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!