Holiday Fun!

This week in class we have done many special activities and projects. Below are some pictures and descriptions of what we have been up to. I will add more pics tomorrow. :)

Who Will Help Santa This Year?

After reading the book Who Will Help Santa This Year? the kiddos filled out an application to become an elf. We then sent them to the north pole with an elf named Alfie to see if our applications were approved. He returned with them today. All kids were approved and we turned into elves. The kids also got an Elf I.D. with their elf names. Check your child's folder to see for yourself! 

Reader's Theater

Some of our 1st graders practiced all week last week for a reader's theater performance. They presented to their classmates on Monday an Tuesday. They read Not the Night Before Christmas, Bob the Goofy Reindeer, and The Gingerbread Man at Christmas. ( I forgot to snap a pic of the 3rd group today)

The Great Bedtime Story Pajama Drive

Today all the first graders at HC got to wear their pajamas to school to celebrate the ending of our pajama drive. As a grade level we collected an amazing 83 pajamas! Thank you so much for your generosity! Below are a few pictures as a class and as a grade level. 

Hour of Code Week

Today our class participated in an hour of code event with Mrs. Gossen, our library media specialist. This is a week long event encouraging children of all ages to participate in computer coding activities. For one hour this morning the kids were able to use the iPad apps called Tynker, Kodable, and Scratch. They had a great time and may want to continue to work on their computer programming skills at home. There is a link with more information at the bottom of this post. :)

  

Hour of Code Website

The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. Anyone, anywhere can organize an Hour of Code event. One-hour tutorials are available in over 40 languages. No experience needed. Ages 4 to 104.

Math Unit 4

Last week we started a new unit in math. This new unit will be focusing on place value.  So far we have worked on counting by tens and teen numbers. Below are a few videos that we used to practice teen numbers in class today. Teens are often tricky for students and they are written backwards or they are confused with the number that is the reverse (ie. 13 for 31). When working at home please be sure your child is writing the 1 in the tens place first followed by the extra ones.

Holiday Concert

In case you were not able to attend the concert today, below are some picture and some clips! :)

Song 1

Song 2

Song 3

Song 4

Swim! Swim! Reading

Over the last few days we have been working on recording a book reading for you to enjoy at home. The book we read is called Swim! Swim! by Lerch. The kid really enjoyed doing this and we will do one or two more as the year goes on. Our focus while reading was to read with expression. I hope you enjoy!

Turn into a Turkey Day 3

Today was our final day of Turn into a Turkey check out the two letters for today as well as the finished turkeys.

E - Everyone Matters. EVERYONE!

Our first letter today focused on the idea that everyone matters. We read a couple books and discussed how all people should be treated with kindness and fairness regardless of disabilities, race, gender, age, or race. We related this also to the golden rule, treating others the way we want to be treated.  

Y- You Make a Difference

Today we discussed that everyone makes a difference in the lives of others. We read a book called Have you Filled a Bucket Today? and brainstormed ideas on how we can be bucket fillers and make a positive impact on others days and lives. 

Light - Transparent, Translucent, Opaque

The last few days in science we have been focusing on the science words transparent, translucent, and opaque. We have investigated many different objects and classifying them. Below is a picture of the items we experimented with yesterday.

This is the criteria we used to determine which it was:

Transparent - Clear - All Light Passes Through - No Shadow

Translucent - Cloudy - Some Light Passes Through - Light Shadow

Opaque - Dark - No Light Passes Through - Dark Shadow

Turn into a Turkey Day 2!

Today we tackled the middle two letters of the word turkey. Below you will find more information on our day.

R - Relax with Friends and Family

Our 1st focus today was on Relaxing with Friends and Family. We discussed how to relax over break. Some of their ideas included reading a book, watching the football game, watching a movie, watching the parade, napping, and relaxing in a hot tub were just some of their great ideas! As a class we also then did a few Go Noodle exercises that focused on relaxation and calming. 

K - Kindness and Caring Count

The second focus of our day today was on Kindness and Caring count. We brainstormed how we can be kind to and help others. We also read a book called reach out a give. Some of the ideas the kids came up with were holding the door for people, donating toys and clothes, random acts of kindness,  helping out, saying thank you, and more! 

We then added two new feathers to our turkeys! :)

Time to Turn into a Turkey!!!!

This week in class our focus during literacy is going to be on Turning into a Turkey! To turn into a turkey we will focus on books and activities that are centered around the idea of giving thanks and giving back. Each day we will work on two letters from the work turkey. For each letter the kids will add a feather to a turkey body. I will post what we learn each day so you can see and follow up at home if you wish. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

Today's Letter Were T & U:

T-

Today we took time to thank someone by writing thank you cards. The kids each picked one (or two) people to thank. Some ideas we came up with were thanking parents, thanking siblings, thanking the PTO, thanking a teacher, thanking a friend, thanking a veteran or soldier. We also discussed that it is important to tell me why we are thanking them.

U-

Today we also discussed using our skills to help out. We brainstormed ideas on how we can use our skills to help out. The ideas we came up with included: raking leaves, shoveling, cleaning, teaching skills, and more. One additional skill we discussed was reading. We then read books from the website We Give Books and practiced vocabulary on Free Rice. We Give Books is a website that donates books to kids in need for every book read online. Unfortunately, this website is changing soon and will no longer be offering the same program. We also used Free Rice to practice vocabulary and donate rice to the hungry.