Monday, August 19, 2013
Back to school already!?
We have exactly one week until the first day of school. Can you believe it? I can't believe how quickly the summer flew by, but I am incredibly excited for the school year to start. I am so excited to meet all my new firsties! This year I will be teaching first grade in Deer Park, and I cannot wait. I'm thrilled, nervous, excited, and ready to go! I can't wait to meet everyone at Meet the Teacher on Thursday! I hope everyone enjoys their last few days of summertime.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Summer
I hope that everyone has a fantastic summer! I am extremely proud of all the progress that we have made this year. I was so blessed to have an amazing class. The memories we've shared will last a lifetime. I hope that you find that your children have enjoyed first grade as much as I have. Please have a wonderful summer!
Remember that we can be pen pals if you want to send me a letter! :)
Remember that we can be pen pals if you want to send me a letter! :)
Friday, March 22, 2013
Technical Difficulties
I need to apologize for not posting since before Spring Break! For some reason, my phone won't upload any of my pictures to the blog. I've tried numerous times, but it still isn't working! Yikes... I'm going to try to find a cord to hook my phone up to my computer this weekend. Hopefully we can get things up and running soon.
I'm still updating spelling words and newsletters if you'd like to check for those things, just no photo updates yet.
Thanks!
I'm still updating spelling words and newsletters if you'd like to check for those things, just no photo updates yet.
Thanks!
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Yeehaw!
It's one of my favorite times of year... rodeo time! The spring weather is here, HLSR is in town, wildflowers will be blooming soon, Spring Break is coming, then it will be March Madness! Can you tell I love spring? :)
This week we've been working very hard on Texas-themed projects throughout the day. They will be displayed proudly at Open House next week. I know we haven't sent an official flyer yet, but Open House will be next Thursday, March 7, at 6:30. There will be a PTA meeting first at 6:15 if you'd like to attend.
I'm going to keep our projects top-secret so I don't ruin the surprise next week. I'll let you know we've learned about all kinds of animals, cowboys, and various Texas things. The kids have been working VERY hard to show off their amazing work!
Can't wait to see everyone Thursday evening! :)
This week we've been working very hard on Texas-themed projects throughout the day. They will be displayed proudly at Open House next week. I know we haven't sent an official flyer yet, but Open House will be next Thursday, March 7, at 6:30. There will be a PTA meeting first at 6:15 if you'd like to attend.
I'm going to keep our projects top-secret so I don't ruin the surprise next week. I'll let you know we've learned about all kinds of animals, cowboys, and various Texas things. The kids have been working VERY hard to show off their amazing work!
Can't wait to see everyone Thursday evening! :)
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Dr. Seuss and Other Things
This week was all about Dr. Seuss. Since we're having our parade next week, we wanted to celebrate this fabulous author! I've also incorporated a few creative book report projects into our Dr. Seuss study so that the kids can start getting some great ideas for their Texas Readers' project.
Tuesday we read The Sneetches then created a mobile to go with the story. We made sure to look at the rubric so we could get a 100 on our projects! These turned out great, and it really helped the kids start getting some good ideas for their projects.
Wednesday we read Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose and created a bookmark. We checked our rubric again, just to make sure we'd get a 100! I think the kids are really understanding what we're expecting from their Texas Readers' project. I've been very impressed with how well these projects are turning out.
Thursday we researched about Dr. Seuss himself. We read about him on PebbleGo and talked about what we knew about him from our prior schema. The kids knew quite a bit! I heard Mrs. Waterbury did an author study in Library this week, too. We sure love Dr. Seuss!
Friday we read There's a Wocket in my Pocket and made a page for a class book. We had fun creating fictional Dr. Seuss-like characters.
I can't wait for our Dr. Seuss parade next Friday. Parents are welcome to come! Our class will be dressing up as Thidwick. Please wear brown clothes (or any other moose-like colors if you don't have brown). We'll be making antler headbands and giant hearts in class to go with our outfits. I know we'll look great! :)
In science we finished up our seasons unit and started talking about weather. As a mini-assessment, I had the students draw a picture of a certain season. They had to draw the picture well enough so the class could guess their season by just seeing their drawing. This was very fun, and I was able to see who really understood seasons!
We also finished up our money unit this week. Here's a book that we made in class. It goes along with our money song that we've been singing. I hope your little ones have come home to teach you the song! It really helps them remember the values of the coins. Make sure you ask your kids about "hairy money" too. It helps them add up the values of the coins. We had lots of fun with it!
I'm very excited for next week. With Go Texan day last Friday and rodeo in full-swing, we are going to be starting our Texas unit (surprise, surprise it's my favorite!). We started working on some fun projects Friday and we'll be finishing them next week. They'll be on display at Open House, so I'm very excited for the next couple weeks! :)
Tuesday we read The Sneetches then created a mobile to go with the story. We made sure to look at the rubric so we could get a 100 on our projects! These turned out great, and it really helped the kids start getting some good ideas for their projects.
Wednesday we read Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose and created a bookmark. We checked our rubric again, just to make sure we'd get a 100! I think the kids are really understanding what we're expecting from their Texas Readers' project. I've been very impressed with how well these projects are turning out.
Thursday we researched about Dr. Seuss himself. We read about him on PebbleGo and talked about what we knew about him from our prior schema. The kids knew quite a bit! I heard Mrs. Waterbury did an author study in Library this week, too. We sure love Dr. Seuss!
Friday we read There's a Wocket in my Pocket and made a page for a class book. We had fun creating fictional Dr. Seuss-like characters.
I can't wait for our Dr. Seuss parade next Friday. Parents are welcome to come! Our class will be dressing up as Thidwick. Please wear brown clothes (or any other moose-like colors if you don't have brown). We'll be making antler headbands and giant hearts in class to go with our outfits. I know we'll look great! :)
In science we finished up our seasons unit and started talking about weather. As a mini-assessment, I had the students draw a picture of a certain season. They had to draw the picture well enough so the class could guess their season by just seeing their drawing. This was very fun, and I was able to see who really understood seasons!
We also finished up our money unit this week. Here's a book that we made in class. It goes along with our money song that we've been singing. I hope your little ones have come home to teach you the song! It really helps them remember the values of the coins. Make sure you ask your kids about "hairy money" too. It helps them add up the values of the coins. We had lots of fun with it!
I'm very excited for next week. With Go Texan day last Friday and rodeo in full-swing, we are going to be starting our Texas unit (surprise, surprise it's my favorite!). We started working on some fun projects Friday and we'll be finishing them next week. They'll be on display at Open House, so I'm very excited for the next couple weeks! :)
Valentine's Day
I know it's so late, but since I was sick last week I totally forgot to blog! Eeek! I'm sad that I don't have that many pictures since I was out, but I'm so happy to report that our substitute left a shining note about everyone's behavior! She commented about how sweet and helpful everyone was. I was a very proud teacher when I came back. :)
Here are a couple of things we did. We read tons of Valentine's books, then we created collage hearts out of scrapbook paper. I am so glad that a wonderful mom donated tons of paper for us. We've done so many great things with it! Thanks, Mrs. U! :)
We also wrote letters to people that we loved. I let the kids write to whomever they wanted. They were so sweet. They wrote letters to me, their friends in class, their parents, and other teachers at school. Each child was so thoughtful about the kind things they said. It warmed my heart! They worked so hard.
We had a wonderful Valentine's Day party filled with ice cream sundaes and extra treats. Thanks to all the parents who donated and decorated! You helped make our party a great success!
Here are a couple of things we did. We read tons of Valentine's books, then we created collage hearts out of scrapbook paper. I am so glad that a wonderful mom donated tons of paper for us. We've done so many great things with it! Thanks, Mrs. U! :)
We also wrote letters to people that we loved. I let the kids write to whomever they wanted. They were so sweet. They wrote letters to me, their friends in class, their parents, and other teachers at school. Each child was so thoughtful about the kind things they said. It warmed my heart! They worked so hard.
We had a wonderful Valentine's Day party filled with ice cream sundaes and extra treats. Thanks to all the parents who donated and decorated! You helped make our party a great success!
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Dental Health & Lunar New Year
February is such a busy month! Black History, Groundhog Day, Valentine's Day, Dental Health, Lunar New Year, Presidents' Day, and so much more!!!
This week we studied contractions during our phonics and spelling time. I can't remember which blog I found this on last year, but I loved the idea of becoming "Contraction Surgeons" as a class. I found it really helps the kids understand why we have contractions and how to actually make them.
We talked about how surgeons have to mark their patients before surgery, so we had to cross out some letters we'd be taking out of our "patients." Then the surgeons cut their patients open, so we would have to cut our letters out of the words. Then surgeons stitch their patients back together, so we'd have to use "bandaid apostrophes" to put our contractions back together. The kids loved it! We got gloves from the nurse and used lots of hand sanitizer to keep the germs away before we went into surgery. I was glad to announce that all of our students passed contraction surgeon school. They loved it, AND they learned! Yay!
We talked about dental health quite a bit this week. We read books about it, researched it on BrainPop, and had lots of personal experiences! After learning about dental health, we created these toothbrushes.
Our class also read Dr. DeSoto, always a favorite. After we read the story, we talked about some character analysis. Then to make a connection the story, the kiddos thought about what creature or animal they would want to work on if they were dentists. I also had them think about what they'd give to that creature or animal as a prize afterward. These turned out so cute! I put them all into a class book.
During writing, we worked on personal narratives about a time when we lost a tooth. First, we created a Flow Map to think about the specific details we wanted to write about (where, when, how, etc). Then we used the Flow Maps to create a story that we illustrated afterward. I was very impressed with how these turned out. I think it's pretty funny that as an adult, loose teeth gross me out so much! Just seeing them wiggle around when the kids push them with their tongues. Eek! I remember being so excited as a kid, but all my class knows I can't stand it now!
We also celebrated Lunar New Year this week. We talked about how it's usually referred to as Chinese New Year, but since a lot of other people celebrate it too, we would call it both. We read stories, researched on PebbleGo, and talked about our own personal experiences with the holiday, too.
We had lots of fun researching our zodiac signs and finding out what it meant about us. We realized it would be the Year of the Dragon when these firsties are graduating high school... in 2024!? My stars, that seems crazy when I graduated in 2006. Yikes! We also made some very pretty lanterns and decorated dragon headbands.
Today is the first day of the Year of the Snake! As they say in Vietnamese, "Chuc Mung Nam Moi!" which means "Happy New Year!"
Friday was also my birthday, and I have to say this was one of the best yet! Some of the kids brought me presents, my next-door teacher friend made a Texas sheet cake (yum!) and Ms. McCormack bought me a Nothing Bundt Cake (double yum!), I got flowers, AND one of the moms threw me a surprise party! I'd like to give a big shout-out to Mrs. W for always surprising me with her kindness and thoughtfulness. She brought cupcakes, juice boxes, and balloons. I felt extra-special all day. :) I've been so blessed with such wonderful kids and parents this year. I'm feeling a little sad that it's February already!
This week we studied contractions during our phonics and spelling time. I can't remember which blog I found this on last year, but I loved the idea of becoming "Contraction Surgeons" as a class. I found it really helps the kids understand why we have contractions and how to actually make them.
We talked about how surgeons have to mark their patients before surgery, so we had to cross out some letters we'd be taking out of our "patients." Then the surgeons cut their patients open, so we would have to cut our letters out of the words. Then surgeons stitch their patients back together, so we'd have to use "bandaid apostrophes" to put our contractions back together. The kids loved it! We got gloves from the nurse and used lots of hand sanitizer to keep the germs away before we went into surgery. I was glad to announce that all of our students passed contraction surgeon school. They loved it, AND they learned! Yay!
We talked about dental health quite a bit this week. We read books about it, researched it on BrainPop, and had lots of personal experiences! After learning about dental health, we created these toothbrushes.
Our class also read Dr. DeSoto, always a favorite. After we read the story, we talked about some character analysis. Then to make a connection the story, the kiddos thought about what creature or animal they would want to work on if they were dentists. I also had them think about what they'd give to that creature or animal as a prize afterward. These turned out so cute! I put them all into a class book.
During writing, we worked on personal narratives about a time when we lost a tooth. First, we created a Flow Map to think about the specific details we wanted to write about (where, when, how, etc). Then we used the Flow Maps to create a story that we illustrated afterward. I was very impressed with how these turned out. I think it's pretty funny that as an adult, loose teeth gross me out so much! Just seeing them wiggle around when the kids push them with their tongues. Eek! I remember being so excited as a kid, but all my class knows I can't stand it now!
We also celebrated Lunar New Year this week. We talked about how it's usually referred to as Chinese New Year, but since a lot of other people celebrate it too, we would call it both. We read stories, researched on PebbleGo, and talked about our own personal experiences with the holiday, too.
We had lots of fun researching our zodiac signs and finding out what it meant about us. We realized it would be the Year of the Dragon when these firsties are graduating high school... in 2024!? My stars, that seems crazy when I graduated in 2006. Yikes! We also made some very pretty lanterns and decorated dragon headbands.
Today is the first day of the Year of the Snake! As they say in Vietnamese, "Chuc Mung Nam Moi!" which means "Happy New Year!"
Friday was also my birthday, and I have to say this was one of the best yet! Some of the kids brought me presents, my next-door teacher friend made a Texas sheet cake (yum!) and Ms. McCormack bought me a Nothing Bundt Cake (double yum!), I got flowers, AND one of the moms threw me a surprise party! I'd like to give a big shout-out to Mrs. W for always surprising me with her kindness and thoughtfulness. She brought cupcakes, juice boxes, and balloons. I felt extra-special all day. :) I've been so blessed with such wonderful kids and parents this year. I'm feeling a little sad that it's February already!
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