Happy Fall Fest!

Fall Fest: a day FULL of dancing, crafting, cooking, creating and fun!!!

Today was our annual Fall Fest in first grade. The children spent the morning learning about what it was like to live back in the day of pioneers and cowboys. Some of them even dressed the part! :) 

We learned that things aren't like they used to be and that these kiddos are pretty lucky to have everything they have. 

Some of the activities that the children participated in were: quilting, making yarn dolls, making butter, dancing, and playing games. 

First on our agenda: quilting. We learned what is was like to have to make our own quilts versus going to the store and buying them. Many students shared that they had quilts at home that Mom's, Grandma's and Great Grandma's had made. Cool!

Next up: the food rooms. Back in the day there wasn't a store to go buy groceries or all of the food that they eat, so they hunted and made things like butter. Making butter sounded like tough work, but that is exactly what we did today. We made our very own butter! It took lots of shaking and a LOT of patience.

We also made a yummy rice krispy treat to enjoy!

The students learned that they didn't have all of the fancy toys back then, so they made their own! Yarn dolls!!!!

TV?? No way! They used to play games with eachother, dance and sing for entertainment. So, we learned how to dance the Virginia Reel, play a few games like "Pioneer, where is my corn" and "pass the pumpkin!" Have your child show you their dance moves! They rocked!!!

The children had a very fun morning rotating through each station and getting to experience what life back then was like. Ask them about their favorite part! They'll have LOTS to share! :)

~Happy Snowy Friday! 

Pumpkin Pros!

It's October, which means it is prime PUMPKIN time!!!
We've learned in our class to embrace the craze and we decided we're going to learn all there is to know about these fascinating orange things.(Did you know though that all pumpkins aren't orange?!...we learned that!)



For the last week and a half we have learned about everything pumpkin. It's called a pumpkin investigation!!! From describing a pumpkin, to learning the parts of a pumpkin, to practicing the life cycle of a pumpkin, to tasting pumpkin...you name it...we've probably done it! 

In order to become pumpkin pros, we had to start by learning the life cycle!
What is the life cycle of a pumpkin you may ask?
You've come to the right place. We're kind of, sort of, maybe pros at it!
SEED, SPROUT, VINE, BLOSSOM, GREEN PUMPKIN, ORANGE PUMPKIN! 

We identified the parts: stem, skin, seeds, pulp!

**It always amazes me how much information these kiddos can soak up. Their excitement every day to jump into our science lesson makes me so happy! They truly LOVE learning and it makes teaching them so much easier!**

It's not an investigation without predicting and measuring. So, predicting and measuring we did! We guessed how many cubes tall our pumpkin would be and how many cubes wide our pumpkin was. Next, we actually had to measure it!

          

Last, but certainly not least we got to TASTE pumpkin. Call us brave...or crazy...but, we did it! Can't you see how excited they are??!?! 

Some of us liked it...most of us did not! ;)

                                

 

These brave girls take the cake for finishing ALL of their pumpkin!
Ask the boys though, they said it tastes like baby food! YUM! ;)

We once again had SO much fun learning about all of these fun things and after a few weeks of describing, measuring, identifying and tasting...we are now considering ourselves pumpkin PROS! Got a question about pumpkins?? ASK US! :)

We're Going On A Field Trip!

Brush Lake, here we come!!!

It all started Monday when Miss Weeding told us we would be learning about our 5 senses. ***Here enters Teacher Potato Head!!***

Miss Weeding gave the students a blank potato, just like Mr. Potato head. We talked about how without any parts, it's hard to function! The students got together and decided that Teacher Potato Head needed some very important senses, just like we do. So, we gave our friend ears, eyes, a mouth, nose and hands to help her hear, see, taste, smell and touch. (And of course they gave her a name too ;))

We learned that we would be using our 5 senses out in the woods when we traveled to Brush Lake for our field trip.....

SO, Friday morning 20 students, 4 parents, 1 teacher and a bunch of smiling faces loaded the buses up for our very first field trip of the year! It was chilly outside for a nice stroll through the woods (luckily we dressed warm), but the students had an absolute BLAST going on a scavenger hunt and using their 5 senses in the woods. 

 

 

 

 

We saw a lot, hear a lot, smelled a lot, touched a lot and a few of us even tasted a few things! We learned leaves aren't the greatest to eat! ;)
Ask your child about their favorite part about Brush Lake and ask them to tell you about our 5 senses! They're pros!

Happy weekend! Enjoy the beautiful fall weather!
~Miss Weeding

Apple Experts?!

It's fall, which means it's the season of APPLES! Throughout the past 2 weeks, we have learned everything there is to know about an apple... making us apple experts! (well...almost!)

We've practiced and practiced and practiced the life cycle of an apple (I can hear the song in my head...seed, sprout, tree, blossom, apple!)

 
 

We've identified and labeled the parts of an apple.
~seeds, core, skin, flesh, leaf~


We've had an apple tasting where we tasted red, yellow, and green apples of different brands. We even graphed which one was our favorite! As you can see, the sour, green one wins again!

                    

We've made homemade applesauce! Because what's an apple unit without applesauce?! 

By the way...the applesauce was a huge hit! YUM!

 

 

We've connected our apple unit to our 5 senses and talked about what we see, taste, smell, hear and feel. 

And most importantly- we've had FUN learning about all things apple. 
Next: We take on PUMPKINS! 

BECAUSE.

Because.
One of the most important words used in the classroom.

Definition of because

1. 1:  for the reason that :  since rested because he was tired

Some of you may ask why the word because? We're here to tell you why!

Throughout the school day, students are asked an unbelievable amount of questions relating to reading, math, spelling, phonics, handwriting, music, phy-ed, every day tasks, etc. It is so exciting for them when they know the answer and it's even more exciting when they get to share that answer with the class!! BUT, the most important part of those questions is WHY. Why do they feel that way? How did they come up with their response? We want to know reasoning behind our responses.

Here enters that word because-the most important word in our classroom. We know the importance of higher level questions and it is our focus this year that when we answer a questions, we follow it up with BECAUSE and explain our reasoning. We have learned and practiced our "because clapper" and the students are total rockstars at it!

Already within the first few weeks of school I can see their minds working to come up with more detailed reasons for WHY they answered the way they did and it. is. awesome. These kiddos are great!!!


**P.S. Don't be shocked if your child is clapping at home when they use the word because! ;)
Ask your child about their *because clapper* and have them demonstrate for you!

We are totally owning this FIRST GRADE thing.

Oh, my!

Our first week was a total blur. BUT, it was a blast! Miss Weeding is still on cloud 9 knowing what a great year we have ahead of us. These children have amazed me this past week with their energy, hard work, kindness, and willingness to learn! Awesome things are to come.

I thought it was only fair that I share with you all of the wonderful things we've been up to this week. I'm having proud teacher moments, so you can have a proud parent moment too! :)

Tuesday, the jitters were in full force (even for Miss Weeding) as we came to school not knowing what the year had to bring. I'm happy to report though, by 9am our jitters were GONE... thank you Jitter Juice!!!! We spent the day getting to know each other and learning about all of the fun things we would be learning about this year! Of course we played a few games, sang a few songs, and danced a few dances. If you didn't already know, Miss Weeding really likes all of those things. We also had our first day of Phy-Ed and library! P.S. book checkout will start next week. Yay!

Wednesday, we were back for round 2 and excited for what the day had to bring. I was amazed at how well the students did already remembering rules and procedures. It made the day a total breeze! We read a few stories, reviewed our classroom rules by playing a game on Kahoot!. We showed Miss Weeding what we remembered from our kindergarten sight words and math skills, and we learned all about the twitter world and how we get to interact with parents all.day.long. FUN!

Thursday, we hit the ground running. No more reviewing rules or procedures, we were ready to show Miss Weeding that we can totally own this first grade thing! We had our first day of music with Mrs. Edevold and we showed her what fabulous singers we are. In whole group reading we started our very first story of the year...SO exciting! We read about Jack's Talent and then we got to do something really cool. We got to share our own talent's and learn about all of our classmate's talents too. We also learned about the word STAMINA (it's a big word) and practiced independent reading for a period of time without giving up. We rocked that too. Our goal is 20 minutes by the end of the year! Do you think we can do it?!? We know we can! :)

Friday, oofta! What a whirlwind of a first week, but we greeted Friday with a smile. We were ready to finish the week off strong. The beginning of the school year always brings benchmark testing, so we completed some testing and practiced our stamina once again by reading to ourselves. We made it a whole 6 minutes today without being interrupted or having to stop!!! Progress! We also became authors today. Yes, authors. We wrote our very own book titled "My First Week of First Grade!" We wrote allllll about our first week favorites. We can't wait to show our Mom's and Dad's! What's a Friday without Friday free time? Free time today was spent outside enjoying the beautiful September weather. It was a warm, sunny day and if you ask the students- sunshine makes Miss Weeding HAPPY and they are so right! Love it! We ended our day saying our peaks of the day and dancing into the weekend. 

I am so, SO, very blessed to have each of these sweet kiddos in my class this year. I can't wait to learn and grow with your children. Thank you for sharing them with me!!!

ATTENTION! Miss Weeding is going to attempt a weekly video newsletter. Yep. It might take me a few weeks to get the hang out if, but I can do it!!! Stay tuned for the very first newsletter. A link will be sent out via Remind, Twitter and email. We hope you enjoy it! :)

Happy Friday and Happy weekend! Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend and I can't wait to come back Monday for week 2!
~Miss Weeding

WE DID IT!!!

WE DID IT!!! 

Yes, we totally rocked the first day of school! Did we have jitters? Absolutely. Were we a little unsure of what to expect? Absolutely. Was the whole day a blur? Absolutely. Did we have a FABULOUS first day? Absolutely. 

You are looking at the newest bunch of rockstars in first grade. These sweet kiddos will do amazing things all year and I am so glad that I get to be a part of it!!! Here's to day 2 and a great rest of the year!