Reach for the Stars reading challenge has come to an end. I am so proud of the efforts made by all! I do not have a total for our minutes read yet...I will after school! :) Regardless if we are the highest class or not we met our goal of 18,000 minutes read! Way to go first graders! We will be voting on how we will celebrate tomorrow with the actual celebration on Friday, January 27. Thank you a million times over for all the great things you do for your son or daughter.

We have been keeping very busy here in first grade. We have come to the point in Math where it is all about addition. We are working on simple addition facts and fact families. Students now know that given three numbers such as: 3, 4 and 7 you can make four different math facts. 3+4=7, 4+3=7, 7-4=3 and 7-3=4. Dominoes are helpful while learning this important concept. It is great to see them get so excited once they catch onto something. As soon as I showed them the first fact family they beamed with excitement as I try to "trick" them each day with harder numbers.

We continue to have Literacy Centers and Guided Reading everyday. The past week and a half I re-tested each student to see what reading level they were at. I am so proud of the progress the WHOLE class had made so far. I have a bright group of first grade students. The kiddos continue to work with sight words each day on the Smartboard and by playing games with their peers. Mastering the sight words in first grade really make a difference with the reading fluency and accuracy. Keep up all the great work you do with them at home.

Day 100 is scheduled for Feb. 1. We will do a rotating schedule with the second grade students and teachers. One of the stations will involve marshmallows, toothpicks and foam paper plates. We are asking for your help in providing these items. If you could send a bag of mini marshmallows, a box or tooth picks or some foam paper plates our way that would be greatly appreciated.

Reach for the Stars chili supper and book fair are this Thursday. Book Fair: 4:30-8:00 and chili supper is from 5:00-7:30.