No Homework

Due to the shortened school week there will be no spelling or math homework this week!  Please enjoy the holidays!

Focused Workers!



Building numbers with Base-10 blocks



Top-It with a 'twist' (children had to use a greater than/less than/or equal to symbol to compare numbers)

More Top-It

Tangrams are a wonderful tool for building problem-solving skills!

He was determined to get this puzzle right.

 Math is a very busy and productive time in our room!  I feel as though I take more math photos than anything else, but it's so fun to watch first graders solve problems in a variety of ways with a variety of tools.

Learning About St. Lucia Day

Our theme of "Holidays around the World" continues... we started making "evergreen" crowns for St. Lucia Day...a  festival that takes place in Sweden, Italy, and many other European countries on Dec. 13th. It's also known as the "Festival of Lights" and is the beginning of Christmas celebrations. These crowns are traditionally worn in parades and other St. Lucia celebrations. 

Students cutting and riping paper for the leaves of their crowns

Almost done the first step! 

A finished crown (I forgot to get a group shot with everyone wearing a crown)

Safety Drill

As I am sure many of you have already heard we had our first, school-wide safety drill last Thursday.  During this drill the entire building is 'locked-down' and the children and I sat quietly in the classroom waiting for Officer B. to check on us.  The boys and girls did a terrific job!  I certainly hope that we never need to do more than a drill, but it is great to know that our students would be calm and safe!

B.E.A.R. Day

Guest Readers

As students become more confident readers they are enjoying the chance to read to the class.  We have only had three 'guest readers' so far, but anyone who wants a chance will be able to read to their friends.  Reading is even more fun when you have an audience!

Los Posadas



As a part of our study of holidays around the world we have learned a little bit about Los Posadas, a Hispanic Christmas celebration.  As a part of Los Posadas families light luminaries, have a pinata, decorate with poinsettias, and sometimes even set off fireworks!

Students hard at work creating beautiful paper poinsettias!

More poinsettias

Thank You!



I wanted to thank all of you who sent in a book or money for a book for Miss Siekman's 'thank you' present!  We were able to put together a beautiful basket full of wonderful books and other fun school supplies.  The boys and girls also worked to create an amazing piece of art that we hope Miss Siekman will be proud to display!

Each child created a self-portrait to add to our class illustration!

Books are an amazing gift!  Thank you Miss Siekman for all of your hard work.

Holidays Around the World

Last week we began our study of Holidays Around the World.  Hanukkah is the first holiday we are studying (the first full day of Hanukkah was last Thursday).  Some important facts we have been trying to learn are:  Hanukkah lasts eight days, it is also called the 'Festival of Lights', a menorah is used each night during Hanukkah, and the fact that the holiday is celebrated by people who are Jewish. 

Students working on their 'handmade' menorahs! 

Look for the menorahs to be hanging outside our classroom with many other fun projects from around the world!

The 'Wiz of Is'

As you know, we work very hard in first grade to learn many sight words.  Last week's word was 'is'.  To help students remember the correct spelling of the word 'is' students had a chance to be the 'wiz of is'.  We will have many more wizards this week (as well as some 'stars of are').  Who said spelling can't be fun?!

Just look at all of the 'wiz of is' kids!

Reading Comprehension

During reading last week we focused a lot on reading comprehension.  To help with this important skill students had to 'check for understanding' during partner reading time.  One child would read to their partner while the other held the check mark (a visual reminder of their job) and then retold parts of the story.

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B.E.A.R. Day

In case you did not see the notice sent home last week, this Thursday, December 9th is BEAR Day at UMS! Your child is invited to bring his/her favorite teddy bear to school for the day! This fun day is to celebrate our whole-school theme: B.E.A.R: Be Excited About Reading! We will have snack and lunch with our bears, bring our bears to a school-wide meeting, reading with our bears in the classroom, and more!