A Brand New Year!

As we begin a new school year, I'm realizing we have lots of first! First year with flexible seating. First time at school for Kindergartners. And of course, First Graders! The first week of school went first graders went smooth (considering no one had no idea what to expect!). This class jumped right back into "school mode" and impressed me as always! After going through some basic rules about flexible seating, the first graders took on the challenge and did an amazing job! I was so impressed about how serious they took the different seats, and how much thought they put into the decisions. I think this is going to be a great addition to our classroom. 

The first week was filled with lessons about being caring, respectful, and in-tuned with others feelings. I was really looking forward to seeing these students be positive role models to the upcoming Kindergartners, and they went above and beyond to welcome them!

My Firsties started ,and are still currently, reviewing letters, word families, and blending sounds together. They are also beginning to learn more about sentence structure and color words. In math there is also a lot of review, with addition, number writing, and number ordering. However, I'm sorry to say that there's been a breakout of Backwarditis going on in the classroom. My students have all been writing their numbers backwards! We are currently working on a cure, and will hopefully all be feeling well next week. 

Something new for the Firsties this week is spelling! Each Monday a spelling list will be sent home, and the students will work on memorizing spelling words in class. The first test was on Friday, and I'm so excited to say that every student received a 100%! 

 

This week the First Graders also took part in some science/social study lessons. On Wednesday we studies the body and learned about write some body parts. We then went outside to draw our body parts and place the appropriate labels on. It was a great, interactive way to learn about our bodies! 

On Friday we continues our "All About Me" them by discussing our likes and dislikes. Turns out every likes and dislikes different things (oh and everyone thinks I'm crazy for disliking green beans!). We made collages out of magazine pictures to show our likes. 

For our weekly service project on Friday, we helped the school by keeping it clean! We cleaned some windows, picked up the floor, and walked around the school to pick up trash. I'm amazed by the students good attitude, and see them growing their servant's hearts!

It was a fun week when Kindergarten came! No tears on the first day! WooHoo! This class adds so much positive energy to the classroom, and are doing so well getting to know one another. I can't wait to experience kindergarten with them! 

On the first day of school, we read a book called Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes. At the end of the book, we found a note from Pete the Cat himself saying that he was exploring our school. Following a series of clues, we toured the whole school and met all the teachers. We sadly missed Pete the Cat, but he left us some tasty popsicles! 

In the afternoon, we did a team building exercise where the students got creative together to create something using only aluminum foil and pipe cleaners. The results were so fun! There were a headband, purse, house, and sling shot!

In phonics class we are reviewing letter names, and how to spell our names using lowercase letters. We also read many new books with our classroom helper! In math we discussed different shapes, and started to work with patterns. 

During our social studies/ science time (we call it Discover), we started to learn "All About Me". On Tuesday the students created self images using a variety of material. 

On Thursday we talked about keeping our bodies healthy. The students discussed exercise, eating healthy, and hygiene. We then played a fun game where we matched two body parts together. 

I'm looking to forward to another fun filled week!