Fall Fest

Happy Fall Fest!

Whew! What a festival it was. Every year the first graders participate in a Fall Fest. The children take part in different activities such as dancing, making yarn dolls, making butter, quilting and playing old fashioned games. This is always a VERY fun event that the students really enjoy! Who doesn't love a reason to dance, play and learn with friends?!

Some children chose to dress up in pioneer or country attire for the festival. This year was no exception. How cute are they?!?

Our morning started off with quilting. The students learned about quilting and how to make a 9 patch quilt. Then, they went to work!

                                                           

After quilting we were off to dancing! The students learned how to do the Virginia Reel and let me tell you...they did a FABULOUS job! Some of them might not admit it, but I think this was a highlight for everyone! :)

                             

 

                         

Next, we were off to test out our yarn doll skills. The students each made one yarn doll.

How lucky were we to have all of these wonderful parent volunteers who were kind enough to come and help make this day possible?! THANK YOU!

Yarn dolls was a HUGE success. Next, we learned how to make our very own butter. Let me tell you, the kids learned it is a LOT of work to make butter, but they definitely got their arm work out in for the day. Many of them said they'd much rather get it from the store. :)

    

                        

The students also got to play a few old fashioned games. 

                                        

Overall, Fall Fest was a huge success. The students enjoyed many of the hands on activities while learning along the way. We consider ourselves pretty lucky to be able to enjoy all of these fun celebrations! Happy Fall Fest!

~Miss Weeding

Candy Corn Tower Challenge

Were we up for a challenge?! Absolutely!

Today the students participated in a STEM challenge. They were placed in groups and given 1 cup of candy corn, 50 toothpicks and only 20 minutes to create the tallest free standing structure. They thought, they thought some more and then, they got to work!

Their first step was to brainstorm with their group how they wanted to go about creating their tower. Next, they had to draw their plan on paper. Then, it was time to get to work!!!

                        

         

This project really got the kids thinking and using their problem solving skills. Miss Weeding was SO proud of all of their hard work, teamwork and determination.

Was it tough? Yes. Was is engaging? Yes. Were some frustrated when something didn't go as planned? Yes. Were all of our towers successful? No. But, did we have fun?? YES!

Thank YOU!

I would like to send a huge THANK YOU to families for attending parent-teacher conferences the past few nights. I greatly appreciate your investment in your child's education and also the support that you provide them at home. Together we will ensure that your child is successful!

A reminder of a few things to be working on at home: 
*sight words!
*counting by 1's, 10's and 5's to 100.
*addition and subtraction facts.
*READING!! The more books your child reads, the better reader they will become.

THANK YOU!

**Tomorrow (Wednesday, October 19th) the students will be dismissed at 1:00pm. There will be NO school Thursday and Friday this week. 

~Miss Weeding

Read, Read, Read!

READ! It's SO important!

As first graders, we've been working hard on learning strategies to help us become better readers. These are strategies that you can be trying at home, as well. Our goal is to all be reading fluently this year...we can do it!!!

If I am stuck on a word, I can...

1. Sound it out-- Sound out each letter (c-a-t).

2. Use picture clues.

3. Find the beginning sound-- m- ap (map).

4. Think about what makes sense.

5. Think about what you already know.

6. Look for rhyming words-- cat; bat.

7. Re-read-- Good readers go back and re-read to help make sense of something.

8. Ask for help-- Give it a try first and always know you can ask for help!

9. Use your tracker finger-- Follow along with your pointer finger.

10. Skip it and come back-- Skip the word. You can always come back to it.

11. ENJOY!-- Most importantly, enjoy. Reading is supposed to be FUN!


These are great strategies to be trying in school and at home! Together we will make our students fabulous readers!

Happy reading!
~Miss Weeding

Homecoming Week Fun

Happy Homecoming Friday! 

GO PANTHERS!

This week has been full of fun, dress up days and excitement! 

Monday: We started off the week right by having a Century Elementary wide PJ day! What's better than wearing pj's to school? On a Monday? AWESOME!

Tuesday: The fun continued on Tuesday with hat day. Baseball hats, cowgirl hats, stocking hats, big hats, little hats, silly hats...we saw it all!

                   

     

Wednesday: Sports day! Wednesday was the day to sport your favorite jersey, t-shirt, sweatshirt, etc. We saw a lot of Twins, Vikings, Wild and Panthers! 

Thursday: Things got a little CRAZY today! Yikes! Crazy hair/dress day was a big hit for the kids. How fun to dress wacky and have everyone else do the same! We had some wild hairdo's. And outfits. :)

                

 

Friday: GO PANTHERS!!! Today was Orange and Black day! What a fun way to support the Park Rapids Panthers. We really showed our school spirit. We also got to participate in the homecoming parade. 

Don't forget: Support the Panther Football team TONIGHT at 6pm! 

Happy Weekend!

~Miss Weeding