100th Day of School

We celebrated the 100th day of school last Friday! Each day since September, we have counted the days by adding a stick to a ones box. When we got to 10, we made a bundle and added it to a tens box. Finally, we got to make a big bundle of ten tens and we put it in a hundreds box! We read stories about ways to make 100, counted our collections of 100 by making 10 groups of 10, practiced counting by twos, fives, and tens, and made a book and a headband.

The kids brought in collections of 100 objects from home, and then practiced counting by tens as they made ten groups of ten.

We discovered that 100 is a really big number!

Eli brought 100 action figures. He needed a bigger tens mat!

The chocolate chips were tempting.

We also found out that we can read a lot of words. We printed words on 100 hearts, and then grouped them into 10 rows of 10. It took me awhile to get all 100 taped up in the hall.

Here we all are in our headbands.

So what does 100 look like? A LOT!!

February is Dental Health Month!

First graders have the greatest smiles! Some have lots of permanent teeth already, some look like little jack-o-lanterns with lots of missing teeth, and some haven't lost any teeth yet. During our February Dental Health unit, we learned about caring for our teeth, eating healthy foods, and visiting the dentist. Aren't these smiles the best?

Keep taking care of these new teeth, and they will last a lifetime!

Reading/Writing Workshop - Personal Narrative

First graders learn the writing process by...writing! We do several Reading/Writing Workshops during the last half of the year, and the kids just completed their first one in January. The goal was to write a personal narrative about a trip, and we started by filling in a planning sheet.

We first had to think of a destination, and then four events from the trip.
After planning, we had to put our ideas into sentences.

We tried really hard to print neatly, spell correctly, and remember periods! Then we got to decorate the "suitcase" papers.

Then, it was time to cut out the papers.

We also had to design a cover for our stories.

Then, it was time to assemble and staple all of the pages together .

Finished product!

All done.

Everyone got to share their stories with the whole class.

First graders have traveled to some interesting places!

All of the stories are on display on the bulletin board outside of our classroom. Stop in and read our personal narratives!

Random January Pictures

Wow, where did January go? We were very busy all month, but somehow I didn't take many pictures, and I also didn't do a very good job at updating the blog! This takes a lot of time, and with late starts, early dismissals, report cards, miniature golf, a trip to Florida, etc. etc., the month just whizzed right by without any extra time for blogging!

Below are some random pictures of some of the kids just being kids.

Reading books in the Book Corner.

Putting together a map of the USA.

Taking an AR test.

Putting together a puzzle at the Winter Center.

Assembling 3-D shapes at the Manipulative Center.

Getting started with a 100's board.

The tiles only fit in one spot - great practice for counting to 100.

We did it!

More posts coming soon!

December Students of the Month

Congratulations to Beau, Morgan, and Ashlyn for being selected December

Students of the Month.

Keep up the good work, kids!