Monday, November 21, 2011

Goodbye Pumpkin Pie

                                  Year after year after year I go crazy!
Every Thanksgiving I sit with the babies!

It’s the little kids’ table; the table for tots,
Where my mom makes me sit, if I like it or not.

The table for grown-ups is fit for a king,
With goblets and giblets and gold napkin rings,

But here all the kids drink from Styrofoam cups,
We eat small turkey bits that our moms have cut up.

Our plates are red plastic and so are the spoons,
And we eat by ourselves in a small dinning room.

“I’ll never eat mushrooms or green beans or squid!”
“And I NEVER will eat at a table for kids!”

“What’s wrong?” asked my mom, she was pouring some drinks;
“You haven’t touched dinner…not one single thing!”

She straightened the napkin tucked under my chin,
She gave me a hug as she pushed my chair in,

She cut up my turkey bits two sizes smaller,
She held up my glass, “have a sip of some water!”

She dished up a spoon of potatoes and gravy;
My mom tried to feed me like I was a baby!

“I can use my own fork! I can use my own knife!”
“And I don’t want to sit at the table for tikes!”

Then my mom said, “I think your Thanksgiving’s all through,
“And I think that it’s time you go up to your room.”

I sat all alone on my bed feeling hungry.
It felt like I had a stone knot in my tummy.

I was just about ready to snack on my hat,
When I heard someone knocking, RAT-TAT-A-TAT-TAT!

It was mom with a plate piled high with a feast,
And it didn’t seem that she was mad in the least.

She set up a TV tray right by my bed,
And she gave me a kiss on the top of my head.

“You’re growing up fast,” she said, hiding a tear,
           “Won’t you join the adults for Thanksgiving next year?”

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

It's Turkey Time!


Today we hosted many KTE friends and family members for our annual Thanksgiving Luncheon. We feasted on turkey, dressing, green beans, and sweet potatoes. There was even pizza!  Anyone can make a Native American headress or a Pilgrim's hat, but have you ever seen a hat of turkey legs? The students also reflected on things they were thankful for. Come check out our "I am thankful for" writing outside our classroom on display now!

We Salute Our Veterans!


To celebrate Veteran's Day KTE hosted an amazing flag raising ceremony complete with ROTC members from Sandlewood High School! There was even a 96 year old veteran in attendance visiting from a local retirement home!!! The morning of November 10 we gathered around our flagpole to say the pledge and sing the Star Spangled Banner. We even had a guest veteran in our classroom...my dad! My dad Dr. Bob W. Deason served as a dentist in the Navy in the 1970's. He dusted off his uniform and participated in our flag raising ceremony. Afterwards, he read a Veteran's Day story to the class. On behalf of my first grade class, we would like to say thank you to all the men and women who have served or are active in the fight for our country's freedom. Thank you!

Red Ribbon Week...




The students celebrated Red Ribbon Week by "tying one on" for "pawsitive" choices. All week the students were reminded how important it is to make "pawsitive" choices.

Happy Birthday Ms. Deason


I would like to thank my wonderful students for the sweet cards they made me. Each and every one brought a smile to my face. Thanks for making my day brighter. Also, a big thanks to Ms. Bebe for bringing in cupcakes to celebrate with the class. Thank you all!!!

Happy Birthday Anabel!!!



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Ice, Ice Baby!



To wrap up our science unit study of matter we made......ICE CREAM!!! Ice cream you say? Yes, Ice cream! We took some liquid ingredients (vanilla extract and milk) and some solid ingredients (rock salt, ice, and sugar) and changed their state of matter. We changed the temperature of the liquid ingredients to turn them into a solid...the ice cream. The kids had a blast! The students ended the lesson by writing a letter to the cow who provided the milk. The students explained what we did to the liquid and how we changed it's state of matter.

Monday, September 26, 2011

We Are Family!!!

We have been blending beginning and ending sounds with some of our short vowels  to create word family rhyming words. We have done short a (-at, -an families), short i (-it, -ip, ig), and this week short o (-ot, -ox, -op). A wacky and fun way to practice blending these words is to use shaving cream! It's super fun, and it leaves the room smelling great! It's also a great way to practice reviewing sight words. This weeks words are: upon, once, three, four, five, in, and what.


Length, Perimeter, and Area oh my!

Our first grader's have been acting like mathematicians this week by studying units of measurement. They have been working with their partners to find the length, perimeter, and area of their feet!!!

The students paired up to trace their partner's shoe in their math journal. Then each student used square tiles to measure the length, or how long, the perimeter, or how many around, and the area, how many in the middle. You will see a problem like this on this week's math homework. Instead of tiles, students will use pennies to measure their shoe. What else could you measure at home?



Comparing Numbers!!!

Our first graders can't get enough of the math game Compare! It's a fun game we play with number cards. The game allows the students to practice identifying which number is greater. The students play in pairs flipping over one card at a time; It's just like the classic game "War". You win the game by collecting all of the cards from your partner. You can play this game at home simply by using regular playing cards (just take out the royals). The kids love it and it's great practice!



We will soon learn "Double Compare" where students will have to combine, or add, two cards together before playing their turn.

We Love Ms. Bebe!

I'd like to take this time to thank Ms. Bebe for giving up her valuable time to help out in our classroom. Ms. Bebe is Kendall's grandmother and an amazing asset to our class and school. Thank you ms. Bebe for all your hard work. We appreciate you!!!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Our Comprehension Skill of the Week...

We are working on comparing and contrasting! The boys and girls have been busy finding things that are the same and things that are different in stories we have read together. We started the week by comparing and contrasting the main character in Miss Nelson is Missing by James Marshall. The students practiced the skill by comparing themselves to a buddy at their table. Today we discovered many ways bats and birds can be compared while reading the sweet story of Stellaluna by Janell Cannon. Tomorrow we will work on our new skill independently in centers where the students will choose two books from their reading bags to compare and contrast. Happy Reading!

Friday, September 9, 2011

We Will Never Forget...

This weekend we will remember a very imporatant day in our country's history. The 10 year anniversary of September 11th is this Sunday. Since there will be countless news reports and TV specials covering the subject matter I thought it was important to discuss the event with our students. Since none of the students were even alive in 2001, and being they are 6 and 7, it was important to handle the matter in "child-like" terms and language.

I shared a very special book with the class titled September 12th: We Knew Everything Would be Alright written by the first grade students at H. Byron Masterson Elementary School in Kennett, Missouri. This book was written, illustrated, and told through the eyes of a first grader. It is an excellent, light hearted book for dealing with very heavy material.
We also discussed the meaning and colors of the flag, the symbol of freedom for our contry.  We remembered the people who fought for our freedom on that day in September by wearing a yellow string tied around our finger today.





I shared another story, not about the events of September 11th, but about the great Twin Towers that no longer stand tall. The story was called The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein. It was a true story about a street performer names Philippe Petit who walked across the twin towers on a very thin cable in 1974. It was an intriguing story that kept the children on the edge of their seats and gave them a little insight about the towers that once were.



Thursday, September 8, 2011

Science Matters!!!

This week in science we have began discussing the phases of matter. We learned new vocabulary words such as matter, mass, solid, liquid, and gas. We will continue observing, describing, and exploring the phases of matter for the next few weeks.

Here's something you can try at home: Take some ice cubes and let your child observe them. Encourage them to use their five senses to explore the cubes (seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling, and hearing). Put the cubes somewhere safe and let them melt. Have discussion with your child about what is happening to the cubes. You have now taken the cubes from a solid to a liquid. Adults, put the melted cubes (water) in a pot and bring to a boil on the stove and let your child observe the steam coming from the pot. Now your cubes have been through all 3 phases of matter!!!

Check out what Bill Nye the Science Guy has to say about matter...

Reading in First Grade!

We have been learning about two helpful comprehension strategies this week. We have been practicing making predictions before reading a story by looking at the cover of a book, the title, and using the knowledge we already know about the subject matter. The story I chose to model this strategy was How I Became a Pirate by David Shannon. The students made predictions before reading the story. Once I began reading we stopped at a crucial point when Jeremy Jacob came face to face with a group of strange pirates. At this time the students used their crystal balls to predict the outcome and events in the rest of the story.

We were also working on putting the events of the story in sequential order starting with the beginning and working our way to the end. Today we found out just what happened to our main character, Jeremy Jacob. After finishing the story, the students illustrated and wrote about events from the story that happened first, next, then and last. Check out our work on this month's bulletin board outside our classroom!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Meet Mrs. Davis!

We are pleased to welcome our new guidance counselor, Mrs. Davis, to Kernan Trail. We are now receiving guidance services in the classroom about once a month. Today Mrs. Davis shared a lesson on being a good listener and brought along her buddy "I Care Cat." Check your child's planner daily to keep up with our weekly resource schedule.








A day in the life of a first grader...

Our first graders are off to a great start! Check out the slideshow and get a glimpse into a day in the life of a first grader. Meet some of our new friends, see what independent and buddy reading looks like, and see some fun pictures from the first day of school!

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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Treking through the first week of school

    
     Well, we have made it through the first two days of school. These past few days I have been able to share with the kids my expectations for the school year. We have been practicing how to enter and exit the classroom, where things belong, and the rules, consequences and rewards for our classroom. Your child has a homework folder and planner in his/her back pack today. Please make sure to send both the folder and planner EVERDAY! The planner is a great means of daily communication and is where you will find your child's daily behavior grade. Please initial next to their behavior grade EVERDAY and continue to encourage their positive behavior now and throughout the remainder of the year :)

     The kids completed their first writing assignment where they wrote a story all about their summer vacation. Look for their first writing sample to be posted in the room during Open House (September 1st 7-8 pm). Today we learned how Reader's Workshop functions in our classroom. We discussed how good readers choose their books by browsing through quickly, looking at the cover, or rereading a favorite book and practiced independent reading using our cool reading phones. Check out the tab titled Ms. Deason's Favorite Books to keep track of all the wonderful books we will share throughout the year.

    We have been very busy exploring our math manipulatuives (cubes, pattern blocks, geo blocks). We learned that cubes and blocks can be used for many things. We can sort them by color and shape, build things, measure things, count them, and even make patterns!

    Looking forward to a great first week in first grade!!!


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Sunday, August 21, 2011

The night before first grade.....

I am so excited to welcome my new group of first graders bright and early tomorrow morning! I can't wait to get to know each and every one of my little campers. The first day of school is always a memorable one. We will be learning and practicing the rituals and routines of first grade ending the day with s'more fun! I hope everyone has a great first day tomorrow!