Welcome

Hello Families!  Can I just share how much I already love this class of "firsties" and how fun they have made this first week?  Thank you for sending me the best part of yourselves each and everyday!  This blog will be your "go-to" for almost everything you will need to know about what's going on in our classroom and at SCE.  I will be posting pictures of our learning each week as well as reminders for what is coming up.  Feel free to comment:).  

This blog will be an interactive one.  Every Friday, the children will be sharing with me what they think I should be typing up on the blog to share with you.  If the font is in blue, you will know that it is me doing the talking.  If the font is in green then this will indicate the the children are talking and telling me what to type.

This blog is also to help you to ask questions of your child about his/her learning while at school as I know a few will answer "nothing" to your question of "What did you do today at school?"  

This was a short week but we've already begun to establish our community and the rules that are in place so that everyone can do their best learning.  We've talked about why they are here and who is responsible for their choices and behavior.  They are loving the ticket system that I have in place and I will share more about this next Thursday at Curriculum Night.  We have read many, many books about friendship and have done activities to help us to get to know each other better.  We have also compared ourselves to how we were in kindergarten.  I could see all of them sit a little taller in their seats as we talked about how grown up they were compared to our K friends.  We received a "4" in P.E. yesterday which means our behavior was AWESOME!!!  

This is our related arts schedule for next week:
Monday - D Day - Music
Tuesday - A Day - Library
Wednesday - B Day - P.E.  (remember to wear tennis shoes!)
Thursday - C Day - Art
Friday - D Day - Music

Upcoming Events:
Thursday, September 3rd - Curriculum Night at SCE

I also completed the first homework assignment of taking a picture of myself reading in a special place.  Here I am reading a book about a mischievous hen to my own hens:)  I have already received several pictures of your children reading in a place that is comfortable to them.  I would love to receive a picture of every child reading in a special place.  

This little guy is taking a first grade survey about his feelings and thoughts on the first day of school.

She is also hard at work filling out her survey.

We took a serious picture of us on the first day of first grade and then...

we had to take a silly one, of course!

We read a story entitled The Day the Crayons Quit and we giggled all the way through the book!  Each child then selected his/her favorite color and then got into small communities based upon that color.  They were then asked to gather ANYTHING in the room that matched their chosen color and then CREATE something with all of their gathered materials.  I bet you can guess the favorite color of each group:)

After we read a book entitled First Grade Stinks we completed a brace map about what first graders can do.  I especially love that they came up with the thought that first graders are creators!  

We are parents!!!!

Big news at camp buckaroo!!!

Well...it's happening!!!!!  The chicks are ready to enter the world and we are blessed to get to watch this miracle unfold right before our eyes!  I won't be adding captions because I want your child to tell you about each picture:)

Buckaroo News for May 18th-may 22nd

This is the time of year when countdowns begin towards summer break.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being able to spend hours in my garden and reading alongside my pond!  However, it makes me tear up thinking about giving up my little ones this year!  This has truly been one of those stellar years in a teacher's career and I've enjoyed all of these precious gifts so much!  It's hard to let them go but I know that they are ready and it's time.  I just may need some extra tissues on June 2nd!

I'm very wordy (as many professors have told me:) so I will try to keep this shorter and to the point.  As you know, our Farm Program is quickly approaching and I hope that all of you can make it!  It is next Thursday at 2:45 p.m. in the commons.  After the program you will be invited back to our room for our Farm Study Showcase.  Hopefully we will also have some adorable peepers for you to see too.  I will be dressing up in my western duds and hope that your child will too.  Just makes it that much more authentic:)

Camp Buckaroo will look a bit differently this year.  Instead of setting up tents because of the short amount of time left in the year, I'm asking that each child bring in a sleeping bag and a flashlight.  There is a paper coming home today explaining this in a bit more detail.  Please let me know if you have any questions at all!

If you weren't able to come to the volunteer luncheon but you've volunteered in our room, I can't express in words how grateful I have been to have you! 

Upcoming important dates:

May 25th - Memorial Day - No School
May 26th - Expected hatch day for our chicks!!!!!!
May 28th - Our Class Musical - Begins at 2:40 - You won't want to miss this!

June 2nd - Last day of school and our End-of-Year celebration

Since we were learning about chickens, S. and Mrs. McNeal read the book Interrupting Chicken and Mrs. McNeal and S. were doing a play at the same time.  S.'s mom made the puppets.

We did a bubble gum fraction activity and we learned how to blow bubbles.  S. is blowing a bubble and Mrs. McNeal got it just in time but S.'s wasn't in the right time.  Everyone tried to blow a bubble and we would raise our hand if we were able to blow a bubble.  We would count how many blew a bubble and how many didn't blow a bubble and do the fractions for each.

This is T. on YouTube which he is sitting right with Mrs. McNeal because YouTube is not a site for kids because it will take you to sites that have inappropriate stuff.  But he searched chicks and he found videos of chicks hatching.  

Y. and A. are sorting and counting the colors and did a fraction.  We were doing Skittle Fractions and we brought home all of the Skittles.  The purple ones we could eat as soon as we got them.

Chickens have a gizzard where rocks go in and the rocks rub against the food and mixes into little pieces because chickens do not have any teeth.  Chicks have something called an egg tooth to crack out of their eggs.  The first hole is called a pip.  

The eggs have to stay 100 degrees or they will get cold.  We were painting pictures of barns and this is S.'s.   The embryos are turning their heads towards the air cell inside the egg.   Chicken poop is used in gardens and you can buy it at the store.  It's called Chickedy Doo Doo:).  

Chickens have combs to help keep their temperature warm or cold.  If there comb is small then they are good in cold weather.  If their combs are big then they are good in hot weather.  This the same for the waddle.  

Buckaroo news for May 11th- May 15th

What a gorgeous day for Super Games!  The kiddos are having a blast as we speak and I've taken a few pics so that you can see the fun that they had today!  For the past couple of years I have taken the idea of Camp Buckaroo to a whole new level.  I've had parents come in with their tents and set them up in the room for us to use for a couple of days at the end of the year.  I'd like to do the same thing again this year if you're willing to help.  My thought is that we could set up tents after our program and after the kiddos have left on the 28th of May.  If you have a tent and would like to allow us to use it for a couple of days (May 29th and June 1st) that would be awesome!!!

Our program is on May 28th and I thought it would be fun if we all dressed in western attire.  Please do not go out and buy anything!  It can be as simple as a bandana wrapped around a neck. 

Because this post is so rich with great photos, I'm going to ask you to sit with your child as you view and ask him/her to share about our learning this week as they look at the photos!

Upcoming important dates:

May 25th - Memorial Day - No School
May 26th - Expected hatch day for our chicks!!!!!!
May 28th - Our Class Musical - Begins at 2:40 - You won't want to miss this!

June 2nd - Last day of school and our End-of-Year celebration