Reading Rocks!!!!

The kids did a great job reading at home during February. They recorded their minutes daily, and then returned their calendars to school each week for rewards. They read a grand total of 8632 minutes! That's over 143 hours!

Wow!!!!!!!!!

Here are my FASNTASTIC readers, all dressed up for Rock Star Day!

And, here they are again, posing as rock stars.
What a crew!

Rock Star Day

Our theme for this year's "I Love to Read" activities in February was READING ROCKS. As a culminating activity, Friday was Rock Star Day. In Music class, all of the kids practiced the Black Eyed Peas song, "Gotta Keep Reading," and we had a mass performance of the song at a lyceum, lead by the teachers on stage. The teachers had to practice, too!

Here we are early Friday morning at a last-minute rehearsal before the big show. We had some help from a few teacher's kids.

Miss Vagts and Miss Winchell knew all the words and actions!

Miss Giese was really rockin'!


The teachers were pretty stylin' too!

Thanks to Mrs. Zillgitt for conducting the rehearsals!

Before the teacher's performance, we had a guest "rock star," Will Hale.

He sang lots of really good songs!

The guitarist.

The kids did lots of clapping and singing, too.

It was really fun!

Erin and Kendall got to go up on stage!

Everyone on stage played a guitar.

Lauren joined the group, too, along with lots of other kids.

They really jammed to "Rock, Paper, Scissors."
Check out Will Hale's web-site for more information about his music, and also check him out on YouTube!

To download an exclusive collection of songs for kids by Will Hale, go to www.willhale.com/refresh
After his performace, the teacher's took to the stage and performed with the students. It was a great show!

Gotta Keep Readin'!!

January Students of the Month

Mrs. Giese visited again this week to present the January Student of the Month awards. We were right in the middle of Math so she helped out with the last page of our lesson. She was soooo impressed with how well the kids are working with numbers to 100!

The awards went to Ethan, Tyler, and Erin, who all had 100% on their Spelling tests during the 2nd quarter. Good job!!

Pajama Day

First Graders LOVE Pajama Day! The kids worked for several weeks on filling up a jar with cotton balls for good behavior. They were quick to tell me whenever they got a compliment from another teacher for walking nicely in the hall, picking up paper towels by the bathroom, standing quietly in line for a drink, etc. They also tried really hard to be good listeners during Math and Reading . It took awhile, but the jar was finally full, and the reward was...

Pajama Day!

The kids got to wear their cozy winter pajamas, slippers, and robes, and they also got to bring along their favorite stuffed animal to keep them company and help them with their work during the day.

Even though they all look pretty calm,

I can guarantee that no one fell asleep during the day!

Don't they look cute?

The jar is empty again. I wonder what the next Reward Day will be??

Valentine's Day

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 heart pockets, 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. Johnson!).

During the week before Valentine's Day, the kids folded red or pink paper to make the pockets, and then decorated them with cut hearts.

We practiced cutting hearts - it's quite a skill for 1st graders!

We got pretty good at it!

Wow! Look at all that "stuff!" ABC order really helped during the delivery process. The pockets were literally overflowing by the time everyone was finished! It was hard to wait for the grand opening, and it was a real trick getting all those goodies into the classroom without leaving a trail of candy and cards.

Finally, time to open all the loot!

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 lunch.
Backpacks were really full when it was time to go home!
Thanks, kids, for all the cards and treats for me, too!
Happy Valentine's Day!!