Mrs. Hughes

Week of May 11 to 15

Wow!  What a week!  This week was action-packed!  We had Field Day, Tritt Tigertown, Book Buddies, Game Day, and our last Science Lab.  We shared our animal research homework, finished "Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing", and met with second graders during Guidance to learn more about next year.  Please note that today's Response Journal entry was the last time the children will write in the book at school.  BUT...it is a great way to continue with their writing skills over the summer!  I encourage you to use it as a learning tool this summer.  You can document vacations, experiences, and feelings about second grade!

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS*

*Please NO backpacks on the last day of school!  it is a county-wide rule!

* I will not be here on the last day of school.  My sister is getting married the next day, and I have a day full of bridesmaid duties that Friday!

*Thank you to all who volunteered for Field Day and Tritt Tigertown!  We couldn't have done it without you!

*We are OUT of extra snacks!  Please remember to send a snack with your child everyday!

*Next Wednesday will be Show-n-Tell day.  The children are allowed to bring in whatever they want to share with the class!

THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR CHILD WITH ME THIS YEAR!  I HAVE ENJOYED WATCHING THEM LEARN AND GROW!  HAVE A WONDERFUL SUMMER!

Week of May 4 to 8

Wow!  What a fun week!  We have been studying hard about animals and economics this week!  We went to the Computer Lab three times this week!  One time we went to play math games, one time to write and illustrate an animal riddle we wrote, and one time to take the STAR test.  We specifically studies amphibians and reptiles this week, and compared and contrasted the two.  We have been learning about consumers, producers, goods, services, needs, and wants in economics.  Tritt Tigertown will be a wonderful culminating activity for all we have learned!  We also continued reading Kevin Henkes books!

Have a wonderful, relaxing Mother's Day!

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

*Wednesday, May 13th is Field Day.  Please put sunscreen on your child before they arrive at school.  They DO NOT need water bottles because they can easily use the water fountain whenever needed!

*Thursday, May 14th is Tritt Tigertown.  Children will have a great day spending the money that they earned!

*Thursday, May 14th is the Relay for Life staff softball game.  Tickets are $2 and there will be refreshments.   If you have already turned in money, I am holding your child's ticket until Thursday!

*We will have game day on Friday, May 15th.  Children can bring games from home such as Sorry, Trouble, Uno, Battleship.

Week of April 27 to May 1

This week week we continued learning about animals.  We went to the Science Lab and compared and contrasted a reptile and a mammal.  We also learned about the different animal classifications and went on a scavenger hunt to have fun while categorizing them!  We started an author study in Reader's Workshop.  We are studying Kevin Henkes.  The first grade also participated in a grade wide folktale rotation.  Each teacher was responsible for teaching one folktale to all classes.  We learned all about Pecos Bill, John Henry, Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, Davy Crockett, and Annie Oakley. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

*For homework, your child will bring home an animal research project.  You will have two weeks to complete it.  Please help your child with it!

*ALL library books are due on Monday, May 4th!  There is NO more student check out!  If your child has read all of the AR books in my bin, then they can either stop taking them, OR you can check books out of the public library!

*Tritt Tigertown is fast approaching!  Thank you to those have donated items.  If you have not, there is still time!  We also need VOLUNTEERS!  So...if you have been saving your volunteer time for the right time, now is the time!

*Thank you to Christie Webb for volunteering for math centers, and to Ryan Jessop for being our Mystery Reader!

*Next Wednesday, May 6th from 2:30 to 4:30 there will be a Premiere Jewelry fundraiser for Relay for Life! 

Week of April 20 to 24

We made it through CRCT!  Whew!  The kids did great!  It was tough for them to sit so long, but they did it!  This week was consumed with CRCT, so everything else we did was "fun".  We played math games, celebrated National Jelly Bean day by eating and graphing jelly beans, and met with our Book buddies on Earth Day to discuss ways we can help our Earth. We then decorated a sugar cookie with blue and green icing to look like the Earth!  Today we watched Wall-E and ate popcorn as a reward for winning our tardy challenge.  We even managed to all make it here on time this week and we get to keep the Golden Clock!  Keep it up!  The remainder of the school year will be spent reviewing and enriching concepts we have already learned in math, reading, and language arts.  Next week we will be learning about folktales (Social Studies standard!)  We will be rotating through other first grade classrooms to learn about various tall tales.  I will be teaching about Annie Oakley!  We will also continue learning about animals, and we will use our research skills to learn more!  We will have two more weeks of homework.  We had no homework this past week.

REMINDERS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:

*Tritt Tigertown is coming!  Thank you to those who have already donated.  We need donations for all areas, or you can send in cash!  If you can volunteer, please let Sarah Mandell know.  We can't run the town without your help!

*if you have not sent back in your child's registration card for next year, please do so ASAP!  The kids can't be placed in a classroom next year if the card is not turned in!

*Next Thursday, April 30 is the Tritt Relay for Life Carnival. The kids have a blast and all proceeds go to cancer research!

*Please continue to send in a snack with your child everyday.  I am almost out of extra snacks, and we still have 20 days of school left!

*We will be writing in our Response Journal for two more weeks, so please keep it coming!

Week of April 13 to 17

I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break!  The kids seem rested and eager to finish out their first grade year with a bang!  We started our week discussing Tritt Tigertown and how to earn money.  So far it has been a great incentive!  The kids are very excited about getting to earn, budget, and SPEND their money!  We also won the tardy challenge!  That means we will have a movie and popcorn next Friday afternoon courtesy of Mrs. Carter.  In math we are finishing up our measurement unit.  Today we will be exploring capacity.  We also have been working on two-digit addition, and next week we will work with two-digit subtraction.  We will then be working on reviewing what we have learned for the remainder of the year.  We will spend more time with money, number sense, and larger numbers.  In Reader's Workshop we have been reading about animals.  We are spending our reading time with non-fiction books, and then sharing what we have learned.  In Writer's Workshop we spent two days writing a wonderful poem about April Showers!  We focused on using adjectives to make our writing more colorful. We have been reviewing CRCT questions every afternoon in preparation for our test.  We had Guidance with Mrs. Carter yesterday.  She talked at length about strangers.  There is a website with games and activities about stranger safety.  It is www.mcgruff.org/Games.  The kids seemed to enjoy it.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

*CRCT testing for first grade is Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday only! (April 21, 22, 23)  PLEASE make sure to be here on time.  If your child is late, he will sit in the front office until testing is over.  he will then have to make it up on a different day!

*We will go to the Media Center on Monday.

*Tritt Tigertown will be on Thursday, May 14th.  This is big day for first graders.  We couldn't have the day without parent volunteers and donations.  If you have already donated good, THANK YOU!  If you can also donate services (YOUR TIME!), we could use you!  Our class will be the spa.  We need at least 3 volunteers plus myself. 

*Wednesday, May 13th from 9 to 11 is Field Day.  Once again, we could not have Field Day without parent volunteers.  Each class needs 5 to 6 volunteers!  Today is the day to take a half day at work!:-)

*Thank you Robin Coe for being our Mystery Reader!

*Next Wednesday is National Jelly Bean!  If you could donate a bag of jelly beans, it would be appreciated!  We will do some fun activities with them!

Week of March 30 to April 3

I am not going to be working tomorrow, so I am posting the BLOG early!  I will be flying to sunny Florida for a wedding!  This week in Reader's Workshop we continued with questioning techniques, and responded to literature with our connections.  We also worked on reading comprehension strategies with paper and pencil type questions.  This will help with the CRCT.  In Writer's Workshop we went to the Computer Lab and typed our partner biographies. We also wrote a spring senses poem and wrote about our spring break.  We incorporated adding more details to both pieces of writing.  For our spring break piece, we took our writing from a five sentence  to an eight sentence paragraph!  In math we finished exploring length by ordering our family member's feet from shortest to longest and then measured them using unifix cubes!  We also designed our own "ruler" using small paper clips as our unit of measurement.  We have started exploring weight with balance scales and comparing objects that are heavy and light.  When we return from spring break we will finish up with weight and move on to capacity! 

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

*Thank you to Christie Webb for coming for math centers, and to Julie Ward for being our Mystery Reader!

* Our homework packet after spring break will be various CRCT practice pages!

*Look for an important letter coming home after spring break about Tritt Tigertown!

*Tomorrow is Twin Day!

HAVE A WONDERFUL SPRING BREAK!

Week of March 23 to 27

Wow!  What is it about rainy days that give the kids extra energy?  Today is a HIGH ENERGY day!  This week in Reader's Workshop we have been working on questioning techniques and inferences.  It is amazing how thoughtful six and seven year olds can be when analyzing a story!  In Writer's Workshop we worked on illustrating our Tiger publishing books.  We sure did enjoy sharing them with you all!  We hope you enjoyed reading them! In math we began our unit on measurement.  We have been measuring with non-standard units of measure, such as paper clips.  Next week we will work on weight, and then we will explore capacity when we return from spring break.  Yesterday we had Guidance with Mrs. Carter.  She discussed responsibility with the children.  Today we went to the Science Lab and explored the animals in the lab.  Our science for the last nine weeks is animal needs.  Unfortunately our zoo trip was canceled this year, but hopefully we can still do some fun things for science.  We also have continued with adjectives and commas.  The children need to know when to use commas in a series of items, and in the date!

 

 ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

 

*Since our class is the worst class with tardy records, Mrs. Carter has challenged us to a two week challenge!  If we have NO tardies for the next two weeks (next week and the week after spring break), we will get to watch a movie and have popcorn!  Please help us win the challenge!

 

* PLEASE have your child trace four family members’ feet this weekend and bring it in on Monday.  I will send home the paper for it!  We will need it for a measuring project on Monday!  Thank you in advance for your assistance!

 

*Don't forget about our music talent shows next week!  Every child is encouraged to participate!

 

*Thank you to Sara Mandell for planning a fabulous Author’s Tea!

Week of March 19 to 20

Happy Spring!  I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather that came in after the rain.  This week in math we graphed (and ate) Lucky Charms in honor of St. Patrick's Day.  We also finished all assessments, and took a pre-assessment on our next unit.  next week we will start on measurement.  We will be measuring and weighing!  We have been working hard on partner biographies.  I think we will type them up ourselves in the Computer Lab.  Speaking of Computer Lab, we went on Thursday and learned the software called Graph Club.  It graphs data in multiple formats.  We also met with our book buddies on Wednesday.  Today we learned some more about Teddy Roosevelt.  Teddy bears are coming home today.  Thank you!

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

*Thursday is our Author's Tea at 9 AM.  We hope to see you here!

*We are the only first grade class that has not won Tardy Busters!  Mrs. Carter is going to come up with an incentive to get our class on track!  More information will follow!

*CRCT practice information will come home with your child on Monday.  Please be on the lookout.

*Can you volunteer on Wednesday morning for math centers?  Christie Webb has been doing it for weeks, but she is unable to come this Wednesday.  If you are available, please let me know!

*Thank you to Christie Webb for doing math centers again and to the Craigs for reading!

*Music talent shows are coming soon!  Mrs. Irwin is putting on her annual music class talent shows.  Every child is encouraged to participate.  It can be any talent, even reading a passage from their favorite book or doingg a hard math problem!  Mrs. Friend's group will have their talent show on March 31st, and Miss Kicklighter's class will have their show on March 23rd!

*Happy birthday to Jake Attalah who had his birthday on March 19th!

*Please return pictures and/or money ASAP.  They are due on Tuesday.

*Please return report card signature cards!

Wee of March 9 to 13

This week we learned all about various disabilities.  We kicked off the week by having an assembly to learn about what a disability is, and then we met a blind man with a seeing eye dog and a woman who works with the hearing impaired.  We also enjoyed the very nice weather on Monday and Tuesday!  We celebrated with a longer-than-usual recess time!  In Reader's Workshop we continued to work with non-fiction.  We read about Teddy Roosevelt and identied the main idea and details in the text.  Next week will start learning how questioning techniques help us become better readers.  We will learn that not all of our questions can be answered by the text, and that is where inferences and predictions come in!  We spent all week in math on assessments.  In Writer's Workshop we began to work on partner biographies.  We intereviewd each other, and next week we will share our information by writing a biography.  We also went to the Computer Lab to take the STAR reading assessment, went to the Computer Lab to learn about the parts of a plant, and had Guidance with Mrs. Carter.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

*The book fair is next week!  We will go on Monday to preview the varios books.  Fair hours are as follows:

7:30 until 8:00, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; 2:30 until 6:00, Tuesday; 2:30 until 4:00, Wednesday and Thursday.

*Please send your child in with a teddy bear next week.  I want to use these to decorate with Teddy Roosevelt facts.

*Thank you for the snack donations!

*PLEASE don't forget your child's Response Journal!  We do them every Monday and Friday morning for morning work.  If your child comes in late, it puts them at a disadvantage for the rest of the day because they then have to play catch up!

*School pictures are coming home today.  Please make sure to return any unpurchased pictures.  You may purchase all, some, or none of them.

Week of March 2 to 6

This week we celebrated three birthdays-Chloe Webb, Hailey Lynch, and Dr. Seuss!  In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, we made a Dr. Seuss glyph on our personal preferences, acted as word detectives combing though Dr. Seuss books, and used a Dr. Seuss poem for our Poetry Notebook!  Of course, we also read many of his books!  In Reader's Workshop we have been comparing fiction to non-fiction, and looking at how to read the two types of texts differently.  We will continue to work with no-fiction for the next couple of weeks.  In Writer's Workshop we wrote poems based on Dr. Seuss' book, My Many Colored Days.  They We used similes and metaphors to write about our feelings.  They turned out great!  It is hard to believe that I will start assessing the kids again next week.  Report cards come home March 19th. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

*Please make sure to write in your child's Response Journal.  They get very upset when you forget!

*We are out of extra snacks!  Please send in more donations!

*Thank you for the junk donations!  We have enough to last a least a week or two!:-)

*Next week is Disabilities Awareness Week.  We will be seeing several speakers who have some sort of impairment.

*We will go to the Media Center on Monday.

*Please have your child bring in a teddy bear by next Thursday.  We will be learning about Teddy Roosevelt!

*Thank you to Karen Craig for being our math center helper and to Robin Coe for being our Mystery Reader.

Dads, we need you to read!  We have had no male readers!  Our open dates are April April 30 and May 7.

*CRCT practice information will be coming home on Monday, March 23rd.