That's all, folks!

Well, I'm a week behind, but I figured there was really no rush!  I told you I would post some final photos from our last week of First Grade, and here they are!  You will see photos of our reader's theater, The Tug of War, our final Christian Service activity and prayer service, our famous Father's Day tie project (which, by the way, I wish I could see photos of our dads in their ties!), signing yearbooks, our final science activity (proving that air ~a type of gas~really does take the shape of whatever you put it into... like a pool float), and a few group shots from our party at the park!  Phew!  

Mrs. Coulter and I had a wonderful year getting to know each and every one of these Firsties!  It was truly a pleasure to teach them as much as we could in 180 school days.  We laughed a lot, sang a lot, cried a little, played a lot, but, most importantly, we grew a lot!  Your child has grown academically, spiritually, and, of course, physically!  They have read hundreds of books, written thousands of words, completed tons of math problems, and prayed at least 500 prayers!  Without a doubt, these kids are ready for 2nd Grade!  Please read every day this summer, take advantage of our wonderful Mathletics program, and encourage your child to keep a summer journal... the old adage is true- use it, or lose it!  

I hope everyone enjoys this time away from school, makes special memories, and spends tons of time with family and friends!  

I will always look back at this class with fond memories of my own, especially now since they will be my last Firsty class!  

Thank you for trusting us with your special little ones!  

Take care and God bless!!! 

~Ms. Hudson 

 

Don't blink...

This is it, folks! The last 4.25 days of First Grade!  I can't believe it- every year really does move faster and faster! We had a great week this week- the kids are definitely excited for the end of the year, and I'm sure they're not the only ones = )  We didn't get a chance to perform our Reader's Theater yet, but we'll take care of that this week.  They are ready!  They did, however, perform for the 8th graders!  Our little cowboys and cowgirls did a great job singing "Happy Trails to You"!  They looked great up there, hats, vests, bandanas, ponies, ukuleles, and all!  Oh, and we can't forget those mustaches! Something about this class and mustaches... Here are a few photos from the excited  kiddos waiting to go up and sing:

I just love those mustaches! They were the perfect touch for our cowboy look!

This week we worked on some fun writing activities.  Our thank you present for Mrs. Schulte and Mr. English will be a book compiled with ideas of what the Firsties think our fearless leaders will be doing over the summer vacation.  Here are some of the pages from Mrs. Schulte's book:

Hmmmmmm....

Love her bathing suit!

 I am sure Mr. English and Mrs. Schulte will love their new reading material for the summer!  

This week is going to be a fun-filled week, with lots of year-end activities!  We will have our Spelling Bee, our Father's Day project, our last Christian Service project, our class party at the park (taking place on THURSDAY at 10am- please pack their lunch as usual!), watching the Kindergartners graduate on Tuesday, and receiving our final report cards and some fun class awards on Friday!  Please join us for our Parent Mass at 8am on Friday.  The students will return to class for one hour, then we will dismiss them at 10am from their classrooms.  We need that hour to distribute report cards and hand out our classroom awards.  And, maybe, just maybe, we want to hold onto them for one last precious hour!

FYI- the kiddos will slowly but surely be bringing home any workbooks from their desks.  These are yours to keep- they are fabulous for working on in the summer.  Believe me, the publishers provide PLENTY of extra pages for the kids to work on!  Especially the Math and Phonics books.  Enjoy!

Also, have you heard about the Give Back the Pack drive?  The wonderful Larson family here at our school is trying to gather any old, usable backpacks that they will wash and then donate to the less-fortunate.  If you have any backpacks, kid size or adult size, that you can part with, please donate to this great cause!  If it is successful here at St. Jude, then they will spread this drive to other schools!  A flier went home in your child's backpack, so please look at that for more details. Thank you!!! 

I will have one final blog posting at the end of this week (sigh...sniff-sniff)... I'll have to update everyone with photos of what is sure to be a great week!  The kids will be receiving their yearbooks this week, too.  Look for those in their backpacks- a huge THANK YOU to all parents responsible for our beautiful yearbooks this year- that takes a lot of hard work and talent to put it together, and it looks awesome!  

Well, off to work on report cards!  I am still in disbelief that this is the last week!  Just think- this time next week your Firsties will officially be Second Graders! It's just like that Kenny Chesney song, "Don't blink. Just like that, you're six years old and you take a nap, and you wake up and you're 25"... wait, that doesn't do it justice.  Here's the music video instead, in case you have an extra three minutes and want to feel sentimental = )  Don't Blink

Take care and enjoy the beautiful weather!

~Ms. Hudson 

 

Quick Update

Hi everyone! Hope we have all recovered from another awesome Olympic Day!  What a fun time! Great weather, great healthy activities, tons of parent volunteers, and, of course, the best kids in town!  Thank you to everyone who was able to help out in some way- everyone's contributions, whether it is time, money, food, or expertise, helped to make it a great day!

This week is our final "normal" week of school- I can't believe it!!! We didn't have our Spelling Review test this last week, but it has been moved to this Thursday, so continue to review those tough words!  We will also have a Science test on Wednesday.  

Speaking of Thursday and Wednesday... our 8th Grade Paraliturgy takes place this Thursday and all are welcome!  It will take place in the Church at 1:15.  Our only dress rehearsal will be this Wednesday at 1:30, so we're hoping every Firsty will be there at both the dress rehearsal and Paraliturgy.  If your child has a cowboy hat to help with our western look, please send it to school this Wednesday.  The kids will be decorating their paper bag "vests" this week.  

This Friday evening at 6pm is the 8th Grade graduation.  I will be there to wish our 8th graders congratulations, and I am sure I will see some Firsty siblings there, too.  Please keep them in your prayers as they transition to High School!

We will have our last Tuesday mass this week- please try to remember to send your child to school in pants (for boys) on Mass Days.  Our last mass of the year will be the last day of school- June 14th.

Our final project in English class was to write a short paragraph about our year in First Grade.  The kids have worked hard on planning their writing by first brainstorming things we've learned in First Grade using an ABC  worksheet- the Firsties buddied up and wrote down one, two, or more things that start with each letter of the alphabet.  They came up with some great lessons they've learned!  Then, using an organization chart (more of a word web),  the kids planned their five sentences.  Finally, they copied their work down onto lined paper using their neatest printing.   The process went very smoothly, and it just confirmed how much these kids have learned this year!  I am so proud of them!

Our final reading lesson this year involves Reader's Theater.  The kids have been placed into seven groups and they are starting to rehearse their parts for the short play The Tug of War- which comes from an African folktale about a small possum that tricks two larger animals into thinking he is stronger than he looks.  We have been using class time to rehearse our lines.  During Reader's Theater, the "actors"do not memorize their lines- they simply practice for fluency and expression.  They hold their parts in front of them during the play, so they don't have to worry about forgetting a line.  They do have to worry about losing their spot, so this activity helps kids focus on what's going on around them.  Depending on how many rehearsals we are able to squeeze in this week, the kids may "perform" their play either this Friday or next week.  While I know parents would love to see their Firsty perform, we keep this a "kids only" event so that no one's nerves get the best of them.  I am sure your child will be happy to perform some of their lines for you at home! Maybe this Reader's Theater will encourage some of our students to participate in Drama next year!  

On a summer note, if you haven't thought about your summer plans yet (ha, ha, ha), please consider a little summer brainwork by enrolling your child in a week or two of our summer enrichment program!  I will be holding two weeks of enrichment- this includes First Grade readiness and Second Grade readiness.  Nothing too serious- just some summer learning fun! This is not something that should be misconstrued for tutoring- if your child needs summer tutoring, please look for something longer than just two weeks.    

Well, that's going to be it for me right now... can't believe how fast this year has gone by! 

If you have any questions about our end-of-the-year party, our top secret Father's Day project, etc, please feel free to email me!  

Take care, and enjoy the beautiful weather!

~Ms. Hudson   

 

Summer fever has definitely hit!

Hi everyone!  We are in the homestretch of the school year, and you can definitely tell based on a few pieces of evidence:

• "May Gray" weather has arrived- gotta love the overcast mornings and hot afternoons!
• The children are EXTRA talkative in the classroom... are they extra talkative at home, too?
• The Firsties are practicing their song for the 8th grade Paraliturgy... it is going to be a rootin' tootin' good time!
• We are getting ready for Olympic Day this upcoming Friday! Don't forget to show up at the park, NOT the school! There is daycare provided by the 7th grade class, but you must sign up and pay for it using the form sent home. Please make sure your child wears the color they are supposed to- we stapled a tiny paper to their homework last week telling you what color they need to wear.  It is supposed to be in the 80's, so sunscreen, water bottles, and a hat would be great!
• We are no longer practicing addition facts for timed tests...
• We are no longer practicing new spelling words, but we will have a review test this Thursday! Expect to see changes in the homework from now until the end of the year.  We will also have a class spelling bee sometime in June with those spelling words and even sight words!
• Ms. Hudson drinks larger sized coffee drinks, or stops by Starbucks before AND after school!
• Students are more frequently asking me, "When do we get out of school?" 
• Memorial Day marks that unofficial beginning of "summer" , so the Firsties tell me more and more about swimming playdates being planned.

I hope everyone hangs in there until June 14th! I know it's tough (believe me, I do!) but we have to stick to it until the very end!  Just think of all the things the Firsties are going to miss when they are stuck playing in some pool on a hot summer day = ) Here are some photos they can look at to remind them of the good times they had!

 We started the week off with a wonderful Meet the Masters art project regarding shading with oil pastels and chalk.  We hope you are enjoying their masterpieces at home!

 

Then we had our fabulous Finding Nemo Popcorn Party!  Take a look at these awesome desserts provided by Mrs. Calvey:

Then we did a great  project that covers one of the standards of Social Studies for First Graders- understand the difference between city, state, country, continents, and the world.  Here are some photos of that project:

We also had a special Principal-for-the-day visit our class to let us play Bingo!  Owen was the vice principal of the day and he got to help Mr. English all day long!

 

 And of course we participated in some fantastic learning centers!

Finally, we finished up our week with a fun Math project.  We've been learning about measurement, so we decided to measure a buddy! First we traced a buddy onto butcher paper, then we used blocks, hands, and a "measuring tool" of our choice to measure the tracing. Here are some interesting photos from that lesson! 

 

 The kids appeared to be enjoying themselves!  Next week we will begin learning about measuring with standard units of measurement- inches, feet, and centimeters.  

This week will be a quick one- no school on Monday and a half day on Friday!  Again, please make sure your child is dropped off at the park, and please be there to pick them up at noon.  You must see Mrs. Coulter or myself to pick up your child- we will ask you to sign them out on our attendance sheet.  I believe Mr. English is still looking for a few good volunteers, so please contact him if you can help out on Friday.  Thanks so much, and enjoy your long weekend!  

Take care! 

~Ms. Hudson

 

18.25 Days left... but who's counting???

      Hi everyone! Hope you're enjoying this weekend.  Rumor has it there are a few families camping this weekend- hope you're not roughing it too much!  My kind of camping involves a 5th wheel trailer, air conditioning, a shower, a refrigerator, coffee maker, and my travel chaise lounge, ... but I've said too much!  Anyways, hope you all have fun! 

     The Firsties started off this week at our Monday morning assembly by singing the Star Spangled Banner to the school- they did a great job!  I realize I should've informed everyone about this little performance, but it was a little last minute... sorry everyone!  I have a feeling there was a parent or two that may have video taped it... 

     The Firsties finished up their fabulous American Symbols presentations, and boy was I impressed!  Mrs. Doyle has kindly offered to hang the posters up in the library, so hopefully we will have them on display later this week.  The kids were wonderful speakers, I could tell they practiced reading their sentences, and, most importantly, I can tell that they took a lot of pride in their project!  What a great start to a long list of classroom presentations they all have ahead of them (in future grades!)  Here are the last groups of students who presented, along with their silly glasses that I added for fun:

I 

      I will be working on grading their worksheets over the next week, and you should see those in their blue test folders next time around! I am very impressed with their posters and presentations, and I'm sure the worksheets will be equally impressive! 

    This week we continued to read stories about fish.  Two weeks ago we read Fishy Facts- a book filled with facts about fish in the sea.  Last week we read Enzo the Wonderfish, a fictional story about a little boy who teaches his pet fish some tricks.  This week we read Swimmy, a great story that teaches the Firsties how important it is to work together to solve problems.  

     

We added a little art to our centers this week by recreating a scene from the story:

     I love talking to the Firsties about the lessons we can learn from stories... they always come up with an answer that I would have never thought of, and yet it completely applies to the story!  Sometimes the simplest responses are the best!

     We also had some fun practicing our subtraction facts with a little Subtraction Jenga!  Each piece of the Jenga game has an addition and a subtraction fact written on it.  Whatever piece the student pulls out of the tower must be answered correctly if they want to add it back to the top of the tower.  Otherwise, they must eliminate the piece from the tower.  The kids love this game, and it is very easy to make your own version at home!  It can be used for vocabulary, spelling, sight words, multiplication, you name it! 

We also had fun reviewing our money counting skills with a little Math Money Bingo!  All Catholics love a good Bingo game, right?!?  = )

Sorry Christian- I couldn't help myself!  Hope you get a kick out of that!

We also worked on some patriotic room decor...

     Thank you to everyone for helping us honor Mary this month!  The May Procession was a lovely way to begin a month for Mary.  We love your homegrown roses that you've brought in so far for Mary!  Please continue to do so if your garden is bursting with beautiful blooms! Thank you!  As part of our tribute to Mary this month, we changed our most important rule from What Would Jesus Do? to What Would Mary Do?  We are hoping this inspires acts of kindness among all of our Firsties...

  We are also learning about the many, many saints that the Catholic Church honors.  We decided that we would all love to be saints one day, so, in order to inspire us to act like saints, we made some self portraits of ourselves as saints!  The Firsties enjoyed adding the word "saint" to their name!  The portraits are priceless!  Be sure to look for those when we send them home sometime at the end of the month = ) 

     Finally, these last few weeks of school are still days filled with learning.  We are definitely noticing a change with the students' behavior... it is difficult to hang on to that excellent behavior so late in the year, with summer dreams dancing in my their heads!  It's been a while, but the kids are close to filling the famous Popcorn Jar!  I shouldn't say close... they technically filled it Friday by having wonderful behavior during their Meet the Masters lesson with Mr. Marchis and Mrs. Alikian!  However, now we are seeing WHEN the party will take place!  We are aiming for Tuesday, but that depends on their behavior on Monday... can they do it? Yes they can!!! If Monday goes well, we will be watching Finding Nemo, part entertainment, but also part learning!  It is related to their Science curriculum of observing animals in their natural habitats!  In fact, we will be filling out a "treasure hunt" sheet to find specific undersea animals throughout the movie!  Looking forward to it, so come on Firsties! Work together, and remember, "Just keep swimming!" 

This week we will:

• complete our Meet the Masters lesson on Monday
• attend mass on Tuesday 
• parents will hopefully attend our PTG meeting on Wednesday evening, and
• We will all enjoy a three-day weekend in honor of Memorial Day!  Plan on no-school on Monday the 27th!  

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Take care! 

~Ms. Hudson


 

Happy Mother's Day!

     I definitely want to begin by wishing all of our wonderful moms a fantastic Mother's Day!  I hope you enjoy this day in the way that YOU hope to... whether it is with a family, friends, or a few moments of solitude!  I definitely hope you don't have to clean, cook, or lift a finger! In fact, tell your Firsty that I said it is part of their homework to make sure you don't do any of those things! And, tell them they get a yellow card if they fight or whine on Mother's Day!  (It's worth a shot!)  I know I am not a mother, but I cannot help but feel like I have 35 wonderful children five days a week!  So, thank you for letting me borrow your precious children = )  Being a teacher is definitely like participating in mommy-training-camp!     
     For your viewing pleasure on this special day, here are some photos to quickly give you a glance at our very crazy productive week.  We hope you enjoy your Mother's Day gifts and cards, and we hope you know how much we appreciate all that you do for everyone!

Mrs. Lyman came in and went through a beautiful lesson on the rosary with our Firsties- thank you so much for your time and talent!

We made Chinese lanterns for International Day, and they are currently decorating our room!

     So, we are half-way through our fabulous American symbols presentations, and here are some photos of our presenters so far!  (Yes, I added some glasses to the photos for fun!) They are all doing a wonderful job!

   This week is going to be the first "normal" week in a looooooong time (read 'normal' as containing no big events, elections, holidays, etc)! We will have mass on Tuesday as usual.  Next week will be somewhat normal as well, except there will be a PTG Parent Appreciation Night on the 22nd at 7pm- I believe there will be some sort of "reward" to the parents that show up to that meeting, but don't quote me on that yet!  Hope to see you there!
Well, that's it for now- I'm off to church with my mom and aunt, and then to a Mother's Day brunch! Hopefully everyone will get a chance to enjoy this awesome weather! How lucky are we???  

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Take care!

~Ms. Hudson

"May the Fourth" be with you!

      Ok, I'm not really some huge Star Wars fan, but I couldn't help myself!  I think it is hilarious that there is now a special day to celebrate Star Wars! Apparently it has been around now for a few years, but I think this will be the first year that I will try to incorporate some sort of Star Wars-themed activity into our reading/writing/math centers... I know some of my Firsties will be excited about that! And, I'm guessing some of our parents will like that, too!  


    Now that the website is allowing me to upload photos, we have quite a bit of catching up to do!  Let's begin with International Day, then we'll head back in time from there...

Here is our lovely Chinese table spread courtesy of Mrs. Rodarte and her wonderful helpers!  Of course, the Firsties needed a panda to represent us!  They just love their pandas!    
     

     
Next we have a photo of the Firsties all decked out in their fabulous Chinese attire for their performance... gotta love their silly poses!

 

To get to know the Chinese culture a little better, I introduced them to the ancient Chinese game of Tangrams.  Tangrams is a great game that can enhance a child's ability to grasp spatial reasoning, while encouraging them to use their imagination!  Here is a link to a great kid friendly game using Tangrams online.  And here are some photos of the Tangrams the kids have made in class!

 

We definitely have some creative kiddos in our class!

 

Now we'll move on to a photo of an activity we did on World Penguin Day!  Yes, apparently there is really a World Penguin Day (at least according to Hallmark's website, where there is practically a "special day" for every day of the year, although I could not find any "Happy World Penguin Day"cards to pass out...)  We started out by watching a live webcam of some penguins at an exhibit in one of the Sea Worlds.  Here is a link so your Firsty can watch the penguins at the San Diego Sea World right from their home! LIVE PENGUINS

 

Then, we watched an informative video about Emperor Penguins, and we were all very impressed with what the father penguins have to go through to keep their one penguin egg safe!  Afterwards, we learned some very "cool" penguin facts, and we practiced some printing at the same time.  Science and printing wrapped up into one fun activity!  Here is a photo of that worksheet:

 

The kids also learned to draw some pretty adorable penguins... but of course I forgot to take photos of that, so you'll just have to wait until those worksheets make it home!  They were too cute!

 

Now we'll move onto Earth Day!  We learned a lot about trash vs recycling, and we all agreed that we don't want to live near a "trash mountain" (i.e. landfill), so we are all going to do our best to recycle, reuse, and conserve!  Here is their cute art/writing activity from that special day.

 

 

 

The kids did an amazing job drawing their own versions of continents onto their paper Earths, and then they came up with their own promises that showed how they will care for the Earth.  I was really excited with how well these projects turned out!  Way to go, Firsties!

 

Now, I'm going to throw in a few random photos from various activities that took place during centers... during centers, we are always reading, writing, working on math, and using hands-on manipulatives to get our minds thinking!  We are also definitely out of our desks and found all around the room.  Sometimes, we are at centers that don't allow us to sit! (Ask your Firsty about Write-the-Room)

 

 

And, as usual, we are always working on Religious projects to display up around the room!  Here is a photo of the latest and greatest... These little guys are hanging out in our room to remind us of a very important message...

 

Finally, I'm going to end this post with a few photos of our Boggle game!  What's Boggle?  Take a look and find out!

Here is the Boggle Board in the back of the room

Here is the worksheet the kids have in their desk folders

And voila! You have yourself some fun brainwork! 

Well, that's all for me for this post, everyone!  I would like to ask all of you to keep the Second Graders in your prayers this weekend as they receive the blessed sacrament of First Holy Communion! 

Take care, and enjoy the weekend!

~Ms. Hudson