Magic e Song and Game

Ms. McDermott, one of our terrific reading specialists, came in to teach us a song and play a game all about magic e!  We played it during our community time in the morning.  The kids caught on quite fast.  We chose 4 students.  3 students spell out a cvc word and the class stretches out the sounds together and say the word.  Next the magic e comes in and asks the vowel to "say her name" (long sound).  Then of course the magic e is silent.  We played it about 4 times.  The kids had fun and really were beginning to understand what that magic e does.  It kind of reminded me of Sesame Street with  mmmmm - o - p  --mop.  I think when you make the kids part of the process they understand the concepts better.

 

Remember to be kind!

Claire

Daisies for a Friend and Chickens To The Rescue

Ahhhh Fall Break, a wonderful time of year.  It's a great time to catch up on lots of things I've been putting off like cleaning off the top of my desk.  It was starting to look like a mountain.  This week was a wonderful week.  My kids have fallen into a nice easy routine and at the moment all seems well.  I have a class of terrific writers and this week we have been writing, writing writing.  I pulled out my old favorites to spark some writing, Chickens To The Rescue and Pigs To the Rescue by John Himmelman.  And boy, did the kids take off.  Here are a few pictures showing their work.  This class really had fun with it.  We worked for several days and some kids wrote 8-10 chicken or pig problems.  They could make their own little books.

 

I video taped my kids reading their Monday journal entry.  They are all super writers.  It's always nice to see each child confidently reading what they wrote.

 We started our kidblog (online blog for kids) and I encourage family members and friends to leave comments for my kids.  Kidblog is a great way to provide an audience for your students.  When I just checked it I noticed several of my students have been back on the blog leaving comments for their friends.  Oh I have a wonderful class!  Check out our first entries.

My colleague and friend is recovering from surgery and will start chemo for cancer soon.  I miss her terribly.  She is always the bright sunshine on our first grade team.  I'm not sure what we will do all year without her.  Her favorite flower is a daisy and so on Wednesday I had my class create little daisies with acrylic paints and they came out beautifully.  It was so easy that I plan on teaching the whole first grade. We will be putting all the little paintings together with a photograph of all the kids.  We are hoping that this will represent a bit of sunshine in my friends day over these next long months.

 

 

  I know I'm not an art teacher but I love having my kids create with different mediums. 

Next week we will have our pumpkin party on Friday.  We will play several games and eat a few treats. We are looking forward to visiting again with our skype buddies from Iowa.  Check out Morning Sun Elementary to meet our friends.  Here's Mrs. Hilton's fantastic blog.

Remember to be kind!

Claire

Spooky Pumpkin Patch

What a week!  There was testing in our school for the older kids which changed up all of our schedules.  I got to fit in a little (well maybe not so little) pumpkin project that was very exciting for the kids.  It was a fun project with some spectacular results. 

We used watered down glue, tissue paper, construction paper, and some shiny paper used to wrap fruit baskets with.

 

 The kids worked to cover their paper with watered down glue and ripped strips of various shades of orange.  I bought some of the bleeding tissue paper that helped melt the colors together. 

 A finished paper and stem waiting to be cut once it dries.

 Cutting a spiral from green paper for our curly vines.

 I love the shiny lines for our pumpkins.  Next the kids made their pumpkins by cutting them into big pumpkin shapes.

 I took pictures of each of the kids making their scariest faces.  Oh I hope you're not too scared by these two.

 Oh look how beautiful our pumpkin patch turned out.  The kids are all standing on their pumpkins.

 Look out!  Something is hidden under each pumpkin and it could be scary!  Mr. Lumsden our gym teacher is very scary.  Thanks Hannah for the help!

I love all the different sizes and shapes that everyone made.  The spiral vines help to make the display very 3D.

Here is our class video!

 

Our weather is changing and Vermont is a rainbow of fall colors.  We are looking forward to another beautiful autumn week.  Maybe we'll go out looking the most beautiful leaves we can find during our community time.

Remember to be kind!

Claire

 

 What a week!  We have been working on reading groups, playing new

 games on the much loved ipod touches, had our picture day, and all won

 a bracelet with a responsibility tag for keeping our room cleaned.

 Here is the class on picture day.  Don't they all look so sharp in

 their dress up clothes?

 This week we had our first Skyping session with Mrs. Hilton's class

 from Iowa.  We introduced ourselves to each other and saw some of each

 others room.  We were all excited to know that we have a lot of the

 same kinds of things I our classrooms.  Our class sang an apple song

 that Mrs. Hilton's class knew so we sang the song together. 

 We are looking forward to skyping again soon.

 During our whole school community time we took a whole school

 picture.  We are a large handsome group.  Our class is in the second row 

behind the kindergarten.  I'm in a green shirt on the left-hand side.  It 

was a beautiful fall day! 

 We are dealing with sickness in our classroom this week.  Let's hope

the weekend has a chance to clean out all the germs.  Rest up kids!

Our school has a new service of providing fresh fruits and vegetables

3 days a week.  What a huge difference it has made  with my students. 

Just the exposure alone of fruits and veggies they have never tried

before.

This week we had the pleasure of having Leah Mermelstein at our

school.  Lots of discussion on writing workshop on what works and what

doesn't.  We looked at the genre of persuasion writing and the common

core.  Our first grade team has decided to have students write

persuasion pieces over what their favorite fruit is.  It is a perfect

tie in to our snack program.  We will have kids try to persuade others

to choose their fruit.  We will start this after a few more opportunities 

to try more delicious fruit. 

Good Luck Leah and remember "Claire" is a lovely name!  JK...

Our class has been working on a class video to share with our skyping buddies 

and others.  Take a peek into our classroom.  We had fun creating it.

 A look at first grade 

Other events this week were fire drills, Community walk time on our walking path,

kids getting sick right in the middle of the classroom, and our fourth grade 

buddies visiting to practice the apple song that we hope to teach the whole 

school next week. 

Have a great week!

Remember to be kind!

Claire

Our 1st Week and a great Tip!

      What a great week our first week was.  We were busy every moment!  It's all about routines, routines, and more routines.  Everyone is  learning how long it really takes from the start of school until lunch time at noon.  Our snack time is a must this year.  Everyone gobbled up the crackers, chips and animal crackers to tie them over until lunch.  This week I have more crackers but have purchased some gold fish and pretzels for a change.
      I read several of my first week favorites last week and the kids can't seem to get enough of them.  I always read the Harry the Dirty Dog books by Gene Zion.  They are very old (written in the mid 50's) but I always find that the kids can relate to this beloved character.  I think getting dirty and taking baths really speaks to the kid in all of us.  My very favorite Harry book is Harry by the Sea.  It is such an adventure going to the beach and getting lost.   I always build the excitement to this book telling the kids not to be absent the day I read it because they won't want to miss it.  Wouldn't you know two kids were out that day.  I add as much drama as I can while reading it that I have the kids are screaming to help Harry find his family.    I just love the twist of a new umbrella at the end.   I love seeing them fight over the 3 copies I have of this book.

Here's my big tip for this year!  Blue Painters Tape!

I love this stuff.  I use it to put my posters up and I have a lot.  I repair books with it.  I also bind the Reading a to z books so that they last longer.  I use to bind my kids paper journals.  I've made balls to toss during morning meeting time games. I use it to mark the carpet for various things and it comes right up. The uses are end less.  I love that it doesn't leave a residue when peeling it off the wall plus it leaves the paint.  So go to Wally World and spend about $7 for a roll that will last you a whole year.  I always buy the thick 2 inch size and just cut it down if I need to.

I love the little monsters my kiddos created this week.  We read the Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas and loved it.

 Here I am my first week back!  The desk doesn't look too bad......yet.  Let's check it out next week to compare the difference.

Remember to be kind!

Claire