Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Writing Workshop in Action

Leah Mermelstein was in Vermont and she hung out with my first graders!  We were so lucky.
Thinking and getting started.
 Quietly working, lots of thinking and sketching.
 Conferencing with Sam or is it Seth?
 Sharing our work, wow the details...
Thank you Leah for a great visit.  We are continuing our work every day.  The kids want to know when you will be back again.  They all want to share with you.  I want to know how you created the magical quiet in my classroom.  I can't seem to duplicate it.

A very cool class!
 Silly Sally went to town walking backwards upside down all the way to Open House.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Internet Project.
W's are all waiting, watching, wondering "Where in the world will we wind up?"
Our W envelopes waiting with wiggle worms ready to go!  They were sent out on Tuesday and should arrive within a week to wonderful classrooms across North America.  We are all waiting watching and wondering what the rest of the alphabet will look like.
Thanks to Brooke Perry over at Primary Perspective for creating and setting up this project.  I love making connections with other classrooms.  I am hoping to Skype with another classroom in the project. This has been a great project!

We have had some beautiful fall weather this week. I'm hoping it continues.

Claire


Sunday, September 25, 2011

Beautiful Autumn Days

What a beautiful day it is in my neighborhood.  It's warm and sunny.  A perfect apple picking day!  I love to taste the sweet tartness of a Macintosh apple.  How about you?
     I have been honored by Andi at PencilsGlueandTyingShoes with the Versatile Award !  Yippee!  Now for 7 things about me.
1.  I am an empty Nester this year.  Both of my children go to SUNY Potsdam in NY.  I miss them.
2.  I love teaching first grade.  Writing is my favorite time of the day.
3.  I am a chocoholic!
4.  I grew up in Maine and try to visit every summer.  I love the ocean.
5.  I have 11 siblings who live all across the US.  Three of my sisters are teachers, one in first grade, one in art and one at the University level.
6.  My dad lives in Ireland with all the leprechauns.
7.  I love technology.  I went to ISTE for the first time this summer.  I love writing a blog and keeping a webpage.

Now for some new websites that I recently discovered.
Check out this fabulous sites.

This past week we did our first Internet project.  We stacked Oreos.  It was Fun Fun Fun!  Our average for the class was 20 cookies.  We love Oreos and the black teeth that come with eating them.   Check out the results from 100's of classrooms at Projects by Jen.

Our class has also been working on a 2nd Internet project called the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Project.  Our class has decorated the letter W and will be finishing them up in the next few days to send out to 25 other classrooms.  We are all looking forward to seeing what the other letters look like.  Pictures to come.

Our class will be skyping with another first grade from Iowa.  http://morningsunfirstgrade.blogspot.com/   We are forming our questions now and will be using Google Earth to locate our school and their school.  We are hoping to be kidblog pen pals.  It's all so exciting.

Our ipod touches were the hit of our Open House.  Everyone wanted to "touch" them.  The kids look forward to their time on the pods each day.  It was terrific to meet all the families at Open House this week.  I am looking forward to a great year as a first grade community.

This week we are excited to host author Leah Mermelstein.  She will be in our district for 2 days and we are fortunate to have her right in our very own classroom!  She will be teaching my class all about getting started on a piece of writing for writing workshop.  We are beyond excited.  Hopefully, I'll get her in action with the kids.  I had to do a little cleaning because along with Leah will come 10 other teachers watching her every move.  I can't wait.

I hope the weather continues to be warm and sunny.  The leaves are changing here and the apples are crisp.  Have a great week.

Claire