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1st Grade Pictures

Fruit Loops Math: First graders thought it was a real treat to collect data with their Fruit Loops. Take a look by clicking on the link.

Huey's Hideaway Children's Museum: The littles didn't go roller skating but they had their own fun at the Children's Museum in Medford. Some of them may have found their future career as beautician's, farmers, doctors. Thanks to Home & School and Fischer Transportation for taking the students to and from the museum.

BINGO: Students from every grade played Bingo in celebration of Catholic Schools Week. The older students paired up with the littles and everyone had several opportunities to yell "BINGO".

Field Day 4K - 1st: : What do you do with 4K - 1st graders that are full of energy? You have a field day and let them run races to burn off the energy. You can tell by their faces that this was a favorite activity to cap off the year.

Marshfield Zoo: Students in grades 4K - 1st had a fun field trip to the Marshfield Zoo and stopped at Hub City Ice Cream Company for a tasty treat after. The rainy day couldn't stop their enjoyment and smiles.

Leprechauns: The first graders found the pot 'o gold at the end of the rainbow and the second graders were busy making leprechaun traps. Check out their shenanigans.

Mission Carnival: One of our Lenten fundraisers is the Mission Carnival. Parents and grandparents donate prizes and baked goods and then we have a carnival to raise money for our sister Parish in Santa Cruz, Bolivia and Casa Hogar Juan Pablo II Orphanage in Peru.During our mission carnival we had an open house for prospective students, and we were happy to see so many families attend. The profits this year were $2142.52, which is over $500 more than the last carnival. Thank you to all who donated and worked the carnival.

Children's Museum: Students in grades 4K - 1st had a blast exploring all the cool rooms at the Central Wisconsin Children's Museum. It was a time of play, climbing, and using their imagination.

"What do I want to be when I grow up?": It was so fun to see all the future occupations of our students. Everything from a teacher to a geologist, farmer, train engineer to working in the medical field, athletes, a champion, mom and many things in-between.

8th Graders: The 4K and first graders had a special treat today when the 8th graders read to them. As part of their Spanish class 8th graders read to the students in Spanish and then the translation into English. The littles were a very attentive audience.

First Grade Nativity Play: The first graders bring you the story of the Nativity and wish you a Merry Christmas.

See our Parade of Saints from the First Grade class.

1st grade is a huge year for your child. Having an inclusive classroom is what makes our room special. We are very grateful to have Gym, Music, Computer and Library, but it is great to have the rest of our classes together. We work very hard on learning to read in 1st grade. We have a ton of new skills that we are introduced to that help us to become better readers. We love to incorporate any art we can with our literacy. Ready Freddy seems to be the most loved reading series for story time. Late in our 1st grade year, we are able to start Accelerated Reading. This is where you read a book and can take a test for points to see how well we understood the book. This is a very exciting time for us. Math is a time for us to be dipped into a variety of math skills. Money and time seem to be the most difficult but with lots of practice, we are able to demonstrate the tasks of telling time and counting money! We continue to work on basic math skills. The biggest being how to add and subtract! We do a lot of unit work for our science and social studies. We make lots of books on the topics we cover. This seems to be the most interesting because we have lots of books on science topics that the children can read during their free time! My collection grows each year to meet the needs and interests of my students.

At the start of our 2nd semester, we start something called "Writer's Journal." This is a journal that the kids write in almost every day. We start with a topic and then the children finish it and then draw an illustration to go with it. We are working on the concept of being an author! In order to be a good writer there are skills you need. The first being good penmanship. We work very hard on the Zaner Bloser method…lots of circles and sticks! The second skill we need is creating good sentences. Starting our sentences with capital letters and ending with the correct punctuation. This is a concept we work on all year!!! We are blessed to be able to take part a few times a year by planning the Mass so that we can do the readings, sing, take up the offertory gifts, etc. The most exciting Mass we partake in is our All Saints' Day Mass where we learn about our favorite saint and dress up like them. Learning about God every day allows us to put him first in our daily thoughts, words and actions. We are blessed to be able to have the chance to be with Him in every subject we learn about.

Even with all of the many exciting things that happen during our daily schedule, we have many fun events plugged in like a visit to an apple orchard or pumpkin patch. Each year we've participated in the Bunny Hop that provides donated items from our school families to fill baskets for children in the hospital or in need of some Easter joy. We are able to have 2 weeks of swimming lessons at no cost to your child. We celebrate the 100th day of school. We also plan a fun-filled track and field afternoon closer to the end of the year.

As you can see, 1st grade is a busy year will all of the academics and "extras" not listed above. I truly believe that 1st grade is a magical year and is one of your child's most fulfilling years with all that they will learn.

Weekly Schedule

 
Valerie Kind First Grade

Hello, my name is Trinka Bankes and I am so excited to be part of the St. Mary’s team as the 1st Grade teacher.  I have a master’s degree in criminal justice with a child advocacy certificate. I am also a licensed social worker.  I am currently completing my teaching license. I was born in Edgar and moved away, but decided the country life is for me so back to the country I came. I am extremely fortunate for I have an amazing family that consists of my husband Jerry, two boys Ben and Sawyer, and a daughter Madisyn.  When not at school you can find me laughing at the animals on our farm or relaxing at our permanent camping site up north.  

Phone Extension: 101
Email: tbankes@stmarysmarathon.org

 
 

Trinka Bankes
First Grade

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