Cultures from Around the World

This trimester one of the many things that we are learning about is cultures.  We are learning about different cultures literature, art, music, food,  celebrations, and traditions. As we learn about these cultures we are writing something new that we have learned. The kids are very interested and have enjoyed the videos and books we have read and watched so far. They have also found it interesting that many of the things we eat and see on a daily basis came from many different cultures.  Below you will find a couple of the books we have read and some pictures of the kids working on their writing.

Many of the kids have also asked what cultures they are from. If you have the time at home please discuss what your family background is. :)

Daily Five and Technology

Here is the Daily Five Technology blog that I created for the teachers at today's in-service. Feel free to check it out. It includes all of the different technologies we use in our classroom and around the school.

www.dailyfivetech.blogspot.com

Go Pack Go!

Today some of the kiddos wore their Packer gear to support the Packers in their play off game tomorrow! Here is a pic from today! Go Pack Go!

Whose Child is This?

Holiday Concert

Today's holiday concert was awesome and a HUGE success! The kids sounded great and they were very well behaved! If you see Mrs. Lisowe  or Mr. Schepp at school don't forget to thank them for all of their hard work! :) Below I have included pictures and videos of the kids singing there five songs. I also included a video of the kinders singing a part of one of there cute songs. Please enjoy!

PS. If you would like a copy of the videos below please send in a blank writable CD or DVD and I will burn it for you!

First Grade Concert

Kindergarten Concert

Second Trimester- Human Body

Last week we started the second trimester of the school year. It is hard to believe we are already done with 1/3 of the school year! With the second trimester starting we will be learning about many new and exciting things. In science we have started our new unit on the human body. Throughout the next few weeks we will be working to build a body including six body systems. Today we started with our first system, the skeletal system. Below you will find some pictures of the kiddos working on their bodies. During the second trimester we will also be learning about force and motion, the past and present, cultures, base 10, reading comprehension, and much more!

A Season of Giving

Yesterday at Hemlock Creek the first grade students had a pajama day to celebrate kindness and generosity towards others. As you may already know this week we are kicking off a pajamas drive to donate PJs to children in need. Today we took the time to talk to the kids about the importance of being thankful for all we have and how good it feels to help others. We watched a between the lions and got to read our new books from the PTO with a friend. Over the next few weeks we will also be working to donate books to kids in need through the We Give Books Program.  I have included a brief description of both programs below. I have also added some photos of the kids in their pajamas..

We Give Books
 

One way in which we are helping others is by reading stories at school from a website called We Give Books. This website has many children's books available online for reading. We read the books as a shared classroom reading and even get to use our phantastic reading voices. Each time we read one of the stories as a class, a book is donated to a child in need. There is no cost to you and all it takes is a little time. If you would like to participate in this project at home visit http://www.wegivebooks.org/. From there select the book you would like to read. You will need to create a free login to track how many books you have read at home. For each book you read at home a new book is sent to a child in need. 

Scholastic Pajama Drive

Another way in which HC first graders are helping others is by participating in a pajama drive. For each set of pajamas donated Scholastic will pair it with a free book. They will then be dispersed to children from our area and of all ages that are in need of pajamas. 

 Scholastic Pajama Drive Website

Exciting News!!!!!!

Dear Families,

I am very excited to share some classroom news with you! Last week I received an e-mail from the author Barbara Odanaka. She came across our classroom blog and saw the video of the kids reading her book A Crazy Day at the Critter Café.  She loved it so much she offered to Skype with our classroom all the way from California for free. She also offered to autograph books for anyone who would like to purchase one. If you are interested please fill out the bottom of the letter that will be in your child's folder today and return it to school by Friday, November 30^th.  If you do purchase a book I will also throw in a CD with a copy of the video the kiddos made reading the book. This is such a unique experience I am so happy to be sharing with you and your family.  J

You can also check out Barbara Odanaka’s blog at: http://barbsschoolvisits.blogspot.com/

Reading with Expression- Critter Cafe

This week one of our Journey's lessons focused on reading with expression. We practiced reading the book A Crazy Day at the Critter Cafe paying special attention to the punctuation and quotation marks. We then put the expressive elephant card up on our CAFE board so we remember to use it when reading. We also recorded our own special reading of the book.

Class Election

And the winner is.................. DUCK!

Duck - 14 Votes
Grace - 8 Votes

Yesterday we read the books Grace for President and Duck for President. After reading the books we had a class election and the kids had to choose who they thought would be the best president Duck or Grace.  We also watched a campaign video for Duck, a  book review video for Grace, played Duck Math games, and wrote about the writing prompt "If I were president I would". After filling out their ballots the kids placed them in either side of the ballot box. We then counted them up to determine the winner. The kids were very good sports congratulating both Duck and Grace.Please check out some pictures from the election below. :)

Duck's Campaign Video