Happy Halloween!

We had a spooky good time at our first grade Halloween party this year. Whether it was wrapping a buddy up like a mummy, playing monster mash, snacking on spooky treats, or one of our many Halloween themed centers, our little monsters had a blast! Thanks to all the "mummies" and daddies  who donated items or joined in our festivities!

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IXL Math

Check out this great interactive math website for extra pratice in math skills. Click on First Grade Skills to take a peek. We will practice navigating the website when we visit the computer lab. You can pratice at home and earn credit hours for our classroom! Look for your students username and password in their homework folder this week. www.ixl.com

OREO Writing

 

We began our journey through narrative writing by doing none other than taking a closer look at an Oreo cookie! Did you know an Oreo cootkie is just like a great story? There are three parts, a beginning, middle, and end. The top cookie is just like the beginning of a story; it gives you the who, what , when and where. You save all the delicious details for the cream filling. That is the best part of your story. The biggest part of your story happens in the middle. There are multiple events and lots of details! Finally, the last cookie is like the ending of your story. There is even a title on top of the cookie that says OREO. The kida had a blast creating their own Oreo. We had just read the story Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, so we took some inspiration from Alex by writing about a time we had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. The oreos are haging in the first grade hallway outside our classroom. There are even a few spotlighted on our bulletin board. Stop by and check them out!

We will never forget...

We commemrated September 11th by first reading a 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.
Next we read  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.

"Arrgh" Treasure Hunt Around KTE

Today, we explored the school using a treasure map of KTE. We visited the art room, computer lab, front office, media center, cafeteria (galley), and the music room! When we arrived back to our classroom we discovered a treasure chest! Inside was:

First Day Jitters

It's normal to be a little scared or nervous on the first day of school, even for teachers! To get out our nervous "jitters" we read the story First Day Jitters. We were surprised by the ending too! The story is about a girl named Sarah who does NOT want to go to school. The author leads us to believe Sarah is a student. Turns out, Sarah is the teacher!!!

We also read the poem "Jitter Juice" together before we made "Jitter Juice"! The ingredients were:

• lemon-lime soda
• rainbow sherbet
• berry blue Koolaid
• unsweetened lemonade  

Sounds.......delicious! The kids loved it, and it did the trick...no more JITTERS!!!

David Helps Us with Classroom Rules

Ahoy! We have set sail in First Grade and are moving full steam ahead towards a successful year. We began the week by establishing the rituals and routines in our classroom and school. Together, we read the story David Goes to School by David Shannon, a hilarious tale about poor, little David who just can't seem to follow the rules. We used the non examples David displayed in the story to create the rules of our classroom