Snack as of November 21

OK our Snack is now in the afternoon- My belly is trying to get used to this!  Anyway Snack will be now at 2:00-2:10 everyday.  So that means on 1/2 day Wednesday we can have snack with kids who eat lunch at school.  So if your child does not eat lunch at school on Wednesdays you could send them with a snack to tie them over until they do have lunch.

Hope this isn't to much of a confusion.
M,T,T,F and Full Day Wednesdays- Snack in the afternoon
1/2 Day W's- small snack if your child is not eating lunch at school.

Thanks Everyone!

IPad, Kindle Fire, IPad Mini, Tablet, NOOK- Oh My

I have had a number of parents ask me my own personal recommendation for an electronic for this holiday season.
                                     Oh My...

Tough "Choice" I often run into blogs and articles on these topics.  I will add them as I find them again.

Article #1
Here is an article that is a great reference for your choice. It has its own opinion of their top choice but the article has a                                       little summary of the commonly used tablets that are out                                             there.

We use iPads in our classroom as you know.  We, are used to a big interface (how big the screen is, such as the iPad 2.  We can manipulate through different types of apps. We can also make videos and take pictures.

In my house we have an Android Tablet, an iPad and a Kindle.  Each one of these are user friendly and run just like the next one. Meaning I can do the same things on my iPad that I can do on my daughters Kindle.  My daughters Kindle has a lot of the same apps that I have on my iPad. We can stream Netflix and Amazon video on all three. My husband can download movies from google play, I download movies onto my iPad from iTunes and my daughter's Kindle we download from Amazon or stream Amazon Prime.
(wow we have a house full of geeks)

So needless to say I have 3 different types in my house and they all are used the same!  I do however want to state my own opinion and that would be Apple.  Apple products are used in most schools now days. I did have a android phone but went to apple after my contract was up and have now used Apple products for 5 years.  This was written just to type my own thoughts and opinions.

When I come across some more suggestions then I will add to this post!

What did we have for dinner?

Today is the first day that I am writing our blog with our students...

Todays question will be- What did you have for dinner last night?

Gabrielle-Pizza with water
Skyler- Spagetti with iced tea
Ethan- spagetti with milk
Aron- Macaroni with butter with milk
Owen-pizza with juice
Ally-Spagetti with juice
Daniel- ham italian with grape soda
Reed- Mac and Cheese with milk
Elijah- curly noodles and green beans with nothing to drink
Zoie-raviolis with cheese inside with orange juice
Lauren- mac and cheese and celery with milk.

Because of a lot of distractions we were unable to finish our list.  Lots of children talking during our morning meeting.

Just so you know parents our Carpet SOP is

1. Come to the carpet quietly
2. Sit in a just right spot
3. Voice Level 0

Math Facts

Do you remember learning math facts when you were a kid?

Well now its time to do this with your child.  Think about how you group items when counting them.  Now think of another way you group those items.  When counting a handful of pennies do you count them by 2's or group them in 5's?  

Well now it time to teach your child these skills.... but wait lets do them in a sequence please!

Research has shown that long-term success in mathematics is closely tied to strong number sense, including fluency with basic facts. The sooner your child becomes fluent with her or his addition and subtraction facts, the better! Addition and subtraction of larger numbers will be much easier to master, and multiplication and division are easier to learn with the support of addition and subtraction fluency. 

Over the next few weeks we will be starting timed math facts. Please take some time with your child and practice the Math Fact Skills that we are working on in school.

I will add, to this post, some math fact activities that you can do at home. Check back please!

Snack in the AFTERNOON????

We might have to change snack from the morning to the afternoon.  Please take a few minutes with your child and talk to them about what their choice is.?

Would your child like to have snack in the morning or in the afternoon?

Thanks let me know by leaving a comment.

What are we doing the week of November 4-8

This week in writing we are concentrating on our penmanship.   We are working out the kinks in our penmanship. We are noticing sinkers or floaters, reversals or "sloppy". Take a few minutes to notice their penmanship writing. 

** I sent home a few weeks ago a packet of "How-to form lower case letters."  

                     

                      Writing in First Grade
                        check out this article that I found 
                            (click right on Writing in First Grade above)

WE are beginning to see our mistakes and be able to fix them.

Notice how we match our "sounding out" to our writing with remembering to use proper handwriting formations.  This is hard.  With your help at this point you can have your child reflect on their writing.  

Thumbs up - Great

Thumbs sideways- Just OK

Thumbs down- not so good, then why.

       Reading- Our Kids Did it.

  

    Our class was able to Read to Self for 15 minutes.

At the beginning of the school year our kids wanted to set a goal.  The goal was to be able to read alone, in a perfect spot for 15 minutes.  On Tuesday October 29th our class read for 15 minutes with minimal interruptions. On the 30th we did it again. On the 31 we read for 13 minutes.  Hey, understandably, it was Halloween.  Then on Monday they read again for 15 minutes. (I was absent on Friday) Tuesday was a quick my treat of ice cream sundaes!  I was so proud of our kids for accomplishing the ability to "Really Read" for 15 minutes.

Now your saying my child can NOT do this at home.  Well yes they can- in a quiet Perfect Spot.  Take some time with your child and find that "Perfect Spot" at home. A "Perfect Spot" where your child can start building stamina while reading at home.

As of  November 2013 build stamina and share that reading is great!

I would say up to 15 minutes of reading.

                          MATH

Our Kids have just finished the first 2 units in math.  You will receive your child's testing info by Monday of next week.

I am using our kids testing to assign parts of IXL to each students individual needs.

In our Unit 3 Everyday Math Program

Visual Patterns

Number Patterns

Counting on a number grid

Time- hour and 1/2 hour

Calculators

Money- P N and Dimes- yes dimes are here.  

Math Work you can always do at home.

Math Facts example- 0+1=, 0+2=, 0+3=, 0+4= the zero math facts

               the ones math facts

Sequencing numbers, tricks to help remembers the facts.

Number stories

This week we will concentrate on Odd and Even Numbers, coin counting ability to physically count N and P's and the ability to show their thinking on paper. 

(Don't go any higher than $1- unless your child is ready for that)

                                                 Sequencing

For the next few weeks our underlying theme will be sequencing. Sequencing in many different areas of our day-to-day lives as a First Grader. Sequencing is a part of reading comprehension, math, writing and our day to day tasks!  

• Sequencing is the understanding how to retell a story.
• Understand one story format- beginning, middle and ending.
• Sequence through a series of tasks.
• Math - understanding the sequence of a day (Time)
• Reading-First Then Next Last
• Writing- A capital letter ALWAYS starts a sentence and a voice mark at the end of a sentence.
• Math- Time, number order
• Brushing your teach
• "Routine"

Would you mind answering a few questions?

<--- If you look to the left of this post, you will see a few questions.  Would you personally answer the questions? All you do is click on the circle next to the answer!  Thanks so much!

Mrs. Smith

Homework 11/5

Please read a book for 15 minutes to show your family WHY we had ice cream!! If you can tell me that you did this you will get 3 fuzzies!

Happy Halloween

                   Happy Halloween 

                Our Pattern Witches