November activities

Well, this weather certainly makes it seem more like Christmas than Thanksgiving.  But since it is not quite December yet, here are some photos of fun activities we did this month!  Enjoy!

In Science, the kids learned about different ways to sort objects.  One way was to sort by whether or not objects were magnetic!  To introduce the kids to magnets, they explored using horseshoe magnets and 'fished' for objects!  The room was filled with excitement as the kids discovered how magnets worked!

Lilly holds up her magnetic object!

Hunter and Hannah share a magnet pole.

Jessica finds a piece to stick to her magnet.

Paige shows how the bandage sticks only because it is between the magnet and another piece of metal.

Jordan shows her catch.

Justin catches an object.

Teagen and Levi take turns fishing.

Lydia and Noel use teamwork to catch more than one object!

Hannah is excited to fish.

Claire and Levi show their objects.

Gavin sets up his objects to catch several at once.

Sierra catches a few metallic objects!

We took some time to decorate our classroom for November!  A favorite craft for the children was to make turkeys!  These turkeys were quite a long project.  First, they had to write what they were thankful for on the body.  Next, they had to cut out the body, feet and head and put it together.  Then they had to make the tail loops for their turkeys.  Last, they added curled paper feathers around their writing on the bodies.  The turkeys were displayed on three bulletin boards in our classroom and many adults who have visited our room have commented on how nice they look!

The Red star group works hard on their turkeys!

The Green star group members are concentrating on their projects.

The Purple star group is also working very hard.

A few kids chose to work at the round table instead of their group tables.

The Blue star group works hard!

Here are some finished projects!

Kendrick and Sierra

Sam

 

Noel

Aren't they beautiful?

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Mrs. Ferrell celebrated a birthday this month.  As a surprise, MR. FERRELL stopped by at lunch time with pizzas from Vitales in Zeeland!  Each child enjoyed a slice (or two or some even three) with their lunch that day.  While the children were outside for recess, Mr. Ferrell left a clue on the board.  Whenever he visits, Mr. Ferrell draws a bow tie on the board with a clue.  A bow tie is his special symbol/signature!  The children must use their eyes only to search the room for something that is different.  If they find it, they must whisper in Mrs. Ferrell's ear what they think is different.  If they find the correct object, they win a small prize (candy of some type).  It is fun for the kids and also for Mr. Ferrell!  Every time he visits, they immediately ask when he will return!

Paige was the first one to find the different object in the room! She is pointing to the bright pink circle located on the PINK color word poster!

Finally, last week Miss Nykamp did a fun activity with the children for Spelling!  She had the kids practice their sight words with their finger on the carpet first, but then they got to write in SHAVING CREAM!  The kids never wanted to practice their spelling more! 

Spreading out the shaving cream!

"This feels so cool!"

"Can we skip recess to keep doing this?"

"This a fun spelling!"

Well, that was a busy, fun month!  Look for another blog post in December with more awesome activities from the classroom!  Until then... stay warm!

Ariyah

This is Ariyah.  She is our current Student of the Week.  Ariyah loves the color PINK.  She enjoys watching the TV show, My Little Pony.  Ariyah has a pet cat named Smores.  Her favorite book is Junie B. Jones.  Ariyah's favorite sport is ballet!  Her favorite food is a burrito.  Ariyah believes she is special because she is nice to others.   She believes the best thing about her is that she is so special.   Ariyah would love to visit Florida again because it is warm and sunny.  When Ariyah grows up, she wants to be a nurse and help either children or animals.

Justin

This is Justin!  He is our student of the week!  Justin's favorite color is BLUE.  He would love to someday visit Hawaii.  Justin's favorite television show is called Gold Rush.  When he grows up, he would like to be a construction worker.  Justin has two pets: a dog named Buddy and a cat named Baby.  His favorite book is Curious George, Rain or Shine.  Justin likes to play soccer and he loves to eat spaghetti!  Justin is special because he is a very hard worker, but the VERY BEST thing about Justin is that fact that he is a good friend to everyone!  

Jessica earns addition certificate!

Jessica has been working very hard and visiting Xtra Math at home daily!  She is the first student in our class to master all of her addition facts to 10 in three seconds or less!  Jessica earned a certificate and a "Math Whiz" pencil for her efforts.  She will now work on her subtraction facts from 10.

Congratulations to Jessica on a job well done!

Paige

Paige is our student of the week this week!   Her favorite color is PURPLE!  Paige would love to visit Texas very soon.  My Little Pony is her very favorite television show.  When Paige grows up, she would love to be a vet because she loves animals.  She has a dog at home named Bandit.  Paige has a favorite book called Monster Math.  Her favorite sport is football.  She loves to eat hot dogs!  Paige is special because her birthday is ON CHRISTMAS!  But the very best thing about Paige is the fact that she is COOL!

Wrinkled Heart Lesson

Last week was a great week!  It was wonderful to spend time with parents of EVERY SINGLE student in class celebrating the progress made in the past few weeks of first grade!   Thank you for taking your time to come in for parent teacher conferences. One of the best indicators of a child's success in school is a parent's interest and support in what they are learning.  If there are questions or concerns that were not addressed this week, please feel free to email, call or set up another time to meet. 

Another reason it was a great week was because of an excellent lesson on Tuesday! Miss Nykamp and I have noticed that one of our classroom rules has been broken on a consistent basis.  This rule was the Golden Rule: Treat others the way that you would like to be treated. When a child is emotionally hurting, very little learning is likely to occur.  So valuable time was spent on a very important lesson: The Wrinkled Heart!

Miss Nykamp began her lesson asking the children to feel their hearts.  She discussed the fact that everyone has a heart and we have feelings in our hearts.  Miss Nykamp then cut out a large, beautiful heart from construction paper and held it up stating that everyone starts out with a 'heart' as pretty as the one she held up.

Miss Nykamp then spoke to the children about how words and actions can either make others feel good or hurt their hearts.  She described examples of times when others have made her heart feel great and times when her heart had been hurt by words or actions.

Miss Nykamp then invited students to give examples (without using names) of times when their feelings were hurt.  As you can see, there were many children with stories to share!  Each time an example was given, Miss Nykamp would ask how it made their heart feel, and the answer was often the same - "Not good!"  As examples were given, she also put a fold in the large heart for each one.

The children began to notice what was happening to the perfect heart very quickly!  "Oh no, look what happened to our heart!" and "Why are you crumpling up the heart?" and "Our heart does not look nice anymore" were just a few examples of things the children stated.  Miss Nykamp held up the crumpled up ball that used to be our heart.  She told the children that each time something cruel is said or done to another person, it puts a wrinkle in their heart.  

Miss Nykamp then asked the children to give examples of times when someone said or did something kind to the children!  For each example given, she would unfold a piece of the heart.

When the heart was opened up again, she asked the children what they thought about the heart.  They were happy the heart was not a crumpled up ball anymore, but noticed that it still had a LOT of wrinkles in it.  Miss Nykamp stated that hurtful words and actions put wrinkles in hearts, so the children  should always remember to be careful about what they say and do to others.  "Wrinkles" put in the hearts of others may be made a little better with apologies, but never truly disappear once they are there.

Miss Nykamp then showed the children a poem to help them remember the lesson.

Miss Nykamp then told the children that our wrinkled heart would be attached to the poem and displayed in our classroom for them to remember this very important lesson learned.

She then held up a miniature heart and poem and told the children that they would all be given a small heart and poem to take home.  She invited them to tell their families about the Wrinkled Heart lesson at home this weekend.  

If your child did not remember to tell you about this lesson, please ask!  We asked the children to respond to others who say or do cruel things to them with, "Ouch! That really hurt and it put a wrinkle in my heart!"  It is our hope that the children in OUR classroom will think very carefully about their words and actions BEFORE saying or doing them!  Hopefully the lesson learned this week will carry over onto the playground, on the bus and at home as well!