Miss Hutchison's Class Blog

Notes for Parents:

• Report cards will be coming home with your child on Friday, January 22. Because we are only halfway through the school year and are still learning, it will be VERY normal to see 2’s on your child’s report card. I’m so proud of their growth so far this year! 
• Please make sure your child has two snacks each day. Our first graders have hungry bellies! 🙂

CELEBRATIONS

Top Frog – We had four “Top Frogs” (star students) in our classroom this week. Each day, our class takes time to write “heart notes” (kind messages) for the top frog. Plus, the top frog is our door holder and line leader. 

Quote of the Week – This week’s quote went to LILLY for her bubbly personality and kind heart.

Mystery Reader – Greta was our virtual mystery reader this week while she’s been learning at home! The kids loved seeing her on the screen!

Family Time – Here are the photos of our award-winning students from this past Friday’s first grade family time.

Sports Day – We earned our next 10 star reward, so on Thursday we celebrated with a sports day! We watched sport highlights and did some sports coloring pages during snack time. The kids were THRILLED to get to visit the gym for some extra sports time, too!

OUR LEARNING:

Reading– This week we tried to figure out what to do when we learned new words.  We looked at clues around the word to see if we could find a way to figure out how to read the word and what it meant. We also worked on finding key words and making our voices sound smooth and fluent while we read. 

Writing – This week we practiced writing with details and helping readers “picture” the facts by using comparisons. We also practiced making lists in our nonfiction books and fixing up our books by pretending to be a reader.

Math – We finally finished Unit 3 which was a tricky one! I am SO proud of their hard work as we completed each lesson as well as the test this week. The test had 10 story problems, so the kiddos were superheroes for completing it. Having the early release this week was perfect timing for them to rest up and get ready for Unit 4: Place Value Concepts!

Word Study – We practiced using ALL of the things we’ve learned about words to help us figure out big, long words! We also learned the importance of having a vowel in every syllable of a word, especially when we are writing words.

Social Emotional – We started a new unit focusing on KINDNESS. We read “Little Penguin’s Kindness Contest” and have been learning about different ways to show kindness to others. We also started doing Friendship Circles each day – this is a time when we give compliments to one another to build our friendships. 

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, January 18 – STEAM
• Tuesday, January 19 – MUSIC
• Wednesday, January 20 – PE, Library
• Thursday, January 21 – ART
• Friday, January 22 – STEAM

Books We’ve Read Together:

We had a BLAST spending the day as Arctic explorers! 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!

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

Classroom Transformation

Snowy Soft Start

Watching Videos of the Arctic

Uh oh! Our first graders got stuck inside an Arctic snow globe!

After building some marshmallow igloos, we made Oreo penguins and went “ice fishing” for goldfish snacks.

Each table was assigned a different Arctic animal to research! Students wrote facts on sticky notes and added them to their animal’s poster. Now they have lots of facts ready so they can write a nonfiction book about their animal next week!

We learned about blubber by seeing how long we could keep our “plain” hand in ice cold water….not very long! But, when we covered one of our fingers with “blubber,” our fingers stayed warm even when they were placed in the ice water. This is why Arctic animals need blubber to keep them warm! 

We wrapped up the day by writing in “SNOW.” This was a favorite for most of our class! 

Our first graders earned their next 10 STAR REWARD!

We will be celebrating with a SPORTS DAY tomorrow (Thursday). Students are welcome to wear sports clothes, but please leave sports balls/equipment home. 🙂 

Notes for Parents:

• Please send your child’s headphones and journal back to school at your earliest convenience!
• Please make sure your child has two snacks each day. Our first graders have hungry bellies! 🙂

CELEBRATIONS

Top Frog – We had four “Top Frogs” (star students) in our classroom this week. Each day, our class takes time to write “heart notes” (kind messages) for the top frog. Plus, the top frog is our door holder and line leader. 

Quote of the Week – This week’s quote went to LANDON for his determination and strong work ethic.

Family Time – Here are the photos of our award-winning students from this past Friday’s first grade family time

Reading Celebration: We did it! We read independently and quietly for 20 minutes! This is a huge accomplishment for first graders. To celebrate, we made paper snowflakes and ate donuts. 

OUR LEARNING:

Reading– This week we continued to work on making good habits for when we read hard words. We practiced crashing small word parts we knew together to make the whole word, doing a slow check to check all the sounds, and checking if the words looked right, sounded right and made sense. We didn’t let hard words get in our way!

Writing – We continued our unit on nonfiction writing and began writing another nonfiction book. We practiced teaching with pictures as well as words, spelling domain-specific words, and using readers to point out parts of our stories that don’t make sense.

Math – We are wrapping up unit 3 which has been all about story problems! We took our last quiz and spent the remainder of the week reviewing for our test next week. This can be a tricky unit for our kiddos due to increased reading and figuring out what the numbers represent (partner or the total). We will continue to practice and build on these skills!

Word Study – We continued examining common word endings to make sure we read all the parts of words. We practiced hunting for blends and chunks at the ends of words (such as ing, ink, est). When we know these word parts well, we can read and write bigger, multisyllabic words!

Social Emotional – We started a new unit focusing on KINDNESS. We read “Little Penguin’s Kindness Contest” and have been learning about different ways to show kindness to others. We also started doing Friendship Circles each day – this is a time when we give compliments to one another to build our friendships. 

Social Studies – We wrapped up our MAPS unit by finishing our special map flip-books. We practiced writing our addresses, cities, and zip codes. 

Extra Pictures:

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, January 11 – STEAM
• Tuesday, January 12 – MUSIC
• Wednesday, January 13 – PE, Library
• Thursday, January 14 – ART
• Friday, January 15 – Early Release @ 12:15, Surprise Arctic Class Transformation

Books We’ve Read Together:

Notes for Parents:

• Thank you so much for your incredible generosity this holiday season! I have the BEST job in the world, and I love working with your children each day.
• Happy New Year from our classroom family!  

CELEBRATIONS

North Pole Ninja – A North Pole Ninja came to our classroom for the last 8 days before our break! Each day, our ninja brought us a book about kindness, and he sent us on kindness missions.

Quote of the Week – This week’s quote went to RAIS for being such a great friend to his classmates. He is always willing to help others and make them happy!

Family Time – Here are the photos of our award-winning students from this past Friday’s first grade family time!

Birthday – We celebrated Anna’s birthday on Friday! Happy birthday, Anna!

Miss VanderKolk’s Goodbye – On Friday afternoon, we had a special “Good-Pie Party” for Miss VanderKolk on Friday. We made her a class book, showed her this special video, and let her open some presents from our class. We will miss her! 

Holiday Party – For our holiday party, we had lots of fun playing games, doing yoga, and making crafts!

First, we played Holidays Around the World BINGO.

Then, we made reindeer drawings.

Next, we made a special gift for our first grade parapro Mrs. Elders, then we did some holiday yoga!

Last, we played a game where we tried to draw a snowman on a plate over our heads!

OUR LEARNING:

Reading– This week we continued learning about how to “research” topics by reading nonfiction books.

Writing – In writing this week, we finished writing our second nonfiction teaching book! Our class decided to write a teaching book about Christmas. 

Math – We solved lots more story problems this week using math mountains and circle drawings. 

Word Study – This week, we learned about different word endings, such as s, es, ed, er, or ing. We also learned that y can make the i or e sound at the end of words. 

Holidays Around the World – We wrapped up our trip around the world by visiting Germany, India, Australia, and the Netherlands! We’ve made wooden shoes and left them out for Sinterklaas, designed Rangoli art for Diwali, played beachball games, and made gingerbread houses. The kids loved stamping their passports, filling out their memory books, and doing special activities to learn about different holidays around the world.

FUN FACT: Mr. Waldie used to teach German! He visited our class to teach us some German and to fill us in on some German holiday traditions.

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, January 4 – ART
• Tuesday, January 5 – STEAM
• Wednesday, January 6 – MUSIC, Library
• Thursday, January 7 – PE
• Friday, January 8 – ART 

Books We’ve Read Together:

We had a ton of fun making gingerbread houses in our classroom this afternoon! Earlier in the week, we “traveled” to Germany and learned that gingerbread houses originated there, so we decided to make our own in celebration of our learning. The houses turned out to be awesome (and delicious)! 

Notes for Parents:

• We were so happy to come back to school on Wednesday! Thank you so much for your support during virtual learning. I know I say it often, but you all are truly phenomenal! 

CELEBRATIONS

Virtual Mystery Reader – Hudson’s mom was our mystery reader this week, and she read his birthday book to our class!  

Birthdays – We celebrated Hudson’s birthday on Friday! 

OUR LEARNING:

Reading– This week we began learning about how to “research” topics by reading nonfiction books. 

Writing – In writing this week, we started writing our second nonfiction teaching book! Our class decided to write a teaching book about Christmas. 

Math – We’ve been working on finding the missing partner in math equations this week. We’ve also started solving story problems!

Word Study – This week, we learned about different word endings, such as s, es, ed, er, or ing. 

North Pole Ninja– Our resident North Pole Ninja arrived this week! He brings us a book about kindness each day, and he helps us remember to go on “kindness missions” throughout the month of December. 

Holidays Around the World – So far, we’ve visited Greenland, England, and Israel on our trip around the world! We’ve made a Santa craft, written Christmas cards, and made a dreidel treat. The kids are loving stamping their passports, filling out their memory books, and doing special activities to learn about different holidays around the world. 

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, December 14 – PE, Holiday socks
• Tuesday, December 15 – ART, Holiday hat/headband day
• Wednesday, December 16 – STEAM, Holiday shirt/sweater
• Thursday, December 17 – MUSIC, Holiday spirit outfits
• Friday, December 18 – PE, Polar Express Day! Wear PJs
• Monday, January 4 – Return to School!

Books We’ve Read Together: