Math, Reading, and Contraction Surgery

I've tried so hard to beat the winter blues, by doing a lot of fun activities to motivate the kids since we've been back from Christmas break.  I've managed to take a few pictures, so enjoy!

We are now studying the relation between addition and subtraction.  My firsties were practicing their addition and subtraction skills by playing this missing addend matching game.

YAY! We got a match!

In reading this week our skill was comparing and contrasting.  We read Miss Nelson is Missing and then compared/contrasted Miss Nelson's class with our class.  I couldn't help but chuckle when they were describing our class (follows directions, listens to the teacher, etc.)...HAHA, love these kids!

And now contraction surgery!  I saw this cute little idea on Pinterest, and let me just say...these kids had a BLAST doing this!  I wish I had video taped this lesson to just be able to listen to the dialogue from these kids pretending to be "word doctors."  Too stinking cute!!!

 First we had to put on our gloves!

  Then we had to add the masks!

 Then each firstie got their own "patients"

and TA-DA!!! we have a contraction!  I can't wait to do this again next year - love, love, love it!

November

 Buddy Reading

 Stamping the weekly spelling words

 

We were studying suffixes (s, ed, and ing).  These precious little boys were playing the game "Word Muncher"

My kids worked so hard on their play for their parents.  They did SUCH A GREAT JOB! I was so proud!

My sweet little indians

 My precious little pilgrims

 Are these not the cutest little Turkeys you've ever seen?!?!

October

We had some firemen come and give us a special presentation on Fire Safety! Very fun day to be a firstie!

We made some Witches Brew on Halloween, these are the yukcy earth worms we mixed in our brew.

...and some yummy skeleton teeth!

Testing to see if our pumpkin would sink or float

Weighing our pumpkin

...and now to count the many, many seeds in our pumpkin

keep on counting!

Happy Halloween from the Firsties in Room G10!

I told them to make a scary halloween face, and this is what I got.  PRICELESS!

September

 The kids had a lot of fun practicing counting.  They played "Race to Ten, Then Again."  It was fun watching the kids work together and build friendships :)

 Counting with M&Ms...amazing how much these little firsties LOVE doing Math when chocolate is involved!

 We had a very special visitor come read to our class in September.  One of my student's from last year came to read one of her favorite stories, funny for me to think that some of these kids will probably be visiting me next year doing the same thing! :)

 Our class along with Ms. Clemmer's class did a service project for one of the local nursing homes to teach the kids about communities.  We made over 40 goodie bags to send to the nursing home, and even got to visit with two of the residents.  The kids had so much fun!

 We had our field trip to the Apple Orchard at Sky Top in September.  It was extremely unorganized, but the kids had SO much fun.  They're still asking me when our next field trip is...I just can't bring myself to tell them that they have to wait until May :)

 This was the only group picture we got at Sky Top, but I love it because you can really see each kiddos personality.  I think it's just precious!

Once upon an August...

So I have tons of pictures that I have taken throughout the year, but there is no rhyme or reason to them.  So I've decided to just post what I have and then start being organized later :)

Here are some snap shots from the beginning of the year:

 First week of school

 Just some "twizzler writing"

 They had so much fun!

 ...and this is why my job is so much fun :)

 sight word fun

Here Goes Nothing...

I swore off blogging months ago, but I've caved in.  I am going to attempt blogging to force myself to take more pictures of my precious firsties.  I have become addicted to other first grade blogs (they've helped me survive my first year), so I figured I should jump on the bandwagon too!  Disclaimer: this blog will be a work in progress for weeks (probably months) to come, so bear with me :)
We do so many fun things in class and I never feel like I am able to share them with my family/friends and my student's parents...so here goes nothing!  My goal in creating this blog is to be able to show off their hard work, my love for teaching, and my love for my students.
Tonight I have created, templated, and written my first post (sad, I know)...more to come tomorrow, promise!  Good night!