Dear Parents,

We have been busy during our shortened week!  On Monday, (and I am sure that you have already seen the remnants of the little project that your firstie created), there were bags of items on your firstie’s desk and with candy corn, mini-marshmallows, and toothpicks.   Their task was to create a tower.  Below are some of the results!

Have you been doing GoNoodle at home?  I am sure that your firstie has you told about it!  We do it every day to get our wiggles out…and some days, we REALLY need it!  Ha!  We have also done it a few times to just take a minute to breath and chill….which I know that we ALL need. 

I have shared this before (in years past), but it STILL such a good reminder and set to some good Christian music.  This is from one of my favorite Christian bands, Rend Collective.  I pray that you continue to worship, pray, lean on our loving Lord and Savior who promises to NEVER leave us.  Please listen to the words carefully….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF84v-oOhp0

As we continue to learn about the Israelites and all of their struggles, we also learned about how they were set FREE from slavery…as are we!  When Jesus died on the cross, He set us FREE from the chains of sin…and to demonstrate that, each firstie made a small chain and then broke it (by karate-chopping it…which of course they LOVED). 

We LOVED our Pajama Day on Wednesday!  And one firstie wore FOX slippers that I was totally jealous of!  

(For those of you who don't know, I had a dog, Josie, who was a little Pomeranian, and she looked like a little fox.  I started liking fox things, and people started gifting me "foxy" things, and even though she passed away a year and a half ago, I still am partial to fox things. Ha!)

Finally, on Wednesday, we went outside and enjoyed the awesome fall weather that God gave to us, by picking leaves!  And THEN we turned those leaves into “Leaf Creatures”!  They had SUCH a good time doing this!  Each firstie also had to write about their “Leaf Creature” and we will finish our writing on Monday.  Below is a sneak peek!  Enjoy!

Blessings on your week!

“Sent to Serve”

Miss Gallagher

 

Dear Parents,

I know that is has been awhile since I updated the blog, and for that I am sorry!  The firsties have been learning lots and I wanted to share a few things that we have done. 

We have been working hard at learning some different grammar things; what a noun is, what a verb is, and what an adjective is.  Last week, each firstie created a pumpkin to match a specific adjective.  They did such a great job! (Ask your firstie which one they created...) Check them out below…

We also have been working hard at our spelling words and all of the different vowel sounds that we are learning/reviewing.  Along with different ways of reviewing our spelling words, one thing that we do is play the game, Tic-Tac-Word.  They LOVE it! So fun!

In Religion, we have been learning about Moses and Pharaoh and all of the plagues that God sent.  The last plague was the worst and God warned Moses about it.  He told Moses to have the people of Israel take a perfect lamb, sacrifice it, and paint their doorways with the blood.  Because they did this, the angel that God sent to kill the first born children, passed over the Israelites houses. They were saved!  We discussed how that is just like what Jesus did for us!  Jesus has man names and one of His names is the Lamb of God.  He sacrificed Himself, shed His blood, so that we are saved!  As a reminder of this, we “painted” our classroom doorframe too. 

Even though this is a little late, Carter’s mom got water bottle holders for all of the firstie’s desks.  They are a game changer! Now we don’t have to worry about wet desks!  Yay!  Thank you so much Mrs. Burr! 

Today was a beautiful day to take a few Fall pictures….isn’t it pretty and aren’t they so cute?!?!

Blessings on the rest of your week!

Miss Gallagher

 

Dear Firstie Parents!
Well…we made it through our FIRST FULL WEEK OF SCHOOL!  (What are you doing to celebrate?  Perhaps spending time with family? Or with your spouse?  Or having an adult beverage??? ;) ) I have to say, that I am impressed at what the firsties have accomplished so far this year!  Thank you for continuing to work at home with them and for all that you do!  Please also continue to keep our class (and me!) in your prayers.

This week in Religion, we learned about a man named Abram (who later changed his name is Abraham) and all of the promises that God made to him.  Next week we are going to learn about how God kept His promises to him.  Are any of YOU struggling with this?  Knowing that God keeps His promises and knowing that He loves us, but struggling to see HOW?  I know that I am struggling with that, from time to time.  With all that is going on, it may be a little hard to remember that God DOES love us, He is there for us, and will NEVER leave us.  I pray that in your daily prayers, God can remind you of that.

The firsties have been practicing putting words together with the sounds we are learning, with our handy dandy blending board.  It’s been fun to see their expressions when they sound out a word, and recognize it…LOL. But then it’s also kind of fun to watch them figure out if the word is an actual real word. HA! 

When your firstie is writing their words at home, please, please, please make sure that they are writing their letters correctly…mainly make sure they aren’t starting their words from the bottom of the paper.  If they do, please give a reminder that we NEVER start our words from the bottom. 

We also began a new math program today!  Ask your firstie about this!  

We have had lots of time outside this week because of all of the beautiful Fall-like weather…(fall is my absolute favorite…football games (All these years later, I am still cheering on my high school football team (the Muskegon Big Reds), because they are just so fun to watch and so GOOD!), crisp air, changing leaves, bonfires, sweaters, apple cider, etc…it’s all wonderful.  I took this picture, because it was funny to me…the juxtaposition of the kiddos running around and playing, and the farmer working on the field. (Also, as I was taking the picture, I hear behind me a little voice say, “Look at that combine working!”  I am not sure why, but it still surprises me how many of the kids here know about farming and farming equipment.)

If you didn’t send in play-dough with your firstie, please do so on Monday.  Thank you!

Blessings on your weekend!

“Sent to Serve”

Miss Gallagher

 Hello firstie parents!

How are things going at home?  I pray that as each week passes, things get easier!  We are actually starting to get into the routine here, which is so very awesome!

We are getting a new student tomorrow!  Her name is Zoey, though I heard that she went to Preschool at Trinity, so I guess that she is not new, new.  We are happy that she is back and will be joining our little firstie family.  

Yesterday in Chapel, we had a guest speaker from Valley Lutheran High School.  His name is Mr. Vincent and he also teaches Science at Valley.  He did a little Science experiment involving a few balloons....did your firstie tell you about it?  He compared US to the balloons and then he took a skewer and said that was SIN.  

The first balloon he showed us, he poked with the skewer and just as predicted, it POPPED! Then he covered the skewer in oil and spoke about what oil was used for back in Biblical times (one of the ways that it was used was to anoint).  He tried again and this time, with the skewer covered with oil, he stabbed the balloon, but it DIDN'T pop! 

Finally he took some duct tape and covered one side of the balloon with the tape.  And he spoke about how Jesus covers us and saves us from our sin.  So Mr. Vincent poked the balloon, through the duct tape, and again, the balloon didn't pop.  (The kids' reactions to this was great....ooos and ahhs....ha!).  What a great visual reminder of what God does for us!  He anoints us with the Holy Spirit, sent His Son to cover our sins, and LOVES us like crazy.  

Thank you for sending in your kiddo's favorite things!  We certainly learned a lot about each student...what fun! 

Tomorrow, is Patriot Day!  In remembrance of September 11th, we are asking that all students wear red, white, and blue.  Today we read the book "Fireboat", which is a true story about one of the fireboats of New York City, that provided water to help douse the fires at Ground Zero.  We spoke a little about what happened on that day, 19 (I can't believe it's already been 19 years....do YOU remember where you were?) years ago, though I didn't go into much detail.  New York is one of my absolute favorite cities and I have visited it a few times.  I actually went to Ground Zero the summer after September 11th, and what a sobering experience that was.  When the towers fell, two of the beams fused together and formed a cross.  That cross was displayed in the middle of the rubble and a beautiful reminder of God's love.  

Blessings on the end of your week!

"Sent to Serve"

Miss Gallagher

 Welcome to FIRST GRADE!  I pray that this will be a great year of learning and growing in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  

We have already started working and have been practicing writing a few different letters...making sure that we are staying in the lines and are using our very best handwriting.  We have also been practicing our sounds.  Ask your firstie the "visual cue" for short o and short a (Hopefully they remember!)

Did your firstie tell you about Space Man?  Or their "special tracer finger"?  Ask your firstie about these items!  (We have many fun items that we use in first grade...!)

Stayed tuned for more fun things this coming week!

Blessings, 

Miss Gallagher

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Dear Parents,

Happy Wednesday…or is it Friday?!? (It certainly feels like Friday around here…)


I wanted to share a few more pictures of our Mystery Readers (Though I am very sorry that I didn’t get pictures from our Monday Mystery Reader…ask your firstie who it was!).  We have been enjoying our readers so far and the books that they have been sharing with us. 

TOTALLY enjoying our readers! 

Do you recognize the back of this man?  (Maybe not without his robes on...) It's Pastor Sherry! The book that he read to us was about imaginary friends. :)

Miss Stephanie came from the Auburn Public Library to read to us as well!  (She actually read to every single class!)

Today, for our Chapel Family activity, the older students read to the younger students (Bible stories) and then everyone made a bookmark to use and/or take home.  The kiddos got super creative and had a good time! 

Math is getting harder…have you noticed?  We are starting to add two digit numbers together!  If you have blocks at home, please use them to help your firstie to physically work with the numbers and to get a better understanding of whether or not to regroup.  This can be a tricky concept for firsties to grasp, so the more practice they can get, the better.  


Even though we didn’t have memory work this week, it doesn’t mean you can’t get a jump start on next week’s memory (the next 8 don’t seem to be too tricky to pronounce…). When there is more than one book (i.e. 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel), we say the numbers as ordinal numbers (first, second, third).  Please make sure that they are learning the books in the correct order!  Thank you! 

Next week is St. Patrick's Day and we will be having a small little party!  Please have your firstie wear green and bring in something green to share with the rest of the class.  (It doesn't have to be food, but of course it can be! A few examples of what has been brought in the past are: green pencils, green stickers, green necklaces, green slime, green grapes, green suckers, green rice krispy treats, green cookies, etc...) If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! Thanks! 


Have a wonderful rest of your week and weekend!  Please pray for safe travels for the teachers and that we learn lots at our conference!

Blessings!

Miss Gallagher

Dear Parents,

Happy Reading Month!
We had our first guest “mystery” reader yesterday morning!  It was……Mrs. Klauer!

She read the firsties two books, in German! Ask your kiddo what books she read. I am always impressed with people who can speak a second language, since I do not AT ALL.
We will continue with our guest “mystery” readers throughout the rest of the month. 


Our joint worship service today, was wonderful!  The firsties enjoyed the bus ride (and I quote, “Miss Gallagher, I want to ride a bus, EVERY DAY!”) and the speaker after the service, was so fun!  

Field trips are EXHAUSTING! 

Friday, we are having our first “Flashlight Friday”, where the whole school will read by flashlight for about 15 minutes.  If your firstie has a few books that they like to read at home, please have your firstie bring them in!  Don’t forget to send in a flashlight as well.  


How are the books of the Bible coming along?  Thank you for helping your firstie prepare for their test. 

Blessings on the rest of your week!

Miss Gallagher