Christmas in Rm 105

We had so much fun together in the weeks leading up to Christmas in first grade.  I am so appreciative to all the parents who helped send in materials and food throughout December for our fun projects and parties.  Here are a few snapshots of our fun:

                                           Decorating Gingerbread Houses

 

We read several versions of The Gingerbread Man the first week in December.  Our reading comprehension strategy was visualizing, making a movie in your mind while reading or listening to a text.  The students practiced visualizing all week and learned that good readers us visualizing to remember what happens in a story.  To end the week, they were asked to visualize the perfect home for the gingerbread man and create it using the materials given.  They did a great job!!

                        Mystery Readers 

We had 2 Mystery Readers in December.  Beth's mom came to read If You Give a Dog a Donut and brought us Krispy Kreme to enjoy :). Yummy!!  Jackson's dad came dressed in his camouflage to read Little Jake's Big Bowhunt. Jackson's mom and dad had prepared s'mores for us to eat as a "woods" treat.  We love and appreciate all of our Mystery Readers.  If you are interested in being a Mystery in our class please send an email or note.  We would love to have you!

                                                  Polar Express Day

Polar Express Day is always one of my favorite days of the school year.  We begin the day with a Polar Express word search, then we put on our Santa hats to take a class picture in our pj's!  We read the Polar Express book and then each child receives a bell to see if they can still hear the "sound."  It is magical!!!  Finally each student's ticket is punched and that get to settle in for a ride on "The Polar Express" where we drink hot chocolate, eat delicious snacks, and view the movie.  

                       Our Christmas Party

Thanks to Mrs. Pruett for planning a wonderful party and to all the parents who sent in items.  We had so much fun with our friends and parents!!

We Love Our Dads!

Pumpkin Fun

The month of October has been a great opportunity to have fun with pumpkins.  We had a wonderful Mystery Reader, Jamison's mom, who engaged us in the reading of "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything."  We have used candy corn and pumpkins to practice addition strategies in math, and we predicted how many seeds in a pumpkin and counted them by tens to find the answer.  In science we explored the inside of a pumpkin and experimented with baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring on the inside of a pumpkin.  The kids were fantastic learners and were so well behaved despite the excitement going on especially on Halloween day!  With October being SO busy, I got behind on posting. I have added some other pictures at the bottom of what has been happening in our class the past month.

 

                 Thanks Mrs. Clark for coming to read with our class and for the adorable fall treats!!

    

Thanks Mrs. Pruett for the cupcakes and Mrs. Greeff for making the pumpkin bread :)

Boosterthon Day:

Community Helper Visitor:

Beth's Dad as a Mystery Reader:

Busy in First Grade

We are well into our first grade year and are as busy as ever!!  It seems like something special is going on at school each day.  Here are a few things that have been happening:

 

Charley's family shared this picture with me of Charley doing her spelling homework at home. I'm glad to see she is enjoying learning by using her creative choice spelling homework options :)

We also had our first Mystery Reader of the year!  I LOVE having Mystery Readers visit our classroom!  I started this program 4 or 5 years ago when I was inspired by reading another teacher's web page at a school I have never even heard of :).  Family or community members can volunteer to come in and read a story to our class.  They can also bring somehing for the class that goes along with the theme of the story.  The Mystery Reader turns in 3 clues, and I share them with the class right before the reader walks in.  The kids love this time and it is a great way to involve families and community members in our classroom. If you would like to sign up to be a Mystery Reader one Friday this school year please let me know.

Victoria's mom was the Mystery Reader!

She read the book "Courage" to us.  It was a wonderful book that gave examples of what courage is on each page.  Then she told the class that she had a test for them to see if they really had courage.  She told them she had brought in a special treat for them to eat - dirt and worms!  The look on their faces was priceless.  I think some of them did not want to have courage.  Then one student yelled out - I know it's that pudding stuff and gummy worms.  I am sure each student in the class now knows the definition of courage because of this engaging activity.

Thank you Mrs. Rhodes for this adorable activity and for sharing your time with our class!

We also had the great opportunity to learn about fire safety last week! 

The students were reminded to check their smoke detectors for homework that night.  If you do not have working smoke detectors in your home, the Boiling Springs Fire Department has them available for free!  We want all of our students and their families to be safe and prepared in the event of a fire.