Dear Parents,

As I said in the parent letter that went home yesterday….it has been kind of an “off” week.  Are you feeling that way too? Hopefully next week, will be a little more “normal”….relatively speaking! 

This week we did not read a new story in Reading class but rather are focusing on reviewing other skills…including capitalizing, writing, and contractions. Talk about this at home!  Have your firstie think about important adults in their life and the titles of each of those people.   If there is time, have your firstie write them down so that they are practicing capitalizing titles and names of people. 

Today, we continued with our NWEA testing….testing our Math skills.  Did you happen to see the math tests that came home yesterday?  The firsties did a pretty good job on that test, therefore I am excited to see the results of the latest NWEA tests.  I am looking forward to seeing their growth so far this year. 

I am sure that many of you heard about the question that I posed on the board when we came back from Christmas break.  It was this: “There is something really cool happening this summer, worldwide…..what is it?”  I continued to ask the firsties if they asked YOU.  Many would forget by the time they go home, so I thought another clue might have helped….. “This event has a symbol that appears on the channel, NBC.” I did have one parent who figured it out after that clue!  If you haven’t figured it out yet, ask your kiddo….we talked about it today in class.

  

On Tuesday, we read the story “Martin’s Big Words” by Doreen Rappaport, which is all about the life of Martin Luther King Jr. We learned about why he was so important to our country and what he did to change the minds and hearts of people.  We talked about how he used love and peace, instead of war and hate.  We spoke about how we can use our words and our hands to change people too!  We made some wreaths (they are hanging up in our classroom) to help remind us of Dr. King. 

Today, in Religion we learned about a man named Simeon and a woman named Anna, who waited a long time to meet baby Jesus, the Savior.  They both loved God with ALL of their hearts and we were able to have a good discussion about how even though we ALL sin, because Jesus was born, died on the cross, and rose again for our sins, we are ALL forgiven!  

Seed check….!  Our seeds from Science class are starting to sprout!!! (and between you and me, I really doubted that it was going to work….since we didn’t use soil….) We have left them alone for most of the week and the firsties were thrilled to see what happened to their seeds.   They will be coming home, probably next week.  Please watch for them.

Blessings on the rest of your week…..Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!

Miss Gallagher

Happy Friday! What a busy few days we have had! 

On Wednesday, we had a guest speaker talk to us about Lutherans for Life.  She spoke about how life is a wonderful gift from God and how blessed we are! She gifted our school a set of model babies that are meant to approximate babies at different stages in a mother’s womb.  The firsties were able to pick them up and feel what they would feel like at 12 weeks, 16 weeks, 22 weeks, and 26 weeks.   

 And because we are a little behind in Religion class, we learned a little more about how Mary found out she was pregnant with Jesus, and with all of the talk about babies and life, it all tied together!

We read our little weekly booklets in pairs (normally, they are read to me).  The kiddos really help to encourage each other and do such a good job!  How has reading been going at home?  I just want to encourage you to continue to practice reading 20 minutes a night.  It is awesome to see how far they have already come and I am looking forward to continuing this journey of learning to read with them. 

 Yesterday we were able to get outside and actually enjoy the snow!  The firsties found a patch of ice and were sliding on it like they were sliding into home plate!  It was quite a sight….

In Math we have begun a new chapter….tens and ones!  Today we learned about “tens towers” and we eve n drew some.  (This is when our skip counting comes in handy!)

Don’t forget that there is no school on Monday….enjoy an extra day with your firstie! 

Blessings on your long weekend!

Miss Gallagher

Dear Parents

Happy Monday and welcome to a new week given to us by the Lord!  I pray that you have a week filled with His love and His peace. 

Thank you to all that were able to send in “extras” from their homes for us to make our “junk creations”.  This was something new for me, but the firsties really enjoyed it and got right down to work after hearing the instructions….which were, they had to create something (it couldn’t just be pile of junk), be able to identify it and explain what it could do.  Because we were given many egg cartons, each firstie was able to use that as a base and then they picked 10 different items that wanted to use for their creation.  It was FUN!  Here is a few pictures of this project…

(Creating)

(Creating)

We will be having a few extra tests this week.  Our Science test will be tomorrow (Tuesday) and I sent books home today so you can review with your kiddo as well.  We “planted” our seeds on Friday.  Ask your firstie what seeds we planted!  We are going to observe them over two weeks and see if anything happens….(cross your fingers….and maybe your toes too…).  

Our Math test will be on Wednesday.  Review counting by twos, fives, and tens.  Practice in the car, practice before bed, practice while eating breakfast, practice whenever you can! 

In the parent letter today, I sent home some information about Lutheran Schools Week, which is the last week in January.  I will send home information again as a reminder later in the month.  

We did not go outside today….it was WAY too cold.  Don’t forget to always send in your firstie’s outside gear just in case we do end up going out. Thanks!

Stay warm!

Miss Gallagher

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year and welcome back to school!  Well, we have made it now for three whole days and it has been really great!  Call me crazy, but I think the firsties were ready to come back to school (at least that is what I choose to believe in my little "teacher heart"). I hope that you had a wonderful break and were able to spend some good time with family and friends. 

We are back in to the swing of things and the spelling pre-test today went very well!  Please continue to go over our spelling words and help your firstie practice the memory verse for our test on Friday. 

 

I introduced the iPads yesterday in our “Daily 5” and you could have heard a pin drop!  They are enjoying them immensely and I am thankful that we have them and are able to use them for review and other educational purposes.

In Math, we have begun learning about tens and their number words.  Please review tens with your firstie.  Just so you know, there are counting songs on go noodle that you can sing along with your firstie.  We have watched them a few times, and many of the kids in the class already have the songs memorized.  

I have received a few items for our “found” creations.  Hopefully after listening to your kiddo read the story “And I Mean It, Stanley”, you will understand a little better why I am asking for you to send any random items you might have lying around your house. Thank you!

In Science, we have been studying life cycles of plants and animals and we will be doing do a “planting” experiment on Friday.  Hopefully, the kids will be as excited as their teacher will be about the results…ha!

Blessings on the rest of your week!

Miss Gallagher