100 day portraits are here...

Alright you are going to love these! After the class looked at a few portraits of some 100 year olds we decided to make these paper portraits of ourselves.  Enjoy.

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Mark your calendars-January 2014

You are probably wondering what in the world that is 3 years away.  Take it from me it will be here before you know it. In Florida, 4th graders take the FCAT Writes test where they demonstrate their writing craft in essay form.  We all know preparation does not just happen in fourth grade.  Teachers and parents start before Kindergarten exposing young minds to text and text features.  They read stories with different voices and intonation.  They help with sentence structure and word choice.  It truly takes a long time to improve one's writing craft.  Each year our 4th grade puts on a Write Night.  A guest speaker is offered to inspire and talk about their journey as a writer.  The 4th grade teachers perform a skit.  Tips are offered to parents along with a countdown writing calendar and door prizes!  Our administration feels so strongly about a family night that they even offer pizza to all the families!  Thank you Mr. Butler and Dr. Newnam.

This year the guest speaker was Marian Strong Tomblin, a famous local writer.  She has written books entitled, The Mystery of Ormond Hotel, Where's Capone's Cash?, Manatee Moon, and others.  She is such a fabulous speaker!  She captivated the crowd with her wit and she made writing seem so easy to do. All you needed was practice!  She even had some of her "in the works" notebook available for the families to see.  There was one notebook that looked a little weathered, come to find out she had enough one day and left it out in the rain. Kaile, my daughter, was so excited to get an autographed copy of her book.  Just look at that smile.  Of course I had to squeeze into the photo.  I love it when I meet authors and get to tell my class all about the experience.

It was night to remember.  Taking that writing test just lets you see the fruits of your labor from pre-school to now.  If you don't write with your child, start today.  Buy a notebook and write notes back and forth, buy a journal and write about all those memorable moments, or buy a blank book and write about a future trip.  When was the last time your child actually sat down and wrote a thank you letter? Writing is all around and it goes hand in hand with reading.  The only way to get better is to practice.

100th DAY!!!

January 26, 2011 and what a fabulous 100th day of school it was...

These pictures don't even begin to describe the fun and excitement of the day.  We made hats, we wrote how we would spend $100, estimated 100 steps and then took those 100 steps around school, and made 100th day bags of trail mix.  We rolled the dice to 100, and drew what we would look like at 100 and what we would like to be able to still do.  OK had to laugh at Dylan's, he wants to play his DS in the wheelchair, look at his work. 

We made portraits from torn paper and I will have to add those 1st thing in the morning.  They were the best ever!  We ended the day talking about what we have learned and what was most memorable these past 100 days.  One child said I can't pick one, the list is too long. Oh to be 6 again and in the 1st grade celebrating the 100th day of school... Oh yeah, the kids were given 100 to make a picture.  Check out the robot and people from Dylan and Aidan. Very creative!

Make sure to check out the Smilebox with our 100 bag collections.  Can you believe it? Noone brought the same as another.  It was great fun hearing how the kids came up with what they would bring and by the way I sent them home today so if your candy bag came back a few short you know where they went.

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It's a bird, it's a plane, or maybe a penguin...

Last week the theme in our reading series was birds.  We learned a lot about birds and about penguins in particular.  We read various non-fiction and fiction stories.  We learned about what they eat, where they live, and what they can do.  Each student completed tree maps and then used the tree maps to write about penguins.  I found a website that taught how to draw a penguin and create a background scene.  Above you see pictures I taught the kids how to create!  For any of you that know me you know I am the stick person queen so these pictures were quite amazing to me!  I have some pretty talented students!  Wonder what else I could help them create...

Snowballs

I have to tell you I love the monthly family projects.  I love seeing the creativity and hearing the stories that go along with the finished project.  This month is no exception.  Take a look at the snowmen that showed up at our classroom after reading Lois Ehlert's Snowballs.

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Happy New Year 2011!

Each year I talk to the kids about goals for the new year.  It is always so exciting to have something to look forward to throughout the year.  Recently I attended a few Zumba classes and so my new year goal was to learn how to Zumba better.  I am still working at it and will keep you posted.  Make sure to check out my 1st grade friends and the things they want to accomplish in the year 2011.  Reading Counts was quite popular so I better get my favorite books out and start spreading the word.

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Catchup from 2010...

How did the time get away from me? That last week before Christmas Break was a blur.  Our class was involved in a Gingerbread Exchange.  We made some "beach" gingerbread boys and girls and then mailed them to 36 schools around the United States.  In return, we received 36 gingerbread men. They were fabulous!  Don't take my word for it, make sure to watch the Smilebox for the pictures. 

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We even had a Gingerbread Day where we sorted, graphed, and ate gingerbread cookies!  The next day was Grinch Day and boy was it fun!  The class enjoyed me reading the original book more than the movie if you can believe it!  Another day centered around reindeer.  We learned some interesting facts and you can see the tree map in the Smilebox video.  The week ended with a Polar Express pajama party.  I couldn't help it, the pictures were so cute I had to make another Smilbox. Enjoy and there is so much more to come in 2011.

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