Last week, we had our third Spirit Assembly at Christie Elementary. I was blown away by Mrs. Ransom's ensemble she created to show students how important they are, even when the STAAR test comes around. I saw some of my older students up there, and they did marvelous. I was very proud of them as their former teacher! They showed their hard work and practice from the previous weeks can turn into something purposeful. Overall, Mrs. Ransom directed the assembly over Growth Mindset.
She started of the assembly with this adorable video that the kids and myself enjoyed.
I loved the message. "You cannot do something...yet." WHICH MEANS YOU CAN EVENTUALLY! I started looking up the Power of Yet. Wow! There's a TED Talk over it. I have always tried to teach our children that they have to work to be smart, being smart does not mean anything anymore if there is not a challenge to grow more behind it. I do not tell the students, "You are so smart." If they do not do well, they infer, "I'm dumb." Instead, we need to teach our students that they are working hard and us teachers and parents can see it.
Here are some things you can help your child with at home. Changing the way students think can help them even when we are not around.
Last but not least, congratulations to Azar for winning the third Cubtastic Award. He has worked hard the past few months at school and at home to strengthen his reading. Plus, his smile always brightens my day. #faceswap
Group pictures will be on Thursday, February 4th.
First grade will be celebrating the 100th day of school on Friday, February 5th. There will be many fun activities going on that day. Student may dress up to look like they are 100 years old. Here are some ideas....
Party city has hair spray in grey and white.
Wearing glasses (especially with decorations on them)
Putting blush on cheeks
Rollers in hair
Buying a cane. (Goodwill is a great place to look.)
Wearing a quilt as a shaw
Pearls
Fedora hats
Suspenders
Bow ties
I went on Pinterest and found plenty of pictures to reference.
I need your help! Any donations of these few items would be helpful for our celebration. Anything you can bring, it would help if it was here by Thursday. I will be getting the rest that afternoon. Here are the items: sealed red-lipstick, cotton balls, Fruit Loops, and Goldfish.
Here is a very late congratulations to sweet Jackson for being the second Cubtastic winner right before the winter break. He showed so much resilience, hard work, and courage during our Thanksgiving Performance. A friend with a speaking part went home sick. Jackson stepped up and practiced the part in less than three hours. Way to go buddy!
Last thing, my e-mail has changed.
I am about 91% positive that parents can still e-mail me on my old address. However, this is the new one.
It has been a busy semester. Here's some of the highlights of first grade so far!
Let's flashback to the 50's!
On the fiftieth day of school, the students chose to dress up in 1950's style. We learned how to do the Twist. The kids played Sock Hop Pop- each student picked a popsicle stick with a word on it. If the stick had POP they had to all do the twist to the legend, Sam Cooke. We also compared trends from the 2010's and the 1950's decades. The played math games racing to 50.
With all the compliments, the class won a popcorn party! The students voted on the popcorn they preferred. The winner was....GHOSTBUSTER POPCORN! It was the easiest thing to make. Some kids did not want to try it due to all the green gooeyness, but it turned out tasting awesome if you like rice crispies.
Eliana making silly faces.
Pioneer Day
Just before the break, we had our traditional Pioneer Day. All the kids in first grade learned about what it was like to come to America as a pioneer, having nothing here. We compared the lifestyles for children that lived in the 1600's compared to now. The students went in rotations to each room learning and creating new activites. Thank you to all the wonderful parents that made this day possible. We could not have done it without them. (Thank you Mrs. Evans for twisting off and on all those baby food jars. You were a trooper!)
Marian, Mrs. Lujan, Sarah, and Mrs. Evans celebrating Pioneer Day
Top and Bottom Left: Carly and Lilou showing off their work from quill writing. Jackson creating a picture which was not the easiest task. They used a feather and black ink to write. Top Right: Ryen learned how to make soap. Bottom Right: Dominic and Braylon played a game with their new toy. The goal was to get the washer in the cup.
Top and Bottom Left: Jordan, Mace and Sarah working on more quill writing. Top Right: Jacob was creating a necklace out of dyed noodles and string. Bottom Right: The best station! Madi made her homemade butter. They tasted it with crackers. Overall, it was yummy!
After all the fun activities, we had a lunch together in class. All students brought something to contribute to our soup and fruit salad. There was none left! They gobbled it all up.
Learning Commons
We have taken trips to the Learning Commons a few times this year. My favorite time we went to the Learning Commons was when the students created buildings in the community. First write, then build.
The kids could have spent hours in there building. I was impressed by the collaboration between Mace and Braylon. Together, they created the Texas Union Bank. Braylon started on the "layout" while Mace created the fence around the bank. They created cameras around the bank with facial recognition. There was room with a chair so the security guard could watch all the cameras. If the guard saw something wrong, he had an alarm button and an escape route. Such detail!
Last but not least...The Engineering Expo
During science, we have been learning about wind energy. Our essential question was "Why is wind energy important to us in everyday life?" During the same time in LA, we have been comparing different stories to the folktale The Three Little Pigs. Integration, viola.
The students had to find a way to keep the second pig's stick home stabile from the wind energy from the Big Bad Wolf. Ask your child why we didn't focus on the first pig.
We tested what objects moved and stayed by blowing our wind energy on them through a straw. We recorded that heavier objects stayed, which means we needed to find objects for our pig homes that were heavier than the sticks.
Red group added gummy bears and many more sticks on the roof.
Blue group added heavy dominoes to their Pig House 2.0. They even created a hole on the top that only the pig could fit through. They made a latter out of sticks to get to the top.
Green group's first home was heavy, but top heavy. They moved all their weight down to the bottom with erasers and gumdrops.
Yellow group used marbles to keep the home stable. However, the first home was stable on one side where the marbles were, but would move on the other side. Pig House 2.0 had marbles distributed on all parts of the house.
During the Engineering Expo, Makaela did a wonderful job explaining to the older students the steps of process. She tested out the pig home by using the blow-dryer. As a class we learned about the Fujita Tornado Scale. We decided that the wolf blew the stick home down on a scale of F2, hard enough for wood, but not brick.
It has been a great semester so far. We have done so much! Only a few more days to another glorious break! Thank you for all the support you have been giving your first grader at home!
A few weeks ago, Mr. Steele was asking us to pull gold out of a coal mine, or so we thought. The week before Fall Break was so busy. #stressed For our first graders, they had to practice for the Turkey Performance and get everything ready for Pioneer Day (hats, bags, collars, headbands, etc.). Then we actually had Pioneer Day-big hit #1- and our annual Thanksgiving Turkey Performance-big hit #2. You would think Friday would be an easy day, but turns out we had to present for the Engineering Expo. Give your kid a high-five!
As a teacher, this can be very stressful. I was leaving right after our staff meeting to go get married, and did not want to deal with all of this stuff laid on us. It was a lot on my plate, and I did not know where to start. I have been teaching first grade for four years, and I still did not know how everything would turn out this week. Teachers have to find inspiration.
Check out this video if you have a chance. He's a funny dude.
This guy asks, "What is your lollipop moment?"
When this was presented at the staff meeting, my thought was......."I don't know."
It did not feel great. I thought I should have some grand explanation to this, but was baffled. I love my kids and I know that my past and present kids love me, but did I make an impact in anyone's life? I don't know.
The Tuesday from the week of complete chaos, I had Anthony, a student from 2 years ago, ask me if he could borrow a book called Sophie's Choice. I read that to him and our class during snack time. He didn't know the name of it, but he could tell me the story line and wanted to read it on his own. I set my alarm to remember to bring the book the next morning. Anthony was there the next morning coming to borrow it.
That was my lollipop moment. Why?
Think back (way back for some of you). When was your first literary memory? When did you first remember a book, a story, or your mom and dad reading to you when you were a kid. Mine was Mrs. Williams in first grade reading to the class everyday after recess. She read Number the Stars by Lois Lowry in her rocking chair. I read that book 3 times in fourth grade. I read it to my first class in first grade.
Anthony remembered a story I read to him as a first grade teacher
just like I remembered my first grade teacher's story time. Now that he is old
enough, he wants to read it on his own. Wow! It may not be a big impact- or huge
rainbow swirl lollipop-but it gave me the little inspiration and drive to get
through that week. To top it off, Jessica, a kid from my first year in this
grade, asked me during the Engineering Expo what was the book I read to her. I
gladly wrote down Number the Stars by Lois Lowry on a bright
sticky note.
Lollipop number #2
My question of hope is if one story can
make a small impact, how could all the other crazy activities we do in first grade impact your child?
A parent asked me the other day what would her child do with an electronic device in my class. I usually let students bring electronic devices to use when they are done with their work. However, I like to use devices as something that challenges students, instead of playing. Unfortunately, I cannot download apps to your child's device. I did find many apps that you can download at home for your child to bring to class. Some are not free #boo.
Math Brainz: math app that shows different equations with different difficulties. There are challenges that are for primary students all the way up to high school.
Kakooma: helps students build number sense, fluency, and computation in an interactive way. Mrs. Jensby's favorite!
Motion Math Pizza: an interactive game with a pizza store showing profits and expenses for pizza ingredients. Costumers create fast past addition to make more money. Miss Christie's favorite math game!
Lola’s Math Train
Math in Space Free
Kid's Patterns
Language Arts Princess Fairy Tale Maker:Here’s a storytelling workshop
fit for a fairy princess! This imaginative app combines storytelling,
speaking skills and art in one clever package.
Build a Word
Word Magic
Story Wheel
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Mad Libs
Grammar Fun
Magnetic Letters
Science & Social Studies
Barefoot World Atlas: Take a trip around the world
with this interactive 3D globe!
Beginning readers can use the voice narration feature to follow along
as the narrator reads. Don't forget to check out a real-life photograph
of each item after you've read about it.
Animal Kingdom Science for Kids
Sid's Science Fair
Coaster Physics
Spacecraft 3D
Where's My Water?
Weird but True
Logic- My favorite apps!
I SPY Spooky Mansion
Bumpling Free
Flow Free
Montezuma Puzzle 3
4 in a Row
Unblock Me
KenKen
The OSMO is an interactive device I bought for my classroom. There are 5 different games that students can play. It was something worth buying to see how much they enjoy working on it. Watch this video to see what it is all about.
This was my fourth year to teach Pumpkin Math, and it was just as fun as the years before. Pumpkin Math is a great way to engage students in math and science during the Fall season. This year we had a few special guests. Jackson's mother, Mrs. Guzman, came to volunteer. Also volunteering was Mrs. Lujan, Marian's mother. Our wonderful counselor, Mrs. McGlamery, experienced Pumpkin Math for the first time as well! All you ladies were PROS! Thank you so much for spending your time with our students last Friday. They really enjoyed it. =]
A few things we did during Pumpkin Math:
1. Since the pumpkins were round, we had to use a string to measure the circumference. We used cubes to measure the string.
2. We predicted the weight of the pumpkin. Even though it felt like 100 pounds, most pumpkins were under 10 pounds. That surprised them!
3. The groups predicted whether the pumpkins would sink or float.
4. We estimated how many seeds were in the
pumpkins. Mrs. Guzman's group had over three hundred seeds! We counted the pumpkin seeds by 10s.
5. BEST PART: Carving the pumpkins and giving them a face.
Most of the pumpkins had a facial and ended up with bushy eyebrows, mustaches, and glasses. My group named our pumpkin Old Man Johnny. Too bad they can't stick around for 50's Day coming up this Tuesday. What a great way to finish up the week. =]
