Author: pmcclurg

Mrs. McClurg’s First Grade

October 2-6, 2023

Concepts Covered This Week:

Religion:

• We participated in a school Mass.
• We listened to the Gospel story where we learned the importance of doing what the Lord asks of us.
• We learned that God created angel to watch over us.  We drew pictures of our Guardian Angels
• We learned about Saint Francis of Assisi and participated in the Blessing of the Animals.
• We traced our hands to remind ourselves that we need to place our needs in God’s loving hand.

Language Arts:

• We practiced reading more sight words.
• We wrote words and illustrations for words in the –en and –et families.
• We practiced the correct formation of all the consonants and reviewed the sounds that these letters make.
• We read stories about things that we could get at a store.  We wrote sentences telling what we would get.

Math:

• We completed a first-grade assessment.  It was tricky!
• We identified and practiced using the math vocabulary words; part, whole, add, and (in math), addition sentence and sum.
• We used pictures and manipulatives to demonstrate addition.
• We counted to 27 with coins by using 2 dimes and 7 pennies.

Social Studies/Science:

• We discussed the role of many community workers.  We made illustrations of a community worker that could help our families.
• We read a news article where we learned about the different jobs that a firefighter does.  We also identified the different types of fire gear and how it keeps a fire fighter safe.
• We learned that when we get distracted, we can use helpful thoughts to remind ourselves to keep going.

Specialist Classes- Physical Education/Art/Music/Spanish/Library:

• In art continued to learn about surrealism and the art of the Argentine painter and sculptor, Xul Solar. We added cut out houses to our beautiful backgrounds.
• In music we listened to the book My Many-Colored Days by Dr. Seuss to learn about tone color, and how emotions can be expressed musically.  We moved to music and danced the Skeleton Dance. We also explored different classroom percussion instruments.
• In physical education we practiced leaping across hurdles, practiced the pacer test and felt our heartbeat faster, learned a new game called noodle dance tag and played various activities with the parachute.  
• Una nota de Señora Anna- This week in Spanish, we completed our Animales de la Granja (Farm animal) and greetings unit. We had fun playing lots of games like I spy and guess the animal to practice our knowledge of farm animal vocabulary!
• At the library, we listened to a story and checked out 2 books of personal interest.
• In our homeroom class, we listened to the story A Dark, Dark Tale and finished our fall landscapes.  Some are a little spooky.

Mrs. McClurg’s First Grade

September 25-29, 2023

Concepts Covered This Week:

Religion:

• We participated in a school Mass.
• We listened to the Gospel story where we learned that God’s generous love is for everyone.
• We discussed how God is Almighty and cares for our needs.
• We learned that we grow closer to God through prayer.
• We learned that God created us out of love.

Language Arts:

• We practiced reading more sight words.
• We wrote words and illustrations for words in the –op and –ot families.
• We practiced the correct formation of the letters a,b,c,d,f,g,h,j,I,k,l,m,n,p, qu ,r,s,t,v and w and reviewed the sounds that these letters make.
• We wrote sentences and drew illustrations of things that we like and do not like to do.
• We wrote a journal entry about a special friend.
• We read and illustrated a poem about counting that used the words for numbers.

Math:

• We reviewed numbers 0 to 12 and practiced using ordinal names.
• We identified and practiced using the math vocabulary words; before, after, between, fewer, more.
• We used graphs to answer questions about numbers 0 to 12.
• We counted to 22 with coins by using 2 dimes and 2 pennies.
• We completed the unit on number sense to 12.

Social Studies/Science:

• We discussed how laws are a special kind of rule. We drew pictures us our families following a community rule.
• We learned some ways to focus attention.  We also learned that practicing and trying again helps us get better at anything we want to learn.
• We participated in a Hispanic Culture Heritage assembly.
• We made a warm color background with tempera paints.   Next week we will add shadows.

Specialist Classes- Physical Education/Art/Music/Spanish/Library:

• In art we learned about surrealism and focused on the art of the Argentine painter and sculptor, Xul Solar. We observed three different elements within a composition and created beautiful backgrounds using watercolors.
• In music we sang a scale and showed the 8 notes of the scale with our bodies while singing Jack and Jill.  We practiced holding and using mallets and practiced audiation (inner singing/hearing) with the song Deep and Wide
• In Spanish we practiced numbers by counting farm animals. We also listened to the Parable of the Lost Sheep in Spanish.
• In physical education we practiced how to strike an object with our different parts of our hands and body using balloons.  We also learned to use the parachute.
• We listened to a story and checked out 1-2 books of personal interest.  We also made birthday cards for our teacher.  She loved them!
  
  

Mrs. McClurg’s First Grade

September 18-22, 2023

Concepts Covered This Week

Religion:

• We participated in a School Mass.
• We attended Adoration in the Church.  We spent time praying, listening, and talking to God.
• We learned that with charity, we can love like God loves.  We discussed ways we can be a gift of love to others.
• We discussed how God is our loving Father in Heaven.

Language Arts:

• We practiced reading more sight words.
• We wrote and illustrated words in the -in and –ig word families.
• We identified the characters and actions in several poems and stories.
• We practiced the correct formation of the letters b,c, d,f,g.h,l,m,n,p,qu, r and t.
• We reviewed many consonant sounds.
• We used words from our phonic readers to write sentences about animals and our families.
• We wrote a journal entry talking about an action we can do with our bodies.

Math:

• We ordered numbers from 0 to 12 and learned how we can use ordinal names to describe number order.
• We used the words before, after and between to describe the relationship of numbers in order.
• We looked at how some numbers follow patterns.
• We practiced making and reading simple graphs.
• We filled in our calendar, weather graph and number chart and counted money to correspond with the number of days in school.

Social Studies/Science:

• We learned how to focus attention on the person talking.  We used hand signals for the following clues: Eyes watching, Ears listening, Mouth quiet, Body still.
• We talked about how everyone gets distracted sometimes.  We practiced some strategies to help ourselves pay attention.
• We discussed ways to be a good citizen in the classroom and local community.  We role played ways to do this in different situations.
• We used watercolors to paint fall landscapes.

Specialist Classes- Physical Education/Art/Music/Spanish/Library:

• In art we learned about analogous color: Red-Orange-Yellow / Blue-Green-Purple.  We used this concept with soft pastels to finish our symmetric butterflies.
• In Spanish we practiced the names of the farm animals. We watched a “guess the animal” video and made our own “guess the animal” books. We’ll send the books home to share with our families soon!
• In music we Listened actively to move to the music of Seven Jumps, used egg shakers as sound effects to tell a story (Mortimer by Robert Munsch).  We Sang the song Snail, Snail and practiced special awareness by walking a spiral as a class while singing the song.
• In physical education we This week in PE we learned how to strike an object with our different parts of our hands and body using balloons.  
• At the library, we listened to the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear and made a page for our class books.  We checked out a book of personal interest.
  
  

Mrs. McClurg’s First Grade

September 11-15, 2023

Concepts Covered This Week

Religion:

• We participated in a school Mass.
• We learned that the Blessed Trinity is one God in three Persons.
• We made triangles to help us show the relationship between the three Persons of the Trinity. 
• We practiced some hand signals to help us remember that God loves us.
• We learned that we are all a part of God’s plan of love.

Language Arts:

• We practiced reading sight words.
• We wrote and illustrated words in the -an and –at word families.
• We identified the topic and characters in several poems and stories.
• We practiced the correct formation of the letters b,f,h,l,m,n,p,r and t.
• We reviewed many consonant sounds.
• We used words from the stories read to complete sentences about the things we see.
• We wrote a journal entry describing ourselves.

Math:

• We reviewed numbers 0 to 12.
• We identified and practiced using the math vocabulary words; greater than, more than, less than, fewer than and equal to.
• We used pictures and symbols to illustrate numbers 0-12.
• We practiced making and reading graphs.
• We added symbols to our calendar and counted coins corresponding to the number of days we have been in school.

Social Studies/Science:

• We discussed class rules and why it is important to be safe, responsible, and respectful.
• We practiced some strategies to help us focus attention.  We role played how we could focus attention in different school situations.
• We identified ways to be kind to each other.  We practiced using kind words to our teachers and classmates.
• We listened to the story, The Worry Monster.  We then used different colors of paper to create our own worry monster.  In case you didn’t know, worry monsters eat worries.

Specialist Classes- Physical Education/Art/Music/Spanish/Library:

• In art we created monarch butterflies by folding paper and drawing half of a butterfly wing shape. Next, we opened the paper and applied some paint to one side of the fold. Then, they folded the paper back together and pressed it down with their hands. Afterward, they opened the paper and allowed the paint to dry.
• In Spanish we practiced farm animal names and sounds. We also sang the greetings song and learned a song about butterflies for Hispanic Heritage Month. 
• In music we sang and moved in a spiral to the song Snail Snail, reviewed the concepts of fast/slow, quiet/loud, high/low and moved to the song You’ve Got to Sing.
• In physical education we practiced walking on the short lines and jogging on the long lines.  We also played the cooperative games Adventure Bingo and Noodle Dance Tag.  
• At the library, we listened to a story and checked out a book of personal interest.
  
  

Mrs. McClurg’s First Grade

September 4-8, 2022

Concepts Covered This Week

Religion:

• We participated in a school Mass.
• We looked at our prayer table and discussed why certain items and books are placed there.
• We practiced some of the first grade and kindergarten prayers.
• We learned about the bible verse, “God is Love. (1 John 4:8). We discussed some ways that God shares his love with us.

Language Arts:

• We practiced reading sight words.
• We practiced reading a phonetic reader with the class and a reading buddy.
• We made individual books using some of the words found in the classroom.
• We practiced the correct formation of the letters f,h,l,r and t.
• We reviewed many consonant sounds.

Math:

• We identified and practiced using the math vocabulary words; greater, more, less, fewer and same.
• We used pictures and symbols to illustrate numbers 0-9.
• We looked at number patterns.
• We added dates to our September calendar, graphed the weather and counted pennies corresponding to the number of days we have been in school.

Social Studies/Science:

• We discussed class rules and why they are important.
• We listened to the story, “Dandelion”, then drew self-portraits.
• We practiced ways to listen and focus attention so we can be successful learners.
• We met the school counselor, Mrs. Caulfield.  We played a puzzle game and learned some of the ways she can help us at school.
• We participated in a school fire drill.  We also took a walk to the school reunification spot on Cornwall Avenue. 

Specialist Classes- Physical Education/Art/Music/Spanish/Library:

• In art we learned about symmetry and Hispanic heritage month  
• In music we sang and showed high and low pitches with the song Snail,Snail.  We danced the Danish Greeting Dance and reviewed different types of voices (speaking, whisper, calling, singing, inner hearing)
• In physical education we practiced walking on the short lines and jogging on the long lines.  We played the cooperative games Adventure Bingo and Noodle Dance Tag.   
• In Spanish we learned the greetings for different times of the day. We also read a book called Buenos Días Granja and began learning farm animal names.