The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer...

...is singing loud for ALL to hear!

Our class has not been in short supply of Christmas Cheer this month! We have been bursting with excitement for all of the fun things happening that surround the upcoming holiday.

At the beginning of the month, we participated in our Christmas Concert. Our lower el did such a great job singing the classic Christmas songs with some new ones as well. I always love watching our kiddos show off their hard work and talent through their singing and speaking parts. It is especially nice to hear everyone singing together instead of small groups of students practicing on their own. I hope you were able to relax and enjoy the concert as well!

We were blessed to have two mystery readers this month join our class for a cozy reading of their favorite Christmas stories from home!

Our class was SO excited when they found out there was going to be a mystery reader both of the days and absolutely LOVED listening to the stories that were shared.

THANK YOU Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Paulen for joining our cozy class and sharing your favorite stories with us.

We have been working hard in math learning all about numbers in base ten (recognizing tens and ones in two-digit numbers) and counting to 120. These are both very big goals for us in first grade and are foundational skills that we will need to develop and use as we continue growing as learners. We have found some fun daily practice activities that allow us to practice counting as well as get some exercise at the same time. You will also notice on your child's Seesaw account that many of them have uploaded videos of themselves counting to 120. We already have a few 120 STARS! There are many others who are very close to reaching our goal! You can help them practice at home by watching, counting and moving along with these videos:

You can see us in action here:

As you have seen, we have started weekly spelling tests. The words on each of our weekly test include various spelling codes we are working on. Our first test focused on the magic_e, which our class has been working very hard at noticing and reading throughout the day. It proved a little tricky when it came time to write them on our spelling test. Make sure to practice with your child at home! This 'week's' words will focus on the /oo/ sound. You can watch this video below which will help with the sound the oo spelling makes:

Our /oo/ spelling test will be on the Friday when we return from break (January 4th). This will give you extra time to practice your words at home. You will also notice that on every spelling test is a tricky word. These are words that we have practiced on many occasions in both reading and writing and are expected to be spelled correctly in our writing. Remember tricky words are not able to be sounded out because they do not follow the normal spelling patterns so they are meant to be memorized and read right away upon seeing them.

We have spent the last week reading and talking about all things gingerbread! We have had the opportunity to build on another first grade skill, which involves reading and comparing multiple versions of a text and discussing their story features.

We have even been able to write about our own gingerbread men/houses! On Thursday, we spent our afternoon working on Gingerbread STEM Project! We always love the opportunity to strategize, plan and build something to help solve a problem!

In a couple of our stories that we read (The Gingerbread Boy and the Gingerbread Girl), the cookie was faced with the problem of having to cross the river to get away from the other characters. In the stories, a sly fox was waiting for them to try and trick them. Rather than having our own cookies get tricked by a fox, we were faced with the challenge of having to design and create/build our very own boats for a gingerbread cookie to cross the river in. The students had to build a boat that would float and be able to carry a gingerbread cookie without it getting wet. We had many successful creations. A couple boats didn't work out quite as well and I bet with more time those friends would have been able to go back and redesign/rebuild a successful boat!

Last week we received a HUGE surprise from the Cadillac Rotary and our very own Forest View PTO! It was so big in fact that Mrs. Paulen couldn't even wrap it! She, along with the help of Santa, informed us that we will be receiving a huge addition to our playground this spring!

We cannot wait to play on our new slides/climbers/etc!!!! THANK YOU to everyone who helps support our students and their experiences here at school! If you know someone who is part of the rotary please tell them THANK YOU as well as any member of our PTO!!

We were excited for all of our other Christmas FUN this week as well!

On Tuesday, our reading buddies from fourth grade came to visit. We listened to stories from Mrs. Simons and Mrs. Quist as well as ate candy canes and watched a Christmas movie! We always have a blast when they come to visit!

On Wednesday, we received a school-wide reward for filling/overflowing our STAR ticket bucket. We got an extra, extended recess which was followed by a movie theater and popcorn treat in the afternoon!

Friday was packed with excitement! We started our morning with 10 extra minutes of play time outside which was followed by a visit from Santa! We couldn't believe it when we heard his bells in the hallway and he came in to visit us! He even told us some really funny Santa jokes!

Next, was our first grade book exchange. We were SO excited to have Mrs. Heystek's class come join us for a game of musical chairs to gift our friends with a new book!

After opening our new books, we were able to spread out between Mrs. Heystek's and our classrooms and read our new books with our friends!

Next, we enjoyed opening our own classroom gifts and reading as a group our two new books that we received!

During the afternoon, we were able to get outside for our winter hike.

We stopped half way through our walk and read a few Christmas stories....stories outside in the snow?!?! We had a blast!

We were a little bummed that the snow had all melted and we weren't able to use the snowshoes however we still had a blast on our walk! We will definitely keep the snowshoes ready for another time this winter when there is plenty of snow to enjoy!

Our afternoon wrapped up with playing on the playground, as well as enjoying hot cocoa and a Christmas movie. We also had fun eating a birthday treat (Happy Birthday Addie) and a cookie from Aiden while we enjoyed our relaxing afternoon!