Missing!

Our classroom gingerbread man has gone missing! The class made missing posters to post around the school. Hopefully he will return to us soon!

Baa Baa Black Sheep Sells Her Wool

Last week first graders practiced the play Baa Baa Black Sheep Sells Her Wool. Each student was assigned a role of either Ed the Shepherd, Wool Buyer 1, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Wool Buyer 2, Wool Buyer 3, or the Narrator. The final performance was on Thursday. Each group did an excellent job reading smoothly and with lots of expression! Ask your child about their role, some students had more than one role.

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Phonics: We have been learning about different three letter blends such as spr-, scr-, spl-, squ-, and str-. These blends can get heard in the words squirrel, strawberry, splint, sprout, and screwdriver. In small reading groups practiced spelling different words with the three letter blend.

We have also been focusing on long a, which can be heard in the words cake, rake, and name. We talked about the importance of the letter E at the end of long a words.  We practiced sorting words that have the long and short a. In the following weeks we will discuss the long e and u.

Reading: The past two weeks we have been learning about sequencing events in a story. We have discussed the key words such as first, next, last and finally to help us figure out what happens next in the story. The class read a non-fiction book about the life cycle of the butterfly to practice sequencing what happens when a caterpillar changes to a butterfly. We ended the week with a reader’s theater performance called Baa Baa Black Sheep Sells her Wool. Check out our classroom blog for pictures from the performance!

Writing: We continue to practice writing in our journals. Students are remembering to put a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and period at the end. Our next writing unit is about personal narratives, which a real life story with a problem that gets solved. Students have brainstormed potential personal narrative topics and started illustrating what happens at the beginning, middle, and end.

Math: In math we have been practicing measuring with a ruler and tape measure. Students used tape measures to measure different parts of their body and used a ruler to measure line segments. We have been practicing counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s and filling in the frames and arrow routines.

Save those paper towel tubes: In math we will need paper towel tubes. We will be using the card board paper towel tubes to make a number scroll. Please send any paper towel tubes to school. If you are able please send more than one. Thanks!

Missing Gingerbread Man: This week we started reading books about the Gingerbread man. We compared and contrasted two different books about the gingerbread man and gingerbread girl. Thank you to families for enhancing our gingerbread man unit!

We couldn’t believe it, on Thursday morning the gingerbread man was gone! We looked all over the classroom, no one has seen him! Hopefully he comes back soon!

Please Save Paper Towel Tubes

As we begin the next unit in math we will need paper towel tubes. We will be using the card board paper towel tubes to make a number scroll. Please send any paper towel tubes to school. If you are able please send more than one. Thanks!

Conferences

Conferences will begin next week Monday, Thursday and Friday. I would like to invite students to attend the conference with families. This is a great opportunity for students to take ownership of the learning we have been doing in the classroom.

I look forward to seeing everyone! 

Book Order Reminder

Just a reminder that our Scholastic book orders are due this Monday, December 9th.  Please get the orders to me with a check or place your order online with our class activation code J4VKC.  Remember, if you place the order online the class gets free books! Thanks for all the orders, putting books in the hands of our children is the best way to improve their reading!  

Old Mother Hubbard's Hungry Family

This week first graders practiced the play Old Mother Hubbard's Hungry Family. Each student was assigned a role of either Old Mother Hubbard, Father Hubbard, the Cat, the Dog, or the Narrator. The final performance was on Friday. Each group did an excellent job reading smoothly and with lots of expression! 

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Phonics: Last week our focus was on final blends such as, -nk, -ng, -nt, and –nd. These blends can be found in the words trunk, ring, ant, and sand. We practiced sounding out and spelling words with the final blend. This week we will learn about the final consonant blends such as, -mp, lt, -lp, and -ft. These blends can be found in the words raft, lamp, belt, and gulp.

Reading: Our focus in reading has been on visualizing while reading and analyzing characters. We have practiced identifying traits of main characters in fiction books. We learned about characters from both the words and the picture. We ended the week with a reader’s theater performance of Old Mother Hubbard’s Hungry Family. I was very impressed with each student’s expression and fluency when reading their part!

Writing: We are all about journals during writer’s workshop. Students have written about events that have happened in the past and in the future. Our main focus has been on using a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and using punctuation at the end of the sentence.

Math: In math our main focus was on the number patterns, telling time, and counting coins. Students learned how to tell time to the half hour. Ask your child what the super- secret number is “hiding” behind the 6.

We also learned about frames and arrow routines. As you have seen on your student’s home links the frame and arrow routine is where students need to find the pattern in a series of numbers and then be able to continue that pattern. We learned how to find the number pattern and also find the rule. Students were also introduced to the dime and we practiced counting dimes with nickels and pennies.

ipods: In our Daily 5 stations we have started using the ipods during word work. Students are able to explore different word building apps. Ask your child about their favorite word work app.

Media: This week at the computer lab we practiced inserting clip art using Microsoft Word. Students could pick any real picture of their favorite animal and then wrote sentences to go with their picture. 

Reader's Theater

On Tuesday first grade was able to watch some community volunteers put on a reader's theater. The play was about a group of friends gathering for a Thanksgiving meal. The story was very funny; the animals invited turkey to join them for dinner. Ask your child about what happened to Turkey at the end of the performance!

Veteran's Day

On Monday we celebrated Veteran's Day with a school assembly. Mr. Williams and Dr. Funk spoke about what a veteran is and why Veteran's Day is important. Students sang the National Anthem and songs thanking veterans for keeping us safe. The assembly ended with a power point of pictures from family members of students at Sibley Elementary that are veterans. What a great way to honor and celebrate Veteran's Day!

Critters and Company

On Wednesday we had an assembly with all of Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade to see Critters and Company. Students were able to see various animals and learn important lessons about kindness, diversity, and using gentle words. Ask your child what their favorite animal was and what that animal’s lesson was about. A note was sent home on Wednesday about the various animals and what they taught us. 

Reader's Theater

This week first graders practiced and performed the play Old MacDonald's Noisy Farm. Each student was assigned a role of either Old MacDonald, Mrs. MacDonald, the Narrator, or Animals. Groups practiced the part throughout the week. The final performance was on Friday. Each group did a great job reading with expression and enthusiasm! 

Halloween Party

The Halloween Party was a blast! The class had fun dressing up in their costumes and having a parade through the first and second grade classrooms. After the parade we enjoyed some tasty Halloween treats. We had many activities to do such candy corn bingo and making spooky popcorn hands. Thanks again to our parent volunteers for making it a great party!

Check out all the cool costumes!

What silly faces!

Enjoying our Halloween treats.

Playing Halloween Bingo!

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Reading: Our focus has been on the “L” family blend and “r” family blend. We practiced sounding out and spelling words with the “L” blend such as plan, sled, and slug and words with the “r” blend such as crab, drip, and trim. On Thursday we had a spelling check, which students gave to each other.

During reader’s workshop our focus has been on finding the main idea and supporting details. We read a story about different habitats around the world. As a class we discussed the similarities and differences between the savanna, arctic, tropical rainforest, and coral reef. This week we will put on a reader’s theater performance called Old MacDonald’s Noisy Farm.

Math: Our focus was on pennies and nickels and subtraction and addition number models. Students practiced writing number sentences such as 7-4=3 and 6+5=11. We examined both the penny and nickel and briefly discussed who is on each coin and why. We also practiced counting both pennies and nickels. The big idea this week was that 5 pennies is the same as 1 nickel. This is typically a difficult concept for first graders to understand, please take some time during the next couple weeks to practice counting pennies and nickels with your child. On Monday we took at test on addition and subtraction story problems.

Writing: We have been practicing writing complete sentences with emphasis on capitalizing the first letter of the first word in the sentence. Our focus has been on journals. We have talked about what a journal is and how we can use it to write about things we have done or events that have happened. Ask your child about some of our journal entries.

Media: We had media with Mrs. Seeger last week Thursday in the computer lab. Students practiced logging into the computer and using Microsoft Word. We practiced writing our first name and last name with capital letters and how to change the font, size, and color.

Stroll for a Goal: The fund raiser was a huge success! Sibley students raised over $21,000 for our school. This money will go towards field trips, special events, and guest speakers. Thank you to everyone that asked friends and family for donations.

Important Dates Coming Up:

Friday November 1st--Picture Retake Day

Wednesday November 6th--Critters and Company

Friday November 8th--No School

Stroll for a Goal

Last Thursday Sibley Elementary had it's annual Stroll for a Goal! The school raised $21,836.24, more than $5,500 more than last year! Thanks to all the parents that volunteered for the walk, the trampoline, and to all those who helped students collect pledges. The students really enjoyed the walk, it turned out being a much nicer day than we were expecting. Thanks again for all the help! Check out pictures below from the walk and trampoline. 

Dressed up for our Sports theme!

Enjoying apples and water after our stroll.