Monday, September 26, 2016

This week in Mrs. Zimmer's Class!

Mrs. Zimmer has an email! You can now email me at Sarah.Murin@pgcps.org.  Do not be confused, HR used my maiden name.

This week in math we are using different strategies to add and determining if addition equations are true.  We will focus on counting on, and then counting on from the greater number as a faster method.

In science we are finishing up our interactive habitat journals.  We have learned about how forests, wetlands, deserts, and oceans are all habitats for different plants and animals.  We will start on a project this week in class where students will pick a specific animal and illustrate their habitat using construction paper and colored pencils.  Students will present their habitat project by the end of this week or into next week depending how the project goes.  Students will be graded using a rubric.

In health we are still talking about the importance of physical activity.  1st graders should be getting at least 1 hour of physical activity each day! I will be reading a story and students will be acting it out using their bodies.  Then, we will make up our own action story as a class.  This will not only help get the children moving, but also build listening comprehension.  We will review our “Get Moving” poem and try to stay active in the classroom since it looks like we have a week of rain ahead of us!

Enjoy your long weekend! J

This Week in Mrs. Kirchner's Class

This week, there is no school on Friday, September 30th.
Due to our short week, there will be no spelling.
We will only have homework on Wednesday this week, not on Tuesday and Thursday as usual.
Scholastic Books were ordered today!

In Social Studies, we will begin out unit on the seven continents. We will learn about what the seven continents are, and where they are located on the map. The students will create their own book called "The Seven Continents." They will cut out and label each continent and then color them to help learn what each continent looks like! These books and a map of the continents will stay in their Social Studies folder. Later, their test will be to identify each of the seven continents. Their book will help them study for this. I will let you know about the test a week in advance.

In Reading, we will be using what we learned about punctuation marks to talk about the different types of sentences. We will begin by looking at statements. We will talk about when and why we use statements and how they are said. We will practice identifying and writing our own statements. As a class, we will continue to review what all sentences must have. Sentences must 1) start with a capital letter, 2) end with punctuation, and 3) make sense/be a complete thought.

In Writing, students will be able to use the list of ideas they created last week in Writer's Workshop to begin thinking of their first story. We will be practicing how we write in our journals this week. We will also be practicing sharing our writing.

It will be a wonderful, fun-filled week :)

Monday, September 19, 2016

This week in Mrs. Kirchner's class

This week we started a new spelling list. We will be working with words with a short "i" sound.
We took our pre-test today in class and reviewed them together on the board.

1) pin
2) win
3) hit
4) sit
5) miss
6) kiss
7) sad
8) nap
9) be
10) run

We will continue to work on syllables this week. We will play a "syllable sort" activity on the board. Students will take turns reading a word, and then sticking in under 1, 2, or 3 to determine the number of syllables the word has. We will then clap it out together to check the answer. Students will copy the chart we create together into their reading notebooks.
Throughout the week, we will use this chart to review and complete different activities.

In Social Studies, we talked about what it means to be a good citizen. We shared ideas of how we can be a good citizen and drew examples. Later, we watched a video and thought about what it means to be a good friend and how we can help others. We shared our ideas out on the rug.

We will continue to work on writing full sentences. We will practice using a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence and punctuation at the end. We will be writing our own sentences and cutting and pasting words to complete incomplete sentences.

It will be a fun and busy week! :)

Friday, September 16, 2016

Reading Star Scores

Unfortunately, due to an issue with the Star website this morning, scores were not able to be accessed. Because of this, scores were not sent home. I apologize about this. Scores will be sent home on Monday in the blue take home folder.

Have a wonderful weekend! :)

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Reminder

Star Reading testing is tomorrow.

Mrs. Zimmer's homeroom will be testing at 9:00.
Mrs. Kirchner's homeroom will be testing at 1:00.

Please make sure your child is able to get plenty of rest and a good breakfast tomorrow morning so that we all feel ready. :)
Score will be sent home on Friday in the blue take home folder.

Monday, September 12, 2016

This Week in Mrs. Kirchner's Class

Today the students took their Spelling Practice test. We reviewed the words together and talked about which ones may be most challenging. Many agreed that "back" and "sack" will be the hardest this week! We are continuing to work on our short a sound this week. The word lists were sent home with your child in their blue folder.

This week's Spelling list:
1) dad
2) sad
3) nap
4) tap
5) sack
6) back
7) man
8) cat
9) it
10) too

I will be meeting with students one- on-one this week to help determine their reading level. We reviewed the different book levels today and learned about what each level means. My goal is to help each student discover their reading level by the end of this week. Next week, we will begin D.E.A.R. (drop everything and read) time. During this time, students will be able to chose a book to read that is a "just right" book. I will spend this time continuing to meet with students one-on-one, and help them to move up to their next reading level! We will work on using picture clues and sounding out blends to make meaning from the words! I'm excited to see how we can become better readers throughout the year! :)

Star testing for Reading will be on Thursday.
Mrs. Zimmer's homeroom will test with me at 9:00.
My homeroom will test at 1:00.

Star scores will be sent home on Friday.

It's going to be a busy, and fun week!
Please let me know if you have any questions. :)

Friday, September 2, 2016

New First Grade Math/Science Teacher

We recently hired a new 1st grade mathematics teacher. Ms. Zimmer will be transitioning into the new position during the week after Labor Day. We would like to thank Ms. Hayes for establishing and maintaining structure during her temporary placement in the 1st grade mathematics class.
 Ms. Hayes and Ms. Zimmer will collaborate next week to ensure a seamless transition. Ms. Zimmer will take the lead (without Ms. Hayes) during the week of September 12, 2016. Ms. Hayes will be serving in a different capacity in the building, moving forward. Ms. Zimmer will be reaching out to families soon and she will be present at Back to School Night for a face to face introduction.