Dear Parents,

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Er……um……..yes, I know that it is a week late but we were busy last Tuesday (you know…..celebrating 100 days of school! The firsties were greeted with “love bugs” on each of their desks this morning! 

Each one is different and they will be hanging out with them all week and then the love bugs will be headed home on Friday.  

We took our spelling test (from last week) today and just a reminder, there are no new spelling words this week!  We also took our memory test this morning and the firsties recited the 7^th, 8^th and 9^th commandments.  There WILL be a test on Friday (the 10^th commandment) so please make sure that your child studies and is prepared! 

In Math we have been learning about 1 more, 1 less, 10 more, and 10 less.  The hundreds chart is a very useful tool as we are learning about and practicing these concepts.  I sent an extra one home for practicing there, but I made even more copies…so if you need another please shoot me a quick message and I can send one home.  

My parents were able to visit me this weekend and they just recently got back from visiting my brother who lives in Arizona.  They brought back a cactus and a book for our classroom that we read today!  They were fascinated by it and were excited about the addition to our room….!  Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher (aka Mom and Dad)!

The messages that you wrote to your kiddos turned out great!  The firsties loved revealing what you had to say! Thanks for writing your kiddo a sweet little message! 

Thank you for all of the yummy gifts!

The germs seem to have NOT gone away yet!  Please keep your kiddo home if they are not feeling well!  

Blessings on your evening,

Miss Gallagher

"Following the Signs"

Dear Parents,
Today was our 100th day of school!  Which I am still a little bit in shock over...but anyways....

This greeted the kids this morning ...

 

They had these waiting for them on their desks, 

which I have to give them credit for, no one ate any until I said that it was okay.... which they really didn't HAVE to wait for my okay.... but they did anyways! Ha.

We took our Math test almost right away, but before that, all of the firsties got out the 100 items that they brought from home, and then I had each kiddo put their items into groups of ten. 

And then they were able to use their items as "counters" for the math test.  

Spanish and Computers were next and then we went to lunch. After lunch we read a story about 100 days of school and the book "The Night Before Valentine's Day" (much like The Night Before Christmas") and then headed outside for recess...FRESH AIR!!!  When we came back in it was time for our 100 day activities!

I split them up into 5 different groups which rotated every about 5-7 minutes. One group had to "discover" how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop....which, in general, seemed to be A LOT of licks! Another group had to use the digits of 100, cut them out, and create a picture.

It's a horse!

The third activity was to follow the directions and create a 100 day monster.

The fourth activity was to write 100 words (each group came up with 20 words that we added to a list).  And the fifth and final activity was to create a tower with 100 solo cups.  The only direction that I gave for this activity was that they had to use all 100 cups and it had to stay up!
Here are what each group came up with....

They were SO PROUD of their towers!  I love it! All in all, it was a good day!

Spelling practice test tomorrow and don't forget to continue to practice the 7th, 8th, and 9th commandments for our test on Friday.
Blessings on your evening!
Miss Gallagher
"Following the Signs"

Dear Parents,

Happy Friday! Even though it is cold outside, it is still SO NICE to see the sun!  Praise God that He sent some to brighten up the gloomy days!

Monday, I will be sending home an envelope with a paper and a white crayon in it.  I would like you to use the white crayon and write a secret little love message to your firstie for Valentine’s Day.  Please write one or two words in each heart, put it back in the envelope, and return it to school.  On Valentine’s Day we will reveal your message, so please return it BEFORE Valentine’s Day.  Thank you!

Yesterday we learned about contractions and then we did surgery on our words! (There was even a firstie that said…. “Miss Gallagher, this really DOES feel like we are doing actual surgery!!! HAHAHA!!!) The kiddos had fun and hopefully (fingers crossed), this will stick in their minds! Below are some pictures of how the “surgery” went.  

I am not sure if you heard or not, but Phil saw his shadow yesterday…which means that we are supposed to have 6 more weeks of winter.  We did a small art project that shows Phil seeing his shadow, talking about how this is all of fun and Phil doesn’t REALLY predict the weather and tell us how much longer winter will be! Their art projects are coming home today. 

Calendars for the month of February came home today so that if you want, you can get a jump on spelling words and memory for next week. :)

 I sent home all of their snow gear that it can get washed.  We, as a whole school, are trying REALLY hard to not get sick, or at least keep the sickness down to a minimum.  Ugh!

On that note.....

Blessings on your weekend!

Miss Gallagher

 "Following the Signs"

Dear Parents,

This morning began with worshiping together in church.  Pastor spoke about being a part of a team and that WE are a part of God’s team!  What a blessing and honor it is to be a part of His team!  We have talked in first grade about how important it is to tell others about Jesus and His great love!  We want to have many more on our team….as many as possible!   

In Math we talked more about tens and ones and practiced with our “ten towers”.  Ask your firstie just what a “ten tower” is!  

The words that we have been looking at, learning, and reading this week have wh and sh in them.  Practice these sounds at home!  

Just a heads-up….next month, the whole school will be participating in a Social Studies Fair.  Each grade will be doing something a little different, but first grade will be creating time lines of themselves and a grandparent (or parent).  I will be sending home more details soon, but I wanted you and your firstie to start thinking about it!  

Our main story for this week was about seasons and I told the firsties a riddle.  I told them that I would put it in the blog for today….only if they remembered what the answer was so they could tell you if you were right or wrong! The riddle is: How does an elephant get down from a tree? 

Just a reminder that book orders are due on Friday!  

Blessings on your evening!

Miss Gallagher

“Following the Signs”