First Grader at last...

Junie B. Jones has been a favorite of mine for quite some time and I love reading her books to students and hear them laugh in all the right places or predict what will happen next. I am sure for the parents of my new friends they are finding it hard to believe their child is officially a first grader, at last! We have had great fun getting to know one another, looking for patterns, reading books, and even thinking about scientists. Our adventure began Monday morning with reading the Kissing Hand and hunting for Chester the Raccoon around the school. We never did catch him but got to see Mr. Butler, our principal, Nurse Rhonda, Mrs. Stevenson, the Media Specialist, and even Ms. Maureen, the Cafeteria Manager. He was nice enough to leave us a snack after our tour of the school. I can tell this is going to be the start of a wonderful year. Some friends were missing from this 1st class photo so I will have to do an official class photo once I have everyone at school. I can't wait for you to see how stinking cute they are!

Tomorrow is the 1st day of school...

I am so excited tonight I can hardly sleep. It has been a very busy week of getting our classroom back in order to prepare for the upcoming school year. On Thursday, I met 18 of the 20 new friends I will see for the next 180 days. The room looks ready except 1 thing is missing... I know my new friends. I can hardly wait to get to know them and their individual personality. Hope they enjoyed the last weekend because I have many adventures ahead A favorite area of mine is the classroom library. I know it will be a favorite of theirs too. I'll let you know how tomorrow goes...

THANK YOU!!

Where do I begin? I can hardly believe the school year has ended. On one hand, I am looking forward to a wonderful summer with my husband and kids. On the other, I will be sad to not wake up to go to school with all my 1st grade friends. I want to first thank the parents of these friends for an awesome year. You have let me be a part of your family for the year and for that I am grateful. Your kids are unbelievable and I got to see them grow and become independent readers this year. THANK YOU! Of course I would like to thank each one of them for the laughs, the learning, and the overall feeling of joy going to work each day with a smile.
We had some help throughout the year from all of the families with time in the classroom, supplies for projects, or treats/rewards to celebrate successes. I especially want to thank Ashley and Paul who donated 5 iPod Shuffles for the class to use at home listening to stories and practicing their oral reading fluency. My dad for donating the 6th iPod so I could have a set of 6. Chantal and Michelle who gave time every week of the year doing anything and everything I ever asked them to do. Joel and Melissa for sending in "big" items for our learning and enjoyment. Smart Start Tutoring for awarding our class a grant to fund our Reading Counts store-JW Beanies. Walmart for donating the primary journals our friends wrote in each day (Parents love this artifact of the entire year!) Promethean for providing the BEST and most fun way of learning through their Interactive Whiteboard, wand, and ActivExpressions. Dayle Timmons in Jacksonville, FL for being an inspiration and guiding force behind our successful classroom blog. Our principal and staff for making this school like Disney World each and every day of the school year. The biggest thank you goes to my husband who lets me give so much time and energy into being the best teacher I can be and to my kids who give me hugs and kisses everyday!

Father's Day Kickball

Father's Day Kickball was the BEST!! We celebrated in style with the dads playing alongside the kids in the field. It was great watching the dads and grandpas out for the morning challenge. Dads/Grandpas could kick while their kid ran or the reverse. I think I even shocked a few dads with my kicking ability. We were cheering, laughing, and having a great time. We followed the game with our presents for dad. I can not take credit for the gift. I saw it on another blog or class website and thought how great. I had Grandpa Budd cut some wood and the kids painted their "Chip Off the Old Block" paper weight. I glued a school photo and wrote the year. I hope the dads/grandpas enjoy them as much as the kids did making them.

We held our class award assembly where the kids voted on one another for various awards. I shared the class end of the year video and we enjoyed our "Dog with Dad" lunch. THANK YOU to Mrs. Chatal, Mrs. Maria, Ms. Jen, Ms. Michelle, and all the families that helped with our awesome hot dog lunch.

Mother's Day 2009

We celebrated our mothers to let them know how very special they are to us. Each child completed sentences about their mom. They included: I know my mom loves me when..., A special day with my mom would be ..., The best part of my mom is her ..., etc. We wrote them into books and then illustrated the pages. We added a dedication and an About the Author section. The books were wrapped and then we drew portraits of our mothers using fabric crayons. The portraits were ironed onto white handkerchiefs and used as bows for the presents. Secretly, the children brought me in favorite pictures of mom. I scanned them and made a movie of all the kids and their moms. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. It was a beautiful day for everyone. Just look at all our smiling faces. :)

cinco de mayo

Last week was a blur so I will need to catch everyone up to date. Tuesday was cinco de mayo and we had the fiesta of all fiestas! Thank you to the following kid's and their awesome parents: Connor, Nicholas, Vincent, David, Morgyn, and Gabi for the taco bar, homemade Spanish rice, lemonade, and the pinata! We learned the history of cinco de mayo and even the Mexican Hat dance. Check out the slide show.

Earth Day 2009

Reduce, reuse, and recycle was the focus of our day. Thanks to Mrs. McGowan and her website, our class read a reader's theater to celebrate the occasion. Watch the movie and learn some ways you too can help the Earth. We enjoyed some dirt cups with our friends in Ms. Garver and Mrs. Patenaude's class. The April family homework project was to make a sculpture or invention out of recycled materials and we had the coolest creations come in the room! We had an elephant made from plastic bottles and duct tape and the perfect pet dog that you can even wag the tail. We had a painted SpongeBob and even a snake from aluminum cans and an Easter egg. A HUGE thank you to all the familes that participated. You are really using your smarts and just think you recycled!