Fall Picture Day and Small Moments!

We are beginning to write personal narratives focusing on Small Moments in our lives.  In this unit, the students are taking everyday events of their lives and making them into focused stories. 

Word Study and Activities

Hi Everyone!  Today your child is bringing home their spelling words. This week's spelling words are focusing on a short vowel word study along with individualized spelling words based on your child needs.

The spelling words can be found in your child's Pelican Folder and they were also written in your child's Assignment Notebook. The students have a nightly writing sheet to practice their words and this should be returned daily to school.  In addition, students can choose to do other activities.  

Follow this link from The Wise and Witty Teacher: 

Spelling Activities

Students individualized word study can also be found on Vocabulary Spelling City.  You can find your child's list by going to my teacher page at https://www.spellingcity.com/mrslieck/ and then clicking on your child's name.

Your child can then complete the Spelling Teach Me activity by clicking each word on the list and select the Play A Game button to practice their words using any of Vocabulary Spelling City’s free activities.

Have Fun!

Important Dates to Remember

Fall Picture Day - Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Remember to bring your beautiful smiles!

Homecoming Week is October 5th - 9th 

and the Spirit Days are as follows:

Monday (10-5) - Team Day

Tuesday (10-6) - Backwards Day

Wednesday (10-7) - Neon and Crazy Sock Day

Thursday (10-8) - PJ Day

Friday (10-9)- HODAG Colors Day 

& the Homecoming Parade is Friday Afternoon

Fall 2015 CAVOC Field Trip

Today we had our first field trip of the new school year. It is always nice to visit our School Forest! We learned about How Animals Protect Their Young, How They Protect Themselves from Predators, and Why Camouflage is Important to Animals.

Check out our video Fall 2015 CAVOC Adventure

Mother Goose to the Rescue ~ This Friday at 8:30!

Something to Hoot About Today!

 My name is Kara. I like the playground because it is colorful  .

 My name is Kali.  I like to go  fishing with  my dad because I like to spend time with my dad. I love fishing because it is awesome.

 

My name is June. I like to go to grandpa and grandma’s because they let me hop on the trampoline and in the mud. I love gator riding!

Hi I am Abe. A pal is someone who says please and thank you. I can be a pal to Emma.

It Is The Beginning of a New Week!

These Kid Bloggers will be happy to share their stories with you tomorrow morning so be sure to check back soon!

Today we began our Math Unit - Addition Concepts. The students will be:

• Looking at the different ways to add numbers through modeling, exploring, explaining and problem solving.
• Creating and solving addition number sentences.
• Practicing and applying strategies using both vertical and horizontal addition number sentences

Some online resources are as follows:

1. 
2. Math Fluency - Online Flashcard Games
3. Sum Sense
4. 

During Writer's Workshop the students heard the beginning of the story Harriet's Had Enough!  

The students will be practicing how to make connections with a story and add details to strengthen their writing through meaningful conversations.  

They practiced today and shared that in order to have a meaningful conversation you need:

• TWO PEOPLE
• SOMEONE TO TALK
• AND SOMEONE TO LISTEN

Finally in WORD WORK the students are using conjunctions to respond to text through conversation and writing.

http://d4wps.weebly.com/conjunctions.html

An Absolutely Amazing First Week of School!

IT HAS BEEN A GREAT WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL WEEK!

We are all excited about being OWLs!  Outstanding, Working, Learning Students.

This week the students have been making their own snacks and enjoying the creativity and taste! Please check your child’s folder for a note about Snack Sign-Up.

Ask your child which OWL snack was their favorite?

On the second day of school one of my students ask me, “When are we going to have Daily 5?”  These students love Literacy!  

Our First Family Project “Owl” About Me Craftivity excited all students both when presenting or listening!

Would you like to be a Mystery Reader in our classroom?

A Mystery Reader would come and read one of their favorite children’s books to our class.  Times can be flexible!  Just let me know and I will see what we can fit into our Literacy Schedule!

Our first Reader’s Theater will be on September 18, 2015 at 8:30!

The students will be presenting “Mother Goose to the Rescue”!  Here is our cast:

Mother Goose	Emma and Kali
Humpty	Xander
King Cole	Tripp
Cow	Ben
Jack Horner	June
Willie Winkie	Carter
Tommy Tucker	Abe
Miss Muffet	Vivian
Rhymeland Rhymers	Kara, Mikenzie, Hailey, Presley, Trenton, Madelyn, Emmaline, Jonathan

PLEASE PRACTICE NIGHTLY WITH YOUR CHILD.  IT IS OKAY TO ECHO READ OR HELP THEM FIGURE OUT UNKNOWN WORDS USING OUR READING STRATEGIES :)

ASSIGNMENT NOTEBOOKS

Also when you are checking your child’s Assignment Notebook, please initial the Assignment Notebook.  That way I know you have seen any important messages. Thanks.

We are always ready to add our silly faces to make you smile and laugh especially at the end of the day!

Something to HOOT About Today!

KPMDoodles 

This year in 1st grade one of our jobs include Kid Bloggers. Through my research I have found that students can start to establish a positive digital impression of themselves by communicating with digital tools.  As the students go to Work on their Writing or during Writer's Workshop they have a sense of pride knowing that they will share their work with their classmates and now also with a larger audience.  I feel that when kids blog it builds the communication between home and school.  Kid Blogging also gives students the opportunity to use a variety of web tools. The best thing about having my students blog is the pride that I see them developing in themselves as writers, readers and digital citizens! 

Today's Kid Bloggers are Emma and Vivian. The students introduced themselves and told us something that they liked!

 My name is Emma. I love my brother because Peter makes funny faces at me. It makes me laugh. 

My name is Vivian.I like to play sports because I get to have fun with my friend at swim club and at gymnastics.

First Day of School!

One of the reasons I love having a looping classroom is creating the relationships between home and school.  As the students came in today they greeted their previous classmates and welcomed a couple new faces with friendly smiles and engaged in conversation if they hadn't been gone all summer.

We began our day with a song (as we always do) and then we had ART Class.  Our ART teacher this year is Ms. Martiny.  The students were creative and followed directions while having a blast designing their new, colorful patterns.

After ART Class we went outside for Peaceful Playground Rotations.  In my rotation the students learned about Conflict Resolution Options.

We welcomed the cool air of our classroom after being outside for rotations along with the chance to make our own snack!  Today we made "Owl S'mores".  I changed the recipe a little bit and used:

• graham crackers
• marshmallows
• Hershey Kisses
• candy corn

 As we reflected on our Peaceful Playground Rotations I introduced a story to the students from author Nick Ward named Don't EAT the TEACHER! 

 We talked about the 3 ways to read a book:  Read the pictures. Read the words. Retell the story.

 

Posters created by Lilian Love

And then it was time for the children to pick books for their book bins!  Pure excitement and joy in the room! Looking forward to tomorrow :)