Field Day

What a GREAT year we had in first grade! Thank to to all of the students for working so hard and creating amazing memories! And thank you to the families for all of your support along the way! I hope everyone has an awesome summer and spends time playing outside. 

• Reading challenge papers came home in report card envelopes. It is through the ALPL this year. There is a Reading Challenge kick off party at Avon Lake Public Library on June 8 from 10am-12pm (https://alpl.librarymarket.com/node/2231). Here's the link for more info on the reading challenge. https://alpl.librarymarket.com/node/2557

Summer Reading Program @ ALPL

End of Year Dates:

• 5/27- No School, Memorial Day
• 5/28-5/31- Bike to School Week
• 5/31- Field Day- wear tennis shoes & dress comfortably for the weather
• 6/4- Last Day of School

NEW THIS YEAR!  SUMMER READING MADE SIMPLE!

No more keeping track of summer reading for both the library and Avon Lake schools.  Reading totals completed for the Avon Lake Public Library (ALPL) Summer Reading Club will be shared with the Avon Lake City and St. Joseph schools. Totals will count toward recognition at each school in the fall as well as summer prizes at the library. Your reading log can be turned in to either the library during the summer or to your school in the fall.

Reading logs are being sent home with all Avon Lake Public School and St. Joseph students in grades K-6, can be printed from the library or school websites, or picked up at the ALPL Children’s desk, beginning June 1.  After reading for 10 days, bring the log to the library and collect a small prize and mission badge. With each prize, you’ll also enter a raffle drawing for additional prizes. The first prize will be available June 17.  For further information, contact the Children’s desk at 440-933-8917 or visit www.alpl.org.

Summer Reading Club Launch Party

Saturday, June 8, 10:00 am-noon

Avon Lake Public Library South Lawn, weather permitting (Waugaman Gallery, rain location)

Blast off on a reading mission!  Spend your morning creating and launching all kinds of rockets--water bottle rockets, paper rockets, pool noodle rockets, and more.  You can even launch yourself into the air in the bounce house! Enjoy a tasty rocket pop (what else?) and a cup of Tang to get you in the mood for space adventures.  

More summer fun at the library....

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing by reading a universe of stories.  Visit the library for some out-of-this-world tunes at the Friends of the Library sponsored Pop Rocks concert series. Get ready for extraterrestrial art & science, space-themed book discussions, alien veggies in Mary’s Children’s Garden, galaxy slime, marshmallow fusion and more! Check out ww.alpl.org for summer program information and registration.

Junior Achievement and Field Trip

Field Trip to ALPL: Solids, Liquids and Gasses

Catching Boo Bubbles with Dry Ice

Mr. Kos with Junior Achievement: Our Community

• On Wednesday, we went to the public library to learn about solids, liquids, and gasses. The children had a great time participating in experiments that included mixing solids and liquids, exploring the volume of objects, comparing types of liquids, and learning about atoms and matter. It looked like their favorite part was holding Boo Bubbles, made from dry ice!
• Mr. Kos from Junior Achievement came in this week to teach the class about Our Community. The children learned about our neighborhood, businesses, jobs, goods, and services. They played a Wants or Needs game and also guessed Mystery Jobs when given 3 clues. The students had a chance to be entrepreneurs by creating a business. They created an advertisement for the company and added details such as:  the company's name, what the business was selling, how much items in the store cost, and drawings of their store.
• In phonics this week, we learned the sound "oo, ue, ew" as in food, glue, and flew. Our high frequency words were: answer, brought, busy, door, enough, eyes
• Our essential question was: How can we work together to make our lives better? The stories we read were Super Tools, Click Clack Moo, March On, and Working Together.
• For math this week, we learned to subtract using tens frames, place value, hundreds chart, and mental math. We learned the short cut of sliding our fingers up the hundred chart row and looking at the place value to find the answers.
• The students also started working on their book reports in class! Our book report night is May 15th from 6-6:45 pm. Everything will be done in school and we will set up tables in the gym to present the reports to family and friends. Our theme is "Baking Up Cakes" and if your child wants to bring in an apron to wear for book report night, send an apron to school by May 15th. Aprons are optional, please don't feel that you need to go out and purchase one. The presentation will be about 10 minutes long, so feel free to walk around and see other students' reports!
• West Side Market permission slips and chaperone forms will come home Monday next week. 

Looking Ahead:

• May 8- COSI- our class is from 2:10-2:45 pm
• May 15- Book Report Night in gym 6-6:45 pm
• May 22- West Side Market Field Trip
• May 27- No School
• May 31- Field Day
• June 2- Last Day of School

Pennies for Patients April 15-18th

This week in math we focused on Topic 10: Use models to add tens and ones. We learned how to draw longs and cubes to model and solve story problems with addition. Some problems require "regrouping & carrying" so we learned how to "Circle it to make a ten." We will quiz on this concept early next week.

In reading, our essential question was: How do things get built? We read about the building process of bridges, boats, ships, and houses. This students invented their own boat or bridge and wrote a paragraph in their journals about their structure.

Our phonics sound was oi/oy as in "oil" and "boy." HFWords this week were: above, build, fall, knew, money, and toward.

Dates Coming Up:

• April 13- BW3 Fundraiser all day
• April 15-18- Pennies for Patients
• April 15- Math MAPS
• April 17- Spring Pictures
• April 18- One District One Book Closing Assembly
• April 19-28- Spring Break, No School
• May 1- Field Trip to ALPL
• May 8- COSI- our class is from 2:10-2:45 pm

Wear Indians Clothes on Monday

Balancing Equations During Center Time:  9+3 = 8+4

This week in reading, our essential question was: What inventions do you know about? We read a story about a robot inventor and how he kept improving his invention to make them work better. The students wrote about their own inventions in their journals. They had to include details such as: the name, what it does, how much it costs, where you can buy it, and what it looks like. What did your child invent?!

In phonics, we worked on the r-controlled sound of -or (corn), -ore (tore), and -oar (soar). Our HFWords were: began, better, guess, learn, right, sure

For math this week, we began our unit on Measuring Lengths. We identified objects as longer or shorter and measured objects with cubes. Next week we will learn a little about rulers and how they can be more accurate when measuring.

Dates to remember:

• March 29- Daddy Daughter Dance, tickets available at door
• April 1- Wear Cleveland Indians Gear or colors for opening day
• April 1- One District One Book- We will have an assembly to reveal the book for this year. Each child will receive their own book and packet of questions to take home and return the questions to school for prizes!
• April 8- MAPS Reading- Get a good night's sleep on Sunday to be well rested and prepared for best effort on Monday.
• April 15- MAPS Math-Get a good night's sleep on Sunday to be well rested and prepared for best effort on Monday.
• April 17- Spring Pictures
• April 19-28- Spring Break

Wear Green Friday!

This week in writing, we created a paragraph on: How to Catch a Leprechaun. The students listened to a story about creating traps and then imagined their own. we wrote the steps of how to catch a leprechaun using "first, next, then, last" in our journals. TOmorow we will bring home our plans and a leprechaun craft!

In phonics, we learned about bossy R! The R is SO bossy, that when reading words with "ar" we can't even hear the vowel, as in barn. Then, we learned bossy R for er, ir, or, and ur (fern, bird, word, turn). Our HFWords are another, climb, full, great, poor, through.

Our essential question is :What can you see in the sky? We read two fantasies called A Bird Named Fern and Kitten's First Full Moon. The strategy was cause and effect.

In science, we continue to learn about the sun's energy. We know it can provide us with heat and light energy, electricity, and solar power.

In social studies, we're learning map skills and how to use a compass rose with North, South, East, and West. We are mapping out the United States and taking a tour across the country.

Coming Up:

• 3/15- Wear Green!
• 3/17-3/21 Scholastic Book Fair
• 3/20- Donuts with Dad- Last name A-M @ 8 am
• 3/21- Donuts with Dad- Last name N-Z @ 8 am
• 3/28- Art Night @ Redwood 4-8 pm
• 3/29- Me & My Guy Dance 6-8 pm

DONUTS WITH DAD

Please RSVP using the link below for Donuts with Dad (or Grandpa, Uncle, brother, etc.)

https://goo.gl/forms/wLD4YZoytPoCsMLD2

One adult only please.

Donuts with Dad is Weds. March 20^th from 8:00 AM-8:45 AM

AND Thursday March 21^st from 8:00 AM-8:45 AM (choose only one).

Donuts, coffee and milk will be provided.

Scholastic Book Fair will be open to purchase books and items from the Spring Book Fair!

Donuts with Dad

DONUTS WITH DAD

Please RSVP using the link below for Donuts with Dad (or Grandpa, Uncle, brother, etc.)

https://goo.gl/forms/wLD4YZoytPoCsMLD2

One adult only please.

Donuts with Dad is Weds. March 20^th from 8:00 AM-8:45 AM

AND Thursday March 21^st from 8:00 AM-8:45 AM (choose only one).

Donuts, coffee and milk will be provided.

Scholastic Book Fair will be open to purchase books and items from the Spring Book Fair!

• Me & My Guy Dance- March 29th, 6-8 pm. Girls can RSVP using the red permission form. Return to school with $.
• Next week is the last walking club meeting of the year. 
• Raz-Kids books were just updates! Log in for new reading levels and earn those stars!

Read Across America Week

Read Across America Week: The students celebrated literature and Dr. Seuss' birthday by reading in the hallway, reading with 3rd grade buddies, and by listening to high school students read rhyming books on Friday.

In math, we started our topic on 2D  shapes. We learned how many straight sides and how many vertices each basic shape has. We discussed closed shapes and that we define a shape's name by the number of sides and vertices, not what color or size a shape is.

In reading, we focused on: How do people work with animals? We read stories called Puppy to Guide Dog, Koko & Penny, Saving Mountain Gorillas, and A New Puppy. Then, we sequenced the events in the stories in order from: first, next, then, and last. These stories helped us read the new phonics "long e" sound and spelling: ey (as in key) and y ( as in berry). We learned the HFWords found, hard, near, woman, would, write.

In science and writing, we completed out unit on insect by learning the different adaptations of animals and how these adaptations help them survive in nature. We invented our own insects and included the major body parts of insects. We wrote an informative paragraph about our insects and the students had to come up with their own topic and closing sentences. They had to include at least 3 facts in their paragraph to describe their bugs.

Coming Up:

• Sunday March 3-Reflections Art Fair @ Avon Lake High School 
• 3/6- Conferences 4-7:30 pm
• 3/7- No School- Conferences 7:30 am-3:30 pm
• 3/8- No School
• 3/17-3/21 Scholastic Book Fair
• 3/20- Donuts with Dad- Last name A-M @ 8 am
• 3/21- Donuts with Dad- Last name N-Z @ 8 am
• 3/28- Art Night @ Redwood 4-8 pm
• 3/29- Me & My Guy Dance 6-8 pm 

Valentine's Day

This week in reading, our phonics pattern was long o, spelled like oa (boat), oe (toe), and ow (bow). Since it makes the long vowel sound, we mark it up with a long line over the vowel team. Our High Frequency Words were: find, food, more, over, start, warm.

In reading, we practiced reading long o patters using books about animals surviving in nature. We read Go Wild, Fish Faces, Go Gator, Beautiful Birds, and Fantastic Fish. We worked on finding the main idea and supporting details of these non-fiction texts.

In math, we took a quiz on Topic 9: Comparing numbers with tens and ones. Then, I introduced analog and digital clocks. We learned the face, the minute hand, and the hour hand on analog clocks. They learned how to tell time to the hour using the term o'clock. The students logged onto Splash Math and worked on  parts of an Analog Clock and Telling Time to the hour. We will continue to dive into telling time to the hour and half hour next week

• Random Acts of Kindness week is next week! Redwood is trying to fill up our front showcase with random acts of kindness the students have done. We sent home a card stock paper for the kids to write their kind gestures on. Cut them out and return them to school as each act of kindness is done. We discussed that a random act of kindness is something a child does without asking for a reward or praise in return. Random acts of kindness can really brighten someone's day!
• Yearbook orders are due February 22nd.

100th Day Fun!

The last two weeks in phonics, we learned the vowel teams ai and ay sound like long a, as in rain and pay. We also learned the vowel teams ea and ee sound like long e, as in leaf and tree.  Our HFWords were: because, blue, into, or, other and small. Next week, our focus is Unit 4 Week 3 on the High Frequency Word List, sent home in the report card envelope!

In reading, we have been learning about how animals help each other in animal teams. We read a lot of nonfiction texts, with captions and charts. Our focus was finding the main idea and key details of each story. We read Animal Teams, A Team of Fish, Busy as a Bee, and Bats! Bats! Bats!

Math this week was focused on finding 1 more, 1 less, 10 more, and 10 less both mentally and using a 100 chart, & then comparing numbers using greater than, less than, and equal to. We watched a quick video on the alligator chomping the biggest number when using the symbols >,< and =. We will quiz topic 9 next week before Valentine's day.

• Glow walk pre-ordered tickets went home Monday. Your child can still buy tickets at the door, Friday, Feb. 8th @ 7pm. 
• Feb. 14th- Keep working on those Valentine mailboxes and writing out names on cards. Please send them to school anytime, or by Feb. 14th.
• Feb 15th- No School: Staff In-service day
• Feb. 16th- Magic gives back magic show. 
• Feb 18th-No School Monday: President's Day
• Yearbook order forms also came home Monday. Orders are due February 22nd.

Magic Gives Back

• This week in math, we started Topic 8: Understand Place Value. We focused on the Tens and Ones place by building the numbers and drawing models of these numbers. You can see the green place value blocks we used in the picture above. The square flats are worth 100, the longs are worth 10, and the small cubes are worth 1. 
• In reading, our Essential Question was: How do we get our food? We read stories about how bread, jam, and orange juice is made. We also practiced reading charts on which foods were in each food group. The Little Red Hen was the perfect story to learn how beard is made and it taught us to always pitch in to help, if we want to share the delicious food in the end of the story. 
• Our phonics focus was the two sounds of oo, like book & tooth. Our HFWords are: after, buy, done, every, soon, work
• In writing, we continued to write with transition words :first, next, then, last. We crafted a snowman and then wrote the steps of How to Build a Snowman with a topic and closing sentence. Our creations are hanging up in the hall. 
• Magic Gives Back Assembly- Today Magic Gives Back visited Redwood to share information with the kids about an exciting event in February! This event is hosted by Piper’s Legacy, which is a local organization dedicated to supporting promising Ewing’s sarcoma research. This amazing illusionist show is perfect for all ages and will be held at Magnificat High School on Saturday, February 16 @ 7:00pm. Tickets range in price from $20 -$25, with proceeds from the show going to Piper’s Legacy. Look for a Magic Gives Back flier to come home with your child today! Visit this link for more information and to buy tickets to the show! Piper's Legacy: Magic Gives Back

Coming Up:

• No School Monday, Jan. 21- MLK Jr. Day
• Volunteer to help with COSI- Our class is going to COSI from 2:10-2:45 on Jan. 30th if you would like to volunteer during our time slot, click on the link:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080844ADA623A31-cosi4

COSI Volunteers and Walking Club Sign Up

Duber, the bear, has been donated to each classroom from Duber Automotive, which is sponsoring Avon Lake's One District One Book (ODOB) this year. The students will each have a chance to read to Duber as we get ready for ODOB in April. We haven't revealed the book yet, last year's book was The Mouse and the Motorcycle.

This week in reading & social studies, we finished reading folktales such as The Mitten and The Gingerbread Man. The students learned soft c (as in nice) and soft g (as in gym). Our HFW words were any, from, happy, once, so, upon. Then, we began our new topic: Long Ago and Today. We read stories about life, homes, and chores long ago. Our HFWords are: ago, boy, girl, how, old, people.

In math, we are learning to count by 10's and 1's up to 120. We found missing numbers in hundred chart puzzles, and writing numbers 101-120. We began leaning about the place value spots (hundreds, tens, and ones) and will dig deeper into this topic next week.

A Few Updates:

• Volunteer to help with COSI- Our class is going to COSI from 2:10-2:45 on Jan. 30th if you would like to volunteer during our time slot, click on the link:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080844ADA623A31-cosi4
• Walking club starts Jan. 15th after school on Tuesdays. Last call to sign up, before the signup closes next week.  https://goo.gl/forms/rHSq0AJkZK1FJOTe2
• January 21- No School. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• January 24- Report Cards Home
• Glow Walk forms came home Friday and if you're buying discounted tickets in advance, return the form by January 30th. The Glow Walk is February 8th from 7-8:30 PM.