Friday, March 31, 2017

Spirit Week!

Monday, April 3rd
Career Day: Dress like what they want to be when they grow up

Tuesday, April 4th
Twin Day: Choose a partner and dress like each other

Wednesday, April 5th
Mismatch Day: Wear the craziest and uncoordinated outfit they can come up with

Thursday, April 6th
Crazy Hair Day: Get creative with your hair

Friday, April 7th
Purple Up Day: Wear purple in honor of military families 

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

This week in Mrs. Zimmer’s Class!

In Math, we will be taking our benchmark test for third quarter and continuing to collect, represent, and interpret data.  We introduced comparison bars this week which help as a visual when comparing data. This is a great link that helps explain what comparison bars are, so you can assist your child if needed on the homework for this week.  We did this exact example in class today!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG9NztNg_0k

In Science, we are learning about speed and how things move. We are continuing with our hands-on activities where students will be able to explore how to get a top to move.  They will create a top out of plastic disks and shafts, and discover how to arrange the materials the best to get it to spin. Students will understand that speed and mass can affect how an object spins.


In Health, we will be discussing behaviors that demonstrate personal responsibility and irresponsibility in a classroom.  Responsibility has been a big part of our classroom discussion recently since we began math centers.  We discuss that while they are in centers and I am working with a small group, they need to take responsibility for their learning/work while at a specific station.  We will be applying responsibility to other scenarios in the classroom, and they will have to decide which behavior belongs into the correct category in their interactive notebooks.

This week in Mrs. Kirchner's class!

First of all, may I just say thank you for allowing me to have the past 12 weeks to focus on my sweet baby girl. It was such a blessing to have this time with her and your understanding and respect of this time off was much appreciated!

This week is a short week, so we will have no spelling.
We will be reviewing this week in order determine what we need to spend some more time on, and what we feel comfortable with. We will be playing a Jeopardy review game on Tuesday that will review parts of speech, punctuation, ABC order, capital letters, and synonyms/antonyms.

In writing, we will be focusing on non-fiction. We will be creating a "Book about Me." We will review how to add detail in description to their writing to help create a picture for their readers.

This quarter, we will start having Show and Tell! 
The students have been asking to have time to share with their friends, so we will begin this on Fridays. Each Friday, students are welcome to bring something to share with the class. I ask that they follow school rules and do not bring in electronics or anything that could be considered a weapon to share. Please keep anything valuable or breakable at home. What they bring to share must be able to fit inside their backpack. It will stay there until it is time to share. They do not need to bring an item. What they share could be an experience, such as telling about their vacation.

This quarter we will also be starting having "Mystery Readers" in our classroom.

Who is a Mystery Reader? 
Mystery Readers are special guests who come in our classroom and read a story to students. Mystery Readers can be parents, grandparents, older siblings, or other relatives.

When do Mystery Readers come?
 Mystery Readers come to our classroom on Fridays from 9:30 to 10:00am (morning class) or 1:00 to 1:30 pm (afternoon class).

Where do I sign up?
You may sign up at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080c44a5ab2daaf94-1stgrade.

Your child will be SO excited that you participated, but remember to keep it "top secret" until your big day arrives!

Why be a Mystery Reader?
Students love to see their parents, grandparents, and special friends get involved in our classroom. The Mystery Reader program allows anyone who wants to become involved because it requires little time, but the memories will last forever for the surprised students! 

How does the program work? 
Once you've signed up for a date to come read to our class, you can start thinking of a book you would like to bring to read. If you don't have a book, I will be glad to have one for you. The week of your visit, please send in five clues for me to read to the students the day of your visit. There should be 5 clues that start general and become more specific. By the fifth clue, your child should be able to guess that you are the special Mystery Reader for the day!
Examples of clues:
-Where you were born
-Your favorite sport/sports team
-Your favorite book when you were in 1st grade
-A fun fact

Please do not tell who your child is :)

Monday, March 20, 2017


This week in Mrs. Zimmer’s Class!

Imagine Andrews will be having a career day on Friday, May 12th.  Ms. Joseph is starting to collect volunteer information.  A letter came home in your child's mailbox today that you can fill out and send back, or you can volunteer at this link! 


In Math, we are continuing to collect, represent, and interpret data.  Have your child start collecting and comparing data at home.  For example, they can compare the dinnerware being used on the table.  The area where students need extra practice is when they need to figure out how many more/fewer one category has compared to the other.

In Science, we are learning about speed and how things move.  We are discussing how things move back and forth, up and down, in a circle, or zigzag pattern.  We will do a few hands on activities where students will be able to explore how to get a top to move.  They will create a top out of plastic disks and shafts, and discover how to arrange the materials the best to get it to spin. Students will understand that speed and mass can affect how an object spins.

In Health, we will be talking about strangers and discussing ways to stay safe when we are away from home.  Students will be completing an interactive notebook activity after our whole group discussion.

This Week In Mrs. Kirchner's Class

In Social Studies, we will discuss patriotism and two songs that display patriotism. We will discuss 'My Country Tis of Thee' and 'America the Beautiful'. Later this week, they will write their own poem about how they feel about America.

In Grammar, we will continue learning about pronouns. They will learn about personal pronouns and object pronouns. 

In writing, They will write about their perfect vacation and writing a poem about America. 

They received their spelling words and reading log today.

Here are the spelling words for this week:
1. Bumpy
2. puppy
3. funny
4. penny
5. sandy
6. bunny
7. my
8. night
9. or
10. because

Let's have a great week. Mrs. Kirchner will be back next week! It has been a pleasure to serve as the teacher these past few months :)

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

This Week In Mrs. Kirchner's class

This week in Grammar, we will start learning about Pronouns. They will create a pronoun book that will help them better understand what a pronoun is and how to use it in a sentence.

In Social Studies, they will more about American folklores. We will talk about John Henry and Paul Bunyan. They are fictional characters that people made up to share stories about how America was made.

In writing, we will be working on how to write a letter. They will learn about different greetings.

They received their spelling list and reading log on Monday.

Monday, March 13, 2017


This week in Mrs. Zimmer’s class!

It is going to be a very flexible week due to the inclement weather we are supposed to have these next few days! Be sure to keep an eye out for school closings this Tuesday and possibly Wednesday! :)

In Math, we are going to celebrate Pi day with a paper chain activity that recognizes the numbers of Pi. Last week we started math centers and the students did a very nice job getting adjusted to the rotations, and taking responsibility for their learning while I worked with smaller groups! We will start having centers 1-2 times a week so I can work with students at their math levels and challenge them in new ways.  We will also do a fun graphing activity for St. Patrick’s Day on Friday!

In Science, we continued another balancing activity today where students used clothespins as counter weights to make objects balance in different ways on a craft stick.  We had a lot of fun exploring these materials on our own! We will begin to talk about speed and how things move for the rest of the week, while also doing a few hands on activities to help us explore these new concepts. 

In Health, we will talk about what to do if there is an emergency and there isn’t an adult nearby.  We will go through the steps of calling 9-1-1 and practice what to say when given different scenarios.  After our whole group discussion, students will complete an interactive notebook activity independently. 

Monday, March 6, 2017

Vote for Imagine Andrews!!!

Please vote for Imagine Andrews to win up to $15,000 to fund a new library! You can vote daily at:

 http://wtop.com/contests/2017-click-for-kids-voting/ 

Choose Prince George's for District & IMAGINE ANDREWS for school. You can vote once a day until 5:00 p.m. on March 17. We greatly appreciate and need your votes!!!

This Week In Mrs. Kirchner's Class

Good Afternoon,

This week in Mrs Kirchner's class we will be doing the following:

Social Studies: We will be discussing American Folktales. The folktales we will focus on are Davy Crockett, Johnny Appleseed, and Annie Oakley.

Grammar: We will continue reviewing verb tenses (past, present, and future). We will be having an assessment on the verb tenses Next Monday March 13th.

Writing: We will be discussing how to write answer opinion questions with supporting details. We also have spelling words for this week.

Reading logs and spelling lists were handed out today. :) Lets have a great week :)

This week in Mrs. Zimmer's Class!

We are continuing to work on organizing and representing data into bar graphs, and tally charts.  While  comparing data, we are using these words in our explanations: more, most, fewer, fewest.  We have started only comparing data with two categories, and by the end of the week we will be comparing data with 3 categories.

In Science, we have started talking about how forces cause movement. We have learned the definitions of push and pull and came up with several examples.  We are going to start learning about balance this week.  We will read about it and do some experiments to help understand balance and the way things move.  You can start using our new vocabulary words when talking together about movement and sounds.  Our vocabulary words for this unit are:
Force
Gravity
Balanced
Counterbalanced
Speed
Magnet
Attract
Pole
Repel
Vibrate

In Health, we will recognize community helpers, “safe adults”, to recognize if they ever have to seek help in an area outside of the home.  We will discuss people who are community helpers, how or when they can help, and students will complete a journal activity independently.