New Page

Hello Families,

We now have a Facebook page! Please "like" our page, "Miss Grimes' s Fantastic Fabulous First Grade" on Facebook for all of our updates and news.

Weekly Update

Hello Families,

We had a short busy week! We also celebrated Annie’s birthday! I’m looking forward to getting back to work with the kids on Monday. I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend.  

 

 

Happy Birthday Annie!

 

 

 

Math

We continued learning about making whole numbers from 2 parts. This led us into our first lesson on number sentences. We learned how to write an addition sentence with an addend, a plus sign, another addend, an equal sign, and finally the sum. It’s important for your child to use these terms correctly when talking about math. A part and an addend is the same, and the sum and the whole is the same. We will mostly use addend and sum, but part and whole will be interchanged occasionally or for students are struggling.

Reading Workshop

We learned three fun new reading strategies: Eagle Eye, Lips the Fish, and Stretchy Snake. Eagle Eye reminds us to use pictures for clues to unknown words. Lips the Fish reminds us to get our lips ready to make the first sound of an unknown word. Stretchy Snake reminds us to stretch out the other sounds of unknown words to help decode. Using all of these strategies together is a powerful way for your child to move forward as an independent reader. Please practice these at home instead of saying, “sound it out.” Most words in our language are not decodable by simply “sounding it out.” We need to teach our children to use a variety of strategies when decoding an unfamiliar word.

Writer’s Workshop

We learned about journals this week. Journals are used for people to record their thoughts and feelings as well as recording life events. We will dabble with writing our own journals next week.

This Week I Really Learned!

Due to the short week we did not write in our T.W.I.R.L. journals. Watch for a new letter on Friday! J

Word Workshop

We reviewed short vowel CVC words and word families. Keep practicing with these words as well as our new 4 letter words with l and r blends.

Grammar/Mechanics

We know that capitalizing I is a non-negotiable in first grade. Please make sure your child always capitalizes I when it’s all by itself. We also need to capitalize the first letter of our first and last name. We now that a comma comes after a greeting and the closing in a letter. Look for the commas when reading your child’s T.W.I.R.L. letter each week.

Water Bottles

Please remember that water bottles may only contain water. If you would like your child to drink something other than water at snack, please send a small amount (no more than 6 ounces) of a beverage that does not contain sugar. I’ve asked the students to bring their water bottles to school empty and fill them with water in the morning. I’m hoping this will eliminate the bathroom “emergencies” we’ve been having lately. Thank you very much for your help with this! J

Bathroom

We are working on staying in class unless we really need to use the bathroom. Children need to use the bathroom each morning before coming to the classroom and after recess. We also take a bathroom break in the afternoon, and they may leave the class once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Right now they can go whenever they need to, but soon they will need to go during non-instruction times.

Birthdays

We celebrate birthdays during our snack time from 9:20 – 9:35. Please let me know the day before by email, voice mail, or a note if you’re planning on sending a birthday treat. Our 15 minute snack time includes passing out the treat and eating it, so the simpler the better. Please limit birthday treats to food only. Many children already have milk or juice and others have water bottles. Thank you!

Practice Packet

Your child’s practice packet will be sent home Monday. It was ready to go on Wednesay, and I forgot to put it in their mailboxes. Please don’t feel as though it needs to be turned in Friday. Next Monday is just fine. Thank you!

 

 

Have a wonderful week!

 

 

 

 

Weekly Update

Hello Families,

Next week is already MEA break. Time is going quickly. We take advantage of the short week with some word work review and some reading strategy lessons.

 

We have also learned about the communities we are part of. We are working on a simple project that should help them understand the concept of large and small communities that we are part of.

 

Math

We have started a unit on addition. New important words are: part, whole, addends, sum, inside, and outside. Today we learned how to make 6 and 7 from 2 parts. (2 and 4 make 6 etc.)

 

Reading Workshop

We are working on finding the main idea and supporting details in non-fiction text. This is tricky for most of the children. We will keep practicing next week. J

 

Writer’s Workshop

We are done launching our writer’s workshop and are ready to start our first unit next week. We will learn what journals are and how to write them.

 

This Week I Really Learned!

We ran short on writing time today, so your child’s letter may not be complete. It is absolutely okay to finish it at home if you’d like. We LOVE hearing the letters that are written to us! Each Friday students that have a letter written to them has the option of having it read out loud during snack. It’s a fun surprise for some to see who wrote to them. J

 

Word Workshop

Your child is now reading and spelling 4 letter words with r blends. Many of the children are having trouble hearing and saying the l blend in words like flag, blot, and sled. Practice segmenting these words by asking your child to say each sound then say the words in 2 parts, and then say the whole word. Example: crab    /c/  /r/  /a/  /b/      /cr/  /ab/   flag.  If they can do this they should be able to spell the word correctly as well.

 

Grammar/Mechanics

We know that capitalizing I is a non-negotiable in first grade. Please make sure your child always capitalizes I when it’s all by itself. We also need to capitalize the first letter of our first and last name. We now that a comma comes after a greeting and the closing in a letter. Look for the commas when reading your child’s T.W.I.R.L. letter each week.

 

Water Bottles

Please remember that water bottles may only contain water. If you would like your child to drink something other than water at snack, please send a small amount (no more than 6 ounces) of a beverage that does not contain sugar. I’ve asked the students to bring their water bottles to school empty and fill them with water in the morning. I’m hoping this will eliminate the bathroom “emergencies” we’ve been having lately. Thank you very much for your help with this! J

 

Bathroom

We are working on staying in class unless we really need to use the bathroom. Children need to use the bathroom each morning before coming to the classroom and after recess. We also take a bathroom break in the afternoon, and they may leave the class once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Right now they can go whenever they need to, but soon they will need to go during non-instruction times.

 

Birthdays

We celebrate birthdays during our snack time from 9:20 – 9:35. Please let me know the day before by email, voice mail, or a note if you’re planning on sending a birthday treat. Our 15 minute snack time includes passing out the treat and eating it, so the simpler the better. Please limit birthday treats to food only. Many children already have milk or juice and others have water bottles. Thank you!

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

 

 

 

Weekly Update

Hello Families,

We had a great week in first grade! We had our first Mystery Reader on Tuesday, and we celebrated Gael’s birthday on Friday. I’m looking forward to another week of learning next week!

 

 

 

The Birthday Boy

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs. Fleischacker

Our September Mystery Reader!

 

 

Math

Math workshop is officially underway. We completed a short unit on comparing and ordering numbers to 12. Our topic assessment will be on Monday. Your child should be using our new vocabulary: greater than, less than, least, fewer, most, more, between.

 

Reading Workshop

Our launching unit is complete and we have started our first reading unit. The reading strategy we will be working on is asking questions. The reading skill we will be working on is find the main idea and supporting details in non-fiction text.

 

Writer’s Workshop

Students dabbled with writing their first story this week. We are working hard at taking risks in our writing. First graders are NOT expected to spell most words correctly. We encourage them to “Write what they hear.” Please encourage your child to attempt spelling on their own at home too. Speaking clearly and requiring your child to speak clearly will help when trying to spell.

 

This Week I Really Learned!

We LOVE hearing the letters that are written to us! Each Friday students that have a letter written to them has the option of having it read out loud during snack. It’s a fun surprise for some to see who wrote to them. J

 

Word Workshop

Your child is now reading and spelling 4 letter words with l blends. Many of the children are having trouble hearing and saying the l blend in words like flag, blot, and sled. Practice segmenting these words by asking your child to say each sound then say the words in 2 parts, and then say the whole word. Example: flag    /f/  /l/  /a/  /g/      /fl/  /ag/   flag  If they can do this they should be able to spell the word correctly as well.

 

Grammar/Mechanics

We know that capitalizing I is a non-negotiable in first grade. Please make sure your child always capitalizes I when it’s all by itself. We also need to capitalize the first letter of our first and last name. We now that a comma comes after a greeting and the closing in a letter. Look for the commas when reading your child’s T.W.I.R.L. letter each week.

 

Water Bottles

Please remember that water bottles may only contain water. If you would like your child to drink something other than water at snack, please send a small amount (no more than 6 ounces) of a beverage that does not contain sugar. I’ve asked the students to bring their water bottles to school empty and fill them with water in the morning. I’m hoping this will eliminate the bathroom “emergencies” we’ve been having lately. Thank you very much for your help with this! J

 

Bathroom

We are working on staying in class unless we really need to use the bathroom. Children need to use the bathroom each morning before coming to the classroom and after recess. We also take a bathroom break in the afternoon, and they may leave the class once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Right now they can go whenever they need to, but soon they will need to go during non-instruction times.

 

Birthdays

We celebrate birthdays during our snack time from 9:20 – 9:35. Please let me know the day before by email, voice mail, or a note if you’re planning on sending a birthday treat. Our 15 minute snack time includes passing out the treat and eating it, so the simpler the better. Please limit birthday treats to food only. Many children already have milk or juice and others have water bottles. Thank you!

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

 

 

Weekly Update

Hello Families,

Our first grade friends are making good progress adjusting to more responsibility and independence. We had a fantastic day today, earning a Panther Pride card for following expectations at the school Pep Fest and earning another one for following expectations in art! These are two places that it takes lots of self-control and conscious decision making to do the right thing. They were very proud of themselves.

 

We will have our first Mystery Reader on Tuesday. The first clue is:

You see me everyday.

 

 

 

Our Hero Costumes

 

 

 

Math

We spent the week preparing for math workshop which will begin on Monday. Students what group they are in and what their expectations are when not working with the Miss Grimes.Today we practiced what it will be like when groups are working with the teacher and others are working independently on seat work and hands on activities.  Expectations were followed perfectly. When meeting with Miss Grimes we learned the correct way to count. When counting we want to arrange objects in rows of 5; starting a new row at 6, 11, 16, etc. This will help students accurately and begin to recognize numbers in 5’s and 10’s.

 

Reading Workshop

Reading time was interrupted a few times this week by our a-reading assessment, hearing and vision screening, a fire drill, and our pep fest. We still were able to learn about why people read, and we started to write our rules for “turn and talk.” Book shopping and independent reading is going very well. They are excited to have classroom library day on their color day.

 

Writer’s Workshop

We are working really hard to come up with meaningful topics. Each child has created “heart lists” of people and places to write about. Next week we will finish topics with writing a “heart list” of things. We will then choose a topic and dabble with writing a story.

 

This Week I Really Learned!

We LOVE hearing the letters that are written to us! Each Friday students that have a letter written to them has the option of having it read out loud during snack. It’s a fun surprise for some to see who wrote to them. J

 

Word Workshop

We reviewed short vowels by sorting words accoriding to word family. We practiced writing our number on the back of each word BEFORE cutting them out. Then we learned how to cut our words with only one scrap, and finally we learned how to glue without making a mess. J

 

Grammar/Mechanics

We know that capitalizing I is a non-negotiable in first grade. Please make sure your child always capitalizes I when it’s all by itself. We also need to capitalize the first letter of our first and last name.

 

Water Bottles

Please remember that water bottles may only contain water. If you would like your child to drink something other than water at snack, please send a small amount (no more than 6 ounces) of a beverage that does not contain sugar. I’ve asked the students to bring their water bottles to school empty and fill them with water in the morning. I’m hoping this will eliminate the bathroom “emergencies” we’ve been having lately. Thank you very much for your help with this! J

 

Bathroom

We are working on staying in class unless we really need to use the bathroom. Children need to use the bathroom each morning before coming to the classroom and after recess. We also take a bathroom break in the afternoon, and they may leave the class once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Right now they can go whenever they need to, but soon they will need to go during non-instruction times.

 

Science

We went on a couple of leaf hunts and then sorted leaves according to color and size. We talked about we could have also sorted by the type of leaf. We talked about why the leaves dry up when they fall off of the tree. We finished up by doing a leaf rubbing project this afternoon.

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

 

 

Hello Families,

We’ve had another busy week in first grade! We’re going to slow down a bit next week and do some more review with the basics in word work and math. We want to make sure we have a solid foundation and routines and procedures are intact before we start our new units.

 

Math

We completed Topic 1 (Numbers to 12). These assessments will be sent home next week. Students who have not mastered the concept will be reassessed before the end of the trimester. We will begin math workshop with unit 2. Next week will be spend reviewing the basics such as number formation, learning more math games, and setting up our math workshop procedures and expectations.

 

Reading Workshop

This week we learned how to treat books and our classroom library respectfully. We also received our book boxes, learned how to identify “good fit” books, and learned how to book shop in the classroom library. More benching marking will be done next week, and I hope to start small groups by the first week in October.

 

Writer’s Workshop

We’re having a little trouble getting started with writing. Children were to write a list of topics they can write about, and then start writing. We’re getting stuck because everybody wants every word spelled for them. During writer’s workshop each child will spell the word how it sounds. This will be frustrating for them, but they need to take these risks to become better writers and spellers.

 

This Week I Really Learned!

We LOVE hearing the letters that are written to us! Each Friday students that have a letter written to them has the option of having it read out loud during snack. It’s a fun surprise for some to see who wrote to them. J

 

Word Workshop

We have reviewed all short vowels and CVC words. Next week we will be writing word families, cutting and sorting words, and rhyming.

 

Grammar/Mechanics

We know that capitalizing I is a non-negotiable in first grade. Please make sure your child always capitalizes I when it’s all by itself.

 

Water Bottles

Please remember that water bottles may only contain water. If you would like your child to drink something other than water at snack, please send a small amount (no more than 6 ounces) of a beverage that does not contain sugar. I’ve asked the students to bring their water bottles to school empty and fill them with water in the morning. I’m hoping this will eliminate the bathroom “emergencies” we’ve been having lately. Thank you very much for your help with this! J

 

Bathroom

We are working on staying in class unless we really need to use the bathroom. Children need to use the bathroom each morning before coming to the classroom and after recess. We also take a bathroom break in the afternoon, and they may leave the class once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Right now they can go whenever they need to, but soon they will need to go during non-instruction times.

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

***If you enjoy reading the blog and would like an email notifying you when there's a new post, please send me an email at agrimes@gsl.k12.mn.us from the email you would like it sent to with your child's name in the subject line.***

 

 

 

Weekly Update

Hello Families,

We have been so busy in first grade! Everyone is starting to adjust to the higher expectations and rigor that comes in this phenomenal year of school. The first few days of school many questions were, “Where are the toys?” “When is recess?” “When is lunch?” “When do we get to go home?” Now they are asking, “Can I go to the bathroom?” “When is math?” “When can I get books from the classroom library?”  

 

We had our first birthday last Friday! Owen turned 7!

 

 Our birthday friends wear birthday sunglasses!

 

 

 

Math

We are almost finished with our first math topic! We are learning about numbers to twelve. First graders should be able to count to 12, recognize the numbers in words and digits. We learned number patterns that will help us recognize numbers quickly without counting; like when we use dice. If you haven’t sent your baggie of 20 pennies, please send it in as soon as you can. Thank you!

 

Reading Workshop

We are launching our reading workshop. Lessons include how to read books (read the pictures, read the words, and retell a story), the three parts of reading workshop, and expectations during independent reading. We are building our reading stamina and are up to five minutes!

 

 

Here we are practicing our independent reading.

 

 

 

Writer’s Workshop

We are learning about how to be good listeners and how to talk to a partner respectfully as we launch our writing workshop. Next week we will work on developing writing topic lists and our writer’s notebook.

 

This Week I Really Learned!

I hope you have enjoyed your first two letters from your child’s T.W.I.R.L. book. Please make sure the book is back in school by Friday so we can read all of the letters and write a new one. J

Word Workshop

We have review CVC words with all of the vowels. Please practice with the little books that habe been coming home each day. These books benefit struggling readers, on level readers, and excelling readers.

 

Grammar/Mechanics

We know that capitalizing I is a non-negotiable in first grade. Please make sure your child always capitalizes I when it’s all by itself.

 

Water Bottles

Please remember that water bottles may only contain water. If you would like your child to drink something other than water at snack, please send a small amount (no more than 6 ounces) of a beverage that does not contain sugar. I’ve asked the students to bring their water bottles to school empty and fill them with water in the morning. I’m hoping this will eliminate the bathroom “emergencies” we’ve been having lately. Thank you very much for your help with this! J

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

 

 

The Second Day

We had a fantastic day! It's so exciting to see the children picking up quickly on routines and procedures. Two very important things they should know and do without thinking are their classroom number and to push in their chair when they stand up. We are getting better! :-)

Highlights of today:

We learned about the calendar.
We reviewed how to use scissors.
We cut out our birthday graph piece.
We created a class birthday graph.
We learned a game called, "I Ate a Snake."
We had Art and Music.
We learned our Morning Meeting spots.
We reviewed recess expectations.
We read "A Quiet Place" and thought about our favorite place to calm down.
We practiced and discussed "Take a Break."

 

Our Class Birthday Graph

 

 

 Guided Discovery with Scissors



The First Day

We are officially First Graders! The first day is done, and we're ready for day 2. Today was a little hectic with all of our short lessons on procedures and expectations in the lunch room, classroom, and the bus. Tomorrow we will review playground expectations. We had our first indoor recess today. We're hoping for sunshine tomorrow, so we can get outside and play. Even though we were busy running all over today we still did a lot!

Here are some of today's highlights:

 

• We learned our classroom number.
• We practiced pushing in our chair when we get up.
• We reviewed the proper use of crayons.
• We colored our birthday graph piece.
• We heard "First Day Jitters."
• We had "Jitter Juice.
• We learned what jitters are.
• We went to gym.
• We went to library.
• We took a class picture on the playground.
• We learned snack procedures.
• We learned breakfast procedures.
• We learned what to do in the morning.
• We read our first morning message.

 

This is Jitter Juice. It will help keep the first day jitters from coming back tomorrow.

• 

 

 Here we are on the first day of school! What a cute bunch!