Apple Day...Hooray!

APPLE DAY! Yep...it's a thing! :) 

The students have been working so extremely hard this week learning about the life cycle of an apple, as well as the different parts of an apple (ask them about it...they'll sing you a little song :)). What better way to celebrate their hard work than having a day dedicated to the very special and yummy apple. 

We spent our day reading apple books, reviewing the life cycle and parts on an apple, making homemade applesauce, tasting and comparing red, yellow and green apples, tasting 4 different apple flavored foods and graphing which one was our favorite. We also incorporated our 5 senses and talked about what we see, smell, taste, touch and hear when eating apples. SO much fun!

  Parts of an Apple

                                                                   
We created an Apple Life Cycle! Seed...Sprout...Tree...Blossom...APPLE!


                       

 We tasted red, yellow and green apples! Then, we compared the 3 different kinds and what we liked about them. We also graphed our favorite apple. Green was the winner!!!




         

We tasted different apple foods! Yum! Apple Candy Corn was a hit! BUT... the big winner of the favorite apple food was our homemade applesauce! We mixed all of our ingredients and watched it cook in the crockpot for several hours. The best part was mashing the apples with a potato masher! 

 Our goal in reading this week was being able to identify the sequence of events. What better way to practice that than making some homemade applesauce and deciding what happens first, what happens next and what happens last. We cooked it, mashed it and shared it! 

We had a VERY successful apple day. Fun was had by all and most importantly we learned so much about the life cycle of an apple. Woohoo! These students never cease to amaze me. Every day we learn and grow together and I am so grateful for each and every one of them!!!

Happy weekend! Enjoy the beautiful weather. See you in October!

~Miss Weeding 

Go Panthers!

Dear Families,

Next week, October 3rd-7th is homecoming week in Park Rapids! GO Panthers!

To celebrate homecoming week, Century Elementary is having dress up days to show their school spirit!

Monday: Pajama Day! Yahoo! :) Wear your comfiest jammies!

Tuesday: Hat Day! Baseball hat, cowboy hat, winter hat... whatever hat you'd like!

Wednesday: Sports Day! Twins? Vikings? Wild? Come to school sporting your favorite sports team.

Thursday: Crazy hair/Dress Day! Yikes! Come to school looking your wackiest!

Friday: Orange and Black Day! GO PANTHERS! There will be a parade Friday afternoon and a football game Friday evening! 

Happy Fall!

We wanted to wish our families and friends a HAPPY first day of Fall! We hope it's a great day!

Week 3 Happenings

Week 3, already?! I can't believe how fast the days are flying by and how much fun I am having working with your child every day. I'm one lucky teacher!!!

This week we have been focusing on Bus Safety and all of the important rules about keeping ourselves and others safe. We've learned about danger zones, keeping our hands and feet in our seats, using our inside voices and always being respectful to those around us (especially the bus driver!).

               

 

BE KIND!!!!

Tuesday, we had a pep fest to talk about our school wide Be Kind program. Century really focuses on positive behaviors and recognizing those who go above and beyond to be kind to others and themselves. You may see a note come home in your students backpack that says they were caught being kind. YAY! Give them a hug! Any staff member at Century has the right to hand out Caught You Being Good's to any student who they feel deserves one. They may have been caught holding a door for someone, saying something kind, or just being a great student. Names are drawn on Friday for a winner from each grade and they also receive a prize for that. Cool!

 Pep Fest Fun!

Backpack Books

You may have seen a backpack book come home in your child's backpack last week. These backpack books are a great way to sit down with your child and practice their reading strategies. They've been working REALLY hard in class! I ask that your child reads their backpack book at home twice before bringing it back to school. We have some wonderful volunteers that read with them at school and help them choose a new one to bring home. We will get another one sent home as soon as we can! Thank YOU 

for your support.

EARLY OUT TOMORROW (WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21st)

Students are dismissed at 1:00pm.

Picture Day!

Last, but not least. Picture Day. The day we all wear our best outfits and smiles for. :) Thursday, September 22nd at 10:05 we will be having our individual pictures taken. Please remember to send your child's order form to school with them.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please give me a call! Have a great week! Thank you for all you do for your child!!!

~Miss Weeding

Say Cheese!

Shutterfly!

Miss Weeding has created a Shutterfly account that parents and families can use to see pictures of the fun events and activities in our classroom, as well as print any photos that they choose. Please watch for more information that will be coming home in Take Home Folders.

Thank you! Happy picture printing! :)

~Miss Weeding

A whole week already?!?

Time flies when you're having fun!

I can't believe how fast this week has flown by and how well the kids have adjusted to being back in school. I know I have said this many times, but it really is going to be a GREAT year! I mean, look at these smiling faces. How could this NOT be a great year? 

Our first week was jam packed full of fun, learning and activities. The students have already dug into our reading and math curriculum, as well as worked on some handwriting. We learned about the word stamina (a BIG word for first graders) and how we need stamina to read independently. We've been practicing our read to self procedures and they are working really hard at learning what qualities make you a good reader. This morning during calendar time, I asked the students what the best part of their first week was and I heard a wide variety of answers ranging from recess and gym to meeting new friends and getting to see Miss Weeding every day. Made my heart SO happy to hear all of the different things the students are enjoying at school already. That's exactly how it should be! 

We were introduced to blue tickets this week, which is positive behavior tickets that the students earn for following the rules and being a fabulous first grader. I am happy to report that I handed out a TON of blue tickets! Yay! We also talked about the 3 bee's. 3 simple rules that our class will follow:
1) be ready
2) be respectful
3) be responsible 

Whew! We've had a busy week. We are all looking forward to week #2 and getting more into our every day routine. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact me at any time by phone or email. 

I hope you have a fabulous weekend! I'll leave you with this picture..... ;) Happy Friday!!!!!

~Miss Weeding 

First Day Fun!

What an absolutely WONDERFUL first day!

We had a busy, but fun day filled with a ton of activities and time to get to know each other. These first few weeks are really about building relationships in our classroom and learning the in's and out's of what it's like to be a first grader. I may be biased, but I must say these kids are fabulous!!! I'm lucky to have each of their smiling faces in my class.

We all (including Miss Weeding :)) came to school today feeling a little nervous. A perfectly normal first day feeling! What better way to calm our nerves than doing one of Miss Weeding's favorite things. Reading. We read the book First Day Jitters and it was a story we could all relate to. Those butterflies in our tummies made some of us sad and scared, but we quickly solved that problem by reading the poem Jitter Juice and drinking our very own Jitter Juice. YUM!

The juice most definitely took care of our first day jitters. It was fun to see that some of us came to school feeling very nervous and after drinking our juice, we were happy and even excited!

The rest of the day was spent laughing with friends and getting to know each other. We shared two of our favorite things with the class and it was so fun to see how many friends had things in common and to hear about the students' interests! We've got a fun bunch of friends in this class! During our busy day today we also had music, lunch and recess, phy-ed, played a math game and we read the Kissing Hand and learned about how Chester dealt with missing his mom (another normal feeling).

I must admit, the first day was a total blur, but I can't wait to come back and do it all over again tomorrow! :) Happy Tuesday everyone. Enjoy the evening with your families and be sure to ask your child the best part of their day today. I have too many to count!

~Miss Weeding

Open House...HOORAY!

Hi, First Grade Friends!

WOW! What a turnout! It was so fun seeing all of your smiling faces at Open House and meeting your parents and families! I can tell it is going to be a GREAT year!!!

Over the weekend, please remember to have your families fill out all of that paperwork that was in your cubby. You can bring it back with you on Tuesday, or any day next week! If you forgot to bring your supplies...not to worry...you can bring them next week.

I am so, very excited to have each of you in my class and I am looking forward to all of the fun we're going to have while learning. Enjoy these last few days of summer....get lots of sleep, play outside, and spend time with family. If you have any questions or concerns over the weekend, you know how to get a hold of me. :) cweeding@parkrapids.k12.mn.us or 218-237-6201. We'll see you on Tuesday!!!!!

~Miss Weeding