The Little Red Hen

This week in class, we have been reading stories about helping. One story that we read was The Little Red Hen. In reading groups, three groups worked together to do a readers' theater for The Little Red Hen. They learned to read their parts correctly and then worked on being able to read it fluently. I'm so proud of our class' first readers' theater. The video is too large to post at this time. I will edit it down next week at school and post it.

We also had a mystery reader this morning. Kenzie's mom Erin surprised our class with a great story about making Christmas memories. The story she read was, Christmas Memories, by Alakai. Our class is anxious about our next reader and they all want it to be their favorite person--you! Please email or call me to be our next Mystery Reader.

More Authors...

Malachy, Samantha, and Sean share their stories about what they like.

Author's Chair

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is enjoying spending time with their families and taking time to give thanks for our many blessings in life.

This past week, our class has been busy becoming authors. We have been writing stories about what we like to do. The students started with a word web to organize their thoughts and then put their ideas into sentences. When the students were finished writing the sentences, they checked for capitals and punctuation, and then made sure all the word wall words were spelled correctly. I then asked them to pick two words for me to help them spell that were not on the word wall. When students were finished editing and conferencing with me, they turned in their papers to be published. We have a 5th grade student that is the publisher. Kelsey types up the story and we bind it together. The book is then returned to the student to illustrate it. When this entire process is completed, the student get to do author's chair to share their published story. There are a few more stories that are being illustrated and many more that are being published. This does take time. I do ask the students to be patient because an author and publisher do not publish a story overnight. It is a process that takes time.

In this video, Kenzie shares her story--What I Like--during author's chair. Please continue to check the blog because other students are in the publishing process. I do not require students to publish. This is a choice in my room. Everyone writes during writing time, but not every child will get through this process. Every student works at writing at where they are at developmentally. I will conference with each student and encourage them to work towards a published story. If you do not see your students story on the blog please encourage them to publish.

4 In-a-Row

The month of November is going by fast. Next week is a short week and the students get out for the Thanksgiving holiday at 12:00 on Tuesday. I can't believe we are so close to holiday season!

We will be very busy over the next month learning many math games to help us with our addition and subtraction facts, writing stories and publishing them as authors, and learning many Christmas songs and poems. I plan on videoing the students playing math games, reading their stories to the class and performing the Christmas songs and poems. Continue to check out our blog so that you can keep up with all the learning and fun activities going on in our room!

In math, our class has moved on to subtraction. The students are learning about comparing numbers to find the difference and about words that tell us to subtract (ie. how many many more than, how many are left, how many are not). Students are learning that subtracting is the opposite of addition--start with the whole and take away part and the other part is left.

In the video, Diago and Kenzie play 4 In-a-Row. Watch out Kenzie! Diago knows how to block!

Last week went by quickly. Thank you for taking the time to come in and meet with me. I enjoyed getting to talk to my students' parents. I know that you are all enjoying getting to see video of your children on our classroom blog. I want to thank PTA for purchasing the flip video camera to make watching your children in learning activities possible.

I encourage anyone that is reading the blog to make comments on what the students are learning, even if it is a "I really like..." We try to view the blog in the classroom every few weeks and it is exciting for the students to get to see if anyone is commenting. Also, please, please "follow this blog." This allows me and my students to see who is watching us. The more there are the more excited we get!

We have been busy learning about pilgrim boys and girls for Thanksgiving. We have been comparing and contrasting how two pilgrim children, Samuel and Sara Eaton live compared to the way the students in our class live today. We have been listing similarities and differences for clothing, housing, chores, and food and putting the ideas into a Venn Diagram. We are finding that there are many differences. However, as strangely as it may seem, there are some similarities!

This Friday, we will be making an art project that uses a soup can. Please send a soup can (or two) to school that has been emptied, washed and cleaned by Friday.

I hope everyone has a great week and don't forget the PTA meeting this Tuesday at 7:00pm!

Last week was quite a busy week for our class. We were busy learning about spiders and trying to do a few fun activities for Halloween. On Friday we read the story The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. The students made scarecrows and then performed a little readers' theater. The students recite the repetitive part of the story:

One pair of shoes go CLOMP, CLOMP!
One pair of pants go WIGGLE, WIGGLE!
One shirt goes SHAKE, SHAKE!
Two gloves go CLAP, CLAP!
One hat goes NOD, NOD!
And one scary pumpkin head goes BOO, BOO!

And scares all the crows away!

We also had a mystery reader. Kenzie's grandpa, Tom, surprised our class on Friday afternoon. I gave the class clues about our mystery reader, but no one could figure out who he might be. He read Bony Legs. The students loved listening to him read and thought it was quite a treat. If you or someone you know would like to be a mystery reader in our classroom and surprise your child, please email me. We have many openings available now until Christmas. The time I have set aside is on Fridays at 12:45-1:15.

What a week! On Wednesday, our fabulous student Samantha was rewarded by Texas Roadhouse for being the Student of the Month in our classroom. Andy the Armadillo came and presented her with an award, balloons, a prize bag and macaroni and cheese for lunch. The class was so excited for her!

Next week is Drug Free Week. Each day we will be doing something different. I can't find the information right now, but I will post it tomorrow. I do know that Monday is wear pink.

Thank you for getting the money for the pumpkin patch trip to me as quickly as you did and for the rolls of toilet paper. It is appreciated! The kiddos should be bringing a toilet paper pumpkin home tomorrow.

Off to the Pumpkin Patch We Go!

Today we went to the pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful day and all the students had fun. We took a bus ride out to J&K Farms outside of Laurel. We ate lunch inside a greenhouse. We took a hay ride to the corn maze and then when we found our way out, we got to look for our special pumpkin. There was one rule: YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO CARRY IT ON YOUR OWN! The students tell about their pumpkins and how they are all different in the video. What a Day!

Fire Station Fun!

What a busy day! We walked to the fire station and that was a blast! The fireman dressed me up as a fire fighter to show the students that even under all of the equipment is a good and helpful person. Everything was heavier than I though it would be. They even put the oxygen tank on me. What an experience! Check out the pictures.

A Reminder that Monday we are going to the pumpkin patch. Please have your child bring $5 and the permission slip. Once again, sorry for the short notice. Students need to dress for the weather.

Also, we will be making pumpkins out of a roll of toilet paper next week. We make this into a community service project by taking them to Billings Clinic (our partner in education) and to a few of the nursing homes. Please have your child bring two rolls of toilet paper so they can make one to take home and one for the community project. Have a great mini-vacation!

Hi! I want to remind parents that we go to the fire station in the morning. We will be walking. Make sure your child dresses warm because we will be leaving at about 8:45 in the morning. We will be back around 10:30 or so. Tomorrow is also an early dismissal day. Students will be dismissed at 12:00.

We have also been doing a lot of white board work. If your child has not already brought an old, clean sock to school, please send him/her with one. We use the sock for erasing the whiteboards. If you have extra socks, please send a few extra.

We will be going to the pumpkin patch on Monday, October 20 at 11:30 and be returning a little after 2:00. Please remember to return the permission slip on Wednesday with $5. With this short week, it didn't leave the first grade teachers with a lot of time to prepare. We weren't sure if we'd be able to go after the snow storm. Also, we will be ordering sack lunches from the cafeteria. Some students always bring their lunch from home so we will be assuming they will bring a lunch on Monday. If you'd like your child to pack a lunch from home, let me know.

Getting Started

I'm hoping to use this blog as a communication link with parents. I would like it to showcase my students and also to keep parents informed on what students are learning and what is happening in our classroom and at school. I look forward to this new journey! I would like to video students throughout the year and embed the videos onto my blog. I am going to be asking PTA for a Flip Video at this next month's meeting so that this process is quick and easy for me to do. I will also be posting pictures of my students. Invite grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles to check out what your child is working on in 1st grade. I would like to post to my blog weekly or bi-weekly (I will try my best to get at least a post in!)