St. Patrick's Day 2012

Well this just might be the year one of my firsties catches the leprechaun!  Our annual March family project is to create a trap or decorate a rainbow.  The parents have outdone themselves!  It is so much fun listening to them talk strategy and who in their family did what part of the project.  Sometimes they make me laugh out loud during their presentations.  You have to see these traps and rainbows.  A huge thank you to all the families for your creative ideas.  I did tell the kids to set the traps last night and try to catch one.  Please keep a hold of him until he gives you his gold and then remember your favorite 1st grade teacher!  Enjoy Spring Break and the warm Florida sun/beach!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This free digital greeting card created with Smilebox

Dr. Seuss week

The beginning of March makes me giddy every year!  How could it not?!? It's Dr. Seuss birthday week. Each day our 1st graders were ready to read and take part in one adventure after another.  Monday was Green Eggs and Ham Day but we celebrated with lime sherbet and whipped cream. YUM!

 Tuesday was Fox in Socks crazy sock day.

Wednesday was WACKY with mixed matched clothes and wacky hats!  Watch out WACKY kids ahead!



Thursday was wear your funky glasses!  They are cute as can be!

Friday was Cat in the Hat Day.  We were going to dress like the Cat in the Hat but then I saw the BEST picture on Pinterest and the kids were dressed like the Things 1 & 2 on the loose.  Oh, we had a change in plans and check out the cutest things ever!  It sure was a great week.  These are some other pictures of things we hung up. OK each kid had a thing made running down the hallway.  It was the best! haha Enjoy!:)

Runners for life

I am one of the 4 sponsors at our school for the Girls on the Run program.  We talk about positive eating habits, self image, empowering one's self to coexist with peers, and create a service project.  We do run as well. :) At the end of the program we all partake in a 5K.  It is quite the inspiring program!  Our PE coaches promote physical activity with a wellness calendar.  Students that track physical activities are able to choose from a list of rewards from business partners.  All of this inspires families and look at our Kasey and Rachel.  The recently competed in the Disney kid race.  They ran a mile in less than 9 minutes!  Check out those medals.  Their mom ran her 1st half-marathon-Congratulations Cheryl!!  Doesn't it make you want to get your running shoes on?  I can't wait for Zumba Tuesday night.  Get out there and do something.

Using the green screen YIPPEE!!

I am so loving using the movie editing on my MacBook Pro.  What better way to use that and the green screen to help with our weekly reading skills.  Our theme for the week was favorite stories and beginning, middle, and end in stories.  One group read The Lion and the Mouse and created a retell.  We filmed them in front of the green screen reading their retell from the computer.  We learned not to wear green in front of that green screen.  Brady looks almost invisible.  Another group had to write about their favorite book and created and original artwork.  Wasn't this the coolest!  The kids loved it and I do believe there is more green screen in our future.

100 days of school

Really have we been in school for 100 days?  Time sure does fly when you are having as much as we are! We have celebrated the 50s and 80s day so what could I have planned for this big day?  A LOT!! We counted and counted.  We rolled dice, made trail mix, danced, sang, and counted 100 steps from our front door.  We talked about our 100 bags and amazing enough there were no repeats.  We made pictures with a 100 and they were super cool!  For the first time I rounded up 100 Legos for each child to see their creations.  They were fabulous!  Check out the youtube video.  We had a ball making the first 100 days so memorable.  What do I have planned for the next 100?  You will have to check back to see.

Another guest reader...

Kasey's big sister wanted to read a book to our class.  She is in 3rd grade and practices her fluency by reading aloud.  She did a FABULOUS job of reading Parts to our class and they really enjoyed hearing Rachel read.  Parts is a Reading Counts book and the kids are really taking off with their points.  I bet Rachel inspired them to read the rest of the Parts series.  Thanks Rachel.

Paper Slide Videos

FETC takes place each year in Orlando and it is the BEST technology show.   I was lucky enough to attend some sessions yesterday.  I was so excited to get back into the classroom and try out some new things with the kids.  I attended a session on video making in the classroom.  We learned about paper slide videos and I showed the class a few examples from some 2nd graders.  Of course I just knew my firsties could do it!  Our reading theme this week was birds and we learned so much.  What better way to showcase our learning than with technology.  We wrote what we learned about penguins, created backgrounds, and some even made puppets to use in the video.  We used a flipvideo camera to video and here they are! 

Andrew, Aubrey, and Skyler made this:

Jesse, Bryson, Brady, and Sofia made this:

Lola, Kasey, and Cate made this:

Lauren, Dane, and Darieliz made this:

Devyn, Jaidan, and David made this: