Merry Christmas!

Well, we survived our week!  (Or should I say Mrs. Ferrell survived???)   The excitement has been building since December 1 and we finally made it!  We had a wonderful surprise this morning when we went to the gym to sing Christmas carols.  Mrs. Dekker returned after retiring last year to play the piano for our event!  The kids were so excited to see her and she looked just as happy to be back for a visit.

After lunch, recess and show and tell, our Christmas events began.  Miss Kerri was SO excited to receive her gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods.  Her eyes opened wide when she saw $71.00 on her gift card.  Thank you to everyone for contributing to her gift.  In Miss Kerri's words, "I LOVE that store!  How did you know?   I could spend hours just looking in there!"  So I guess we made the right gift choice for her!

Miss Kerri had a gift for each child in both of her classes as well.  She gave each a large candy cane with  a new pencil and a small coloring book.  Miss Kerri is passing her gift below followed by Abigail showing her artistic abilities in the coloring book!

Mrs. Ferrell was next, sharing her gift with the kids.  Each child was very excited to open a spiral notebook, box of 24 crayons and box of 10 markers!  Markers have not been allowed in class until Christmas, so the kids were very excited to hear that they could bring their markers back to school in January to use on 'fun sheets' and in their free time notebooks.

We made necklaces made of red and green macaroni noodles and used our markers or crayons to color a Christmas tree for the center of the necklace.  Then, it was finally time to open our gifts to each other!  We played a musical gift exchange game to decide who opened which book.  The girls began and everyone was happy with the book received.  Then it was the boy's turn and they were just as excited!   See below for a picture of the happy readers!

We ended our fun afternoon watching the second half of 'Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer'.  This version was different than any other they have seen.  The voices of John Goodman and Whoopi Goldberg as Santa and the Ice Queen entertained them.  You should have heard the singing in the final scene.  Do you remember "Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer (reindeer), had a very shiny nose (like a light bulb), and if you ever saw it (saw it), you would even say it glows (like a light bulb)..."   It is hilarious to hear them sing the same version we sung as kids.  Funny tradition to pass down isn't it?

Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!   Thank you to everyone for the gift of allowing me to teach your child.  I love every one of them very much and will miss them these next two weeks!  Be safe, don't forget to read and practice math flash cards (you know I had to remind you!) and I will see you all in 2012!

Jackson Weber

This is Jackson Weber!  His favorite color is yellow.  Jackson would like to see Mickey Mouse again in Florida someday.  The best thing about Jackson is that he is a good friend.  Jackson's favorite television program is Phineas and Ferb.  Someday when he grows up, Jackson would like to be a professional soccer player.  Of course, his favorite sport is soccer.  Jackson thinks he is special because he has a cool scar from his brain surgery in Kindergarten.  He has a dog named Bitsy and his favorite food is macaroni and cheese.  Jackson's favorite book is "Buzz and Woody - Good Friends".

Santa's Workshop

Today our wonderful PTO hosted Santa's Workshop at school.  Every year they invite students to order crafts to make and give to their families for Christmas.  Many wonderful volunteers come in to help the children make their crafts and decorate their wrapping.  The kids were very excited to go to Santa's Workshop and the entire process ran so smoothly!   We were in and out of the library in 45 minutes!   Some very happy children took home their crafts today.  I would bet that most of the gifts were opened right away rather than waiting for Christmas!   Thank you Hamilton Elementary PTO!

Lily Klanderman

This is Lily Klanderman!   She is the student of the week.  Lily's favorite color is turquoise.  She would love to visit Africa because there are a lot of animals there.  Her favorite television show is Man vs. Wild.  The best thing about Lily is that she likes animals (do you sense a theme here?)  When she grows up, she would like to be a gymnastics teacher, but when she retires, she will become an animal trainer or a vet.  She is special because she is a good friend to others and animals.  She has two pets - a cat named Beanie and a fish named Furball.  Her favorite book is called Siberian Husky.  Lily's favorite sport is soccer and her favorite food is macaroni and cheese.

Riddle time!

"Can you find my idea?   Clue:   What pops up when you get an idea?"



Mr. Ferrell stopped by during lunch last Friday.  When Mr. Ferrell visits, he leaves a clue that he has been here!   He draws a bow tie on the front board!   Sometimes, he leaves a riddle for the kids to figure out and the answer someplace in the room.

His riddle is above.  Do you know the answer?   It took two days, but Gabe figured it out AND found the hidden clue!   Several kids knew the answer was "A light bulb", but kept pointing to the lights on the ceiling or in our bathroom.   Gabe found the paper light bulb hidden on the wall on a yellow banana in our color word area!  

Congratulations Gabe!  He won a Super Star ticket for his keen observational skills!   Thanks to Mr. Ferrell for adding some fun to our classroom!

The Christmas spirit is alive and well in first grade!  We spent our Social Studies time creating some new and exciting holiday decorations to adorn our classroom and hallway.   Above are our "Curly Santas".  The kids learned how to create the beard by cutting circles in a circular fashion (like a cinnamon roll).

We made Christmas angels to decorate our hallway!

We read several versions of the Gingerbread man story.  When we compared the stories, we noticed that an "old man and an old woman" baked the Gingerbread man in each book.  There were many animals in each of the stories, but in all of them, the sly fox tricked the Gingerbread man into trusting him, thus he was eaten.   We also read two very different versions of the familiar story.  One was called The Gingerbread Pirates  and the other was The Gingerbread Girl.  Be sure to ask your child about those!   We then did a writing activity about where we thought the Gingerbread man would run to if he did not end up in the tummy of the sly fox!  We decorated a cover, and they now hang on a bulletin board in our classroom!

We made three different ornaments for our classroom Christmas tree as well.  We made paper angels decorated in a Christmas theme, and a Santa ornament using a tracing of our hands, and a pattern block ornament that incorporated some math to create!   See our results and fine decorating below!

Our decorating is now complete, so next week we will get back to Science and start our new unit called Weather Watchers!   Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!   

May you have safe travels and meaningful time

spent with your family and friends.

I-Buddies!

  The third grade students from Mrs. Sikma's class came down to our classroom today with IPads.  They have been working on reading fluently with expression (not like robots!) in their classrooms.  They used the IPads to practice with the first graders.  First, they brought up a book from the A to Z reading website about how zebras were made on the IPads.  They read the story to us and then asked the comprehension questions at the end of the story.  After that, they pulled up a Thanksgiving/turkey game (similar to Hang Man) to play with their buddy.   

  As soon as the third graders left, the room was filled with comments like, "I guessed three words right!" and "That IPad is SO COOL!"  Of course, we asked the third graders to come back again very soon!

All Star Readers

All the first graders at Hamilton Elementary participate in "All Star Reading" time four times a week for 30 minutes each time!  They are placed in groups according to specific needs and talents.  The three first grade teachers, our reading interventionist, Mrs. Lynn Bosch, and several paraprofessionals work with the first graders.   The pictures above show the activity we worked on in our classroom today.  The children practiced reading 'sense' and 'nonsense' words to a partner.  One partner's job was to be the timer/checker and the other partner was a reader.  For one minute, the reader read the words aloud while the timer/checker verified the words read were sounded out correctly.  After one minute, the number of words correct were counted and recorded.  The partners then switched roles.  Their goal was to increase the number of correct words read in each of the three attempts.   This activity helps the children learn to use their phonics skills to sound out words correctly even if the word is not a real word.  As they practice, they depend less on breaking up the word into individual sounds and trust in their ability to read the word as a whole word.   They will also gain the confidence needed to be successful when taking the DIBELS test again in January.  

Kayden Burch

This is Kayden!  He is this week's Student of the Week.   Red is Kayden's favorite color.  He would love to visit the Great Wolf Lodge soon.  The best thing about him is that he is a very good golf cart driver!  His favorite television program is called Avatar.  When he grows up, he might want to be a pole barn builder.  Kayden thinks he is special because he likes to draw.  His favorite book is Pokemon.  Kayden's favorite sport is karate, and his favorite food is drum sticks (chicken, not the ice cream!)

Magnetic Science

Do you like fishing?   Our class had fun fishing with magnets in Science!  The kids learned that the horseshoe magnet was attracted to items that had metal in them.   Of course, the more objects that could be 'caught' at once, the more fun it was!  

Later, we used bar magnets and learned that magnets have a North Pole and a South Pole.   The magnets only attract if opposite poles touch.  Two like poles will repel each other.  The kids had fun playing with one bar magnet and a marble magnet.  They figured out how to push the magnet marbles around without touching them using a bar magnet!   It was fun experimenting with magnets!

Mari DellaVecchia

This is Mari.   She is our Student of the Week!   Mari is wearing her favorite color - pink!  She would like to visit Texas to see her cousin and the new baby.  Mari thinks the best thing about her is that she is nice to everyone.  Her favorite television program is "The Berenstain Bears".   Someday Mari would like to be a vet to help animals.  She is special because she can do lots of math.  She has a dog named Lizzy and a cat named Mooch.  Her favorite book is "Snow White".  Mari is a good soccer player, which is also her favorite sport.  Spaghetti is her favorite meal!

Turkey Time!

 

Let's Talk Turkey!

A new month has come!   We started out our November activities with a much-loved craft time!   We discussed turkeys first.  Did you know that a male turkey is called a 'tom' and a female turkey is called a 'hen'?   The male turkey has a colorful tail, used to attract a mate.  Female turkeys blend in to their environment in order to hide themselves and their young from predators.  One student asked if the turkeys we eat at Thanksgiving are 'toms' or 'hens'.   I had to respond that I did not know the answer to that.  We may need to do a little research to find our answer!   After talking turkey, the kids made 'toms' to display proudly on our bulletin board!  

Other November concepts we will cover include time lines, past and present ways of life, things we are thankful for, and of course, our normal language arts, math and science curriculum when we can squeeze it in.

Word Wall

Our Word Wall has grown!   For the first two months of school, the only words on our Word Wall included our names and the 35 priority words that we will learn in spelling for first grade.   This week I have added many more words to our Word Wall.   These words come straight from the Dolch list that was handed out at conferences last week.  As we discussed, the children will be tested three times this year on the 220 Dolch words.  These are sight words most commonly found in text.  About half of the 220 are now on our Word Wall.  The children are encouraged to use the wall when they are not sure how to spell a sight word when they are writing in their writing journals, science journals, or on their own.   They came in this morning very excited to see the many new words on our wall.  Dakota even said, "Hey, I have a ring with those words at home!"   We will use our word wall for other activities and games as well.  The goal is for all the children to know "by sight" 200 or more of the 220 Dolch words!  

WEB reading and October hours

Hopefully you are seeing your child's reading skills grow and grow.  We have been working hard in our reading series, which introduces two phonics skills each week.  These phonics skills are practiced in the story from the book as well as in the two decodable books sent home each week.  I have seen many improvements in just two months.  The WEB books practiced at home each night with your help have a great impact as well, so thank you for your help and support at home!   Every child in our class met their reading goal for October.  On Tuesday the kids enjoyed a Popsicle at snack time, took home a certificate for a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut and a double lunch recess!  

November has begun!  Three or more hours of reading at home is the goal again.  Hours may be turned in as you and your child complete them.   Our bulletin board in our classroom shows each child's progress with their goal.   Thank you for your help reading with your child and his or her progress.  It makes a tremendous difference in the overall success for him/her. 

Please be sure to take a look at the paper newsletter in this week's Friday Folder, which is always copied on pink paper.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Brady Tebo

 

This is Brady Tebo.   He is our Student of the week!   Brady's favorite color is camouflage, but he also likes red and green.   He would love to visit Alaska someday because there are a lot of animals there he would like to see.  Brady thinks the best thing about him is that he likes hunting.  His favorite television program is "Wild Kratts".  Someday when he grows up, Brady would like to be a Zookeeper!  He is special because he is a good friend to others and has many friends.  Brady has two pets:  a dog named Rex and a spotted lizard named Scotty.  His favorite book is called "Dangerous Creatures."  Brady's favorite sport is baseball, and his favorite food is his Dad's beef enchiladas!

Pumpkin Patch Trip

What a nasty day!   It felt more like winter than fall.   Luckily, Anita Nyboer was willing to work with us to move our pumpkin patch trip inside!  She brought two helpers along, and the children had the opportunity to choose one pumpkin, two gourds and a piece of Indian corn.  Then the ladies came into the classrooms and told the kids all about the farm.

Jennifer Stork came into our classroom and showed the kids various home grown plants from Nyboer's Farm.  She began by showing us a stalk of corn.  She discussed three types of corn grown on the farm.  She taught the kids that feed corn is hard, dry and grown to feed animals.  The stalks are taller than she is.  Sweet corn is also grown there, but she explained that stalks of sweet corn are as tall as a first grader. The last type of corn grown is Indian corn.  

Jennifer showed the kids a pumpkin and explained that there are many animals that live very near the pumpkin patch that like to eat pumpkins.   The Nyboers have set up different scarecrows around the farm to keep the animals from sampling.  They even have a scarecrow that looks like a coyote and one in the pond that looks like the Loch Ness monster!   She explained that deer like to eat the pumpkin shells.   There is a bird with a large beak that loves the inside of the pumpkin, but not the seeds, so they poke a perfect hole in the outside to get to the inside, but leave piles of seeds on the ground.  There are also squirrels, groundhogs and other animals who visit for a free lunch.   She also explained how pumpkins are grown on a vine and that when the blossom falls off, a tiny green pumpkin starts to grow in its place. The pumpkin is green until fall, when it turns orange and is picked.

Next Jennifer showed us a sunflower grown on the farm.  She talked about how sunflowers face the sun all day long as they are growing.   When fall comes around, the heads are just too heavy to follow the sun.  Birds love to visit the sunflowers and eat the seeds.   She talked about how the seeds need to be taken off the head and roasted and salted to be eaten.  She left a sunflower for our class, so maybe we will try it if I can find directions or a recipe.

Jennifer told the kids that if they let their Indian corn dry for 30 days or more, they can take the kernels off the cob and pop it to make popcorn!  You can even put the entire cob into your microwave and watch the popcorn pop right off the cob!  She puts her kernels in her hot air popper, but I think it's more fun to do it in the microwave!  Beware, it is very messy and I ended up with some burnt popcorn, so be careful how long you put it in the microwave.

We also did some fun math activities with our farm treasures before we took them home.  We measured the circumference of our pumpkins.  The kids each had a chance to estimate where to cut a piece of yarn and measure around the middle of their pumpkin.  We actually had three students estimate an equal length, but most of us estimated too long or too short.  We then measured the area of our Indian corn.  They traced around the corn on a grid, then counted how many squares the corn covered.  Last, we measured the weight of one of our gourds against pennies.   

A fun day was had by everyone even though we missed out on a short bus ride and a wagon ride.  I do not think the kids were very disappointed, and we ended up with no muddy clothes, treasures, or ripped bags from heavy, wet treasures.   Thank you to the Nyboers and Jennifer Stork for everything!

Abigail Parkhill

This is Abigail Parkhill!   She is the student of the week this week.  Abigail's favorite book is the Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel.   She would love to visit Florida soon.  Abi thinks she is special because she is the oldest sister in the family.   When she watches television, Abigail loves to see "Phineas and Ferb"!   Her favorite food is to be served dinner at the Wild Chef restaurant.  The best thing about Abigail is her long hair!   Pink is her color of choice.  When she grows up, she wants to be a professional karate girl.  Of course, her favorite sport is karate, but she also loves soccer.  She has two pets;  a dog names Lucy and a cat named Maryellen.

Pajama Day!

Here is a riddle for you:  What's silly and excited, but comfy and cozy?   Answer:   First graders in their pajamas!!!!

What a fun day!   Because we filled our marble jar (for making good choices), we usually take an extra recess, but this time the kids asked for a pajama day instead!   The timing was good, because we do not have P.E. class on Fridays, so we could also include slippers.   They even brought one stuffed friend along to learn in school today.   

WEB is off to a great start!   

We began WEB (Wonderfully Exciting Books) this week!   The kids have been great about returning their books every day.  That is important because we have several moms who take turns coming in to read with every child daily.  On Fridays, I look at the opinions of parents, the WEB moms and my own opinion and determine if your child should change levels for their WEB books.  As I get to know every child's independent level for reading, please be patient with me.  I like to give them at least a week before I change levels, and at times may move your child to an easier drawer if needed.  The goal of WEB is to read books that will make reading fun and exciting, not cause frustration and tears.    This program is so valuable and you will see amazing results if you work with your child daily.  

We have also had two children already return their first pink slip for October!   The goal is to read to an adult for 3 or more hours each month.  We keep track of hours turned in on a bulletin board in the room, and the kids know they need to see three stickers by their name by November 1 to earn their rewards.  If the goal is met, they will earn a certificate for a free personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut, a treat from Mrs. Ferrell, and an extra recess!   Every child started out with one sticker (hour) credit for October for working hard on those short vowel word strips at home.  Also remember that ANY reading the child does at home (word strips, copied stories and decodable readers sent home, books from home) count for the pink slips.   When one hour is reached, sign the slip, send it in, and start a new slip.  You may not need all the lines to total an hour, or if your child reads shorter books, you may need to write on the back in order to total an hour for a slip.  I always send the slip back home after I record how many hours your child has totaled on the slip so that you know how many more are needed before the end of the month.  Thank you so much for teaming with me in your child's success.

Thank you also to the following moms, who have offered to help with WEB through December:

Lisa Theodore, Lindsay Tebo, Missy Eustice, Misti Lindholm, Tara Weber, Kim Williams, Lesley Remick, Misten Reister, and Amy Klanderman.    If any of these moms did not receive a schedule from me, please let me know!   It seems I forgot one mom on this list, but luckily, her son mentioned it to her before her first visit!   

I have only scheduled WEB moms through December, so if anyone is interested in helping with WEB starting in January and going through April, you will have your opportunity to help as well.  There are options for how often you want to help out and I will work with your schedule the best that I can!  

Pumpkin Patch

Next week Thursday we will be visiting Nyboer's Farm.  We will take a wagon ride through the farm, stopping at various places to learn.  The children will be taking some farm goodies home with them, so please send in a bag of some sort (grocery, reusable, plastic, etc) with your child on or before Thursday.  A bag with handles works the best if you have one, and if it is a plastic or paper bag, doubling the bag is also a good idea, as kids seem to go for the biggest, heaviest treasures they can find!   Thank you for getting your $4.00 fee in so quickly, and a big thank you to our PTO for paying the cost of the bus and bus driver!

Please look in your child's Friday Folder today for our pink paper newsletter for updates on specific lessons in class for the week.   Have a great weekend everyone!