January Students of the Month

Congratulations to Tessa and Ryanna for being selected as our January Students of the Month!

Keep up the great work, girls!

Pajama Day

When it was announced that our class won a Pizza Party for having the best attendance at the recent PTO sponsored miniature golf event, I thought it might be a good idea to give the kids the chance to earn a Pajama Day at the same time. They worked really hard this week earning points for good behavior during Reading and Math, and they did it! What better day to wear jammies, hang out with stuffed animals, read some good books, and eat pizza than the day before Spring Break?

First graders LOVE Pajama Day!

Don't they look cute in their cozy pajamas and robes?

Slippers were popular, too!

They all look pretty calm, but I can guarantee that no one fell asleep during the day!

After our usual opening activities, the kids got to choose books and find a comfortable spot in the room to read.

I thought I'd give them about 10 minutes, but they did such a good job that they were still reading 20 minutes later!

They didn't even pay any attention to me snapping pictures.

Beth decided to have story time with her buddy.

The kids did have some work to do on Friday, too, and their stuffed animals were great helpers!

Such concentration on our weekly Daily Language Practice paper!

Please note: these pictures were not posed! They really were working hard!

Oops, remember upper case letters at the beginning!

And check for punctuation marks!

Is everything spelled correctly?

Good job, everyone!

Pajama Day was a great success! I wonder what the next Reward Day will be??

I can't believe I forgot to get a few pictures of our Pizza Party! The cooks delivered the pizza to our room, and they also brought milk and cookies. We had started a Reading Rainbow about the rain forest during milk break in the morning, and when the kids asked if we could finish it up during lunch, how could I say no? It was the quietest lunch of the year! Thanks to the PTO for a great lunch!

Enjoy Spring Break! I know I will - what a busy week!

Valentine's Day/100th Day of School

Wow!  When Valentine's Day and the 100th Day of School land on the very same day, things in first grade get kind of crazy!  We spread the activities over two days, starting on Monday with our collections of 100 objects, and ending on Tuesday afternoon with the opening of valentines.  

The kids made headbands and wore them to lunch to remind everyone that we've been in school for 100 days!  We practiced counting to 100 by twos, fives, tens, twenties, twenty-fives, and fifties, and read stories about counting.  We also watched a Reading Rainbow entitled  "How Much is a Million?" - now that's a big number! We sorted our collections of 100 objects into 10 groups of 10.

Abby brought buttons,

Jack brought gumballs,

Ryanna brought clips

Nathan and Mia worked together with pennies,

Kaylee and Ben counted paperclips,

Beth counted corn,

Cannon sorted balloons,

Quinn brought pasta,

Sophia had little colored balls,

William counted licorice,

Rachael brought cereal,

Gideon lined up pennies,

Richie also counted pennies,

Kiarra and Tessa counted dinosaurs,

and Jonathan and Jadan sorted paperclips.  
We learned that it's much easier to count by tens than ones! 
Valentine's Day is a very exciting day for 1st graders! They love to give and receive cards and candy, and it's especially fun since they can now read the messages on the cards! The kids made and decorated boxes for their valentines, and since we have been learning about alphabetical order, we put them in ABC order in the commons area outside our door. During Centers time in the morning, several students at a time got to go out and deliver their valentines (under supervision of a parent volunteer - thanks, Mrs. Meyers!).

It's quite a process to get all the valentines from 21 kids delivered!

Finally, they are all in the boxes and ready to be opened!

The kids had to wait until after Math for the grand opening, but they were really patient!

Look at all the smiles!

After opening everything, the kids got to choose one treat to eat, and then it was time to pack up, put it all away, and get ready for to go home.
Backpacks were really full when it was time to leave!
Thanks, kids, for all the cards and treats for me, too!
Happy Valentine's Day!!