Friday, December 18, 3015

Happy last day!!!

Today was fun. Loud. And at times overwhelming. Here are just a few of our festivities:

We enjoyed the time first thing this morning by giving, receiving and opening presents. 

I was very blessed by thoughtful cards and gifts!

The kids loved their Christmas socks. 

We ate treats and drank Powerade right after specials. 

Then we wrapped the parent present, and finished up the reindeer drawings. 

The day ended with a quiet 10 minutes of poke pictures. 

I am so lucky to be a teacher. I am fortunate to be the teacher in a great school to a wonderful group of first graders. 

I'm looking forward to a great spring semester after some relaxation and loads of planning during the next two weeks. 

Happy Holidays!!!

Thursday, December 17, 2015

What a day!!!

Santa came, listened to each child's list, gave each a candy cane (if they said thank you, they could eat it right away), and gave us just what we wanted...

Smelly markers, four packages! Thank you Santa!!!

I read my favorite gingerbread story The Gingerbread Pirate, and we added details to our story board. 

We enjoyed a readers theater by some second graders. 

The other thing we did will have to be a secret yet...

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Good afternoon! I am so thankful for sunshine and outside recess!

This morning I needed to give an ELA assessment, so while the kids worked on their reading centers, I (and Mrs. Cepeda) gave the assessment to small groups of children.

We celebrated two birthdays today, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. I am so thrilled to read the letters (and mostly understand what words the letters are making).

We tried a different approach to place value. AND--success!!! We started working on a mystery picture, and it might get finished tomorrow, or the next day. But, I am so proud of them and how they read the "sticks" (place value pieces--stick is ten, and the cube is one).

Finally, look at these kids getting this room ready to go home. I have shown them how to put up chairs and stools, and today, with some collaboration, they did it. Not a single help from me!!!

Monday, December 14, 2015

Today was full of ups and not so ups...

Our class is in charge of choring the animals this week. So, off we went (just some of us, the rest worked on their reading). Through the water. Each child will have at least one opportunity to chore this week.

We had a blast reading a Gingerbread Man story. And then adding information to the chart in the room (characters, setting, events: first, next, then, last). Each day will be a different gingerbread story, and by the end of the week, we will have a magnificent comparison.

Next we got started on some very fun (educational and engaging) gingerbread centers. I'll tell you what--all the kids were engaged, learning, and later said they liked that time. Perhaps it was the choice, perhaps it was the freedom to talk. Whatever it was, that time was glorious. I CANNOT wait for centers tomorrow!!!

We started a mini-unit on place value (tens and ones) today. Well, it was probably in the instruction, or maybe it was that it was the END of the day, but it could have gone better. Looking forward to giving it another go tomorrow on this very tricky, but important concept.

The Rest of the Week...

Yup, another busy week in First Grade!

Besides the usual (reading, writing and math), we decorated the tree, caroled at the Whistle Stop and drank hot chocolate on Wednesday.

The kids had a sub on Thursday while I attended a math training in Hutchinson. (The training was amazing, and I implemented a tiny bit on Friday, and will push full-steam ahead next week--more details then.)

And Friday... Tests, tests, and more tests. Yuck, yuck and yuck. But, thankfully we were all able to Not Panic (very much) and we made it through.

These smarties knocked my socks off with some reindeer writing in the morning on Friday! It is going to be part of ag fair in May.

And  then with a partner addition of three numbers game in the afternoon.

So thankful for each one of them, and their supportive families!

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

How amazing are these kids?

Let me tell you... They had a nice compliment from another teacher who passed by today. "They were so engaged in small group learning. It was fun to see." To me it seems like chaos most days, but thankfully it must be closer to controlled chaos. 

So-what were they working on? Reading centers, writing a little book about reindeer facts, readers theater. 

And math. 

And we finished the day with a birthday party. 

Plus, it was a great day to play outside. Have a great evening!

Monday, December 7, 2105

What a bright, sunshiney day!!!

We had so much fun with our new genre in reading this week.

Drama/play/reader's theater.

Part of the fun was to read the Christmas reader's theaters that I have.

The new phonics pattern is i-e (like in bike and ride). The students learned my expectations for "Read and Write the Room." It was super fun.

The fluency this week is Facts about Reindeer. Which leads to researching more about reindeer and later writing informative text about reindeer. More super fun.

Math is working hard on addition and subtraction and seeing how they can help each other. It is pretty rigorous, and I am so happy that we are taking it slow!

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

It was a busy day in first grade!!!

The kids were taught by a sub because I was completing math testing. Great news--I finished all 5 tests that each first grader took. 4 of them are individual, so it's quite time consuming. 

Next week I'll do it again, but for reading. If I'm really on top of things, you may have those results in early January. 

Hope you have a great evening!!

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

The room is starting to get decorated with Christmas!!! Today some students were very happy to make paper chains (after they wrote and solved math equations). 

During small group reading and whole class we added to our knowledge of "measuring time."  

It was quite entertaining to write a couple of "poems" that focused on verbs (the grammar skill for the next several weeks). 

Families--please be on the look-out for kids who are noticing words/letters and then reading them. After writing the poems, the kids went CRAZY with noticing digraphs, and a-e words. Smiles all around!!!

Recess was inside due to a very muddy playground. Hope we can get out there tomorrow. 

I had the pleasure of attending "afternoon tea" with some loving first graders. 

Wonder what wonderful happenings I'll notice tomorrow...