Coin Practice

This is a little rhyme that we say during our daily calendar activities in first grade to help remember the names of the coins and their values.    Ask you child to say it for you and do the hand motions:

Penny penny easily spent,
Copper, brown, and worth one cent.
Nickel nickel thick and fat,
You're worth five cents,
I know that!
Dime dime, little and thin,
I remember you're worth ten!
Quarter quarter BIG and BOLD,
You're worth twenty-five cents
I am told!

Try having your child count coin amounts at home.  Start with combinations of like coins and then mixed coin combinations.  For a challenge give them an amount and have them try to show it to you using the fewest amount of coins possible or try having them making change.
Mrs. McAuliffe

Counting Practice

Dear parents,
We are working on counting by 1's, 10's, 5's and 2's in math.  Counting by 5's will be especially important as we begin working with nickels and telling time with analog clocks.  Practice counting by 1's,  5's and 10's to 100 and by 2's to 40.  A great place to practice is in the car while driving or while waiting in line at stores. Keep up the great counting at home!   Thank you!
Mrs. McAuliffe

Math Game: Penny Dice Roll

The students enjoyed playing Penny Dice Roll today.  In partners or groups of three, they rolled a die and then took the amount of pennies.  They arranged their winnings in pairs or groups of five to practice skip counting.  Later on we will add nickels and dimes as we introduce those coins.

Thank you!

Thank you all for coming to open house! It was so nice to meet all of you. Our classroom looks well stocked thanks to all the supplies.  Lysol and Clorox wipes are a first grade teacher's best friend!
I forgot to mention 2 of the handouts on the desk.... oops!  They were for Lexia and Symphony Math.  Those are computer programs that we use in school that can be downloaded and carried over at home.  They are individual to your child and differentiated based on the way your child responds to the questions.  If you have any trouble downloading them let me know.  Symphony math should be ready to download but I would wait a few weeks on Lexia because I am still waiting to get all the student accounts transferred to first grade in the system. 
Thanks again and I look forward to sitting down with you at conference time.  If you have any questions or concerns before that please feel free to pop in room 4 or shoot me an email.  patricia_mcauliffe@nksd.net
Thanks,
Mrs. McAuliffe

Open House

I am looking forward to meeting everyone tomorrow night at open house.  Be sure to sign up for a November conference.  If you are unable to make it and want to stop in another time, feel free! 
Thanks,
Mrs. McAuliffe

Welcome to First Grade! 2011-2012

Welcome Forest Park Families!  I am so excited to be working with your child this year.  Please check out this site from time to time to see what we are up to in first grade.  Enjoy your last few days of summer vacation!
Mrs. McAuliffe

Look What's Growing in Room 4!

We are just finishing up our Science Kit, New Plants.  In this kit we grew new plants from seeds, bulbs, whole potatoes, whole radishes, with and without soil, conducted a control experiment with wheat. mini lawns, and much more.  Here are a few pictures of some of the experiments. 

Potato Plants

Garlic bulbs grown in cotton.

Wheat Experiment

Students recording observations in their notebooks.

Rye & Alfalfa Lawns