a community in our classroom, and working together is one thing this class does well! Great job everybody!

Parents, you have a lot coming home in backpacks lately.

Please remember to return book orders and field trip permission forms by tomorrow, April 15. Have a great day!

Polygons

Last week, we learned all about polygons! One great way for the kiddos to learn about polygons is to construct pens for animals. Polygons are many-sided shapes with straight sides, no openings, and no closures inside.



We ran out of cows, so we put many kinds of animals in corrals! We had a lot of fun, and students should now know all of the shapes, including many 3-D shapes. Now in math, we are moving on to more about money, time, and place value to the hundreds! Have a great day!

Teamwork!

We are starting a unit in math all about polygons and geometry. This is a short unit, only two weeks or so, but so fun!!!


In this game, students have to give each other directions without looking to try to make each other's design. These two are just starting a new game, while the two girls above did so well with their directions that their designs matched exactly!


This week we have been learning the names of the continents, and we split up into boys versus girls to see who could name all of the continents. The boys automatically got into a huddle to make sure the girls couldn't hear! Final score? It was a tie with congratulations all around! We have SUCH a nice class! (Can I keep them?) :)

Read Across America

We definitely had fun reading to stuffed animals on the Friday before spring break! I have never had a class that could read for such a long stretch of time without getting antsy before! They read for 25 minutes straight before gym class and another 20 minutes after gym and were still excited to read to their reading buddies in the afternoon! Sometimes I have to remind myself that they really are the same kids who came at the beginning of the year! Once again, that's just one more reason I love teaching first grade. There is so much growth in every area, especially reading. Thanks for your continued work and support at home!

Welcome Back!

I am looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow! I hope you had a nice week!

Kids Teaching Kids

The pictures above are of two students who were working on spelling. One of them is being the teacher while the other one writes short vowel and long vowel words...(and "said" because that's tricky.) I am always so happy when I see students so willing to help others. Research also proves that the best way to remember something is to teach it to someone else!

We just took a test today for our Earth and Sky unit, and I was impressed! First graders understand a lot more than I ever did at their age about the cause of day and night and the seasons.

In math, we are continuing addition and subtraction practice...more to come in the newsletter but this is something that would be good to reinforce at home.

Can you believe it's less than two weeks until spring break?!?!?! Wow!

Presidents Day

Happy Presidents' Day! See you Tuesday!

Happy Valentines Day!

Wow, what a gorgeous day it is today...unlike last Monday when the kiddos were snowshoeing!

Thank you so much for sending in Valentines Day goodies! Today we decorated Valentine bags, graphed candy hearts, made inferences using a wordless book called The Secret of Love, played Valentine Bingo and had an awesome Valentine party! Everyone had so much fun passing out Valentines and having such yummy snacks! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Remember that Wednesday is early release at 12:30 and that there is no school next Monday for President's Day!

I hope you all have a wonderful evening feeling the love of your families and friends. I felt SO loved all day just because of your kids! They were so happy to give me gifts and Valentines, and most of all, a lot of hugs!!!! They are so sweet and awesome!

I will be out three days this week!

Ahh I have so many pictures to share with you but they are on my school computer and I am at home! I will try to get those posted next week so you can see your kids being amazing as usual. In the meantime, check out this picture of our first walking field trip to the ponds last September! Doesn't it make you long for green grass and sunshine?! Also I can't believe as I was looking through these pictures how much the kiddos have grown...and how many teeth they've lost!

Snowshoeing on Monday was very fun for all of the kids! Thank you so much to our steadfast volunteers who stood outside in the VERY heavy snow and wind on Monday and fastened buckle after buckle on the snowshoes for child after child. Many of the kids had never been on snowshoes before, and they came in tired, soaking, and hungry but very happy!!!

This week I will be gone for the rest of the week. Originally, I did have one sub who was planning to come in all three days, but he had a family emergency and will not be able to come. So every day will be a bit of a challenge since there will be a different guest teacher every day, but all of them are great!

Thank you for the couple of families who sent in snacks! We go through snacks quickly, though, so if anyone else can donate, it would be greatly appreciated!

Have a great week and weekend, and I will see you on Monday!

Reminders

Please remember early release Thursday at 12:30. Also FYI, I will have a sub on Friday the 21st and Tuesday the 25th.

It's not a bad idea to send a change of clothes to school for very wet and snowy days. Sometimes, even wearing snowpants, the kids get wet and are uncomfortable the rest of the day.

Thanks for being awesome!

Partner Reading in Walk to Read

Welcome Back!

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season! The kids came back excited to see friends and talk about their holiday break, and we are already back in the swing of things.

In Walk to Read, we will be continuing our study of long vowels (long o this week) in phonics. I am transitioning to more and more independent reading since these kids are ready for it! Please continue to ask students about what they read at home because reading comprehension is key!

In math, we are working on measurement and ALWAYS time, money, addition/subtraction, and number patterns. We will probably have our next test next week.

We are beginning a unit called "Earth and Sky" in science, so pointing out features of the earth and the sky would be helpful, specifically, landforms and the sun and moon, including the position of the sun and moon at different times of the day. We have already covered the reason for day and night on Earth, so ask your child what causes day and night. Next week we will discuss what causes the seasons.

Please let me know if you need anything and happy January!