Where has the year gone?

I'm not sure where the time has gone... but WOWIE, it's MAY! We have certainly been super busy in B-7 the past couple of months. We had a fabulous field trip to Carnegie Museum of Natural History in April, and worked to finish our second published book of the year. We are anxiously awaiting its arrival!

This week, we will be visiting the PTO Flower Shoppe on Wednesday, and Friday is a half day for students. Can you believe there are only 21 days of school left?

This month, we will have our annual First Grade Program on May 27th. On that same day, we will enjoy our end of year party, "Great Ideas". (Formally our Blast Off) Look for information concerning these dates in the upcoming weeks.

Keep watching for updates to our class wikispace... there are many to come!

Dr. Seuss Week

B-7 has had a fabulous week! We've enjoyed learning about Dr. Seuss and reading many of our favorite Seuss stories. Tuesday was "Horton" day. We read Horton Hatches An Egg and listened to Horton Hears A Who. We did a couple of Horton activities, which you can check out on the website. On Wednesday, we listened to the story Green Eggs And Ham. We made our own green eggs and had ham, too. The kids thought it was super cool to make green eggs. They did a great job adding the 'green' and helping to prep and cook. Today we painted Dr. Seuss pictures in the style of artist Georges Seurat. Our reading story this week is "The Dot", so it tied together nicely. The kids enjoyed using q-tips to paint their 'dotty' Seuss pics. Tomorrow, we'll be reading One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. We'll be graphing, tallying and more using colored goldfish crackers. Yum :)

Next week, we'll be paying a little more attention to CivilWarSallie, who arrived on Monday. She's been quietly enjoying our Seuss week. :) We can't wait till she teaches us more about Lincoln and the Civil War.

End of Unit 3!

Wowie! I can't believe we have finished our third reading book. This year seems to be flying by! On Wednesday and Thursday, I will be testing Unit 3. Please be sure to review those high frequency word lists that were sent home last week. The test will also cover the skills listed below:

* final -ng/nk
* -ge/-dge
* R controlled (-ie,-er,-ur)
* R controlled (-or, -ore)
* word endings (-er, -est)
* plural endings (-es)
* contractions ('s, 've, 'nt)
* verbs

In a couple of weeks, we will also have a special traveling visitor in our classroom. CivilWarSallie, a patriotic Boyd's Bear will stay with us for a week. She will help us learn about Abraham Lincoln and his role with the Civil War. This is always a favorite in first grade!

Our slightly rearranged schedule. :)

• We WILL be testing Spelling words tomorrow. Reading books will be going home tonight and tomorrow night for the weekend.

• I will test story comprehension on Monday.
  

• Remember- The story is: Where Are My Animal Friends?

• Wear your BLACK & GOLD tomorrow- It’s STEELERS DAY!!!!

Short Week!

Welcome back from the long weekend break. This week, our reading story is called Jan's New Home. We'll continue talking about changes and we'll begin working on our picture writings. The kids are really excited to start this project! They did a wonderful job on their four-square writing and began their final copies today. We're hoping to start 'scrapbooking' tomorrow.

To practice your spelling words this week, visit Spelling City here. Have fun!

Thank you so much to all of the parents who fulfilled our classroom donation wishlist. It is greatly appreciated by myself and the students!

...Back in the Groove...

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday break! The students did a wonderful job this week transitioning back into our classroom routine. This week, we began our third unit in Reading. The theme of this unit is "changes". We will be doing many fun activities in the upcoming weeks.
Today, we took our chapter 4 Math test and will begin chapter 5 next week. The next chapter covers geometric shapes and fractions.

As frigid January weather rolls in, please remember to send boots and hats/mittens with your child. We go outside everyday for recess. Thanks!

Wednesday ~ FUN DAY!

Tomorrow is the much anticipated pajama day in B-7! I can't wait to see everyone in their snuggly soft pjs with their favorite stuffed animals!