Monday, December 13th

There is no spelling this week! We will be completing some wonderful holiday activities that go along with some of my favorite books. Ask your child each day about the special book we read and project that went along with the book.

Today, Monday, we read The Mitten by Jan Brett. Your child is coming home with their very own mitten filled with the animals from the story. Have your child retell the story and put all their animals into the mitten in the correct order. We really enjoyed this wonderful winter story!

Friday: We will be watching The Polar Express in our jammies. Kids are welcome to wear their pajamas to school on Friday. Pajamas must be school and winter weather appropriate. We will also be sledding today. I welcome students to bring their own sleds to school, due to limited number currently. Please label your child's sled with his/her name.

Reminder: Send buckets for Gingerbread Houses by Friday! Also, our ornament exchange is on Friday. Have ornaments here and wrapped by Thursday! Thanks!

Book Orders are scheduled to arrive on Thursday. I am still hoping that they will be here earlier. It has happened before:) I will contact parents when they are available for pick-up.

NO School from December 20 - January 2. We return to school on Monday, January 3rd. Happy Holidays!

Marvelous Monday 12-06-10

Spelling Words: or, for, form, sort, store, more, long, your, bring, head
Challenge Words: orbit, tornado, evaporate, important, enormous
Sight Words: animals, their, cold, under, very, fish, from

Class Picture with our Gingerbread Houses! Thank you Mrs. LaFortune! One is a little silly:)

Gingerbread houses will be ready for home delivery next week. We have found that the homes travel well in an "Ice Cream Pail." As soon as you have finished off your ice cream and washed out the bucket, please send it in to school. I ask that your child's name is somewhere on the bucket! As always, if you have any extras, we would gladly accept them! Thank you in advance.

If you would like to pick your child up from school and take his/her house with you, feel free to do so. Houses can be retrieved Wednesday, December 15th - Friday, December 17th.



Reminder -- Book orders are due this Thursday, December 9th!

Math: This week in math we are working on sorting, classifying, and graphing data. This is a very hard unit for First Graders. Please use the Family Sheet (sent home last week) to help your child better understand the concepts covered in this chapter.

Reading: Our sound with is week is "or". We are working on building and reading words that have "or" and "ore" in them. Please practice building words incorporating this phonetic element.

Wonderful Wednesday

Gingerbread House Mania

Thank you to everyone that attended our Gingerbread House Day! It was a blast. Please stop by and view our beautiful and unique gingerbread houses. They will be on display for the next two weeks.

Book Orders: There are three different book orders in the homework folders tonight. To assure delivery prior to Winter Break, I am requesting to have orders in no later than Thursday, December 9th. Please let me know if any of the books ordered need to be picked up at school by parents (Christmas gifts). We can then arrange a time a place for pick up.

Ornament Exchange:

There is information regarding an ornament exchange in your child's homework folder. This activity is unique to Mrs. Hagen's class. Feel free to email or call with any questions regarding the Ornament Exchange. Ornaments for this activity can be new, used or handmade. Please send your child's ornament to school, wrapped in wrapping paper by Thursday, December 16th. The exciting and cheerful exchange will take place on Friday, December 17th. Thank you for helping make the holiday season special and bright!

REMINDER: Report cards are available for review online as of Friday, December 3rd.

Marvelous Monday

Spelling Words: ring, sing, bring, thing, song, long, us, must, does, food
Challenge Words: tagalong, earring, something, swingset, everything

Sight Words: arms, head, way, use, feet, your, every, school

Come One, Come All...

Please join us in celebrating Gingerbread Day! All parents are welcome to help us celebrate by decorating our very own gingerbread house. We will start decorating at 1:40 tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov. 30th). Decorating usually takes a good hour. Our homes will join the "Parade of Homes" outside the library. All homes will return to their proud owners, the week before Winter Break.

Thank you to everyone that sent in materials. A huge thank you goes out to Renee LaFortune, Andrew Greben and Margo Hendersen for assembling all of our wonderful houses. A special thank you also goes out to Pat and Rhonda Nelson for making the "glue. " This day would not be possible without the wonderful volunteers that dedicate their time to our classroom! Our gingerbread houses will be the envy of Shirley Hills!

Just a reminder that the gingerbread houses are strictly for decoration. The glue we are using is not safe to consume. Thank you and I can't wait to see all the stunning masterpieces created tomorrow!

-ng ending
This week we are working on words that end in "-ng." Word families that we will be focusing on are: -ing, -ung, -ong, -ang

10 Fat Turkeys by: Mrs. Hagen's Class

Marvelous Monday

Mrs. Hagen's Class wishes you a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

GOBBLE, GOBBLE!

There are no new spelling words or sight words this week. Please practice the past sight words and read, read, read!

Our class is busy practicing our Theater Presentation of Ten Fat Turkeys. Look for our blockbuster debut, later in the week, right here on this blog.

SPECIALS:

Monday -- Art

Tuesday -- Gym

Wednesday -- Music

Reminder: There is no school on Thursday or Friday. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels!

Marvelous Monday

Spelling Words: us, bus,must, cut, cub, club, with, then, don't, says
Challenge Words: hungry, opossum, umbrella, coconut, puppet
Sight Words: live, does, grow, many, be good

Math Homework: Tonight there is a blue math homework sheet. Please help your child complete this sheet. The homework's purpose is to help better prepare your child for tomorrow's math test. Thank you in advance for you support. Your child will be more successful and confident in math because of your guidance.

Short /u/ : This week we are focusing on the sound that short /u/ makes. We point up to the sky while saying, "u,u up." This is a great technique to help your child remember his/her short vowel sounds.

Mrs. Hagen needs to apologize for the mix-up with the November calendar. Below I have listed the days for this week and what specials correlate. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Even though I hate to admit it, I am only human and definitely make mistakes too:)

Monday: Day 4 -- Gym
Tuesday: Day 5 -- Music
Wednesday: Day 6 -- Art
Thursday: Day 1 -- Gym
Friday: Day 2 -- Music

Brain Breaks: Please remember to send your child to school with a beach towel. We are using our beach towels as mats for our "Brain Break" time. The towels will allow for us to have our own space and respect others spaces. Thank you again. I look forward to sharing how wonderful our relaxation time is and how well we are responding to it!

WINTER: Whether we like it or not, Winter has graced us (at least for this week). Please make sure your child is bringing appropriate outside gear to school. Appropriate gear includes; boots, snow pants, jackets, hats, mittens, scarfs etc... If your child does not have the appropriate clothing on, he/she will be staying on the black top during recess. All of our children need time to run and de-stress during recess. Help make this possible by always sending Winter gear to school with your child. Some days you may not think we are going out, but we will! It is better to be safe than sorry. Thank you!

Terrific Tuesday

Sight Words: don't, her, line, Mr., new, says, water

Spelling Words: then, them, that, path, with, ten, get, said, was

Challenge Words: thermometer, thousand, thunder, anthem, width

Thank You!

A big thank you to all parents and students for coming to conferences. I truly enjoyed chatting with you and sharing all the successes we are having in First Grade! I am looking forward to a great year!

"TH"

This weeks phonetic sound is the "th" sound. We give a thumbs up to help us remember the sound "th" makes. Help your child think of words that both start and end with the "th" sound. Many of our spelling words also have this sound in common.

Math

In math this week, we are starting to focus on subtraction. In this week's lessons, we are using a number line to help us subtract. Please practice this strategy at home. Using our fingers is still okay, but at sometime we will not have enough fingers. A number line can be drawn on a piece of paper, printed off the internet or a ruler is a fine substitute.

100 Books

Please keep reading and sending in your 100 book sheets. If you are out of sheets, feel free to write them on a plain piece of paper. I will accept any medium when it comes to this. Please have your children read to you each night for at least 15 minutes. Thank you for all of your support!

Marvelous Monday

Halloween Fun - Thank you to all the great Moms that hosted "The Best Party Ever!"

Spelling Words: set, sent, ten, tell, let, get, all, call, make of

Challenge Words: compliment, farewell, gentle, penguin, magnetic

Sight Words: day, said, eat, first, time, was

Short /e/

This week we are working on the sound that "short e" makes. Like all the other short vowel sounds, we have created a little hand signal that helps us remember the sound. Ask your child to show you how to do the "e, e, elephant." Please help your child build "short e" words at home. We will be continuing that practice at school throughout the week.

Family Literacy Night

When: Tonight 11-01-10

Where: Shirley Hill's Library

When: 5 - 8 pm

Marvelous Monday

STAR KID

This week our Star Kid is Haakon. Haakon is a hard working first grader that takes pride in all that he does during the day. Haakon's favorite animal is a cheetah and his favorite food is cake. YUMMY! My favorite thing about Haakon's Star Kid board is that he listed his favorite place as "SCHOOL" and his favorite thing to do is "LEARN". Yeah Haakon!

Spelling Words: all, call, ball, tall, wall, fall, much, not, thank, top

Challenge Words: basketball, snowfall, install, gallbladder, waterfall

Sight Words: how, make of, some

MATH

In math we are learning how to count on using a number line. Please practice using a number line instead of using our fingers to add. If you don't have a number line at home, a great resource is a ruler. Have your child use the inch side of the ruler to count forward. Have fun practicing your math facts!

Terrific Tuesday

A Spook-Tacular Guest...

We had a very special guest today. Mrs. Skoro's Mom came and shared Halloween stories and tales with us. We learned a new little Halloween Jig and even a scary story about a man with a pumpkin head. It was a blast!

MEA VACATION

NO SCHOOL WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY OR FRIDAY!

Sight Word Practice

Mrs. Hagen has been checking students process with their sight words. Thus far in first grade, we have learned 17 new sight words. At the end of next week we will be tested on which sight words we know and be given a grade on our report card. Sight words should be recognized quickly and should not be sounded out. Please practice all 21 sight words below to ensure your child's success. These words are found on our Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe each Monday. The best way to learn these words is through repeated practice. Thank you for your support!

help, let's, now, in, no, too, get, hold, home, so, soon, late, oh, yes, find, much, thank, some, make, of, how

Wonderful Wednesday

Spelling Words: top, hop, hot, not, dot, lot, back, pick, oh, yes

Sight Words: much, thank, find

"Short O Sound"

We are working on the "short O" sound in first grade. To help us remember what sound "short O" makes, we have a special hand signal. We make the "OK" sign with our fingers and put it in front of our mouths. While waving our three standing fingers, we say "O, O, Octopus." Have your child demonstrate for you. It is a cute one!

Star of the Week...

Libby is our Star of the Week. Libby's favorite color is blue. Her favorite animal is a dog and her favorite food is tacos. Libby always has a caring heart in our classroom. She is well liked by everyone. Libby always listens to the teacher and is a positive leader in our classroom. Thank you Libby for being this weeks STAR KID!

Wonderful Wednesday

i-pod Touches...

We were lucky enough to use the touches again today.

Mrs. Hagen wanted to list some

of the apps that we are using so that you can try

them at home. Parents please remember

that it would be a good idea to use these in moderation.

The apps we have at school are limited and therefore,

we wouldn't want our kiddos to get burnt out of using them.

**Popmath

**Math Magic

**Word Magic

**iwrite words

**Math Bingo

Math Homework: Tonight there will be math homework.

You will find a blue math sheet in your child's homework folder.

Please complete this sheet with your child and return it tomorrow.

Remember, it is assigned tonight to help better prepare your child

for our math test tomorrow.

Marvelous Monday

STAR KID:
This week's STAR KID is Drew!
Drew wants to be a Marine Biologist when he grows up.
His favorite place to go is the park and blue is his favorite color.
When you are the STAR KID in Mrs. Hagen's class you have many responsibilities. You are in charge of leading the line everywhere we go. A STAR KID carries the lunch bin and picks a different friend each day to help. You also are in charge of doing the calendar and weather each morning. Mrs. Hagen also asks for your help throughout the week. STAR KIDS are respectful, responsible and kind. Thank you Drew for being this weeks STAR KID! I wonder who it will be next week?

Spelling Words: pick, pack, sack, tack, back, sick, hold, so, big, in
Sight Words: oh, late, yes


1-4 Had a Marvelous Monday! Our behavior was GREAT and we accomplished all of our goals today! We were given compliments by other teachers and they earned us FiReWoRkS! Ask your child to demonstrate our classroom firework show! It is really cute! Thanks for a MARVELOUS Day! I am looking forward to a TERRIFIC TUESDAY!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Minnetonka Regional Park

We had the most wonderful field trip yesterday. The weather was picture perfect and we learned a ton about insects. We were able to explore the woods of Minnetonka Regional Park looking for insect species. We found more than we could count. There were also a few other surprises (like a huge frog and deer droppings). YeAh! Thank you to all the parents and grandparents that helped with the trip. You did a great job assuring that our class was listening and learning. Thank you again! Morgan's Grandma sent in a few pictures from our day. Please enjoy! Today, Ava brought in a beautiful caterpillar to share with the class. We had a great discussion about the life cycle. Ask you child about the four stages of life that we talked about today.

1. eggs

2. Larva

3. Pupa

4. Adult

Short "i" is the sound that we have worked on this week. We will continue to practice short "i" next week as well. Ask your children about the finger cue we use to remember short "i". (itch, itch, itch)

Bag Books

Our first set of bag books went home on Thursday! Please remember that the levels are easy right now. All students were tested last week and given books that match their guided reading levels. If the books seem too easy for your child, be thankful. That is the goal. Each child has had a chance to read their books a number of times during the week before they find their place at your home. Remember that First Graders often memorize and that is okay. It is part of the reading process. It also creates a sense of comfort and confidence with young readers.

To make sure your child is reading, cover up the pictures. Have them read the pages of the book without being able to use picture cues. It is also fun to read the book from back cover to front cover. It just shakes it up a bit! One other idea is to point to words out of sequence. This assures that they are truly decoding and blending words. As a first grader it is also important for us to recall the beginning, middle and end of a book. At school we practice recognizing the characters, setting, problem and solution. Holding these discussions with your child will help them to be a more successful reader.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Spelling Words:
in, pin, pig, big, dig, did, had, sat, too no

Spelling tic-tac-toe is in the homework folder tonight. Please choose at least three activities from the sheet to complete. Parents, you must sign the sheet and send back to school on Friday. Spelling words should be practiced each night to be successful on Friday's test.

Math Homework:

You will find a blue math homework sheet in your child's folder tonight. Please complete the front and back WITH your child. This is to better prepare you child for our math test tomorrow. The homework needs to be returned tomorrow (Tuesday). Thank you for all of your continued support.

FIRE DRILL!

Today we had our first fire drill of the year. We walked very quietly out of the building and lined up in the front lawn. It is important to talk to your child about fire safety at school as well as at home. Mrs. Hagen's class did a wonderful job of listening very carefully to the directions of Mrs. Swanson. Having such wonderful listening ears ensures our safety. Yeah 1-4! I am very proud of you! Keep up the good work!

Picture Day is TOMORROW! Please send your child's picture form in!

Friday, September 24, 2010

iPod Touch

Today we used the iPod Touch cart that our school has. It was sooooo neat! We were able to use apps that helped us with our math facts and word building. We can't wait to use them again. Everyone in class was respectful of the iPods and followed all directions! Mrs. Hagen was very proud of her class. It is amazing just how tech savvy first graders are!

4th Grade Buddies

Mrs. Hagen's First Graders and Mr. Picciolio's Fourth Graders have teamed up to be buddies. We met our buddies for the first time and they helped us read. It is great to listen to the older kids read us stories. We also love having our buddies there to help us when we are reading and stuck on a hard word. Thank you buddies for a great reading time! We can't wait until next time.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND! REMEMBER TO KEEP READING!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

YEAH!

We had an OUTSTANDING day! I loved being a teacher today. I saw tons of lightbulbs go on and we moved major mountains in our learning. I can not stress how wonderful it is to have a day like today. Keep up the good work and I am looking forward to another AWESOME day tomorrow!

Cheer Spelling...

Ask your child about the fun way we practiced our sight words today! We cheered all the letters in the words and had movements to go with them. When a letter is tall, we reach for the stars. When a letter is small, we put our hands on our hips. When the letter is long and goes underground, we touch the floor. Have your child demonstrate for you. We had a blast and I know you will too!

REMINDER: Spelling Test is TOMORROW! Practice, practice, practice!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!

This was our focus of today. We seem to be having a difficult time settling into the school routine. Please remind your children that their job is to learn at school. Throughout the day we are needing many reminders to stay on task, listen when the teacher is talking and be respectful of our classmates. First grade is a very important year in your child's academic career. Here is where we learn most of thephonics that lead to our reading success. I want all first graders to feel successful and happy. With a classroom full of respectful and kind students, I know this will not be a problem.

SPELLING:

Remember to continue to practice your spelling words all week. On Friday, return the tic-tac-toe sheet with a parent signature. I would also like you to mark off all the activities completed by your child. Don't feel as though you have to stop at 3 activities. Do as many as time allows. The more practice the better. If your child has CHALLENGE WORDS taped on the bottom of their pretest, please practice those words. It is important that children are challenged!

School Pictures:

Please send back your school picture form with payment as soon as possible. It is important that every student have a form for picture day, next week. I willcollect them as they come in andhold on to themuntil picture day arrives. Thank you! I can't wait to see all the smiles!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

MATH

This week in math we have been working on addition. It is important that every student understands what an addition number sentence looks like. Please review with your child that an addition number sentence looks like this:

______ + ______ =SUM

We will be having a math test on Friday. Look for the math review homework in Thursday nights Homework Folder. Math homework will always come home the night before the test. This can be your clue about test dates.

PURPLE

Today we completed the PURPLE page in our color book. Ask your child to share the PURPLE song we learned today. We also read "Harold and the Purple Crayon." This is a great book that sparks tons of imagination and creativity. It has always proven to be one of the children's favorite books.

"Short A"

All week we have been focusing on the "short a" sound. I use the visual cue of eating an apple, to spark recall. While doing the visual cue, we also recite, "a, a, apple." Have your child demonstrate for you.

A great idea for practicing "short a" is to build short a words. In class we build one word and just change a single letter to create a totally different word. This also leads into great discussions and teaching opportunities revolving around rhyming.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Testing, Testing, Testing...

Today, we had a substitute teacher all morning so that Mrs. Hagen could listen to us read. Mrs. Hagen is really impressed with all of the wonderful students that are in her room. Parents, please remember to work each night on spelling words, sight words, letters and sounds. As the year goes forward, we will be working on reading fluency (how many correct words you can read in a timed set). Thank you first graders for all of your hard work today.

Today we had media with Mrs. Williams and Art with Mrs. Olaussen. I hope everyone is enjoying sharing their library books at home with their families.

There is NO homework tonight. Please continue to practice your spelling words each night. Remember that the spelling homework is not due until Friday. Please keep the spelling at home and practice each night.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Shirley Hills Rocks!

This morning we started our day off with a special assembly. We had a blast listening to the Shirley Hills Rock Band and dancing in the dark with neon bracelets! Please ask your students to share their exciting morning with you! Each child will be bringing home a glow-in-the-dark bracelet. Please have your child keep his or her bracelet at home for safe keeping.

SpELLinG HoMewOrK

We took our first spelling pretest today! In your child's homework folder is their spelling homework for the week. Please have them work on it a little each night and then send it back to school on Friday. If your child achieved 8 or more words correct, they have 5 additional words to practice for challenge. We will be taking our spelling test on Friday morning! Have fun practicing.

BOOK ORDERS

Just a reminder to send back your books orders by Thursday, September 16th. I would like to send the order in by late Thursday afternoon. Thank you for all that have ordered. Each order earns our classroom new books!

Purple Slip Winners!

Morgan and Katie earned Purple Slips today! They did a fantastic job during partner reading. I loved listening to them read our story, "TAP." Great job girls!

Day 3

Thank you everyone for sending back the handwriting homework and homework folders. There is no homework tonight! Starting next week we will begin our regular homework routine. I think I can hear the moans from here! Thanks for a great week so far. I am looking forward to a wonderful year!

ORANGE

Today we did the second page of our color book. Today's color is ORANGE. For today's color we listed all things that are orange, we read "Spookley the Square Pumpkin," we made our own Spookley and we watched a Spookley the Square Pumpkin movie. Wow were we busy. At least we had a lot of fun. Oh, and make sure you ask your child to share the ORANGE song we learned.

I want to thank the Witte family for sending in a couple fun pics from this week. If you have any pics that you would like to share on the blog from open house or the first week of school, please email them to me and I will be glad to share them.

Just a reminder that tomorrow, Friday, September 10th is the Back To School BBQ. Please join us in the cafeteria for some socializing and great food.

Second Day

Purple Slip Winners

Today Mrs. Hagen chose 5 purple slip winners. These boys and girls followed all of the classroom expectations all day long. We are very proud of our classroom behaviors. The 5 purple slips went to..............

1. Haakon

2. Gabrielle

3. Drew

4. Eric

5. Libby

Thank you boys and girls for all of your hard work!

What we want to learn in First Grade...

"I want to learn all kinds of math" -- Drew

"I want to learn everything about science" -- Jake

"I want to make kittens in art" -- Ava

"I want to learn to count to 100" -- Morgan

"I want to learn how to play music" -- Eathon

"I want to learn about the weather" -- McKayla

"I want to learn about the Earth" -- Jacob

"I want to learn how to read books" -- Grace

First Day Of School

Welcome First Graders!

It was an exciting and eventful day. I am sure everyone was tired when they got home, I know I was! Today we made a "Getting To Know You" necklace, created classroom expectations, made our September calendar and learned how to use the SmartBoard. We sure were busy and there was a lot of new information to take in. Tomorrow we will remind ourselves of all the important information we learned today.

Below are the 10 expectations that we as a class came up with and pledge to follow:

1. No talking when the teacher is talking

2. Raise your hand when you want to share

3. No blurting

4. Walk quietly in the hallway

5. Be kind and respectful to everyone

6. Keep your hands and feet to yourself

7. Have fun

8. Do your best work

9. Listen carefully to all directions

10. Be safe

With these expectations, I know our classroom will run smoothly and be a fun place to spend our days.

Parents, please remember to meet your students in the gym if they are being picked up at the end of the day. Also, remember to sign them out in the gym. For the safety of our students, we need to know who our children are leaving with.

Thanks again for a wonderful first day. I look forward to a great year!