What A Busy Friday!

Whew!  We have been very busy today!  This morning we had Dr. Baer-Mirza and Dr. Mirza from Rockford Family Dental come and talk to us about healthy habits for our teeth.  Each student is bringing home a tooth brush today and a fact sheet from the Mirza's.  They were a lot of fun to watch and listen to.  I even learned a few things myself!

The kids really loved the stuffed animal she used during the demonstration!

Some facts we learned:

1. Brush your teeth two times a day for 2 minutes.

2. Children unable to tie their own shoes, should not brush or floss themselves. 

3. Children should avoid using mouthwashes containing alcohol.

4. You should see your dentist for a cleaning 2 times a year.

This afternoon we had some students from the high school HOYA class come in a teach the students about proper hand washing.  (We are going to be the cleanest kids in the school after today!)

This presentation was AWESOME!  The HOYA students had the first graders go and wash their hands.  While they were gone they spread powder, invisible to the eye, all over the tables.  When we came back they gave a presentation on the correct way to wash hands.  Using a UV light, students then saw how many germs they picked up since washing their hands.  It was amazing how quickly some of their hands got dirty again!  Students then went back to the restroom and tried out their new hand washing skills.  They did such a great job, because when they put their hands back under the UV light, most of the germs were gone!

Students learned that they should sing a song like the ABC's or Happy Birthday when washing their hands!

Thank you so much to all of our special visitors today, we always love learning new things from new friends!



Brain Breaks!

We love to do brain breaks in our classroom.  It is always fun to get up and get moving a little bit after we have been working so hard.  Brain breaks help to refresh the mind so the students are able to focus and concentrate to their full ability!  I always love when a student comes in with a request for a new brain break that they found on their own!  That happened this week.  We have been dancing and singing a happy song this week!  I also had a student request that it go on the blog so they can find it at home!  So here it is, dance and get a little silly with your child as you sing the happy song!

Not all of our brain breaks are this long, some of them are only a minute or two.   A lot of times we go to www.gonoodle.com and do their brain breaks.  

You may also hear your child talk about our whole group music practices.  All of the first grade students are meeting together for music to practice for their concert.  Sometimes, they are going to music on days that we don't normally have music.  They are telling the truth, our schedule is just a little bit off right now.  Our music concert is on March 10th at the High School with an Open House back at the Elementary School.  Make sure you bring your camera with you, we will have our photo booth back in action this year!

If you have not returned your child's permission slip for our walking field trips, please do so before Friday!

Tropical Island Day

The kids have been working so hard since we came back from break.  It is very tough to get back into the swing of things when so many days are called off due to weather.  As a school, we decided to take a break from the drag winter weather and celebrate warmth with Tropical Island Day.  We did all things tropical today and the kids had a blast! 

 

Here are a few pictures from our adventure today!  Now hopefully warmer, nicer weather follows suit and we can stop pretending!

 

 

 

 

 

 Some tropical things we did today included making paper leis, a tropical addition hunt in the cafeteria,  hula hooping, drinking Hawaiian Punch and eating popsicles, and watching Lilo and Stitch!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

We had so much fun celebrating Valentine's Day today!  We started the morning with a surprise visit from Mr. Faller.  He talked with us about the great lakes and read us a Valentine's Day story.  The kids always enjoy a visit from Mr. Faller, we are lucky to have a superintendent that enjoys visiting with the kids!

 

Shortly after Mr. Faller left, we went to the computer lab and then our party started.  I am so blessed to have such wonderful students and families.  The party was a lot of fun!

 

 

 

 

Next week we will be learning about Presidents and on Friday we will celebrate Tropical Island Day at school!  Should be a fun filled week!  Just a quick reminder, NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY!

 

Valentine's Day Preparations!

We were busy preparing for Valentine's Day today! 

 

First Grade Fun!

We had a chance to check out the second graders' fractured fairy tale projects in the cafeteria today.  I have three students who have siblings in second grade.  They were so excited to share their sisters and brothers' hard work!

We also worked hard during math centers today and in the computer lab!  This afternoon we are going to work on writing our letters to send to our friends and family.  The kids are very excited!

Just a reminder...Valentine's Day is on Friday!  Click on the picture below for more information about the party!

100 Days of School!

I can't believe we finally made it our 100th day of school.  With all the snow and cold days we have had, I was starting to wonder if we would ever make it!  Don't worry, not only did we make it to 100 days, we had a blast celebrating!

 

We started the day by going to the cafeteria with Mrs. Carlson's class and reading 100 books in 1 hour!  The kids did a great job!

 

 

After we read our 100 books, we came back to class and weighed our collections of 100 things. 

 

 

After lunch we had the ice cream party that we were supposed to have on Friday.  The kids were so understanding of having to postpone!  Trust me, I would have loved to be here instead of the doctors with poor Natalie!

 

At the end of the day, we had an awesome 100th day snack!  Can you see what made it so perfect for today?

We wish it could be the 100th day EVERYDAY!

 

NO MORE SNOW!

As the title of this post indicates, I am so over the snow this year!  I can't wait to have some consistent time with the students and get back into a routine.  The kids did a great job when I was gone on Monday and Tuesday.  They also did a great job on MAP testing.  So in honor of that, I will be bringing in ice cream treats for them tomorrow.

 

I learned so many new things to try at my conference and we wasted no time getting started today.  The students learned about number rings today (pictures to come) and some students learned an addition game which has them adding 4 numbers and figuring out the missing addend.  All students will eventually learn the game, it will just take a little time.  It is definitely a game that needs to be taught in very small groups!

 

We also began an activity on expanding sentences that the students were really enjoying.  Tomorrow they are going to write and illustrate their sentences. 

 

Monday is the 100th day of School and we are going to have so much fun celebrating!  I can't wait for the students to see what I have in store!

 

Next Friday is Valentine's Day.  We will be exchanging Valentine's and students can bring them in whenever they have them completed.   Our party will be on February 14th at 10:00am.