School Budget Vote

Don't forget that the next school budget vote will be held on Tuesday, May 1st!  You can also vote by absentee ballot ahead of time.     

                                                             

Peer Editing

As we begin to wrap up our unit of study called 'How to's'  students have worked hard to edit their writing pieces.  Working in partnerships, students read one of their procedural pieces to a partner.  The listener had to pay close attention and ask for clarification when something didn't make sense.  Many first graders added steps and details to their writing with the help of a friend.  It's amazing to see how far they've all come!!

Solids, Liquids, and Gases

This week we have begun to explore the different states of matter:  solids, liquids, and gases.  Over the next couple of weeks we will experiment with the different properties of each state, learn some really cool vocabulary words, and hopefully 'play' and 'eat' with our science learning!!!  

At the art station this week students used Cheerios to model how close molecules are in the different states of matter.

Red Clover Evening Reminder!

Please join us tomorrow night (Thursday, April 19th) from 6:30-7:30 p.m. as we celebrate many of this year's Red Clover books!  Students and families will be invited to create a variety of projects connected to different texts.                         

Learning and Fun in the Sun!

With April vacation just a few days away I've been trying to do some different activities that will continue to engage students (many of whom are already talking about all of their fun plans...I'm jealous!).  Yesterday, we went outside for SWR to practice writing our 'red' words with chalk!

Spirit Week!

This week (April 16th-20th) is Spirit Week at UMS!  Please read below to see what we will be doing to celebrate each day.

Monday - Wear your favorite hat
Tuesday - Wear your favorite t-shirt
Wednesday - School color day (blue and green)
Thursday - "Fill a bucket" day
Friday - Pajamas and picnic lunch

Go Champs!

Apple TV!!!

I hope that many of you hear about the fact that our Apple TV is now up and running!  I will post more about it soon, but for the time-being ask your child about 'mirroring'. 

Great Comprehension Site

I love being able to share what I'm learning at my technology class with students and families!  Tonight I learned about a site called 'Into the Book'.  It allows students to practice reading (or they can be read to) while at the same time working on comprehension.  I've added this link to the left sidebar of my blog.  Give it a try!

Guidance - Safe Side Super Chick!

For the last two weeks Mrs. McCleary has used the 'Safe Side Super Chick' video to discuss personal safety with our class.  Hopefully your son/daughter brought home a couple of sheets that go along with this topic.  We learned about strangers and who our 'don't know, kinda know, and safe side adults' might be!

Reading Comprehension - Making Inferences

As we continue to keep our reading mini-lessons around the topic of comprehension (so far we've covered: retelling, creating mental images, and inferencing) the students continue to impress me with their thinking and hard work.  Last week, we looked at books, poems, and even riddles to practice making inferences.  First graders work hard, don't they?!

Natalie highlighting important text that helped her make her inference.

Writing down what he's decided the missing word of the poem is.

iPads are Loved by All Ages!

As you can imagine the iPads are definitely a favored activity of many students right now! However, it's not just first graders who are learning about iPads!

The first graders show Mrs. Anderson how to use some of the apps!

I just love this sibling shot!

Mrs. Hughes on the Playground

We have been working very hard on 'how to' (procedural) writing in first grade.  On Friday, I tried out some of the directions the boys and girls had written for how to use the slide and the swings.  We all quickly realized that some pieces needed a few more details while others taught me just what to do!  Tomorrow students will revise their writing (and maybe we'll try again).  I think it is safe to say that they enjoyed seeing me use the playground equipment no matter what!