December 19-22

Hello Families!
We had a busy week getting ready for our winter break. First things first: it was time to celebrate our "All About" authors! We fixed and fancied up our best All About book and celebrated our hard work with another gallery walk.



















We hope you enjoyed your holiday gifts! Here's a look at all of the finished trivets. I ADORE every single one!






We added in some extra love by working with a partner to wrap them with utmost care...






Thank you ever so much for all the donations for our winter celebration on Thursday! We had a wonderful time making gingerbread houses, going on a gingerbread hunt focused on solving addition/subtraction math equations,  creating a snowman card, and enjoying a winter story in the listening center.

Here's a sneak peek at all the fun!

As we make our way into the new year, I want to share with you a little something that I read this morning that really spoke to me: 

"Be kind to yourself in the year ahead. Remember to forgive yourself, and to forgive others. It's too easy to be outraged these days, so much harder to change things, to reach out, to understand.
Try to make your time matter: minutes and hours and days and weeks can blow away like dead leaves, with nothing to show but time you spent not quite ever doing things, or time you spent waiting to begin.
Meet new people and talk to them. Make new things and show them to people who might enjoy them.
Hug too much. Smile too much. And, when you can, love." 

-Neil Gaiman

Next week we'll be getting back into our routines, revisiting our Social Contract, and thinking about our own New Year's Resolutions. What will yours be?

Until then...

Michelle Mullen

Mark Your Calendars!

Wednesday, January 11: Early Release Day

Thursday, January 12: Fancy Nancy play at Marquette 

(please be sure to return your child's permission slip and money)

Monday, January 16: NO SCHOOL

Wednesday, February 8: Early Release Day

Monday, February 20: NO SCHOOL/Teacher In-Service Day

Wednesday, March 8: Early Release Day

Wednesday, March 22: Early Release Day

Thursday, March 23: Musical (2pm & 6:30pm)

Monday, March 27-Friday, March 31: Spring Break

Wednesday, April 12: Early Release Day

Friday, April 14: NO SCHOOL

Monday, April 17: NO SCHOOL/Teacher In-Service

Wednesday, April 26: Early Release Day

Wednesday, May 10: Early Release Day

Wednesday, May 24: Early release Day

Monday, May 29: NO SCHOOL

Thursday, June 8: Last day of First Grade! 

See you later, Second Grader!

December 12-16

Hello Families!
Good news out of our classroom - Eleonore found my digital camera this past Wednesday afternoon in our drawer of fact fluency cards! We're back in business just in time for our winter celebration coming up this Thursday, December 22! I sent a link to our sign up in a separate email. Here it is again: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e4eaeab2fa4fc1-winter

Here's a sneak peek at our week:
In Writer's Workshop we've been busy on our final All About books. We've been learning about how our mentor authors choose very specific photographs/drawings in order to teach their readers even more about their topics. We put our knowledge to the test by spending some time online to select images for our own All About books! We'll be wrapping up this nonfiction writing unit this week with another celebration of our young authors.

In Reader's Workshop we did a "walk and talk." This is where we walked around our meeting area and shared our learning about one of our new nonfiction books with our classmates. We also watched a short video clip about black bears and walked and talked about our new learning. We spent the rest of the week focused on solving the tricky words we're encountering in our nonfiction books and making sure we think about what topic-specific words we come across, ensuring that we understand them.

In Math Workshop we reviewed for our unit 3 math assessment and had the chance to show what we know on Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday we enjoyed math rotations while Mrs. Mullen worked with individuals and small groups on test corrections and reteaching.

Our Science investigation found us discovering how bubbles can help us to learn about wind. Ask your first grade scientist about this fun exploration!

We enjoyed chicken soup with rice on Thursday and learned our new December poem.

 

Friday morning we had a gratitude gathering in our classroom. Each first grader selected a colorful heart out of my gift basket when they arrived at school. They then brought their hearts with them for Morning Meeting. Their heart color determined their gratitude topic.

Speaking of gratitude... on Friday afternoon our entire Stormonth community gathered together at the end of the day for our first PBIS all-school assembly, and it was WONDERFUL! At the assembly, we were introduced to the new Stormonth Pledge which will be part of our daily morning announcements. Mrs. Grimm-Nilsen honored a teacher (Principal to Staff Award) with a BUG Belt, and Mrs. French honored a colleague (Staff to Staff Award) with one as well. This gives our kiddos a great opportunity to see gratitude being practiced. The "Sensational Six" were honored by their teachers and presented with a yard sign indicating that a "Sensational Stormonth Student lives here!" Bug Badges were presented to individual classrooms by each of our specialists. Mrs. Murn was hard at work teaching the students a dance - some of the teachers even gathered together Thursday after school to learn it - which we all performed at the assembly! Not only was this fun and a great way to end our week, but it brought us together to celebrate each other in an amazing and heartwarming way.

Thanks to everyone who was able to donate new mittens and hats to our Mitten Tree. Our boughs were FULL! Be on the lookout for a letter on Thursday letting you know our final count!

This upcoming week is a short one, then we're off to celebrate the holidays. I wish you all a joyous holiday season and look forward to seeing everyone again on January 3rd.

Until then...

Michelle

November 28-December 2

Hello Families!

My camera went missing this week, so unfortunately I don't have any photos for you, but I do have a sneak peek. Here's what we were up to:

In Writers' Workshop we continue to work on our All About books. We set goals for our writing on Monday, worked on editing our best piece on Tuesday, learned about the Table of Contents of Wednesday, and began planning for a new All About book on Thursday. This writing unit has proven to be particularly difficult. Your writers could use some help coming up with topics that they are "experts" in. I'm modeling something we know a lot about: First Grade! We planned our chapters out then told what we would say in each chapter on our fingers. We should have at least 3 chapters and 5 sentences in each chapter. If you would help your first grader think about this at home, it would be appreciated!  

In Readers' Workshop we finished up our Word Detectives unit. We learned more strategies to help us solve tricky words, focusing on vowel teams, word parts, contractions, and compound words. We then reminded ourselves how important it is to reread to smooth our our reading after we solve a tricky word. On Friday the Super Secret Detective Agency left clues for us to solve. Each clue was a word, and when we figured out the words and put them together in a sentence they said:

There is a surprise waiting for you outside the classroom door!
We went to our door and found a big blue bag with a note on it:
"Congratulations, Word Detectives! We are so proud of all your hard work! We thought you could use your amazing skills to solve tricky words in these NEW BOOKS! 
From, 
The Super Secret Detective Agency

What a wonderful surprise! We can't wait to get to work solving tricky words in all of our new books! The SSDA left a phonics game for us, too! 

In Math Workshop this week, we related subtraction problems to unknown partners. We then solved them by counting on. Orange Count-On cards were sent home on Tuesday to practice these skills at home. Your child should be fluent in these subtraction facts by the end of the school year. It's a good idea to make fact fluency a part of your daily homework routine. 

In Science this week we learned to use a thermometer then recorded our room temperature, as well as the outside temperature three times during the day: AM, noon, and PM. We found that the air was the warmest in the morning. We then discussed what would happen if the sun was in the sky. We predicted that the air would be warmer when the sun was high above us in the afternoon. In our science notebooks, we each made our own thermometer. 

On Wednesday we learned our November poem and enjoyed chicken soup with rice.

Our Star of the Week shared his talents with us:

creating remote control cars and playing soccer!

 

Next week's word wall words will be:

eat

if

jump

man

or

Until then...

Michelle

Star of the Week Schedule

Madelyn – December 5^th-9^th

Cameron - December 12^th-16^th

Giselle - January 9^th-13^th

Oscar – January 23^rd - 27^th

Alex P. – January 30^th- February 3^rd

Evy – February 6^th -10^th

Josh – February 13^th-17^th

Eleonore – February 27^th- March 3^rd   

Darius – March 6^th-10^th

Alex M. – March 13^th-17^th

Brayden – March 20th-24th

Mark Your Calendars!

November 21st-December 16th: FIRST GRADE SERVICE PROJECT: Mitten Tree to benefit COA Youth & Family Centers

Friday, December 9: Report Cards Come Home

Wednesday, December 14: Early Release Day

Friday, December 23-Monday, January 2: Winter Break

Wednesday, January 11: Early Release Day

Monday, January 16: NO SCHOOL

Wednesday, February 8: Early Release Day

Monday, February 20: NO SCHOOL/Teacher In-Service Day

Wednesday, March 8: Early Release Day

Wednesday, March 22: Early Release Day

Thursday, March 23: Musical (2pm & 6:30pm)

Monday, March 27-Friday, March 31: Spring Break

Wednesday, April 12: Early Release Day

Friday, April 14: NO SCHOOL

Monday, April 17: NO SCHOOL/Teacher In-Service

Wednesday, April 26: Early Release Day

Wednesday, May 10: Early Release Day

Wednesday, May 24: Early release Day

Monday, May 29: NO SCHOOL

Thursday, June 8: Last day of First Grade! 

See you later, Second Grader!

November 21-23

Hello Families!
What a wonderful job your kiddos did at our all-school concert! They really brought Frozen to life on the stage! 

Today your artist is coming home with his/her art smock for washing. Please be sure to return it to school next week. Art class is on Friday. 

A reminder that our first grade service project began this past week. We'd love to see your boughs filled with mittens galore!

Here's a link to this month's Literacy Spotlight with our Literacy Coach Laura Witkov.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-Bxoi_eZAo

I'm keeping our blog post very short today, but wanted to share a little something I came across that really spoke to me: Giving Thanks for 21 Blessings in Disguise.

https://shar.es/1IMV0S

This year I'm grateful for all of your children and for all of you. Your partnership in this journey we're on is so appreciated. I hope you find time over the holiday weekend to reflect on all that you are thankful for and to spend time with those you hold dear.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Michelle Mullen 


Star of the Week Schedule

David - November 28- December 2^nd  

Madelyn – December 5^th-9^th

Cameron - December 12^th-16^th

Giselle - January 9^th-13^th

Oscar – January 23^rd - 27^th

Alex P. – January 30^th- February 3^rd

Evy – February 6^th -10^th

Josh – February 13^th-17^th

Eleonore – February 27^th- March 3^rd   

Darius – March 6^th-10^th

Alex M. – March 13^th-17^th

Brayden – March 20th-24th

Mark Your Calendars!

November 21st-December 16th: FIRST GRADE SERVICE PROJECT: Mitten Tree to benefit COA Youth & Family Centers

Friday, December 9: Report Cards Come Home

Wednesday, December 14: Early Release Day

Friday, December 23-Monday, January 2: Winter Break

Wednesday, January 11: Early Release Day

Monday, January 16: NO SCHOOL

Wednesday, February 8: Early Release Day

Monday, February 20: NO SCHOOL/Teacher In-Service Day

Wednesday, March 8: Early Release Day

Wednesday, March 22: Early Release Day

Thursday, March 23: Musical (2pm & 6:30pm)

Monday, March 27-Friday, March 31: Spring Break

Wednesday, April 12: Early Release Day

Friday, April 14: NO SCHOOL

Monday, April 17: NO SCHOOL/Teacher In-Service

Wednesday, April 26: Early Release Day

Wednesday, May 10: Early Release Day

Wednesday, May 24: Early release Day

Monday, May 29: NO SCHOOL

Thursday, June 8: Last day of First Grade! 

See you later, Second Grader!

November 14-18

Hello families!
Here's a sneak peek at our week:

In Writers' Workshop, we continued to work on our All About books. We focused on anticipating readers' questions about our topic and making sure we answered those questions. In addition to answering the questions, we learned how to add more details when answering those questions by writing in "twin sentences." We also looked closely at how Ann Schreiber used pictures in her book Sharks to teach her reader then tried out her craft moves in our own nonfiction books.

During Readers' Workshop we focused on snap words as we continued with our Word Detectives Unit of Study. We also worked a bit on fluency by learning how word detectives "scoop up" words, and we learned that, just like in writing, we can break words into parts to help us solve them. 

We were excited to receive another letter from the Super Secret Detective Agency!

In Math Workshop this past week, we got to show what we know on our unit 2 assessment. Expect to see this come home with a note attached asking that it be returned to school after you review it. On Wednesday, we focused on Fact Families with a fun turkey project!

During Word Work this week, we focused on our new word wall words, then different kiddos had different activities to work on during our word work rotations. 

Next week's Word Wall words: 

be

as

ball

by

day

Our science investigation this week focused on how compressed air can be used to make a balloon rocket. Here we are testing it out:

Here's one of our balloon rockets being launched down the fishing line! Sorry it's sideways!

We had an all-school assembly on Friday afternoon to recognize everyone for their part in our Food Drive. It was a great success! Thanks so much for your generous donations.

Our class collected 68 items for our food drive - thank you!

Our Star of the Week shared about her special talent: dance! We saw her jazz, tap and ballet shoes, admired her beautiful performance dresses, and she showed us the different ballet positions. 

 

 

 

Due to the short week next week, we don't have a star of the week until the week of November 28th. Our star will be David!

Until then...
Michelle Mullen 


Star of the Week Schedule

David - November 28- December 2^nd  

Madelyn – December 5^th-9^th

Cameron - December 12^th-16^th

Giselle - January 9^th-13^th

Oscar – January 23^rd - 27^th

Alex P. – January 30^th- February 3^rd

Evy – February 6^th -10^th

Josh – February 13^th-17^th

Eleonore – February 27^th- March 3^rd   

Darius – March 6^th-10^th

Alex M. – March 13^th-17^th

Brayden – March 20th-24th

Mark Your Calendars!

November 21st-December 16th: FIRST GRADE SERVICE PROJECT: Mitten Tree to benefit COA Youth & Family Centers

Tuesday, November 22: Music Concert (Last Names A-M at 10am/Last Names N-Z at 2pm)

Wednesday, November 23: Early Release Day

First Grade Thanksgiving Gathering

Friday, December 9: Report Cards Come Home

Wednesday, December 14: Early Release Day

Friday, December 23-Monday, January 2: Winter Break

Wednesday, January 11: Early Release Day

Monday, January 16: NO SCHOOL

Wednesday, February 8: Early Release Day

Monday, February 20: NO SCHOOL/Teacher In-Service Day

Wednesday, March 8: Early Release Day

Wednesday, March 22: Early Release Day

Thursday, March 23: Musical (2pm & 6:30pm)

Monday, March 27-Friday, March 31: Spring Break

Wednesday, April 12: Early Release Day

Friday, April 14: NO SCHOOL

Monday, April 17: NO SCHOOL/Teacher In-Service

Wednesday, April 26: Early Release Day

Wednesday, May 10: Early Release Day

Wednesday, May 24: Early release Day

Monday, May 29: NO SCHOOL

Thursday, June 8: Last day of First Grade! 

See you later, Second Grader!