The Kids in a Year Project

I created a project for teachers.

The project:

    To create 12 pages with pictures about kids from around the country and what activities they like to do by the month.  This project can help build connections with other classrooms around the country.   It is totally done on the Internet.  No snail mail.  Only cost to the participants would be the printing of PDFs if you want.  Project can be used totally on the Internet to share with our classes.  

Details of the project:

     Find 11 different  teachers who are each willing to create one page (month) about what kids like to do at that location in that month. 
     Each of the 11 teachers can send in a picture for the July page to show what kids do during this month across the country. 

    Teachers will be assigned a month.

    My goal is to have 11 different locations.

    It must have real photographs of kids doing an activity.  It can have one or more photographs but no more than 5.

   Pictures can be creative and have captions.  Old pictures from your own archives can be used like I did with the snow pictures.  It was 94 degrees in Vermont today.

   You may add a class picture to your page.

   The text should follow the pattern set up on the January Page.

   All pages must be 8x11 and have the portrait orientation.

   Extra information can be written on a second page.

   The page must be made into a PDF and stay in color for printing.

   All pages will be posted on a Google page for easy access for our group. 

   All PDFs and July pictures should be sent to cdietsche@fnwsu.org   by September 30, 2012.

   Links can be created to post to our blogs and web pages so the world can view our work.

   All pages must be created by September 30, 2012.

Please leave me a comment with your name, your location, your email, and blog addy if you have one.

Project Leaders:

        Claire Dietsche, Highgate Elementary, Highgate Center, Vermont    www.firstgradesmarties.blogspot.com

          Laurie Hilton, Morning Sun Elementary, Morning Sun, Iowa      www.morningsunfirstgrade.blogspot.com   

Check out the January Page here.

This should be fun!

Claire

22 Days until school starts :)

Reading in Unusual Ways

Reading Reading Everywhere

in a tree or on a chair!

I love to have kids choose a pose with a book that is a little bit different.  I create a bulletin board of the pictures as well as a classroom book.  My class tries hard to think up new and different ways to read a book.   Check out a few of the crazier ones.

This year I have asked the staff at my school to have a picture taken themselves reading in unusual places.  I plan on making a wall display to promote reading in our school.  I'm hoping to get some fun photos for our first day of school.  I also thought that maybe the kids could come up with some great captions to our pictures.  When our display is complete I'll post a picture of it.

Be Kind!

Claire

24 Days until school starts :)

It's About Time!

Well it's about time I blogged about my fabulous meeting with Laurie Hilton my terrific skyping buddy from Iowa!  It was more than a week ago that I got together with Laurie in a great little Iowan town on the Mississippi River called LeClaire.  This is the birth place of Buffalo Bill, (he has his own museum!) and home of the American Pickers TV show.....Way Cool!  A big thank you goes out to my father-in-law Bob Dietsche for chauffeuring me all around  Illinois and Iowa!  It was fun!

We had lunch at a great little place called Happy Joe's.  I just loved the name!  Has anyone been to one?  Great Food!  It was an amazingly hot day of 104 degrees and full of humidity.  I thought I had melted a bit.  We chatted for quite a while, discussing some fun projects for the coming year.  It was the neatest thing to be sitting across the table from Laurie and collaborating together.  I will be posting a project idea for others to join shortly that I'm calling The Firstie's Month Project!  I'm not sold on the name yet but look for project details in the next week.

Happy Claire at Happy Joe's with Happy Laurie:)

One project idea I had was: I thought it would be cool to have our classes create a short video at the beginning of the year, kind of like a commercial as a way to introduce our school to our skype friends from Iowa.  I'm hoping that it will generate questions for one of our first skyping sessions.  It will be interesting to see what first graders will think is interesting enough to video tape.  I'll share the video after we produce it this fall.  I will be having the kiddos use our ipod touches to take pictures and videos with.  We'll see how it all turns out.

Our summer has been very sunny and our pool has been used quite regularly.  The current temperature of our pool is 92 degrees...ahh it's hot!  My latest challenge will be to blog at least 7 more times before my first day of school (teacher inservice) on August 21st.  I have lots of ideas to share.

Claire

Visiting Illinois

Hello from Illinois, I'm out for a visit with my father-in-law. It's been shopping, shopping, and more shopping. When I'm in town I make an annual trip to the Chalk Board,(a terrific teacher store). I spent way too much money in that place. I think I'm addicted to dice because I'm always buying them. I just bought a dice that has 3 small dice inside them. I bought 18 of them! Well they were only .75 a piece. I just had to have them. I can't wait let my kids try them out. Today I went to the Brookfield Zoo. I love to visit the zoo. I wish I had one closer to home. It was pretty hot today so many of the animals were not very active. I still can't figure out how to upload a picture from my iPad so I'll add some pictures soon. Tomorrow is a big day! I'm meeting up with my skyping buddy from Iowa! I'm so excited that I can't sleep. Mrs. Hilton from Morning Sun first grade in Iowa is meeting up with me. We skyped all year with our classes. I'm looking forward chatting about new projects we might do this coming year. It's all very exciting. Pictures tomorrow. Try a random act of kindness today! Claire

A Day In My Shoes

I love these linky parties.  They push me to post more.

5:30  Alarm goes off and I stretch my self out of bed.  I read the paper and check out the internet while I eat my breakfast of oatmeal with walnuts. 
6:00 It's into the shower with the radio blasting.  I dance a little in my shower.
6:30  By this time I head out the door on my way to work 1/2 hour away.  It is one of my favorite parts to my day.  Sometimes I listen to the radio or a book on tape.  Sometimes I think about all I want to accomplish in my day.
7:00 or so I arrive at school and putter around my classroom setting up activities or laminating new games, reading emails, and getting ready for the kids to arrive.
7:30 the first bus rolls in and I usually head out of my classroom to touch base with other teachers.  It's usually meeting time with special educators, or team members.
8:00  School begins and I take attendance and hot lunch count and put it on the computer.  Announcements from the office happen along with the Pledge as a whole school.
8:10 Is community time at our school and on Mondays we go around the room asking what we did over our weekends.  Sometimes we take a walk on the walking path that surrounds our school.
8:30 Our reading block begins.  Interventionists come to take about 8 of my kiddos.  The rest of the kids get onto kidblog.com and blog about their weekends.  First graders are amazing little techies.  I have literacy and math links for them to navigate through after they blog.
9:00 8 kiddos come back and start to blog.  I do a reading group with ones that have completed the blog assignment. and we continue this until about 10:15
10:15 Is math time.  We do investigations and move around a lot completing what ever chapter we are on.
11:20 We head off to lunch and recess and I finally get a much needed break.  I hang out with the other first grade teachers for lunch.
12:10 kiddos come back in from recess and I read our chapter book.
12:30 is either fundations time (yuck, I find this very boring) or math intervention time.  A second shot at math for all kids.
1:00 Specials time art, music, guidance, technology lab, library, gym.  This is when we have our team meetings.  I have grown to hate this time even though it is a break from my kiddos.  I have so much to do in my classroom.  Maybe next year.
1:45 Writing time or Social Studies or Science time.  Depends on the day.
2:35 We get ready for buses.
2:45 first busers head out the door
2:50 second loaders leave for the day.
3:00 we are contracted to stay until now.  I usually stay until 4:30 getting my class ready for the next day or meeting with others.  I am a substitute tutor and I work on our districts science curriculum.  All these things happen at this time
5:15 I make it home or out to a zumba class.
6:30 is when I drag home and make a little dinner check email and collapse in front of the tv
10:00 is up to bed.

Wow, I never realized how much I do on a regular day.
My favorite shoes are currently my sandals.  I am in love with everything Merrell.  They are so great for my feet.  What are your favorite shoes?  Do forget to link up with a Day in your shoes.

My current favorite shoe for the summer.  So comfy!

Claire

Happy 4th of July

From Sea to Shining Sea.....I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday today!  It is beautiful here.  The pool is inviting and it's time to catch up on some relaxation.  Check out some pictures of my kids from past 4th of Julys.  Enjoy!

 

It's so fun to look at pictures of my kids when they were younger!

 

Here we are in April!

 Oh my how fast they all grow up!  Happy 4th!  

Or

May the 4th be with you (as my brother Chuck would say!)

Claire

I'm Back!

     Yes, I'm Back!  Did anyone miss me?  It has been a rough and rugged spring and end of the year.  But it's summer now and I'm on vacation!  My goal is to blog all summer long and share lots.  First thing that I want to share is that I have lost 25 lbs. since March and I'm feeling great.  I have totally changed how I live my life and I am a happier person because of it.  I even got my class involved this year by using Mrs. Obama's Cause of getting kids moving.  Our school has a terrific 1 mile walking path around it, so we went out 3 mornings a week to walk (and run-kids) and get started for the day.

Here is how I looked before.  (with my son dressed for prom)

 Here I am in June!

 

Life is good!

I am well on my way to a healthier happier me.  I love to walk and do Zumba!  I'm happy that I can go out every day keep this great feeling going.  Happy Summer Everyone!

Claire