Miss Hutchison's Class Blog

Your child will be coming home with a FULL folder and backpack today and tomorrow! Please empty their backpack each day so we can make sure they have room to bring everything home from school. Thank you!

We had a fun-filled beach day today! Here are some pictures from our beach day:

We made our own “Summer Bucket Lists.”

We ate a goldfish snack outside on our beach towels!

We read outside on our beach towels (this is one of Miss Hutchison’s favorite thing to do in the summer;  read outside!)

For the “D” in our First Grade Countdown, we had a dance party before lunch. 

We did our class awards this afternoon. It was so special to see the students cheer each other on for their special awards. This really is an amazing bunch of kids!! Then, first graders got to open an end-of-the-year gift from Miss Hutchison – a book!

We created a SUMMER LEARNING FOLDER with their red folders! This will be coming home tomorrow, and it has lots of resources for continued learning in the summer. 🙂 

We had a super fun lemonade day today! Here are some pictures from our day:

Each student is bringing home their writing portfolio today! This folder is filled with their best writing from all year long! Students are so proud of these folders.

Our “A” balloon was for “Autographs!” We signed autographs in each other’s memory books this morning, then we signed on a beach ball for each student to bring home and keep! This is one of my favorite keepsakes to save year after year.

We wrote about “How to Make Lemonade” and made a pitcher of lemonade as a class while we wrote each step. Then, we did a LEMONADE TASTING where we tried pink lemonade and regular lemonade. Each student voted for their favorite, and we made a graph and chart of the data. 

We were challenged to make as many words that we could out of the words “COLD LEMONADE.” 

We ended our day with a water balloon toss! Plus, we celebrated Zoe’s summer birthday today and watched some more of the talent show. 🙂 

Hope to see you at Hager Park tonight if you’re available! 

Our class picnic is tomorrow at 6:00 pm at Hager Park. We will meet by the wooden playground (other classes will be in other parts of the park). Feel free to bring a picnic meal for your family to enjoy; otherwise, your child is welcome to play with their friends on the playground for the evening! I will be providing popsicles, too. I hope to see you there. 🙂 

We had a super fun sports day today! Here are some pictures from our fun day:

Our balloon pop for the day was the letter R. Each first grader got to RE-NAME themselves for the day! Some of the names they came up with were hilarious!! They also re-named me “Miss Mom” for the day!

We did some sports math by shooting hoops! We threw cheese balls into cups with numbers on them to practice writing fact family equations. Then, we enjoyed some basketball snacks.

We started watching “Georgetown’s Got Talent” this afternoon, too! The 3-5th grade performers did an amazing job showcasing their talents!

For field day this afternoon, we did 4 different relay games: sponge squeeze, pillow polo, spoon ball carry, and three legged race. Then, we enjoyed some popsicles as a refreshing treat! To see/download all field day pictures, click here. 

Notes for Parents:

• Here’s a list of our end of the year fun days! Please send your child to school with a beach towel next week. 

• Our (optional) class picnic will be Wednesday, June 2 @ 6:00 pm at Hager Park. We will meet at the picnic tables by the wooden playground (another class will be in a different part of the park). Hope to see you there!

CELEBRATIONS

Top Frog – We had three “Top Frogs” (star students) in our classroom this week: Reese V, Zoe, and Rais! For this round, the top frog gets to pick a friend and eat lunch with Miss Hutchison! Plus, the top frog is our door holder and line leader. 

Donuts: On Monday, Eli’s mom sent in surprise donuts for our class. Yum!

First Grade Family Time – Here are the award winning first graders from our last family time. of the year! 

Quote of the Week – Since every student in our class has earned a quote of the week this year, our class voted for another person in our school to earn this quote. They chose to give this quote to Mrs. Hoekstra & Mrs. Jeltema for keeping a positive attitude and helping us in the office!

First Grade Countdown – This week, we popped more balloons in our countdown!

I = Write with Ink Pens.

R = Recess (We had an extra recess.)

S = Soccer (We played soccer as a whole class!)

T = Teach about First Grade (We made Flipgrid videos for the kindergarteners teaching them about first grade.)

G = Games & Gum (We played indoor games because our olympics got rained out, and we got to try blowing bubbles with a piece of bubble gum).

OUR LEARNING:

Reading– We are ending the year with a review of non-fiction books. We are looking at non-fiction text features such as- Table of Contents, Diagrams, Labels, Headings, Titles, Glossary, Index, and Bold Words.

Writing – We spent this week working on a special first grade memory book! I hope that this special keepsake will help your child remember all of the special memories from first grade.

Math – We took our final math test which covered double digit addition with regrouping. This unit was short but important. Please continue to practice with your child at home throughout the summer!

Word Study – We wrapped up our first grade word study review by studying digraphs this week (sh, ch, ph, th, wh)

Fun Friday Rotations – Since our olympics were canceled from the rain and cold weather, all four teachers rotated through our class to do a fun activity with our class. We made a memorial day craft, played 4 corners and silent seat ball, played a kahoot, and did an ice cream drawing. 

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, May 31 – NO SCHOOL – Memorial Day
• Tuesday, June 1 – STEAM, Sports Day
• Wednesday, June 2 – MUSIC, Lemonade Day, Hager Park Picnic @ 6:00 pm
• Thursday, June 3 – PE, Beach Day
• Friday, June 4 – Last Day of School, 12:15 dismissal

We had a BLAST spending the day as Safari adventurers! Thank you so much to those of you who donated items to help make this day possible. The excitement and wonder on these kids’ faces when they walk into the classroom on these “surprise days” are truly amazing!

I can’t even believe it’s already been a whole year with these amazing first graders! The kids keep saying they’re “happy sad” about this being our last surprise day before summer, and I couldn’t agree more. 

To see all of the pictures from our Safari day or to download any of them, click here.

Classroom Transformation

Soft Start & Safari Pictures

We started with a “Measuring Safari” where we measured all different kinds of animals.  

Next, we made a craft: WILD ABOUT FIRST GRADE! Students wrote what parts of first grade they were “wild about.” Then, they made these adorable animals out of their writing!

We enjoyed some safari snacks: zebra cakes, tiger tails, and jungle juice.

We wrapped up our morning by going on a “Virtual” safari field trip! 

Students liked reading books about safari animals, too!

Notes for Parents:

• Here’s a list of our end of the year fun days! Please send your child to school with a beach towel next week. 

CELEBRATIONS

Top Frog – We had four “Top Frogs” (star students) in our classroom this week: Greta, Ben, Hudson, and Presleigh! For this round, the top frog gets to pick a friend and eat lunch with Miss Hutchison! Plus, the top frog is our door holder and line leader. 

Mystery Readers: On Thursday, Miss Hutchison’s mom was our mystery reader. She used to be an elementary teacher, too. She read the book that Miss Hutchison published when she was a student! 

First Grade Family Time – Here are the award winning first graders from this week’s family time. Now is a great time for your child to learn how to tie their shoes so they can join the shoe-tying club by the end of the school year!

Quote of the Week – Since every student in our class has earned a quote of the week this year, our class voted for another person in our school to earn this quote. They chose to give this quote to Mr. K for making the most of every day!

First Grade Countdown – On Friday, we started our countdown to the end of first grade! Each day, we will pop a balloon with a fun activity or thing inside for us to do. Friday we started with F. F is for “FUN SAFARI DAY.” 

OUR LEARNING:

Reading– We are ending the year with a review of non-fiction books. We are looking at non-fiction text features such as- Table of Contents, Diagrams, Labels, Headings, Titles, Glossary, Index, and Bold Words.

Writing – We are wrapping up our last unit by publishing our series books.  We made a series book box and illustrated and created cover pages for each of our stories.

Math – We took our unit 7 test and began our last unit for the year! Unit 8 is an introduction to double digit addition. We would like our kiddos to have exposure with some of the methods they can use because this will be a big focus in second grade! This week we learned how we can use the making a ten strategy for pictures, and they were also introduced to the new group below and new group above method for vertical problems. Another method we talked about was adding the tens together first then the ones, and then add to find the sum of the tens and ones.

Word Study – We’ll be spending these last few weeks reviewing some of the most important foundational skills that our first graders need to know in order to be successful second grade readers and writers. This week, we reviewed beginning blends with S (sc, st, sp), L (bl, pl, cl), and R (br, gr, tr, etc.)

Social Emotional  – We are wrapping up our last unit this week.  We ended with talking about how not to be a bully and how to stand up to bullies.

Charlotte’s Web – We finished reading Charlotte’s Web this week and watched the movie for a few minutes at the end of each day as a special treat. This story reminds us that books have the power to make us FEEL and care for characters, plus this story shows us the power of friendship! 

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, May 24 – ART
• Tuesday, May 25 – STEAM
• Wednesday, May 26 – MUSIC
• Thursday, May 27 – PE
• Friday, May 28 – ART, First Grade Olympics
• Monday, May 31 – NO SCHOOL – Memorial Day
• Tuesday, June 1 – STEAM, Sports Day
• Wednesday, June 2 – MUSIC, Lemonade Day
• Thursday, June 3 – PE, Beach Day
• Friday, June 4 – Last Day of School, 12:15 dismissal

Books We’ve Read Together:

We have some fun days planned to help us celebrate the end of first grade and the start of summer! Please mark these dates on your calendar. This flyer is also coming home with your child today:

Notes for Parents:

• If you ordered a copy of the book we published, it came home in your child’s backpack today! The kids are so excited to be #proudauthors.
• We still need 5 more cereal boxes by Monday for our writing project! If you have any extra empty cereal boxes around your house, I would love to take them off your hands! We are going to turn our realistic fiction stories into “series box sets,” so each child will need a cereal box to use. 🙂 

CELEBRATIONS

Top Frog – We had five “Top Frogs” (star students) in our classroom this week: Reese M, Hailey, Kenzie, Landon, and Eli! For this round, the top frog gets to pick a friend and eat lunch with Miss Hutchison! Plus, the top frog is our door holder and line leader. 

Proud Authors– Our published books arrived on Friday! We loved reading the book together as a class and celebrating our amazing writing!! 

Mystery Readers: On Tuesday, two second grade students visited our classroom as our mystery readers! They answered some of our questions about second grade. Then, on Thursday, Mr. Schultz read a book to us about being a police officer (since it is Police Week).The kids had lots of great questions for him about his job, too! 

First Grade Family Time – Here are the award winning first graders from this week’s family time. Now is a great time for your child to learn how to tie their shoes so they can join the shoe-tying club by the end of the school year!

Quote of the Week – Since every student in our class has earned a quote of the week this year, our class voted for another person in our school to earn this quote. They chose to give this quote to Miss Fewell for always believing in us and encouraging us! 

OUR LEARNING:

Reading– This week we wrapped up our Meeting characters and Learning Lessons Unit. We worked on learning lessons from our books and talked about how the lessons we learn in a book can be like a fortune from a fortune cookie.  We made comparisons and practiced giving our opinions about the books we have read. We will end the year with a review of non-fiction books.

Writing – Students wrapped up their realistic fiction series for our From Scenes to Series unit of study! This week we focused on using correct punctuation and using illustrations to tell important details. We learned that writers can use illustrations to give clues about the setting, bring characters to life, tell secrets to the reader, and add extra realistic details.

Math – We continued learning about shapes this week, and students learned the names of some 3D shapes as well: sphere, cylinder, rectangular prism, cone and cube. We also learned how we can put both 2D shapes and 3D shapes together to create new shapes. Towards the end of the week, we started studying measurement and what the words longest and shortest mean. We practiced putting items in order from shortest to longest and vice versa. On Friday, we learned we can measure things with length units such as paper clips. We took a quiz over both shapes and measurement this week, and we will be taking our unit 7 test next week.

Word Study – We’ll be spending these last few weeks reviewing some of the most important foundational skills that our first graders need to know in order to be successful second grade readers and writers. This week, we practiced sorting long and short vowel sounds. For example, “cut” has a short vowel sound, and “cute” has a long vowel sound.

Social Emotional  – This week we talked about what is bullying and what is not bullying, and we also reviewed tattling vs. telling.

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, May 17 – ART
• Tuesday, May 18 – STEAM
• Wednesday, May 19 – MUSIC
• Thursday, May 20 – PE
• Friday, May 21 – PE, Early release @ 12:15 pm, Surprise day!!
• Monday, May 24 and Tuesday, May 25 – Miss Hutchison will not be here. Miss Fewell will be our substitute teacher! 

Books We’ve Read Together:

Happy Mother’s Day! Moms, I hope you felt loved and appreciated by your families today! Your first graders love you more than words can describe!! 

Notes for Parents:

• Thank you so much for the sweet notes, treats, and tokens of appreciation this past week. I truly believe I have the best job in the world, and I get to teach the most amazing first graders. Thank you for sharing your children with me!
• Our final classroom transformation of the year will be next Friday, May 21. If you would like to donate an item for our “Jungle Safari” day, please check out this sign-up. 
• We still need about 10 more cereal boxes by the end of this week for our writing project! If you have any extra empty cereal boxes around your house, I would love to take them off your hands! We are going to turn our realistic fiction stories into “series box sets,” so each child will need a cereal box to use. 🙂 

CELEBRATIONS

Top Frog – We had five “Top Frogs” (star students) in our classroom this week: Logan, Joshua, Mason, Keegan, and Kylie.! For this round, the top frog gets to pick a friend and eat lunch with Miss Hutchison! Plus, the top frog is our door holder and line leader. 

15 Star Reward– We enjoyed a little tech free play time earlier this week as part of our 15 star reward for great behavior!

Appreciation – We showed our appreciation for the lunchroom staff on Friday by making them special flowers… “Thank you bunches for our lunches!” We also wrote notes of encouragement to the fourth graders as they began MSTEP this week. Plus, we were so excited to bring home our Mother’s Day presents to share with you this weekend.  💕

First Grade Family Time – Here are the award winning first graders from this week’s family time. Now is a great time for your child to learn how to tie their shoes so they can join the shoe-tying club by the end of the school year!

Quote of the Week – Since every student in our class has earned a quote of the week this year, our class voted for another person in our school to earn this quote. They chose to give this quote to Miss VanderKolk for showing us kindness and love all year long! 

OUR LEARNING:

Reading– This week in reading we learned about main characters and supporting characters too! This was a great tie in to our writing as it has been so fun creating our own characters. We also talked about changing our voices when our character’s feelings change and looked for clues on how to read our stories.

Writing – In writing this week we added some new tools to our writing toolboxes! We learned how to “show not tell” by adding tiny realistic details. Later we learned all about repetition and the importance of patterns in writing. Next week we will wrap up our realistic fiction writing unit and students will publish their very own boxed book series!

Math – This week we focused on time in our day and the tasks we carry out at specific times. We also learned how to tell and write time in half-hours! The remainder of the week was dedicated to shapes and their attributes.

Word Study – In first grade, one of the best ways for students to learn something new is through play and practice! We practiced proper use of capital letters through lots of different word games this week. Please encourage your child to capitalize proper nouns and the start of each sentence when they’re writing at home!

Social Emotional  – This week Little Penguin shared with us about diversity and respect for differences.  We talked about family stories and differences from around the world.

Cursive – Our first graders have been BEGGING me to teach them how to sign their names in cursive, so I made cursive tracing pages for them to use with their whiteboard pouches to practice signing their names in cursive. They are over the moon excited!

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, May 10 – PE
• Tuesday, May 11 – ART
• Wednesday, May 12 – STEAM, Library
• Thursday, May 13 – MUSIC
• Friday, May 14 – PE

Books We’ve Read Together: