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!

Math RtI (Response to Intervention)

This post is to give you an idea about what we are doing for Math RtI times.  We meet twice per week for 30 minutes each time.  The kids are divided into three groups and participate in three different activities.

Computers (with Mrs. Ferrell)

As you can see, this group is working on another new math game from the "Cool Math 4 Kids" website!  You can access the game through this blog or Ms. Baker's website as well.  We are playing "Shapezoid" this time, so now the kids are familiar with three games from the site.  This website is very fun for the kids and they do not even realize they are practicing math concepts!   Give it a try at home!




Mrs. Heuer

This is Mrs. Heuer, one of our awesome interventionists!   She taught the kids a game called "Neighbors" (One More, One Less).   The kids pair up after she explains the game.  In this game, the kids have some domino type cards.  They take turns taking a card and placing it in a line face up between the partners.  If that card is one more or one less than any card in the line, they take both cards.  Before they take the cards, they must tell the comparison (5 is 1 more than 4).  When all the cards in the stack are gone, the game ends.  The player with more cards wins.





Mrs. Bleeker

Mrs. Bleeker is another awesome interventionist!   In her group, she taught the game called "Less or More Spin."  Again, the kids are paired up.  One person rolls a dice, then spins a spinner consisting of various directions such as "1 more", "2 less", "more", " 1 less", etc.  The children must then cover the new number made after spinning on a game board.  The first person to cover three numbers in a row vertically, horizontally or diagonally is the winner.


It takes us a week and a half to visit all three stations, and then new games are taught and played.  The games then go on our free time shelf for the kids to play when they finish other activities.  We also may revisit the games in our regular center time down the road.  If you have any questions about our Math RtI time, please let me know!   The kids love this time and really learn a lot as well.   Isn't that what first grade is all about???

Have a great evening!

Paul Theodore

This is Paul Theodore.  He is our Student of the Week this week!    Paul loves the color red.  If he could choose anyplace to visit, he would go to California "to see what's there".  The best thing about Paul is that he is good at sharing!  His favorite television program is "Phineas and Ferb".  Someday Paul would like to be an inventor!  Paul thinks he is special because he is good at Art.  He has a pet dog named Tess.  Paul's favorite book is "Bear and Duck On the Run".  He is a white belt in karate, which is his favorite sport.  Last, Paul's most favorite food is PIZZA!

Cool Math 4 Kids!

Check this out!   Thursday afternoon our class used one of our school computer banks to play a cool math game called "Marble Lines"!   First I showed the entire class on our big screen how to navigate Ms. Baker's web site to find the link "Cool Math 4 Kids".  I then showed them how the game worked, and then we went to town!   It was amazing to see how well the kids navigate the computers and follow along to get to the correct game.  Do you see Lily in the top picture?   She had just completed the first level and was super excited.  It was fantastic to hear all the excitement and fun in the classroom.   The game is one of many awesome games on the "Cool Math 4 Kids" website, which you can click on right from this blog (on the right side) or from Ms. Baker's InfoTech website.  Hopefully the kids will remember how to get to the game, but if not, once you find the Cool Math web site, click on Math Games at the top.  Then click on Colors/Shapes near the top.  Scroll down and find the game.  We have also played "Feed Fribbit Colors" in our Math RtI centers.  Please take some time to allow your child to show you these neat games and explore some other games!

Other news:
Thanks to our wonderful PTO, we will be able to go to Nyboer's Farm to visit the pumpkin patch!   We will be going on Thursday, October 20th mid morning and return before lunch.  The kids will be able to choose some farm goodies to take home with them.  We will spend the afternoon doing some math activities with our goodies.  We will guess and measure the circumference of a pumpkin, weigh a gourd against pennies in a balance scale, and determine the area of a piece of Indian corn.  The kids will be taking their goodies home that day.  The cost of this trip is only $4.00 per child because our PTO will be paying for the bus and driver costs.  Unfortunately, this trip will not allow for parents to join us.  There simply is not enough room on the wagon.  Any and all parents will be invited to join us for our spring trip to Teusink's Farm in May.   Please send in the $4.00 admission fee with your child before next Friday, October 14th.   If the admission cost is a problem, please let me know.  We want all the children to be able to attend.

WEB begins next week Wednesday.  Look for information to come home on Tuesday along with a book from our classroom for your child to read to you.  Each night a different book will come home at your child's independent level because the goals are to build confidence, read fluently and work towards using expression.  Please take the time (10 minutes) to sit down with your child and listen to him or her read to you.  Record the time spent reading on a pink "Hour Readers are Great!" slip.  When one hour is reached, send in the pink slip and start a new slip.  The goal is for your child to turn in 3 or more hours each month.  We record hours turned in on a bulletin board in the classroom each month.  I will be placing one sticker (of the 3+ required) on each child's paper leaf to give credit for reading the word strips the past few weeks and because we are starting mid October.  Again, please look in your child's backpack on Tuesday for more specifics about WEB/ Book It in our classroom.

Next week is National Fire Prevention Week!   We will be doing some discussion along with various activities to review important prevention and safety concepts.  We hope to visit the Hamilton Fire Station sometime in October.  Fire Fighter Heuer, one of our interventionist's husband, will be showing us the fire trucks, a short video, and there will hopefully be a special guest as well.  If you are looking for a neat activity, there is an awesome fire truck parade in downtown Holland on Saturday morning.  The trucks even park at Kollen Park afterward so that children can climb on them, meet fire fighters and pick up some activity books, stickers, pencils, and more. 

We will also be learning about Christoper Columbus next week.  Along with that, we will be doing a mapping unit in which the children learn about the North and South Poles and the Equator on a globe, directions (N,S,E,W) on maps, how to read simple maps, and more.  The kids in past years have really enjoyed this unit and really learned a lot about mapping. 

Check out my paper newsletter in your child's Friday Folder for specific areas covered in the classroom this week along with our show and tell topic for next week and homework for the weekend.  Have a great weekend everyone!  Enjoy the beautiful weather!

Natalie Gonzalez

This is Natalie.  She is the student of the week this week!   Natalie's favorite color is yellow.  She would love to visit the zoo.  Natalie thinks the best thing about her is her long hair.  Her favorite television program is Sonic X.  When she grows up, Natalie would like to be a nurse.  She is special because she is funny and smart!  She has two dogs named Mandy and Brownie.  Natalie's favorite book is "Pinkalicious".  Her favorite sport to watch is football.  Natalie's favorite food is salad!