Class Trip to the Children's Museum and Como Park

Last week was quite a week for me and the whole class!  My daughter, Jenna, gave birth to a baby girl on Tuesday, so I was on duty for a few days taking care of our little 2-year old grandson while she and her husband were in the hospital.  Since her due date was May 18th, I had been worried for several weeks about possibly getting a call from her during our class trip on the 17th.  Fortunately, she was a few days early so I didn't have to be concerned about being stuck on a school bus in St. Paul when she went into labor!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Here's our little granddaughter, Mabel Elizabeth.  

I was, of course, very happy about the new baby, but I also felt bad about not being able to go along on the trip to the Children's Museum and Como Park, especially since I had done all the planning and prep work for the whole first grade, and the trip is always a fun one!  However, I knew the kids and parents would be  in good hands with Mrs. Emery, my substitute.  I arranged for her to take my camera along, so she snapped these pictures of the day's events.

The bus ride is always the highlight of the trip, especially for the parents :-)

Are we there yet?

Upon arrival at the museum, everyone met in the Big Room to go over rules for the morning session at the museum.  Each child was in a group of 2 or 3 with an adult chaperone, and the groups were free to expolre on their own.  There are tons of hands-on activities, and from all reports on Friday, the kids had a GREAT time!

We discovered years ago that eating at the museum is a really good idea since mid-May weather can be quite unpredictable for a picnic at the Zoo.  Our group had about  25 minutes  to eat, clean up, and board the bus for the short trip to Como Park.

The groups then have about 1 1/2 hours to walk around Como Park to see all of the animals before heading back to Cannon Falls for milk break and end-of-the day activities.

Hopefully, everyone had a great time, and thanks to all of my wonderful chaperones for carrying on without me!

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.