Things are really "In Shape" in First Grade!

     These Firsties are really becoming inundated with shapes this time of year!  We started our week with an extremely "technical" Meet the Masters art project.  Mrs. Marchis and Mrs. Alikian did a fabulous job directing the Firsties on this intricate cut-and-paste art project based around the work of the famous artist Jacob Lawrence. Here are some photos of the students working hard to listen to directions, cut shapes, and glue them using overlapping techniques:

     The kids also had a great time decorating Easter eggs by tracing some plane figures onto large paper eggs!  Here are a few of their festive eggs:

      Aren't they beautiful?!?!  We really have some amazing little artists!  Their coloring skills have improved so much since the beginning of the year- you would never guess this was the art of 1st Graders... more like 8th Graders!  We will be sure to send those eggs home with the kiddos this Thursday... don't forget!  Thursday is a half day, and we are having a special Washing of the Feet prayer service at 10am.  One lucky student from each class will be picked to have  their feet washed that day!  Please come join us before we are dismissed for our Easter Vacation!  

     Speaking of Easter, the Firsties also worked hard during Centers this week to make some "hand-made" Easter lilies... you'll get the pun once you take a close look at these beautiful flowers!  

     If you can't tell, the lily is actually their hand traced onto white paper... another precious keepsake brought to you by these wonderful Firsties! 

     This Wednesday is our Amazing Santa Barbara Zoo Field Trip!  I hope you all received an email filled with reminders about the trip and what to expect.  Just in case you were wondering, the Firsties will be placed into groups of 4-5 children supervised by one chaperone.  The chaperones will do their very best to make sure every child is safe and happy!  Children will not go anywhere alone- that includes bathroom breaks!  They will be buddied up whenever possible, and they will be following the "three second rule"- if you cannot reach your supervised chaperone within three seconds, you are too far and in big trouble!  This is my 7th year running this fabulous field trip, and my 9th time supervising a large group of young children to the SB Zoo (I used to run a summer camp for the Conejo Valley, which included 60 kindergarten through 2nd grade campers!)  This is a very safe zoo, in a beautiful location, and we are confident your kiddos will have a safe, happy, and educational experience!  Once again, don't forget to arrive early on Wednesday- preferably around 7:30... we are leaving at 7:55!  Thank you for trusting us with your precious children- we know they will have a wonderful time!  

One last reminder- if your family is entering our school's Peep Diorama Decorating Contest, please remember to bring in your entries tomorrow!!! 

I hope you all had a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend!

Take care!

~Ms. Hudson

Top o' the weekend to ya!

     In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I had to "go green" in this blog!  What's everyone doing for this festive day?  Remember, the kids get to wear green-dress on Monday (as long as they are wearing tennis shoes and following the general school dress code, and of course, wearing GREEN!) Don't worry, no one will be pinching anyone in First Grade!  It's all for fun! Let's hope that all of the green clothing will inspire these little Firsties to have green cards all day! 

    
     We will be distributing report cards on Monday, so please look in your child's red folders for their report card.  Firsties know that they are not allowed to look at their report card before their parents, so be sure to spend a few moments talking about their report cards with them.  This report card is critical in your child's First Grade "career".  You can see where your child needs to improve before moving on to the Second Grade.  If you see any check marks, please take them seriously and work with your child in improving those areas.  Praise your child for all of their hard work, especially if you see any areas that have improved since last report card.  Finally, don't underestimate the power of a great tutor!  First Grade forms the important foundation for your child's future in reading.  This is the best time to truly support that foundation- better now than two, three, or four years down the road, when your child has more responsibilities after school (i.e. homework, sports practices, etc). {Cue teacher stepping down from soapbox} = )


     On a fun note, your child had a great time this week with some new 6th Grade friends!  Mrs. Johnson invited our Firsties to participate in a Mathletics Session this past Thursday.  The Firsties were partnered up with a 6th grader, then we split up half of the kids into the 6th Grade, and the other half stayed in our classroom.  The laptops were brought into the rooms, and the Mathletics fun began!  They had such a great time, Mrs. Johnson and I agreed that we will need to do that more often! Here are some fun photos from the kids that stayed in our classroom... I'll try and get the other half next time:

    
    Speaking of computers, Mr. Colvin's lesson this week lined up perfectly with our new Math Chapter... shapes! The kiddos used Microsoft Word to insert shapes onto a page, change the color of the shape, and change the color and width of the shape's outline.  These kids are on their way to becoming computer wiz's! Here are just a couple snapshots of these future Microsoft employees:

    Finally, we had a nice visit this week from Mrs. Schulte.  We invited her into our room to play a little Whack-a-Mole (or, as the kids kindly corrected me, Mole-in-the-Hole, but I like my old-school term better!)  She had a great time, and the kids were cheering her on!  Here are a few photos from that little event:

     Just in case your Firsty has mentioned that they haven't had a chance to play Whack-a-Mole yet, rest assure, yours truly will make sure they get their chance to play! With 35 players, we only have time to allow a few kids at a time to play.  We pull popcicle sticks out of the famous popcicle stick cup to see who gets to play each time.  Patience is definitely a virtue I get to instill in a lot of these Firsties, and they are definitely working on it day-by-day!  

     Well, that's going to be it for me right now- I have 35 report cards to finish up!  As you may have noticed, our report cards are hand-written (minus the comments portion)... don't worry! One day in the near future (definition of near is unclear) our technology-savvy school will have report cards completed on computers! I never thought the day would come for a Catholic School!  I believe the upper grades get to play with that option first, and then it will trickle down to us primary teachers- like I said- patience is a virtue!  

Until then, fill out those field trip permission slips as soon as possible, and have a wonderful weekend!

Take care! 

~Ms. Hudson 

   

A Very Seuss-ical Week!

After this week, I can't help but feel like I am supposed to fill this blog posting with silly nonsense words and rhymes!  We celebrated Dr. Seuss like no other class has ever celebrated Dr. Seuss!  We read his books in the morning, we read his books at night, we read his books here and there, we read his books everywhere!  
We absolutely loved having so many guest readers popping in to read a good book to us... in fact, here are some photos of those good sports! Thanks again everyone for volunteering your time and talent!

 The kids were busy all week long with festive Seuss activities, especially during centers.  Here are some photos from Seuss centers:

We also took a vote on some of our favorite Dr. Seuss books, graphed the results, and compared and contrasted the numbers!  The winner was...

                                                                       GREEN EGGS AND HAM! 

Our week of Seuss ended with a messy, gooey Science project.  We played with Oobleck!  What's Oobleck? It is an equal mixture of corn starch and water (approximate).  We had to decided if it was a liquid or a solid.  We were pretty undecided, since it had both liquid properties and solid properties.  It felt wet, it could slosh around like a liquid, and it filled the container, but when we poked it or squeezed it, it felt like a solid.  Here is a photo of the gooey substance:

The final result- Oobleck is a Non-Newtonian Fluid, meaning that it has both liquid and solid properties.  And, it makes a pretty big mess, too! But mess = fun, so the kids were happy! 

On a slightly more serious note, the kids are beginning to learn how to say the rosary.  Each child was given a rosary "kit" to keep in their desks.  Since we are First Graders, we are only saying one decade a day.  The faithful Firsties have learned that rosaries are very special tools to be used for prayer, and we must treat the rosaries with respect.  We have also learned that the Blessed Virgin Mary is very fond of the rosary.  Here are some photos of the kiddos learning to pray the rosary:

   We will definitely be ready for the May Procession if we keep this up!  

Here's a quick glance at what the Firsties are learning these days:
Language Arts: We are working on reading and spelling with long vowels. We have covered a, e, i, and now we are moving onto o.
Religion: Learning to pray the rosary, learning about Lent, and soon, learning the Stations of the Cross
English: Using adjectives to describe nouns.  We have learned that an adjective can be a color, number, and descriptive words that can finish the sentence "It's so _____________!"
We have also finished writing our first complete friendly letters.  
Math: The kids are finishing up their unit on place value.  We will be tested on place value later this week, then we will move onto shapes!
Science: We are learning about animals and their habitats.  This week we will focus on animals' coverings. We need to be fully informed before we head to the zoo!
Social Studies: We have finished learning about presidents, and now we are moving onto American Symbols.  Please click here to view a live webcam of Bald Eagles right here in California at our Channel Islands: Bald Eagles


Speaking of the zoo, our trip is confirmed for March 27th, a Wednesday, to go to the beautiful Santa Barbara Zoo!  We will be selecting 7 lucky chaperones' names out of a hat this week. Each parent will be responsible for guiding and caring for their own group of Firsties.  This is an educational field trip that is worth points towards their Science grade.  If for some reason your child is unable to attend this field trip, please see me for information on how he or she will make up the work.  This will be our 7th field trip to the Santa Barbara Zoo, and we are positive it will be just as wonderful as all of our previous trips!  I realize some parents are concerned with the length of the drive to the zoo, but please rest assure, we will all be safe and sound together on the bus, enjoying the picturesque views of the Pacific Ocean, possibly spotting a dolphin or two!  The trip home is usually filled with some worn-out Firsties, many of them napping the whole way.  Please look for the zoo field trip forms sometime soon in your child's homework folder.  The cost per child of the field trip is unknown at this time, but it will include entrance to the zoo, a ride on the zoo train, and the cost of the bus.  Unfortunately, if you or your child has a membership to the zoo, the zoo does not allow you to use it since we will be entering the zoo before the zoo actually opens.  More details will be included on a letter sent home with the field trip form.  We can't wait! 

I hope everyone enjoys this sunny weekend!  I'm off to the happiest place in California (location name to be withheld)... 

= )

Take care!
~Ms. Hudson

 

Another Successful Week for the Firsties!

Ok- How great were the Firsties at their big mass?!?!  I couldn't have been prouder of each and every one of them.  They each took their jobs seriously, and I am pretty sure almost every teacher, and definitely Mrs. Schulte, commented on a job well-done.  Way to go, Firsties!  While I couldn't take photos of every child doing their job, here are a few photos from our mass:

  And I did not leave out the wonderful Firsty Parents and their very important job at the end of the mass... taking photos of these great kiddos! 

In other news, the First Grade took a mini-field trip to the church hall, which had been transformed into the 4th Grade Museum of California Missions.  The Firsties seemed very excited to see these spectacular models of real missions.  Here are a few photos from the museum:

Speaking of field trips, we are tentatively planning on going on our Firsty Field Trip to the Santa Barbara Zoo on Wednesday March 27th.  I am waiting to hear back from the Zoo for a confirmation.  When I get the official go-ahead, I will send home field trip forms, which will include the price per child (which includes the price of the bus).  Parents, you may remember long ago, at Back to School Night, many of you filled out a field trip lottery form.  I have all of the forms, and I will use those forms to pick our 7 parent chaperones.  If you aren't sure whether or not you filled one out, just shoot me an email and I'll let you know.  Please note that siblings outside of our First Grade class are not permitted to join us, parents and students must ride on the bus with our class, and only 7 parents (with VIRTUS training) will be chosen.  The parents will be responsible for a group of 5 children, and the children will be there to complete a small Science project (which will receive a significant Science grade).  Since many of you have shown interest in being in the field trip lottery, I am graciously asking that any parents who have already joined us on a previous First Grade field trip to the zoo back out of the lottery.  There will be MANY field trips to come, and I am hoping to try to allow other parents the joy of attending this field trip.  Thank you for understanding! 


Has your son or daughter talked about our awesome new math game on the interactive white board?  Ever heard of Whack-a-mole? That wonderful game at Chuck E Cheese where you hit the moles with a soft hammer as they pop up out of their hole?  Well, Lakeshore Learning Center has a fantastic addition and subtraction fact game just like that!  Here are some photos of our Firsties playing this energetic game:

Love the pose!

I love the look on her face! It says it all!

And the look on her face, too!

    I am pretty sure any Firsty would be excited to own this game on their own computer at home, and for about $19.00, they can!  It really is a great tool to use at home to practice their addition and subtraction facts.  And, more importantly, it gets them excited to practice those facts!  Click here to either order it online, or to download it (for the same price) directly to your home computer WHACK A MOLE MATH  (No, I do not work for Lakeshore, nor do I own stock in their company- I just love their products!) 


    
     This week will be a Seussical Week in First Grade!  Saturday was officially Dr. Seuss' birthday, but Ms. Andrea and I decided that Monday would be a much better time to celebrate, especially since Friday was a half-day.  I will be extending all Seuss activities throughout the entire week, including having parent readers stop by Monday through Friday to read after morning recess.  I have two parents volunteering for Tuesday's reading of Green Eggs and Ham, but so far no parents volunteering for the rest of the week.  Hopefully everyone saw my red flier in the Green Folder, and if you have time to read around 10am, please contact me ASAP!  Thank you!  


    Finally, I'd like to extend a big congratulations to the Chalovich Family on their newest addition to the family: Brye Marin was born on Friday morning!  We cannot wait to meet her!  I am sure Quinn is a super proud big brother (again!)  

In honor of Dr. Seuss, I'd like to leave you with one of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes, and funny enough, it did not come from one of his amazing books.  It actually came from an interview regarding how to be a writer.  The great author said, “You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room.”
― Dr. Seuss
 
So True!

Take care everyone!
~Ms. Hudson