Friday, November 7, 2014

Friday Update 11/7

Happy Friday!  We had a productive and busy week in room 7!  Here's a little update and make sure you read the whole post for a glimpse of some Halloween goodies at the end!  Also- I'm back on my A-Game and updated the side links!  So sorry about that!

Reading:

  • We read the story "Boots for Beth" about a pig who has grown out of her favorite pair of red cowgirl boots.  Her friends try to help her by having her try on their boots. Unfortunately none of their boots are a good fit, so Beth remains sad she doesn't have any boots.  Her friends come through at the end with a big surprise.... a new pair of boots!  The students enjoyed this story very much and did a great job reading it. 
  • We focused on the comprehension skill of Cause and Effect.  We will continue to dive deeper into this skill next week, but the students did a great job matching the causes to the effects in the story.  We made a special chart on our Mimioteach to help us with this skill.
  • We also focused on the Grammar skill of Telling Parts of sentences this week.  A telling part is what first graders call the predicate of a sentence.  We learned that the telling part is what happens in a sentence.  In order to have a complete sentence, we need a naming part (subject- who or what) and a telling part (predicate- what is happening/the action).  This is something we will continue to work on for the rest of the year.
Spelling:
  • We focused on the "th" sound this week.  The students did a great job distinguishing between the spoken "th" sound as in "the" and the whispered "th" sound as in "thin".  We spent A LOT of time on this skill since it is a more difficult sound to master in spelling.
  • We also started spelling dictation this week.  This is found on the back of your child's spelling test.  I dictate a sentence to the class and they are responsible for writing down the sentence that is said aloud.  I repeat the sentence MANY times since this is a newer component to their test.  I also will review what is required for them in order to get a good grade.  
    • They need to start their sentence with a capital letter, end with a period, have appropriate spacing between words and spell all their spelling words (current and previous) correctly.  If they do that, they will get a "2" (meets expectations).  
    • There is a bonus word in there as well.  If they spell the bonus word correctly AND meet all the requirements for the "2" grade, they will get a "3"(above expectations).  
    • If they do not meet the requirements for a "2", then they will receive a "1" (below expectations).  
    • They will receive 2 grades for dictation- one for spelling and one for grammar.  You will see those grades located at the bottom of the dictation portion of their test.  The top grade is for spelling in their sentence and the bottom grade is for the grammar in their sentence.
    • In 2nd quarter we will write only one dictation sentence, 3rd quarter we will write two dictation sentences and 4th quarter we will write all three dictation sentences.
    • The front of the spelling test will be graded the same as it was in first quarter.
  • If you have any questions, please let me know!
Math:
  • We have been doing A LOT of problem solving this week with subtraction.  We have learned about three different types of subtraction problems: Take-Away stories, Missing Part stories and Comparing stories.  We dove deep into each one, looked for clues and key words, and figured out strategies to solve each type of problem.  By the end, we were masters at solving these stories!
  • We have 2 more lessons in Topic 2, a review day and our test is on Thursday.  We will start Topic 6 (also a subtraction topic) on Friday.
Social Studies:
  • We continued our unit on Government this week, which coordinated very well with Election Day on Tuesday!  We have a couple more lessons to finish up and then we will venture into learning about the explorers who helped make our country what it is today.... starting with the Pilgrims!  After we learn about our country's history, we will start our Health unit on the Food Groups and healthy eating.
Ok... that's what we did this week!  Here are some SPOOKTACULAR pictures from our Halloween Party!  Enjoy!
Decorating some fantastic looking pumpkins!

More pumpkin decorating!

Getting mummified!

Who's hiding under all that wrapping??

Now that's how to make a mummy!

All wrapped up nice and snug!

What a fantastic looking mummy!

The mummy and the mummy creator!

Switched places!

When did Elsa become a mummy??

Don't forget to wrap the head!

Where'd the Elsa go?

Oh my! We are getting very mummified!

Busting out of the mummy wrap is WAY more fun than getting wrapped!

The Spanish Dancer is fully wrapped!

Our spooky class!

Happy Halloween!
Silly faces!!
Hope you enjoyed the pictures and the update!  Have a fantastic weekend!  Stay warm!!!!
:) Ms. Petrucci


Friday, October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Halloween!  Stay tuned for pictures from our Halloween party!

Also- make sure you check your child's folder for their report card.  Please make sure to keep the actual report card, but send the envelope SIGNED back to school on Monday with your child.

Here's a weekly recap:

Reading:
We started Unit 2 this week (after a week of testing on our skills from Unit 1).  We read the story "Dan's Pet" and learned what the setting of a story is.  We also learned how to use "and" to combine naming parts (the subject) of a sentence.

Math:
We started Topic 2 which is ALL about subtraction.  We focused on missing parts at the beginning of the week and then started making subtraction number sentences.  We will continue Topic 2 for the next 2 weeks.

Social Studies:
We have begun to talk about Our Government and will continue learning about leaders in our community, state and country next week as well.

Writing:
We have started writing 3 sentences in our journals.  We are working on finishing a topic sentence with a prompt and writing 2 detail sentences.  We are focusing on the trait of conventions in 2nd quarter, which deals with using proper mechanics and grammar in our sentences.  We will be trying our very best to always start our sentences with a capital letter and end with a period (we may still need reminders to this ;))

Sorry I haven't updated this in a while!  I'll try to be better about it!

Have a SPOOKTACULAR weekend!
:) Ms. Petrucci

Friday, October 10, 2014

This week in 1st Grade…

Reading:

This week we read “ Todd's Box." In this story Todd is very excited about things he finds on a walk to the bus. At the end he gives his mother a box full of everything he collected. We had our "Box" presentations today and the kids loved it! We will continue presenting on Tuesday. If your child forgot their box please have them bring it on Tuesday. Today we independently read the story at our desks before taking our reading test, and everyone did well.

For grammar this week we focused on asking sentences. The students enjoyed sharing asking sentences of their own with the class. Ms. Petrucci and I are very impressed with all of the bats the students have been bringing in for the Going “Batty” for Books! reading incentive program. Every book read earns the students 1 bat and 10 bats equals a prize from Ms. Petrucci’s prize box! 

Spelling:

We took our spelling test today and everyone did great! The students practice their spelling words on their white boards whenever they have down time in class.Thank you for practicing with them at home and making sure that they complete their weekly spelling homework!

Math:

This week we continued Topic 5, had our test on Thursday, and began Topic 1. The students all did well on their Topic 5 test. 

Social Studies:

This week I read many books about family and neighbors to the students. We also talked about people and places we see in the Itasca community. 

This week we earned 5 classroom brownie points for being respectful and working hard in class. 
Today is my last day student teaching at Benson Primary. After my next placement I plan on visiting! Your children are very lucky to have Ms. Petrucci as their teacher. She has taught me so many things that I will forever cherish as an educator. Your children have taught me so many things as well. I hope they enjoy the gift I sent home with them!

Have a great weekend! 

Ms. Pagano :)

Friday, October 3, 2014

This week in 1st Grade…

Reading:

This week we read “Jack and Rick." In this fantasy story Jack wants to play with Rick, and Rick wants to play with Jack, but there's a river between them. The author, David McPhail’s purpose was to reveal that friendship can bridge any river and that when it comes to having fun, two is always better than one! We reviewed some pre-reading strategies and practiced answering questions about the story after reading. We talked about what makes a story a fantasy. We continued reading our story in 4 different ways! First, we read it echoing Ms. Pagano. Second, we read under our desks as a whole class for Wacky Wednesday. Third, we each took turns reading a page aloud to the class from the story while sitting in a circle on the carpet. Last, we independently read the story at our desks before taking our reading test. 

We are getting the hang of proofreading using our D.O.L. (daily oral language) sentences from our story. The main focus of D.O.L. is to give the students an opportunity each day to learn what a complete sentence is. They’ve been learning how to correct mistakes like missing capital letters, missing periods and changing the word order so the sentence makes sense. For grammar this week we focused on telling sentences. The students enjoyed sharing a telling sentence of their own with the class. Ms. Petrucci has started her Going “Batty” for Books! reading incentive program and sent home a flyer this week on how that works. Every book read earns the students 1 bat and 10 bats equals a prize from Ms. Petrucci’s prize box! 

Spelling:

This week we continued to build our spelling words on our pocket chart with letter cards. The students all had a chance to demonstrate how to blend and spell the words aloud to the class. We have also been practicing our spelling words using spelling cheers, which they love! We took our third spelling test today and everyone did well. Thank you for practicing with them at home and making sure that they complete their weekly spelling homework!

Math:

This week we continued Topic 5. Some new strategies we learned are: Doubles Plus 2, Problem Solving/2 Question Problems, Making 10 to Add, Making 10 to Add 9, and Making 10 to Add 8. We also use a ten-frame and draw counters to help us solve these math problems.

Social Studies:

This week I introduced a unit I created on Christopher Columbus to the students and we had a lot of fun with it. We learned a new song about Columbus to the tune of “Yankee Doodle” and I sent home a copy on Thursday so you can sing along with them at your leisure! This unit was very literacy heavy so you will be seeing a lot of writing assignments coming home, as well as coloring pages which do not need to be turned back in. I read many books about Christopher Columbus to the students this week and they were very fascinated by him.  

This week we earned 6 classroom brownie points for being respectful and working hard in class. I started quiet table points this week and the students have been working hard as a group to ensure their table gets up to 20 points so they can each get an extra punch on their behavior chart punch cards. Once their punch card is full they are able to earn a prize from Ms. Petrucci’s prize box! 
We had our fire drill with the fire department on Tuesday while the kids were in gym class and I heard they did great!  
This coming week will be my last week student teaching at Benson and I am very sad :( to be leaving. I hope to visit these little guys when I am done with my next placement. 

Have a great weekend! 

Ms. Pagano :)

Friday, September 26, 2014

This week in 1st Grade…

Reading:

This week we read “Ants." In this nonfiction story there are real pictures of ants and their homes. We reviewed some pre-reading strategies and practiced answering questions about the story after reading. We continued reading our story in 4 different ways! First, we read it echoing Ms. Pagano. Second, we read under our desks as a whole class for Wacky Wednesday. Third, we took turns reading pages aloud from the story. Last, we independently read the story at our desks. We are still learning how to proofread sentences using our D. O. L. (daily oral language) sentences from our story. For grammar we are focusing on word order. The students have been practicing how to sort mixed up words into the correct order to make a complete sentence.

Spelling:

This week we continued to build our spelling words on our pocket chart with letter cards. The students all had a chance at some point to come up and demonstrate how to blend and spell the words to the class. We have also been practicing our spelling words using spelling cheers, which they love! We took our second spelling test today and everyone did well. Thank you for practicing them with them at home!

Math:

This week we had our Topic 4 quiz on Monday and our Topic 4 test on Wednesday.
We began Topic 5 Thursday, and are learning how to use doubles to help us solve addition problems.

Science:

This week we continued our unit on Weather and began our Seasons unit. We focused on clouds, the 4 seasons, and Johnny Appleseed. We will continue working on more seasonal activities, and the students are so excited to show you all they’ve been working on.

This week we earned 5 brownie points for behaving so well and working hard in class. 
We had our lockdown drill with the police on Wednesday and the kids did awesome! They were very patient considering it was a longer drill. 
This Friday was Special Friends Day! I really enjoyed meeting everyone and doing the Cloudette activity with you. The students were so happy that their special friends came!

Have a great weekend! 



Ms. Pagano :)

Friday, September 19, 2014

This week in 1st Grade…

Reading:

This week we read “Sam and the Bag." In this story a kitten finally joins two other cats playing in a bag, and the three of them have a great time. We reviewed sequence (the order things happen in a story so it makes sense) and practiced answering questions about the story while reading. We continued reading our story in 3 different ways! First, we read it echoing Ms. Pagano. Second, we read under our desks as a whole class for Wacky Wednesday. Third, we took turns reading pages aloud from the story. We also learned how to proofread sentences using our D. O. L. (daily oral language) sentences from our story. For grammar we are focusing on starting a sentence with a capital and ending with a period. 

Spelling:

This week we built our spelling words on our pocket chart with letter cards. The students all had a chance at some point to come up and demonstrate how to blend and spell the words to the class. We have also been practicing our spelling words using spelling cheers, which they love! We took our second spelling and reading test today and everyone did great!

Math:

We continued Topic 4 and learning different strategies for adding and subtracting. One of those strategies being drawing and using pictures to help us solve addition and subtraction problems. There will be a quiz on Topic 4 on Monday and a test on Topic 4 on Wednesday.

Science:

This week we began our unit on weather. We focused on temperature and clouds. We will continue our weather unit this coming week and focus more on clouds and seasons. This coming week we have a lot of fun activities planned, one being cloud observations! We read "Clouds" by Cassie Mayer and discussed all the different types of clouds together as a class. We also read the original "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" by Judie Barrett and then watched the movie!

  • Last week we earned all of the brownie points we needed to have a classroom party for good behavior, and chose a stuffed animal and blanket movie day. 
  • We had our second fire drill today and the kids did awesome!
  • Don’t forget that Friday, September 26th is Special Friends Day! 

Have a great weekend! 


Ms. Pagano :)

Friday, September 12, 2014

Thank you! And a Weekly Recap

First Grade Families-

First off, I'd like to thank everyone who came out last night to Curriculum Night.  It was nice to meet you all and to see some familiar faces from the past!  Your support means the world to me and your child.  They LOVED reading your notes you left them this morning.  Some of them even kept them in their unfinished work folder to read over and over again.  How sweet!  If you were not able to make it last night, I am sending all the information home with your child today.  Also- my presentation in on the District 10 website if you'd like to view it.  Please let me know if you have any questions about anything you read in the packet or on the presentation.

This week was another busy one in room 7!  Here's what we did....

Reading

  • Read "The Hat" about two friends who help each other out when a hat flies off one of their heads.  
  • We learned about a story's sequence (the order things happen in a story so it makes sense) and practiced answering questions while reading.  
  • We read the story 3 times this week in different ways!  
    • First we read it echoing Ms. Petrucci.  
    • Second we read under our desks as a whole class.  
    • Third, we each took turns reading pages of the story (we ALL got a turn to read a page, so we read the story a few times that day).
  • We also learned about what makes a complete sentence and how to write complete sentences.
Spelling
  • We practiced our spelling words EVERY day this week!
  • We built the words with letter cards to blend AND spell our weekly words.
  • We also spelled in a wacky way by using our white boards to spell the words three times each.
  • Finally, we learned a spelling game, Sparkle that we will play every week.  It's pretty fun!
  • We took our test and everyone did very well!
Math:
  • We continued Topic 4 by learning different strategies for adding.
  • We also started learning strategies for subtraction.
  • Topic 4 will also continue into next week with the quiz being a week from Monday.
Health:
  • We wrapped up our unit on Safety last week.
  • This week we focused on Feelings.  
  • We read "The Feelings Book" by Todd Parr and discussed all the different feelings mentioned in the book.  We then got into partners and talked about times where we felt happy, sad, excited, etc.  We colored a feelings chart each time we talked about s different feeling on the chart.
Remember:  Picture Day is on Wednesday!  Make sure to send in the order form by Wednesday (our pictures are in the morning so it needs to be at school on Wed AM) if you would like to order school pictures!

Have a wonderful and safe weekend!  Stay warm in this chilly weather!