Second Week of September

This week was a crazy week. Monday we had Spanish, Tuesday we had library, Wednesday we had our first guidance lesson, and Thursday we had computer lab. In math this week, we practiced subtraction. We learned that when we subtract, we take away and our number gets smaller. We also practiced by doing warm-ups on our white boards.

In science this week, the kids continued their  senses unit. They played different guessing games with their nose and hands to guess what was in the cup Mrs. Skalaban filled up. On Friday, they used their sense of smell and tried guessing what was in the cup. Mrs. Skalaban had different things like brown sugar, balmsamic vinegar and etc.

This week, we continued learning about colors and different family members. We did an activity that will be laminated and going into our first grade end-of-the-year book. They wrote a sentence stating which color they like the best.

Thank you everyone who has turned in their first grade fee. We will be doing lots of fun things in first grade. We will be ordering shirts soon to get ready for Soaring Skyward. If any parents would like to join us on Soaring Skyward Day, you’re more than welcome to! I’m not exactly sure what is schedule is like that day yet but I can give you a copy once I get one.

It’s going to be a busy day on the 29^th because not only do we have Soaring Skyward, but we also have our fun celebration of Mid-Autumn Festival. Tickets will be $3 a person and kids get free lanterns.

Families, VLA Sight Words, and 3 Addends

In math, we have been working on adding 3 addends. We have been using different manipulatives in the room to help us get the correct answer. Some kids like the challenge and are trying to do it with mental math.

We worked on sight words in VLA and took our first sound check this week. We also wrote in our VLA for the first time this week. The kids were to write a sentence using their sight words. We have been practicing this since the first week of school on our white boards. 

We read the book A House is a House and made houses with our family members. Come by the room and check them out hung outside of our classroom. 

In Mrs. Skalaban’s class, the kids wrote about why their family is so special.

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to the 2017-2018 school year! As the week went on, the kids are getting used to their first grade schedule. Mrs. Skalaban and I kept our homeroom for the first two days and we started switching classes on Wednesday. There's nothing like starting a school year with the solar eclipse and ending it with a hurricane! Stay dry out there.

This is a picture of the kids doing their first math activity on the first day of school. This past week, we worked on recognizing numbers and counting. My goal was to have each kids fluently count up to 10 in Vietnamese. Next week, we will be working on recognizing dot patterns and using ten frames. We will be learning how to compose numbers to equal to 10. 

We read the book Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker which was about an owl who never stopped talking. She talked so much that one day she lost her voice and learned that when she stopped to listen to others, she could learn so much about them that she never knew before. As a class, we talked about how we could be a good listener and what a good listener looks like.

We explored math centers this week. We’re having a little difficulty cleaning up quickly and quietly but we will continue to work on it!

 We worked together as a table to create our “golden rules” poster in class. The kids did SO well working together and not arguing. Before I handed them the poster, we talked about how we could take turns so everyone was able to participate. 

In social studies, we learned about how to be a good citizen in class. We used our SS spirals for the first time this week and drew two pictures of how we are a good friend.

In Mrs. Skalaban’s class, the students learned about scientists and the different kinds of scientists we have.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to e-mail me, call me or even leave notes in your child’s daily folder. I check folders every day.

I am also looking for someone to help me stuff daily and Monday folders every Monday morning. If you are interested and willing to help, I would really appreciate that! 

Happy Summer!

I can’t believe the school year is already over and it’s officially summer. One reason why I love first graders so much is the insane growth they make academically throughout the year. While cleaning the classroom yesterday, I found some old things we worked on during the year and couldn’t believe how far they’ve come. Please keep reading, writing, and practicing math over the summer!!! On the last day of school, I showed them some websites they could go on during the summer to continue reading. These websites are on a blue sheet of paper that was placed in their daily folder. It was funny because on one of the websites, they saw a category list of “scary and disgusting” and they REALLLLY wanted me to click on it so I did…and let me say, there are some books over some really scary and disgusting things. One of the books we clicked on talked about how a tribe in Africa makes their houses out of cow poop. The book also had pages about bat caves full of poop, worm poop, nasty landfills, and etc. They were so interested and disgusted at the same time. Although it was disgusting, the book was pretty informational.

Teachers had to go to a professional development last Friday when students had off and they showed us this video. I thought it was really interesting to see how much summer learning really makes a difference in a child during elementary school. I don't necessary think it's an income issue, but it's more about the support at home, which unfortunately not all children are able to get.

https://youtu.be/ZolcNG3GVCs

There’s also a June and July calendar of activities the kids could do over summer break just in case they get bored. It was stapled to an end-of-the-year letter.

On Thursday, both Mrs. Skalaban and my class had a bead store BLOWOUT. They could buy whatever they want with all the beads they had left. I should have taken a picture of all the toys laid out on the tables for the kids to buy but it was so insane I didn’t have time.

 We had our very last Vietnamese sound check on Wednesday and the kids did pretty well. If the kids want to keep up with their Vietnamese, they can use their Vietnamese flashcards that we worked on all year long or go to www.ilearnviet.com to practice. The username is ttran and the password is austin. Please keep the flashcards as a good resource for home. I spent a lot of time putting these together every week or two for all 42 students.

 Here is a picture of the kids during “puzzle day.”

I hope everyone has a great summer!!! Thanks for a great year!

Meet-the-Teacher is August 17 from 4-6

First Day of School is August 21, 2017

We just reached the last Friday of the School Year

Here are some writings we did this week with our sight words. The kids have came so long compared to the beginning of the year. We will have our last VLA sound check during the last week of school. I can’t believe there’s only 7 days of school left.

Ever wonder how we practice our sight words? To practice our Vietnamese sight words, we sit in a circle with our white boards, glove and marker. We write the word, write a sentence using the word and then draw a picture. Instead of me leading the whole group lesson, I ask the kids who wants to be the teacher for the day and they will lead it for me. It’s super cute.

 We worked on bodies of water this week in school and did a drawing activity.

 We went on a walking field trip to the Milwood Austin Library this Wednesday. We were so lucky it did not rain on us. It was a fun, quick trip. Mrs. Richey even joined us!

 We finished our last Robotics class this week and the kids LOVED it. Who doesn’t like to put Legos together to program it to twirl and chirp?

 Sadly, we had our last Science Buddies lesson this Friday. It was so fun. The kids had a “snail Olympics” with their buddies. The snails competed in the high jump, the obstacle course, the sprint and other events.

 In four more years, our lovely first graders will switch roles with their 5^th buddy and get to be the “big” science buddy!

Don’t forget tomorrow is our Dual Language picnic!! It is from 11:30-2:00. Come out to enjoy some music, food, hopefully some sun and to get wet!

It's About Time We Learn About Time!

This week, we started our unit on telling time. We started telling time to the hour and then started telling time to the half hour. We will continue telling time to the half hour this upcoming week. 

The kids got to play Time Travel on ABCYa! during math centers this week.  

 Thank you to the Zimmerman family for providing us with perfectly cut delicious watermelon for our watermelon day on Friday. We got to taste the watermelons outside and then described the watermelon.

Watermelons are…

Watermelons can…

Watermelons have…  

 On Friday, we went to the STEAM lab to create some tortoises and hares with some 5^th graders. There was a contest going on to see who could make the most original tortoise and hare. Sammi won the best hare and Michael won the best tortoise.  

We did our last Vietnamese writing for the month of May. It says “This summer, I want to go to…”  

The kids finished their clay pots in art class. I didn’t want to send these home Friday because they had their Mother’s Day gift to carry and I didn’t want these breaking so I will send these home Monday.  

First Week of May

In math this week, we learned about perimeter and area. Here is a picture of our new math bulletin board.

The kids got to create their own area robot and their own area person. They had fun with this.

 In Mrs. Skalaban’s class, the children have been working on writing how-to papers. They created their “how-to take care of a pet.”

During VLA time, we created some chicks and their life cycle using transitioning words.

Thank you for those who showered me with gifts this week for Teacher Appreciation Week!