Interactive Literacy Journals

This week we worked on asking and answering question about key details in a text.  The first day we made tabs on our pages.  Under the tabs we answered questions about the book Scaredy Squirrel.  The students had a lot of fun.  We also made spinners.  Students spin the spinner and then on post-it notes had to write a question using the word they landed on about the book Pumpkin Soup.  The cool thing about that page is that we will reuse it frequently.  The students write their questions on the post-it notes.  After we are finished with our current book we will take those post-its out so we are ready to reuse it for the next story.

 

Thank you to those of you who have donated to our journal supplies.  We could still use a few more standard sized post-it notes and cardstock.  The kids were VERY excited when they saw the colored pencils and post-its come in!

 

 

Don't forget the Jog-a-Thon is on Friday!   

Pumpkin Investigators!

Today we were pumpkin investigators. Students described the outside of the pumpkin and the inside of the pumpkins.  They also estimated how many lines went around the pumpkin and how many seeds were inside.  One thing we noticed was Mrs. Carlson's pumpkin was much smaller, but it had more lines and 4 times as many seeds!  Here is our investigation results:

 

The students had a lot of fun getting messy and gutting the pumpkin!

We carved a number one in the pumpkin since FIRST GRADE ROCKS!



Jog-a-Thon

We had our kick off assembly for Jog-a-Thon today.  The staff members played some Minute to Win It games to get the kids excited!  Please make sure your children are safe when they are asking for pledges.  I don't recommend having them go door to door, especially to people's houses they do not know!  With that being said,  help them get lots of pledges so our class can win a prize!  Individual students can win prizes also.  The top prize is your choice between an iPad mini or a $200 Toys R' Us shopping spree!  There are prizes for most laps run by a girl/boy in first grade, and prizes for most money raised by students.  In the past our school has used our fundraiser to help purchase SMARTboards for every classroom in the Elementary School!  The students LOVE working on the SMARTboard.  I can't wait to see what our school is able to provide for students with Jog-a-Thon money this year!

 

 Flip your lid!  Contestants had to flip a cup onto the pop bottles.  We needed a couple more seconds!

Bucket Head!  Staff had to catch mini marshmallows in a cup on their head.  Mrs. Durand and Mrs. Erickson won.  Mr. H caught three in his cup and three in his mouth!

Mrs. Peterson and Mrs. Sommerio played Defy Gravity.  It is much harder than it looks!

 

Mr. Traum won Face the Cookie in record time!  Contestants had to get the cookie from their forehead to their mouth by only using their facial muscles!

Garden Fun!

We got to work in our Elementary School Garden a little bit today.  Last spring students planted flowers and veggies in the garden.  The carrots were ready to be pulled and Mrs. Vande Voorde asked if we would be available to help.  The kids had a great time picking carrots and they will be donated to a local food bank.

International Peace Day

We had fun planting our pinwheels for International Peace Day!  Thank you to Mrs. Gocken for planning Peace Day in our school and making pinwheels with students in Art Class.

Measurement Fun!

We worked hard to master our measurement standards in math today.  Students used nonstandard units of measurement to measure different pictures of animals.  When they were finished measuring the wild animals roaming around our tables, they put pictures in order from longest to shortest.  Cameron told me "this is the BEST MATH EVER!"  I think they enjoyed themselves!

 

 

We have begun a new unit in Fundations.  We are currently working on CVC words.  Students should be able to read and spell CVC words.  

Patriot's Day

Today we talked a little bit about why September 11th is a significant day in American history.  We didn't get into a lot of details but we did talk about why our country is great!  We also spent some time talking about real heroes vs. super heroes and how they are alike and different.  We finished off the lesson by making an American heart to display in our hallway.