Winter Wonderland

Man, we can really tell it is winter here!  The negative temps and snow accumulation have made for a long month of January, let me tell ya!  We got the new year started with a chilly bulletin board display.  Each firstie got to choose a shape and turn it into a penguin.  I just love this bulletin board each January!

We got right into the swing of things in our centers this month.  We had contraction puzzles from School and the City which are amazing!  There are all kinds of grammar puzzles there and I can't wait to use more of them this year.  There were also centers with file folder games featuring contractions.  Now I am noticing apostrophes showing up in words that don't need them... hmmmmm

Flashlight Friday is still a favorite activity in the new year.  These kids work so hard on Fridays so we have some extra time to just sit back and read.  Today they got about 20 minutes of free read time and they loved it.

I read the story Snowmen at Night to the class and they created hallway art and writing.  They had to say what they would do if they were a snowman that came alive at night.  There would be lots of dodgeball with snowballs, drinking hot chocolate, sledding, and ice skating.  They made their snowmen by tearing paper.

Our reading story this week was called Honey Bees.  As treats all week long we had honey flavored teddy grahams.  One day I also brought honey from home and had them try it.  Surprisingly, most of the students had never had plain honey before.  A lot of them preferred to dip their teddy grahams into the honey, and some licked their plates clean!

We used tens and ones manipulatives in math this chapter.  To make sure we had plenty of space to keep all of our materials handy, we spread out on the floor to work.  A small change of scenery was such a treat for this lesson.

During some free time I partnered the students up and had them read a book together.  I told each group to find a spot anywhere in the room to read to each other.  I am going to take a wild guess here but I think this library area is a favorite- 3 out of 4 groups chose to squish in this space to read.

Another animal came for show and tell!  Leah joined our class for a little bit one afternoon.  She was freshly bathed and still a little damp!  She was so interested in all of the kids, she could smell their dogs on them.  Georgia was a very good pet owner and answered our questions about Leah.  Georgia's dad brought her to town just for us!

Peyton brought a new Christmas gift as her show and tell.  It was a cute bear that you could feed.

One lesson in our SS unit was about landforms and bodies of water. We made a neat landform flap book filled with information on the landforms and bodies of water. We touched on mountains, hills, plains, islands, lakes, rivers, and oceans.

Hope you are staying warm!!
~Ms. Anglin

Snow Day!

Today is our 2nd full snow day of the school year, we've started late several times as well.  Did I forget to mention that it is only December 6 and not even technically winter yet!?!?  I figured I could spend part of this cold, windy, snowy day catching you all up on the happenings of the first graders.

The kiddos were excited when we got our first dusting of snow a couple of weeks ago.  They came to school in their snow pants and boots, scarves and winter coats, ready to play out in the snow.  There was a little disappointment in the fact that there wasn't enough snow to build a fort yet, but they still loved it!

I have gotten a little more used to my Mimio projector this school year.  It is a little touchy but we make it work in the end.  If I know their handwriting is going to be too messy for an activity using the interactive part of the board, I freeze the picture and let them write with dry erase markers instead.

I just love this note that was given to me.  It will be saved and given back to the author at their graduation.  If you look carefully, mom and dad was erased and Ms. Anglin was left :)

We had another hat day for National Honor Society right before Thanksgiving break.  It seems like every hat day becomes my favorite, but this one really is!  I went to Wal-Mart with this idea in my head and I actually found it- a turkey hat!!

In Social Studies this past chapter we learned about Jobs and we had our own Job Day of sorts.  The kiddos dressed up as the job they would like to have some day.  They were all so cute in their costumes and could all tell me if their job was a service job that helps people, or if they had a job that produced goods for others.  They also had to list some tools that are used at their job.  We had 3 vets, 2 artists, 2 construction workers, 1 cowboy, and 1 horse trainer.

We've had some fun show and tells again lately.  Who am I kidding- show and tell is always great!  Here are some moments I remembered to capture.

Georgia and her elf Chippy

Peyton brought a cute purse
with changeable bows

Georgia brought a zip lining doll

This is not a very good picture but it is capturing one of the whole class's favorite times- including mine.  Sam comes into our room 2 days a week to hang out with us.  She gets to read to the students while they have a snack in the afternoon.  She also helps with reading centers and art projects.  I do not always get that kind of attention and stillness when I am in front of the same kids, so you can tell they adore her.  Thank You Sam!

Our word wall is coming along nicely.  Every morning we read every word up on the wall.  The words come from our reading series and I occasionally add a word if it is something they are consistently writing.  It has taken a while but they are finally getting used to looking to the word wall when they are writing.

Peyton pointing to the words as they are read.

December is the month of Responsibility for character counts.  We wore green to celebrate it.  Responsibility is one of my favorite traits to teach about because the kids are learning that they can be more responsible every day.  We talked about how they are responsible for reading at night, remembering their folder or coat every day, and turning their papers in.  I hope to hear less of "my mom or dad forgot to...".  I know they are little, but I am trying to show them that taking responsibility for things they do is so important in life.  Your mom and dad are not in 1st grade- you are :)

As you can see from the pictures above that the tree is up in the classroom!  I'm not going to sugar coat it for you- putting this tree up is not exactly my favorite thing to do.  But we worked on it all together.  They took turns fluffing the branches, getting dizzy with me wrapping the lights, and placing the ornaments.  It took a full day, but it's up and ready for presents!

Yesterday we had an assembly called Be a Star!  It was a little bit of magic, music, and a positive message about having dreams and not letting bullies get to you.  Meika was a volunteer who shared her dream of being a horse trainer.  I love the way she is soaking up this man's words.

AH that's it!  I am up to date but will soon be back with some more Christmas activities.  Now it's time to use this snow day wisely- make some cookies and read!
~Ms. Anglin

Odds and Ends

Just some odds and ends to report here.
She was sitting in my rocking chair reading a story she wrote to the class and it was just to cute not to take a picture!

The Desk Fairy comes to visit our classroom every once in a GREAT while.  I try to insist on keeping a neat desk, but not everyone listens!  When the desk fairy visits she looks for a clean desk with no garbage in it and all supplies put away nicely in the supply box.  The last time she visited she left treasures for 2 students.  And of course she left behind a trail of glitter!

In social studies we learned about land forms.  The night before, I decided to do this project! What was I thinking!?  For as little planning and time to get it ready, I think these landform flap book turned out great!

Signing off!

~Ms. Anglin

December catch up!

I am a little behind in my postings, to say the least :)  So here is a short recap of what we did during December.

In Social Studies we learned about jobs.  I may have had the best and cutest idea I have ever had (ok, that may be stretching it). JOB DAY!!  I was reading a Junie B. Jones book when it first came up, then Job Day appeared in our SS book.  The kiddos were so excited to come to school dressed as a worker from a job they would like to have.  They all did a great job dressing up!

Construction Worker

Teacher

Construction Worker

Air Force Pilot

Nurse

Police Officer

Teacher

Doctor

Group shot

We had our school Christmas program right before Christmas break.  Look how nice these 1st grade beauties clean up!

They sure turned on their smiles for me before we got on stage... 

And their goofy faces!!

I even got a few shots of them singing on the stage.  The concert was so good.  I am very proud of them for singing loud, remembering the words and the actions to their songs :)

So, there's December!  Hope you enjoyed our belated pictures!

~Ms. Anglin