Snow Day Work at Home!!!

With all of the snow days we have had this school year, we cannot stress enough the importance of working with your child at home. When they are used to having reading and math each day during the week, they need to continue to have that practice even on snow days. We also have our third Math Proficiency Assessment that all the first graders will be taking next Wednesday, March 11th. If we are out for the rest of the week due to weather, it is ESSENTIAL that you take the time to practice some of the material with your student that will be on the assessment. Our goal is for all students to receive a proficient or distinguished score and that will not be possible if students do not practice at home. Below are some of the sample problems you should practice with your child. Create new problems if possible and also have them finish their math homework for practice.

Sarah made a design out of 10 triangles. She colored 6 of them. How many triangles still need to be colored?
(Make sure students draw ten triangles and cross out 6 of them to find the answer. If students create the subtraction problem 10-6=4 that is also a strategy that has been taught).

What two numbers can be added together to equal 100?
a. 55+55                            
b. 95+15
c. 65+35
(Make sure students do not guess at the answer. Have students actually solve each equation to determine which is correct. Students can stack the two digit numbers on top of one another to add, draw a picture using base ten blocks-so for 55+55 it would be 5 tens and 5 ones + 5 tens and 5 ones, or simply add the ones place in each problem and then the tens place in each problem).

Which symbol would go in the blank to make the number sentence true?
16 __ 7= 9
a. -
b. +
c. =
(Make sure students understand that if you were adding 16 and 7, that the answer would be bigger than 16 instead of less than 16 like the answer 9 is. Have them double check their work and solve 16-7 to make sure they get the answer of 9).

Which expression makes the number sentence true?
18-4=?
a. 6+7
b. 8+4
c. 9+5
(Make sure students know the equation is supposed to be balanced, therefore both sides should equal the same thing, in this case 14. Have them solve 18-4 first then each of the equations a, b, and c in order to determine which also equals the same number-c).

Which number goes into the box to make it true?
20- ___ =11
a. 9
b. 10
c. 8
(Make sure students take the biggest number-20- and draw 20 circles. They will then circle or cross out 11 because 11 is already used on the other side of the equation. They then should determine that 9 is the number).

Also practice adding two digit numbers to other two digit numbers such as 26+12 and 45+15. Also practice subtracting a multiple of ten from another multiple of ten such as 80-20 and 70-60.

Here are some free websites that students can get on and practice some reading skills too! Even listening to a story read fluently will benefit students because they should be following along and will make connections with the words being read.
http://www.starfall.com/
http://www.abcya.com/
http://www.storylineonline.net/

math: http://www.coolmath.com/

Feel free to email any of us if there are any questions! Thanks for all that you do.

Mrs. Palmer, Ms. Bale, Ms. Schwager

Our First Graders are 100 Days Smarter!

     


This week we celebrated the 100th day of school and our students had so much fun! We made hats, shared our "100 items from home" project, made a trail mix of 100 pieces of food & learned a 100 day rap. Thank you to all the students that brought in 100 items from home. There were so many creative projects and we enjoyed them! Here's a sneak peak into my classroom...

 

This week we also reviewed how to retell a story. This is SO important and a huge part of what determines their reading level. Every single time you read with your child have them retell the story to you using transition words first, next, then & finally. The more they do it the easier it will be for them!

Next week we will be learning how to identify the reasons an author gives to support their opinion in a text. One way you can practice this at home is to always have your child give reasons to why they want to do something. For example, if your child says they want a banana to eat instead of an apple have them tell you why and explain their thinking.

Have a great Friday and weekend!

Ms. Bale

Brrr....it's COLD!

                            

Brrrr....it is COLD outside! We hope you are staying warm at the start of 2015!

We had a great first week back learning about how other countries celebrate New Years. We are also working on adding a two-digit number to a one-digit number in math. (Ex. 22 + 5 = 27)  When you are practicing this at home have your child show you their favorite strategy to solve those types of problems. Let THEM be the teacher! Let THEM teach you how they like to solve the problem.



                                             

Here's food for thought: Have you ever considered turning on the closed captioning on your TV at home? Think about how much reading your child would do in just one day if they had the words to read as they were watching their favorite TV show! Try it and let us know what you think!

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Bale, Mrs. Palmer & Ms. Schwager

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

 

 

Our first graders had a surprise visit from Santa yesterday and although Santa left without making an appearance he sure left a lot of presents for our sweet students. Check out this video (link below) of our Santa visit and I promise it will put a smile on your face!

Santa Visit to Mill Creek Elementary!


Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Ms. Bale, Mrs. Palmer & Ms. Schwager

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our first graders had a lot of fun this week celebrating Thanksgiving! On Monday they wrote opinion pieces telling whether they would want to be an Indian or a Pilgrim for Thanksgiving and why. Then they got to decorate either a pilgrim's hat or Indian headdress to wear to our Thanksgiving feast. They feasted on turkey, rolls, macaroni and cheese, green beans & pumpkin pie! The students loved getting to act out the first Thanksgiving feast and learning how the Indian's helped the Pilgrims when they arrived to America.

On Tuesday morning they got some great exercise through the Turkey Trot. Then Tuesday afternoon those students who were at school everyday, without being late & returned a permission slip got to go to the Texas Hoedown! Those students had a lot of fun going on a hayride, making s'mores, drinking apple cider & petting some pretty cool animals. They absolutely loved it! Here is a video of our Texas Hoedown!

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families!

Ms. Bale, Mrs. Palmer & Ms. Schwager

 

 

 

Happy Halloween!

First of all let me say a big THANK YOU to everyone who donated Chili items for Freaky Friday! It was a huge success and first grade raised over $500 in money! We will deifnitely be taking a fun field trip in the future!

This week was Halloween week at the Creek! The Blue Apple Players came to our school on Wednesday to perfom a Wild West version of the Three Little Pigs. It was so funny! In math we have been learning how to decompose (or break apart) a number leading to ten. Since today was Halloween we had a Jack-O-Latern paper and created our own ways to decompose numbers. We drew teeth on the top and bottom of the mouth of our pumpkins and created an equation to match. For example, if I drew three teeth on the top of my pumpkin mouth and 4 on the bottom, my equation would be 3+4=7. It was so much fun and the students worked so hard to create their own pumpkin and equation. They will be displayed in the hallway soon! In reading this week we practiced using text features such as title, labels, and captions. We drew a pumpkin, created a title, labeled the pumpkin, and even created a caption. The students did a wonderful job. This afternoon we had a lot of fun at during the Paw Party dance and the classroom party! Below are some pictures of my kiddos. Enjoy!

Mrs. Palmer

Fire Safety Week!

Last week was fun and exciting as we learned about fire safety! On Wednesday, we had convocation in the morning and two officers came to school to talk with students about how they became firefighters. It was great to hear about how students can reach those same goals! Then on Thursday, a fire truck and firemen came to our school to visit! We got to go outside and listen to tips about what to do if there is a fire at school or home. We learned how to crawl on he ground if there is smoke in the house, make sure our alarms are working, and how to set a meeting place with your family if you have to leave the house quickly because of a fire. We learned to stop, drop, and roll if any of our clothes get on fire! Ask your kiddos about some things they learned and make sure you have a plan if there is ever a fire in your home. The best part of the learning involved seeing everything in person on the fire truck and taking a walk through! Here are some pictures from my class as we got to go inside and explore. Enjoy!

Mrs. Palmer

Math Blog, Book Level App & a "Frozen" Sharpen the Saw

I hope all of our first graders and their families have had a great weekend and are sharpening the saw! Mrs. Palmer, Ms. Schwager and I wanted to make sure our parents knew about a couple of great resources for reinforcing math and reading content at home. Thanks to JCPS there is a blog that gives you "how to" videos, apps & computer games that will help with practicing 1st grade math skills at home. We hope you take advantage of this great resource! Just click on the link below.

JCPS First Grade Math Blog

There is also a GREAT app that is made my Scholastic called Bookwizard. This app helps you choose books that are on your child's reading level. All you have to do is scan the book and it will list the DRA level (reading level) for that book. (It will also list other reading levels but look for the one that says DRA. That is the program we use to test their reading level.)

Click below to access the Book Wizard app or website.

Scholastic Book Wizard App


Scholastic Book Wizard Website

I also wanted to share a video from a few weeks ago during Sharpen the Saw. We worked our minds by doing seek and finds & listened to Disney music. Frozen's "Let It Go" came on and let's just say the students sure showed off their singing abilities. Enjoy!


                                                                                                                                 Ms. Bale

Kentucky Kids Day!

Tuesday was Kentucky Kids Day and 1st grade celebrated big time! We had popcorn and kool-aid while we drew illustrations. All of the students got to take home play-dough and of course no day in 1st grade is complete without getting a little messy. We played with shaving cream and the students LOVED it! Here are some pictures from my class.

                                                                                                                           Ms. Bale

 

 

 

Thank You!

We just wanted to take a second and say "Thank you" for all of your support! Your child's success is truly a team effort and we're excited to see what all 1st grade can accomplish this year. (And, thank you to everyone who came out to Open House! It's always good to see and talk to you.)

Ms. Bale, Mrs. Palmer & Ms. Schwager

Reading Tips for Home

With the first 4 weeks behind us we wanted to share a couple of great resources to help give you ideas for working with your child at home. These links are specifically geared towards reading.


Reading Tips at Home (This link gives ideas about reading at home, in general.)


Reading Fluency Tips (This link gives some ideas on strategies to use when a child gets "stuck" on a word they don't know. Hint: This would be great to help with our reading homework!)


We hope these ideas help support your little readers! Have a great weekend.

Ms. Schwager, Mrs. Palmer & Ms. Bale

Labor Day Week!

This week was a wonderful one at the Creek! We have been working hard with writing about Social Studies topics. We are currently publishing our writing on a video that we will post soon on the blog! (Ms. Bale and Ms. Schwager will post theirs too!) In reading we have been having fun learning to retell a story. We have discussed why telling a story in the correct sequence, or order, is important. Ask your kiddos and listen to what they have to say! In math, we have successfully complete reading, writing, and counting to 120. We have also completed learning about place value. This week we began addition. The kiddos learned the Sums of Ten by creating a rainbow to help remember the equations fluently. Ask them to draw it for you at home! You will see it this coming week in the homework packet. On Friday we even had a mini Math Bee to practice adding within 10. The kids had a blast! Below are a couple videos of what the Math Bee looked like in my classroom. I was so proud of their effort and cheering on their classmates!

Mrs. Palmer

Welcome to First Grade!

Hi and welcome to our very first "Mill Creek First Grade" website! Mrs. Palmer, Ms. Schwager and I are VERY excited to be able to share some things that we'll be doing this year in First Grade.

When you visit our blog this year you will find pictures and videos of all of our students hard at work. We will also share some things about each of our classes throughout the year. It is just another way for you to see what your child is learning and doing each day when they come to school. We hope you enjoy reading about not only your child but some of their classmates, as well. Keep checking back for more updates from myself, Ms. Schwager or Mrs. Palmer! I'll leave you with a video of some of my students during Reading where they had to act out a scenario and the class had to guess the setting of the scenario. They all did such a great job!

(And yes, that is all of us at Mrs. Palmer's wedding last October! It's wonderful when your teammates become some of your greatest friends.)

Ms. Bale