Thank you to all of our volunteers today. Our Holiday Crafts were a huge success. Everyone did a great job and each student will be bringing home some beautiful artwork today.
I wish you all a very happy holiday season and hope you get to spend quality time with your families!!
Tomorrow we will be having a holiday crafting event from 9:00-10:15 in our classroom. Students are also welcome to wear their PJ's to school tomorrow to celebrate earning over $200 Otter Bucks this month.
The first grade team is hoping to host a craft morning or afternoon next Friday. We would like to have parent volunteers to help run various stations. Please email me if you are able to help out.
Yesterday Mrs. Krom visited our classroom and helped us decorate our ginger bread house. Thank you for all of the candy donations; we had plenty! While waiting their turn, students enjoyed decorating a house of their own as well!
This week in class council, Ms. Wheeler discussed good vs. bad touch and uncomfortable feelings. We talked about how some touch feels good (ex- a hug from mom, a kiss from grandpa, holding your teacher's hand) and some touch feels bad (when you are touched anywhere a bathing suit would cover).
We finished the lesson by creating a trust tree of adults students felt comfortable going to when they have uncomfortable thoughts. When you have a chance, please review this tree with your child and suggest other trusting adults your child can go to if someone is making them feel uncomfortable.
A letter will be going home with students after next week's class council. In the meantime, I'm sharing this music video with you that we watched today. All students seemed to enjoy it.
Please join us tonight at 6:30 for our Winter Concert! Students should arrive at 6:15. If you would like a good viewing of the first grade students, make sure to sit on the right side of the gym. The right side when looking at the bleachers.
Next week we will be decorating a ginger bread house together. Right now, we do not have any candy to decorate it with. If you would be willing to donate some candy, please send it in (wrapped) before next week.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon completing several activities at once. There were 5 students to a station and we rotated every ten minutes or so. The stations included handwriting, typingclub.com, digital painting, journals, and an art project.
We enjoyed a movie and popcorn today to celebrate otter bucks earned during the month of November, with the focus behavior being, "do what you're told the first time you are asked".
Today we wrote a class book discussing the differences between life for the pilgrims and life today. Next, each student was responsible for illustrating one of those differences. Next week we will be turning our book into an audiobook that we will share with you! Here are some pictures of our book in the making.
To end our week, we enjoyed Relax Reading this afternoon. All students were able to choose a special place throughout the room to read with a pillow, tent, bin or beanbag. Students who demonstrated strong CSR behavior all week were able to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate while reading. I am hopeful that all students will be able to enjoy hot chocolate after Thanksgiving break.
This week we have continued our study of the number 10. We have also spent some time playing various math games. One dice game requires students to roll three dice then add up the sum. Some students are starting to see a relationship between two numbers. For example: 5+6+1. If they add 5+1 first they can then add 6+6, making the equation easier.
Just a friendly reminder, we have a field trip to the Lebanon Opera House on Wednesday to see Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. Please make sure your child wears appropriate clothing and shoes as well as a jacket.
The first grade has been given 20 Netbooks to use. We are still awaiting a cart to store them on, but that hasn't stopped us from using them. Students are learning how to log onto the computers independently as well as navigate online to a typing website to practice our typing skills.
If anyone would like their child to practice at home, here is the website.
www.typingclub.com
Once there, simply click "get started" and students can begin practicing on Level 1