End of the Year

 “Never say goodbye, because saying goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.”

-Peter Pan

Parents,

As we pack up and leave for the end of this school year, I want to thank each and every one of you for all of your support and encouragement you have provided.  You have helped this year become a success for each child.  Thank you for trusting me to have the honor to educate and care for your child this school year.  I am so proud of each child’s accomplishments, and I cannot wait to see what they do in the years to come. We have made many great memories for us to remember.

As many of you know, it’s not goodbye, it’s see you later.  I hope to see many of you within the next couple years again.  Have a fun, safe, and relaxing summer!

Sincerely,
Carrie Nagy

Summer Reading List

Here is a copy of a suggested reading list from Scholastic's Website.  Please know that this list contains a range of reading levels, so it you want your child to read independently, check out the Book Wizard and reading chart if needed!  It's also fun to read some of these together!

Click the following link to access the list: Summer Reading List

Summer Reading

Good morning!  In reading we have been learning a lot about reading with stamina in order to prepare for the summer and second grade.  I have provided a reading level chart for your convenience over the summer.  For a lot of my own books, I have been using Scholastic Book Wizard to level them by Fontas & Pinnell reading level.

I would highly suggest using the Scholastic Book Wizard to find 'just right books' for your child this summer.  All you do is enter the title of the book and look at 'Guided Reading Level' to help determine the reading level.  Sometimes that will not be provided, but a Lexile score will be, so you can use the reading level chart to help determine the guided reading level (Fontas & Pinnell).

Happy Reading!

Edible Botany

The Cheetahs were very adventurous eaters today!  Here are some of our pictures from Edible Botany.  Thank you for all who helped and volunteered!

Check out what happens during P.E. in first grade!

May 11-15

Our last full week of school was packed with fun and learning.  As school and curriculum are coming to an end, so are our blog posts.  Please know that this is the last weekly update before the end of the school year.  Take a look at how we ended our last full week of school...

Reading
In reading this week our focus shifted from nonfiction reading to reading with stamina.  Stamina will be extremely important over the summer.  Our focus was on:

• fluency
• accuracy
• expression
• comprehension

Question:  How is working on our stamina in reading going to help us become better readers over the summer?

Writing
We completed our Nonfiction Mentor unit this week in writing!  This week we focused on:

• editing
• revising
• publishing
• celebrating our published pieces

Question:  What was your published nonfiction piece about?  What is one way you revised your book?

Math
We finished our Geometry unit last week, so this week we reviewed important math concepts in first grade such as:

• word problems
• addition and subtraction
• place value

Question:  What has been your favorite math game this year and why?  What math concept did it help you learn?

Social Studies
We are working hard on our Location! Location! Location! unit in social studies.  Concepts we worked on this week include:

• map features
• cardinal directions
• creating symbols for a map key

Question:  Can you name the six map features maps should have?  How are they important?

Upcoming Dates

5/18 - Summer Reading Club Information

5/20 - Flip Day

5/ 21 - Last Day of School, 1:05 Dismissal

Surprise Visit!

We had out JA Day program this afternoon, and we has a surprise visit from the St. Louis Rams' mascot, Rampage!!

Missouri Botanical Garden

Even though it rained, the Cheetahs carried their own sunny weather! We had a blast at the a Missouri Botanical Garden. 

May 4-8

We are in the home stretch and continuing to enjoy every moment of learning together.  This week brought beautiful weather and awesome memories.  A big thank you to all our field trip volunteers and an extra special happy mother's day wish to all our first grade Mommas!

This week in reading we spent time working on sharing our learning with others.  We...

• practiced talking about what we noticed, questioned or learned
• created posters of our learning
• presented our posters and our knowledge

Questions:  What did you chose to present on to your classmates?  What was one new learning you gathered in the process of researching and teaching about your topic?

Our focus on non-fiction  writing continued to centered around making sure our books are strong representations of all we've learned about non-fiction writing in first grade. This week we...

• looked closely at page design
• Added captions/split screens/labels and diagrams to our illustrations to add information to our pictures
• worked on our closings-sending off with a fact, question or clever link
• including interesting facts on every page
• adding fast facts
• completing a glossary

Question:  What did you add to your book to share more information with your audience?

Our geometry unit was working its way to a close this week.  We did some review of...

• composite shapes
• defining attributes of 2D and 3D shapes (vertices, angles, open/closed shapes)
• fractions (1/4,1/2, splitting into equal parts)

We ended the unit with an assessment on Thursday

Question:  Can you name three 2D shapes and share their defining attributes?

We began a new unit this week in social studies.  We are learning about maps and had time to...

• read about different types of maps
• explore google earth
• create 3D block model maps of our classroom
• create 2D paper maps of our classroom
• discuss key features of a map

Question:  How does a map help us understand the space around us?  What is one way we could use a map?

Upcoming events

5/13- Mrs. Nagy out AM

5/14- JA in a day

5/15- Edible botany, Mr. Halley taped to the wall for jump rope for heart 1st grade prize

5/18- Summer reading club information

5/20-Flip Day

5/21- Last Day of school, early dismissal

April 27 - May 1

Only 14 more days until we are second graders! That is a short amount of time, but we have plenty of learning left. We are working hard up until the last day of school. Check out what we've been up to this week...

Reading

We continue our work in our Nonfiction Reading to Become Experts with...

• sharing key ideas with others
• finding and recording key ideas and key details
• compare and contrast the same topic in different nonfiction texts

Question: What were two nonfiction texts that you looked for similarities and differences in your reading club?

Writing

Our writing unit of Studying the Craft of a Nonfiction Mentor Author fits in perfectly with our current writing unit! This week we...

• chose a topic and created questions to guide our research 
• researched our topic and questions
• made our plan for our nonfiction books
• began the opening page to our nonfiction book
• made table of content page to our nonfiction book

Question: What two databases have you been using to research your nonfiction topic?

Math

Geometry has been a lot of fun this week! We are continuing to learn how to...

• divide shapes into equal parts
• partitioning circles and rectangles into halves and fourths
• recognize which shapes are cut into quarters or halves

Question: Do you want 1 half or 1 fourth of a pizza?

Question:  How many quarters make up one half?

Science

Observing organisms has been a lot of fun and hard work! This week we...

• observed pill bugs
• observed millipedes
• observed what's happening in the terrariums
• discussed the plant life cycle

Questions: What is one similarity and one difference between pill bugs and millipedes? 

Upcoming Dates
5/4 - Mrs. Nagy Out

5/8 - Field Trip to the Botanical Garden

5/14 - JA in a Day

5/15 - Edible Botany

5/20 - Flip Day

5/21 - Last Day of School (1/2 Day)

Chaperons

Just a quick email to clarify the field trip forms... we are inviting any interested chaperons to participate in our field trip.  There is a $4.00 cost for all St. Louis County and City residents (adult chaperons).  We are able to bring 3 chaperons for free for each class and will be drawing from a hat once we get closer to the field trip. Once the names are selected I will return the $4.00 to those parents whose names were drawn.

April 20-24

Only 19 more days until we are second graders!  19 days is a short amount of time, but we have plenty of learning left.  We are working hard up until the last day of school.  Check out what we've been up to this week...

Reading
We continue our work in our Nonfiction Reading to Become Experts with..

• keeping track of our reading through writing
• participating in reading clubs
• using wonderings to help us choose a text
• summarizing and rephrasing new learning

Question:  How do you use a wondering you have to choose a text?

Writing

Our writing unit of Studying the Craft of a Nonfiction Mentor Author fits in perfectly with our current writing unit!  This week we...

• studied Jim Arnosky 
• studied National Geographic Kids
• learned how to use a search engine
• learned how to research a nonfiction topic

Question:  What is the writing style of the National Geographic Kids books?

Question:  How can you use a search engine to research a nonfiction topic?

Math

Geometry has been a lot of fun this week!  We are continue to learn how to...

• create composite shapes from 2D shapes using pattern blocks
• make a new shape from composite shapes using pattern blocks
• create composite shapes from 3D shapes using geo blocks
• describe composite shapes using shape names and positions

Question:  How can you make a hexagon using 1 hexagon and 6 trapezoids?

Science

Observing organisms has been a lot of fun and hard work!  This week we...

• planted our own seeds
• observed woodland plants
• observed freshwater plants
• observed freshwater snails
• observed guppies

Questions:  What was your favorite organism to observe this week?  Why?

Upcoming Dates

5/4 - Mrs. Nagy Out

5/8 - Field Trip to the Botanical Garden

5/14 - JA in a Day

5/15 - Edible Botany

5/20 - Flip Day

5/21 - Last Day of School (1/2 Day)

Early World of Learning & World Book Kids

Below is Barretts Library Media Center Website, you will find lots of fun and safe learning websites your child can use at home.  

Click on the library databases, there you will find Early World of Learning and World Book Kids. These are two safe websites that your child has been taught how to use to look up nonfiction information.  

Username: pkwyhome

password:  pkwyhome

http://www.edline.net/pages/Barretts_Elementary/Activities/Barretts_Elementary_Library

Exploring the Inside of a Seed!

In preparation for planting seeds next week, we got to explore the inside of a lima bean seed!  Check out what we found!

Producers and Consumers

The Cheetahs and Lions got together to celebrate the end of our Producers and Consumers unit in Social Studies!  We took turns acting as producers and consumers in our classroom stores.

April 13-17

24 days left until we are officially second graders....time really flies when you are having fun!  This week we started the last of our new units and are getting very excited for the warmth and sunshine that seems echo signs of spring time at Barretts.

Reading

In reading this week we continued on with our non-fiction expert unit.  We learned about....

• RAN charts (reading and analyzing non-fiction)
• Thinking about "what I know" before I read
• Thinking about new learning before I read
• Noticing wondering as I read
• Noticing new learning after I've read

Question: How does a RAN chart help me think about non-fiction books before, during and after reading?

Writing
In writing we spent three days completing a cold write to assess where students non-fiction independent writing skills were as compared to district expectations and grade level peers,  We also learned about two non-fiction mentors...

• Seymour Simon 
• Gail Gibbons

Question: What did you notice that was different about Simon books as compared to Gibbons non-fiction books?  How are nonfiction authors like fashion styles?

Math
Our math lessons focusing on attributes of shapes.  We learned...

• The definition of a defining attribute
• The difference between open/closed shapes
• Attributes of 2-D shapes

Question:  What is one defining attribute of a square? What about a cube?

Science
In science we spent time exploring our new unit on organisms.  We discovered...

• Organisms are living things
• All organisms require food, water and air
• Organisms are able to move,reproduce, and go through a life cycle
• Parts of seeds
• explored the inside of a seed

Question:  What are the parts of a lima bean seed?

Upcoming dates:

5/8 Field Trip to Botanical Gardens

5/14 JA in a day

5/15 Edible Botany
5/15 Summer School Registration closes

5/20 Flip Day

5/21 Last day of school (half day)

April 6-10

Six more weeks before we say goodbye, but lots of learning still to go! Check out what we've been up to  this week...

Reading

Our last reading unit is Nonfiction Reading to Become an Expert.  This week we studied...

• nonfiction books sorts by topics
• reading club habits
• purpose for reading nonfiction books

Question:  What is a reading club?

Writing
The students are continuing to work on their book reviews by:

• digitally publishing their book review
• planning a new book review
• writing an introduction
• retelling
• adding opinions and reasons
• providing a sense of closure

Question: How did you digitally publish your book review?

Math

Our last math unit of the year is Geometry.  This week we studied...

• 2D shapes
• Attributes of 2D shapes
• identifying 2D shapes in our environment
• learned how use the Shapes Software on the computer

Question: What are the attributes of a square, circle, and triangle?

Social Studies

The first graders are really enjoying our Producers and Consumers unit!  This week we produced goods for our classroom store.

• how goods and services connect producers and consumers together
• creating goods to sell as producers in classroom store
• learning how to be a consumer for the classroom store
• learning about the jobs needed for a classroom store

Question:  Tell me about your experience with the classroom store?  What job did you have?  What did you buy at the store?

Upcoming Dates:

4/10 - Trivia Night
4/13 - Mrs. Nagy Out

5/8 - Field Trip
5/15 - Edible Botany
5/20 - Flip Day

5/21 - Last Day of School (Half Day)

Pretzel Sale!

Barretts is having a Pretzel Sale on Friday, April 10 in conjunction with Abilities Awareness Day!  If your child would like to purchase a pretzel, I will be collecting money this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Money will be turned into the office at 9:05 on Thursday.

March 30-April 2

Happy Thursday!  We had such a busy week with a shorten week, a late start, and Leadership day in our building, but the students kept working hard.  There is no homework or blog slip, just read and discuss the questions!

Reading
This we week are wrapping up our Character Study unit by:

• studying different characters (Knuffle Bunny & Pete the Cat)
• looking at cause and effect
• external character qualities

Question:  Can you explain cause and effect?  Give an example from Knuffle Bunny.

Writing
The students are continuing to work on their book reviews by:

• planning a book review
• writing an introduction
• retelling
• adding opinions and reasons
• providing a sense of closure

Question:  Which book are you writing your book review on?  What is your favorite part of your book review?

Math

We are wrapping up our Extending Numbers and Operations unit before we move onto Geometry next week!  We finished up by:

• solving problems by drawing 10s and 1s
• taking the Common Assessment

Question:  Can you explain how to solve an addition problem by drawing 10s and 1s (i.e., 43 + 24)?

Social Studies

The first graders are enjoying our Producers and Consumers unit!  We are continuing to study producers and consumers by learning about:

• goods and services
• supply and demand
• how goods and services connect producers and consumers together
• the lemonade game

Question:  How do goods and services connect producers and consumers together?  How do you play the lemonade game?

Click the link to play the lemonade game!
http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-lemonade-stand 

Upcoming Dates:

4/3 - No School

4/10 - Trivia Night

5/8 - Field Trip

5/21 - Last Day of School

Lemonade Stand

http://www.coolmath-games.com/0-lemonade-stand

I promised the Cheetahs that I would post the Lemonade Stand link!  We've been learning about producers and consumers, so we've been working to transfer our new learning.

March 23-27

Welcome back!  Hope you had a wonderful spring break and are ready to end our year with energy and enthusiasm!

Reading This week we continued working on character lessons.  We looked at...

• noticing when things happen over and over to a character
• using what I know about characters to predict
• moral of a story/lessons learned
• thinking about how I can be like a character

Question:  Who is a character you would like to be more like?  What lesson(s) did this character learn in the book they are featured in?

 

Writing
We began our unit on book reviews.  We began the unit by learning...

• what is a book review
• how to persuade others with a book review
• parts of a book review
• structures (retell, opinion, reasons, closure)
• how to select a book to review

Question:  What is a book review?  How is it similar/different from a persuasive book?

Math 
This week we focused on...

• adding/subtracting
• double digit addition (plus/minus ten)

Question:  What is easier for you, adding or subtracting by 10's?

Social Studies
This week focused on an introduction to our new unit, producers and consumers.  We learned about...

• goods and services
• the process of taking products from start (producers) to finish (consumers)

Question:  What is the difference between a producer and a consumer?

Upcoming dates:

3/27-Author visit

4/1-Late Start

4/3-No School

4/10-Trivia Night

5/8-Field Trip

5/21-Last Day of School

Thank You

I want to thank you all for a truly special birthday celebration yesterday.  I continue to appreciate your overwhelming support and generosity you have shown this year.  This has been a very special school year for me, and I have all of you to thank for that.

I can't wait to come back from spring break with some new clothes I bought with your gift!  Thank you all very much!


The Cheetahs signing my birthday card:

Our fourth grade buddy, Jerrion, asked to read to the class at the end of the day as a special treat:

March 9-12

Spring Break is here today...but take a look at what we've working on before we go and PLAY!  There is only reading log homework over spring break, so just read and discuss the blog!

Reading

We continue to work in our Character Study unit by...

• keeping track of how one character affect another character
• reviewed keeping track on changing behaviors
• reviewed keeping track of changing relationships
• studied how characters have feelings for opinions about characters

Question:  What is an example of how one character affects another character?

Writing

The students continue to work hard trying to persuade their readers in their persuasion books by...

• planned a new opinion book
• added a catchy hook
• wrote three reasons for my persuasive book
• wrote examples for my reasons 
• used linking words

Question:  What are linking words and how did you use them in your book?

Math

Our unit continues to focus on number patterns and addition strategies. To help with building number sense and fluency we have...

• added 10 to a 2 digit numbers within 100
• played games that supported adding/subtracting 10, 20, 30, or 40 to a number within 100 & 200
• worked with base 10 blocks

Questions:  What game is your favorite so far?  What addition strategies have you learned to help you add more quickly?

Social Studies

We continue to work through our This is Our Country unit. This week we learned about...

• Barack Obama
• Martin Luther King Jr.

Questions:  What did you learn about Barack Obama?  What did you learn about Martin Luther King Jr.?

Upcoming Dates

3/16-Spring Break

3/23-School Resumes

3/27-Author Visit

4/2-Leader In Me Day

4/3-No School

March 2-6

Our first full week of March had a lot of learning!  Take a look at what we've been up to in first grade...

Reading
We continue to work in our Character Study unit by...

• keeping track of the mood of a story
• keeping track on changing behaviors 
• keeping track of changing relationships
• celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday!

Question:  How did the mood change in the book Green Eggs and Ham?

Writing

The students continue to work hard trying to persuade their readers in their persuasion books by...

• adding in strong reasons supported with examples
• adding a closing
• reviewing how to plan a persuasive book
• reviewing how to add a catchy introduction

Question:  How did you wrap up the ending/conclusion to you first persuasion book?

Math

Our unit continues to focus on number patterns and addition strategies.  To help with building number sense and fluency we have...

• added 2 digit numbers within 100
• played + or - from 89
• learned to decompose 2 digit numbers (i.e., 43 = 40 + 3)
• played addition split
• worked with base 10 blocks

Question:  What game is your favorite so far?  What addition strategies have you learned to help you add more quickly?

Social Studies

We continue to work through our This is Our Country unit.  This week we learned about...

• George Washington
• Abraham Lincoln
• comparing Washington and Lincoln by using a venn diagram

Question:  What did you learn about George Washington?  What did you learn about Abraham Lincoln?

Upcoming Dates

3/10-Book Fair Begins

3/11-Parent/Teacher Conferences

3/13-No School

3/16-Spring Break

3/23-School Resumes

3/27-Author Visit

4/2-Leader In Me Day

4/3-No School

What can I infer about my character?

February 23-27

We've had a great week of learning and are ready to close out February with our best efforts.  Take a look at all we learned this week in first grade....

Reading

We began a new reading unit this week about character study.  We will be learning to...

• understand character's thoughts, feelings and motivations by inferring
• learn lessons from characters

We using this week to look at external qualities, facial expression, and to begin inferring mood and action by using familiar texts.

Question:  Describe the character Sloppy Joe.  Are you like or dislike this character?  In what ways?

Writing

This week in writing we continued with our opinion pieces.  We took time to learn more about...

• using support language to defend our choices (I agree/I disagree)
• how media can persuade audiences (commercials/posters)
• how to plan for an opinion piece
• structures of persuasive writing

Question:  How are you attempting to persuade your reader to agree with your opinion?

Math

Math focused on number patterns and addition.  We continued to introduce games to help us build number sense and fluency, these included...

• calculator challenge (1+1 digit to solve 2+1 digit problems)
• follow the pattern (noticing math fact patterns)
• PIG (building numbers to 100)
• subtraction from 49
• 2 digit plus multiples of 10 within 100

Question:  Which game was your favorite?  

Question:  How did this game help you add faster or make adding easier?

Social Studies

As we continue to learn about our country's symbols we explored...

• The Presidential Seal
• The National Rose
• Washington, D.C.
• President George Washington

Question:  What is the importance of each of these national symbols/people?

Upcoming Dates

2/26-Progress Reports Sent Home

3/4-Late Start

3/10-Book Fair Begins

3/11-Parent/Teacher Conferences

3/13-No School

3/16-Spring Break

3/23-School Resumes

3/27-Author Visit

4/2-Leader In Me Day

4/3-No School