OMEGA MAN!!!

We had our Omega Man Assembly this morning and it was AWESOME!  Ice Man came to talk to the students about being dream makers and not dream breakers.  It was a great assembly with a focus on being your best you and bully prevention.  I really liked how he talked to the students about what bullying is, or more importantly isn't.  He explained to the kids that sometimes people have bad days and make bad choices.  Having one bad day/choice does not make you a bully, when it is repeatedly happening that makes it a bullying situation.

Ice Man said this was the BEST Super Hero outfit he saw.... I agreed!

Star Lab

I was SO excited that we got to bring Star Lab back this year!  It is awesome for the students to get to experience this.  It is one of the things I remember most about when I was in elementary school.  Although, it is a lot smaller than what I remember.  :)

I tried to get a picture of the inside, but as you can see, it did not work out so well! 

The inside has projections of constellations and stars.  The kids heard a story about the constellations and then had to try to find them without the lines already drawn.  They really seemed to enjoy it and I hope we get to bring Star Lab back next year!  I want to thank Mrs. Vande Voorde for going through the training and running Star Lab this week!  She is the best!

We have been working hard in first grade, but don't worry, we still stop to have a little fun every now and then.  This week we played Shake It Off.  Each kid got five sight words stuck to them on post it notes.  I then played the song Shake it Off (Kids Bop Version). The kids had to shake off their word wall words.  When the song was over they had to find five more words off the ground and write them on their sheet.  They had so much fun!

Here is a little video of the shaking!

Busy Bee's in First Grade!

We have been busy bee's in first grade!  The kids did such a wonderful job at the first grade concert and on their science projects!  I am so proud of them.  Hard work pays off!

The kids got to show their visual aides to their classmates and also told a couple things they learned about the animal that they chose. 

We also celebrated Dr. Seuss with Green Eggs and Ham!

Doesn't that look delicious! 

To celebrate Dr. Seuss and Read Across America, we had an Author Study Day.  Students traveled to all the different grade levels to complete activities that go along with books written by Dr. Seuss.  They had so much fun and are excited to do it again. 

Right now we are in the process of making our final draft for the book we are publishing.  It has been A LOT of work, but the kids are really putting their best foot forward and trying their hardest.  I can't wait to see the final copy when it arrives in the mail.  If you have not returned the slip, please do.  If I have all of the slips returned, our classroom will get a free copy of the book.  We decided to donate it to the school Library for all students to check out. 

Unfortunately the leprechaun did not visit our classroom this year.  With just completing the animal project, I thought they might want a little break from doing big projects at home.  I locked up our classroom and kept the pesky little guy out this year!  If you would have stopped by my room on the 17th, it sure looked like I had 20 leprechauns hanging out with me!  

February Fun!

February has been a very busy month in first grade!  I apologize for not getting these pictures up sooner!  

At the beginning of February, we celebrated being 100 days smarter!  It was a fun day to be in first grade.  Time sure flies, it seems like just yesterday we were celebrating our first day!

We celebrated Valentine's Day on February 13th.  We had our party in the morning so I could go to my daughters Valentine's Day party at her school.  Thank you to all the parents who helped out with our party by donating their time or snacks!

On President's Day we had Tropical Island Day.  We went to the ICF property and celebrated with a first grade luau.  The kids did the limbo, hula hooped, colored pictures and Mrs. Smallwoood even did volcanoes with them.  I was in charge of the beach ball station.  We had so much fun dancing and trying to keep the beach balls in the air!  It was fun to pretend we were some place warm for the day!

Today the Baer Mirza's came to talk to the kids about Dental Hygiene and how to take good care of their teeth.  The kids each got a free toothbrush!  

Boggle!

We have been playing Boggle in our classroom and we are having so much fun!  Each week we put up a new 9 letter Boggle board in the classroom.  When students have time, they work on their Boggle board.  I also try to set aside 10 to 15 minutes a week just for that.  

At the end of the week I tally up the points that each student earned.  They get a star on the club that they are in for the week.  If they already have a star in that club, they get a sticker on their star.  

2/3 letter words - 1 point

4 letter words = 2 points

5 letter words = 3 points

6 or more letters = 4 points

The winner of boggle each week receives a certificate and we have not had a repeat winner yet!  I blurred the letters on the boggle board in the picture above because it is our current board,  here is one of our previous boards.

We finished up unit 7 in fundations.  Our next unit will focus on words with beginning blends.  Be looking for a new word list and updated word wall list to come home soon.  You can always find the current word wall under the word wall tab on the website. 

Thanksgiving Feast

Our Thanksgiving Feast was AMAZING!  Thank you so much to everyone who donated to make it possible!  We truly are thankful for our amazing students and their wonderful parents!  We started out our Feast with Mr. Faller talking to the kids about the history of Thanksgiving and turkeys.  He always does a great job making history exciting for the kids.  At one point, he had the entire first grade class howling like a wolf.  :)  

After Mr. Faller spoke to the students we numbered them off and broke into centers where students got to make butter, feathered headbands, placemats, listen to Thanksgiving stories and participate in a Thanksgiving themed photobooth.  

After centers, each class did a small performance.  Here is a video of our class practicing Albuquerque Turkey yesterday.

We had so much fun at our feast.  I will continue to add more pictures as the other teachers send them to me.  I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Raptor's Field Trip and More...

We had so much fun at the ICF property learning about Raptors and Owls. 

We learned lots of interesting information and the students really seemed to enjoy themselves.  

Please remember to send your students with their winter gear.  It is getting very cold outside!  Student's will be outside as long as the temperature is above 5 degrees including windchill.  5 degrees is very cold.  I have a few sets of gloves here, but today I did not have enough gloves for all of the students who needed them.  If you are in need of winter gear for your child please let me know and I will see what we can do.  

Once it snows and sticks, students must have snow pants, gloves, boots and hats in order to play in the snow.  If they do not have all of their snow gear they will play on the blacktop.  If your child needs to stay in from recess, they must have a note from the doctor.  We will not allow students to stay in from recess without a note from the doctor.

Next Tuesday is our Thanksgiving Feast at the ICF.  We will be leaving around 8:30 and arriving back to school at 11:45.  Thank you so much to everyone who has donated time, money, or supplies to make this feast possible.  The kids always seem to enjoy themselves.  If you volunteered to bring warm food, please bring your crockpot to school the morning of the feast or have it to the ICF property around 8:30, that way we can get them plugged in right away and make sure that the food is all warm.