Book Buddies

Our first graders are so fortunate to have some very dedicated adults who come to school every Thursday morning as Book Buddies.  This group of 10-12 volunteers spends 20 minutes reading with each of our four classes.  They listen to the kids read in small groups of 2-3, and also share good books with them.  Many of the volunteers are from the Shepherd's Center, and some are parents or grandparents of our students.  This year, the Book Buddies wanted to give all of the kids books at the end of the year, so Rod Johnson, administrator at the Shepherd's Center, was able to get enough books for everyone through a Timberwolves book sharing project.  

 He brought the books to school last week.

 The kids listened very carefully as he explained the program,

 and then they lined up to receive their books!

 The kids were so excited!

They kept the books in their desks for the day, and read whenever they had some extra time.

Thank you, Book Buddies, for reading with our students!

I have had many volunteers comment on the amazing progress of our first graders.  Our Book Buddies have truly enjoyed providing extra practice for your children and helping them learn to read!

First Grade T-shirts

 Our t-shirts have arrived!  Most of the kids wore them to school today, and EVERYONE needs to wear them next Thursday for our class trip!

The kids did the design (I assembled their self-portraits and autographs), and Write On of Kenyon printed the t-shirts. In the past, we have toured their facility and learned about the transfer process, but we had to skip that trip this year.

Don't we look great?

March Students of the Month (a little late - sorry)

Mrs. Giese came to visit and present the March Students of the Month awards.  

Congratulations to Tatum and Richie, who both had 100% on their Spelling tests during the month of March.  Great job!!

Diorama Day

Diorama Day was a huge success! The kids (and their families) did a wonderful job creating and sharing dioramas of oceans, forests, deserts, wetlands, and even a savannah! The dioramas will be on display for a few days in the commons area outside our classroom, so stop in and see them! Thanks for all of your help with this project!

William was on vacation, so he made one and brought it in last week. Beth helped share his project.

It was fun to share the dioramas with the other first grade classes, our 4th grade buddies, parents, grandparents, and teachers. A few 2nd grade classes even came to take a peek while we were gone for lunch! Everyone was so impressed!

Diorama Day was so much fun, and the kids learned a lot!

Now the trick will be to get the dioramas home in one piece.

Habitat Dioramas

It's Diorama time! We have been learning about habitats in our Science studies, and our new Language Arts theme is entitled "Our Earth," so it's time to show off that learning and design a diorama! It's easy! Just choose a habitat (wetlands, forest, desert, or ocean), get a shoe box, and start adding details! To get you started with a few ideas, here are some examples of projects made in the past few years:

Children may start bringing in dioramas on Wednesday, April 4th, and Diorama Day, when we will share them with other classes, will be April 11th.

Have fun!

February Students of the Month

Since February is "I Love to Read" month, our February Students of the Month were all chosen for their great participation in out at-home reading activities during the month.

Congratulations to Jack, Kaylee, and Cooper!

Keep on reading!!!!

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!