Upcoming December Events

December will be a busy month for your first grader.  The following is a list of activities/events that your child will participate in throughout the month of December.

Gingerbread Houses-The students will make gingerbread houses on Friday, December 7th.  If you would like to donate items for this project, please return the attached portion of this letter to school.  You will receive a note to let you know what to bring.  So, please DO NOT SEND ITEMS AT THIS TIME.  Thanks.

Food Pantry Donations-This year we WILL NOT do a gift exchange amongst the children.  Instead, we will be collecting canned goods to deliver to the food pantry at the Methodist Church.  Please send all canned goods by Wednesday, December 19th.

Music Program-The first grade music program is on Thursday, December 13th at 7:00 at the High School Performing Arts Center.  Please drop your child off at the high school band room by 6:45 that evening to get lined up for the program.

Polar Express Day-On Thursdasy, December 20th we will have Polar Express Day.  Your child is welcome to wear pajamas and bring a pillow with a blanket or sleeping bag to school.  We will be doing fun activities related to The Polar Express book written by Chris Van Allsburg throughout the day.

Holiday Party-Our class party will be held on Friday, December 21st.  If you would like to hlep out with a snack or drink, please send a note to your child's teacher.

Thanks for all you do!  Happy Holidays from my family to yours!

Thankful

I have much to be thankful for as I reflect on this year.  I'm thankful for my family, home, health, and a job that I LOVE!  I am thankful for the blessings He has bestowed upon my family.  Safe travels and Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!

S'MORE Adjectives PLeAsE!!

What an ACtIoN packed week we had in first grade.  After our professional development day on Monday we came back to school on Tuesday ready to start the week off right!  We've learned so much this week.  We are working on understanding what we read {comprehension} by retelling the story in sequence and comparing and contrasting texts.  In addition, students have been asked to read to and respond to texts by recording any reactions they have while reading.  We've read many nonfiction {informational} texts this week...my fav Recess at 20 Below.  While reading the class records their wonders {questions} on post-its.  They also record their learning on post-its.  As a class we discuss our questions and what we've learned from the text.  The students are encouraged to leave their tracks in the stories they've read by recording their thoughts on post-its.

We are working on a grammar unit on adjectives this week.  We recently watched the School House Rock video called Unpack Your Adjectives.  We created our anchor chart on adjectives and posted it in the class.  I wanted the kids to get an even better idea of what adjectives are and what they can do for your writing, so I decided to do this fun little activity I got from Cara Carroll over at The First Grade Parade.  This particular activity was from her unit Camping Capers Unit.  We made s'mores during writing and then used our 5 senses to describe them.  At the supermarket by accident I picked up the mini graham crackers thanks to my 3 year old who wanted to get the box with the bee on it soooooooooo we actually made two mini s'mores a piece.  It actually worked out really good because to the students it felt like they were making 2 s'mores and they tasted and looked just the same {just in a super mini way}!  I was really impressed with the adjectives the students came up with to describe their s'mores.  We may have invented some words as well!!!  Afterwards, the students recorded their words on a large sheet of white construction paper {marshmallow}.  After recording their adjectives on the marshmallow we then took brown paper to make it look like a s'more.  We have these adjective s'mores hanging up in our room and they look so cute.  From angry verbs to s'more adjectives we are really rockin' our grammar units in first!  I've got many more exciting ways to introduce and reinforce the skills taught in first grade so keep coming back for more.

Pilgrim Girl

Pilgrim Boy

Happy Thanksgiving!

Until then...
Mrs. Hogan

Scholastic Book Fair

Next week, Mrs. Leslie Williams, the CES librarian, is holding our annual Scholastic Book Fair.  The book fair will be open during the PTO Fall Extravaganza to be held on Saturday, November 10th.  Parent Night will be held on Tuesday, November 13th.  It will also be open during school hours during the week of November 13th.  Students will be allowed to visit the book fair during recess and shortly after school.  Our class will visit the book fair on Friday, November 16th.  If your child is going to purchase something at the book fair on Friday, please send their money in an envelope marked with their name and teacher's name.  Also, please remember that book fairs charge tax.  If writing a check for a specific book, please allow for additional tax to be added to your purchase.

Pumpkin Investigations

What a fun and exciting week!  Our class conducted a pumpkin investigation stations on Halloween.  I got this cute little investigation unit from Cara Carroll over at The First Grade Parade.  You can check out her unit on TpT here.

Parents donated pumpkins for our pumpkin investigations.  Thank you thank you parents for supporting this hands-on learning opportunity for our students!!!  They had so much fun being investigators for the day.  This will definitely become an annual event for my classroom......such fun!!!

How much does your pumpkin weigh?

How many lines does your pumpkin have?

How tall is your pumpkin?

How big around is your pumpkin?

Let's vote!  How do you want the pumpkin carved?

Do pumpkins sink or float?

Tallying up our votes.....the scary jack-o-lantern won!

How many pumpkin seeds were in your pumpkin?

We grouped our seeds in groups of 10 and then counted.

This pumpkin had 499 seeds!  WOWIE WOW WOW!!!

Our other pumpkin had 452 seeds....OH MY!

Pure Sweetness...my two sweet babies!  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Elly as Tinkerbell and Lily as Cinderella.

 Don't forget to check out the Academic Updates page on the right hand side of the blog to learn about all of the upcoming events and learning taking place in our classroom!