: )
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Friday, September 26, 2014
Oreo Stacking Challenge 2014!
Friday, September 26, 2014
We had SO much fun today! The kids did a great job stacking their Oreos! Each student had two opportunities to try and stack as many Oreos as they could before their towers toppled over. The kids were so excited to be able to try this and we learned some valuable lessons about trying your best and encouraging your friends. There were a few tears because we wanted to be the best. But we learned that this was more about trying to get the highest number for our class.
We also were visited by five different school visitors! Some of the ladies from the office and our principal dropped by to stack cookies with us. One of our Boosterthon team leaders even dropped by. The kids were thrilled! We weren't sure who would get to visit but the kids made predictions before we began and several of the kids guessed that our principal would stack the most.
They were right! Our principal stacked the most.
But wait for it...
Two of our firsties stacked...
Our class average was 18 cookies stacked. I uploated our data to projectbyjen.com and I will show the kids that the average 1st grade stack across the U.S. was 17 cookies. They'll be excited to see that they stacked more!
We got a special snack today because we ended the morning with more smileys than frownies. It's been a while since we've done this so I thought the kids especially deserved their treat; particularly because it was an exciting morning and could have went south quickly! But they handled it. : )
The kids got to choose 2 Oreo cookies from the following flavors:
Ms. Carter's favorites? None of them. : (
Why mess with a good thing? Of course it could just be I was so sick of smelling Oreos all morning...
: )
The kids enjoyed their snack however. And surprisingly, we had a really good afternoon as well!
Other news from this week...
1. Our pen pals in Ohio will also be participating in the Oreo challenge. We are finishing our first letters to them, which will be mailed this week. We'll also get to write about our Oreo experience and send those thoughts to them as well!
2. Our next early release day is this Wednesday and our Boosterthon fun run will be coming up on Thursday! The kids keep asking when it is. They come in every morning asking if the fun run is today. : )
3. Our band name for Boosterthon is JC and the 1st grade band. One of the kiddos got confused and told the Boosterthon people that our band name was Jay-Z. : )
4. We read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie on Thursday to prepare for our Oreo day. We brainstormed as a class our thoughts for our class book, If You Give a Kid a Cookie. We'll get to practice reading this coming this week!
Have a great weekend!
Oreo Stacking Challenge 2014!
We had SO much fun today! The kids did a great job stacking their Oreos! Each student had two opportunities to try and stack as many Oreos as they could before their towers toppled over. The kids were so excited to be able to try this and we learned some valuable lessons about trying your best and encouraging your friends. There were a few tears because we wanted to be the best. But we learned that this was more about trying to get the highest number for our class.
We also were visited by five different school visitors! Some of the ladies from the office and our principal dropped by to stack cookies with us. One of our Boosterthon team leaders even dropped by. The kids were thrilled! We weren't sure who would get to visit but the kids made predictions before we began and several of the kids guessed that our principal would stack the most.
24 cookies!!!
They were right! Our principal stacked the most.
But wait for it...
Two of our firsties stacked...
24 cookies!!!
Later in the afternoon we continued our learning fun by completing an Oreo pictograph worksheet. The kids learned about reading a graph that used Oreos for the number of cookies each student had. They had to count the number of cookies and also do some addition and subtraction problems based on the graph.
We started to make a graph of our data as a class, but we only got through making tallies for each number. We'll use our bran new graph pocket chart on Monday to make a nice visual and then the kiddos will get to color their own graphs to record their data. We've talked about how we can be scientists AND mathematicians during this process. We made predictions, recorded our data, and now we are in the process of analyzing our findings and then making conclusions about what we could do better next time.
Our class average was 18 cookies stacked. I uploated our data to projectbyjen.com and I will show the kids that the average 1st grade stack across the U.S. was 17 cookies. They'll be excited to see that they stacked more!
We got a special snack today because we ended the morning with more smileys than frownies. It's been a while since we've done this so I thought the kids especially deserved their treat; particularly because it was an exciting morning and could have went south quickly! But they handled it. : )
The kids got to choose 2 Oreo cookies from the following flavors:
Ms. Carter's favorites? None of them. : (
Why mess with a good thing? Of course it could just be I was so sick of smelling Oreos all morning...
: )
The kids enjoyed their snack however. And surprisingly, we had a really good afternoon as well!
Other news from this week...
1. Our pen pals in Ohio will also be participating in the Oreo challenge. We are finishing our first letters to them, which will be mailed this week. We'll also get to write about our Oreo experience and send those thoughts to them as well!
2. Our next early release day is this Wednesday and our Boosterthon fun run will be coming up on Thursday! The kids keep asking when it is. They come in every morning asking if the fun run is today. : )
3. Our band name for Boosterthon is JC and the 1st grade band. One of the kiddos got confused and told the Boosterthon people that our band name was Jay-Z. : )
4. We read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie on Thursday to prepare for our Oreo day. We brainstormed as a class our thoughts for our class book, If You Give a Kid a Cookie. We'll get to practice reading this coming this week!
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Best quote of the day...
The kids and I were walking through the halls and I told my line leader (who was crying because he had bumped his head) to stop at the stop sign beside the picture. The picture is a portrait of our school's founder. Through tears my little line leader looks up at me and says, "Ms. Carter? Is that a picture of one of our presidents?"
: )
Best quote of the day...
The kids and I were walking through the halls and I told my line leader (who was crying because he had bumped his head) to stop at the stop sign beside the picture. The picture is a portrait of our school's founder. Through tears my little line leader looks up at me and says, "Ms. Carter? Is that a picture of one of our presidents?"
: )
Monday, September 22, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
During reading today, we read a story titled, Wolf! We talked about real wolves and compared them to wolves in fantasy literature. The kids remembered Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs. We got to watch a National Geographic Kids video about wolves (found here: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/gray-wolf/) and so the howling began. It was like having a classroom filled with active coyotes.
Before reading Wolf! we talked about farms and what could be found on a farm. I showed the kids a picture of an orange tractor and I mentioned how my Dad would like that tractor.
I then heard a little side conversation that went like this:
Child 1: Wait, she has a Dad?
Child 2: Of course she has a Dad.
(Yes, boys and girls. Teachers are humans!)
Child 1: Well, does she have a husband?
(Huh? Wait, where is this conversation going?)
Child 2: Of course she does, she's old enough to be a grandma!
(Grandma? What?)
Child 3: No she's not! She's only a teenager.
(Okay, someone this is not much better than "Grandma.")
Child 2: No, she's not.
Child 3: Yes, she is. Aren't you a teenager, Ms. Carter?
Me: Well, no not really. I'm a lot older than a teenager.
Child 2: See! She's not a teenager. She's like 22!
Okay, I'll take that. Whatever. The conversation of age ALWAYS comes up with my students and I don't usually tell them how old I am. The age range they guess is usually somewhere between 12 and 90. It's funny to hear them discuss things about me.
It was a beautiful day outside for recess; not too hot and not too cold. We also are doing better with our lunch routine so we got outside on time today. That's big for us (well, for me!). One of the boys in my class had a Batman jacket on today. He put the hood on and then zipped up the jacket while we were outside. He began running around saying,
"Hey, I'm Batman!" One of the little boys in another class heard him and began chasing him shouting, "Batman! It's Batman!" My little one ran up to me complaining that the other kid kept chasing him. I said, "Well why don't you just take off the jacket so you're not Batman anymore?"
Good idea, Ms. Carter
As soon as my little guy took off the jacket, the kid in the other class began chasing him again. Although this time, the other child shouted, "Bruce! Bruce! (as in Bruce Wayne - the alter ego of Batman" as he chased my little guy around the grass area.
We have been taking turns having recess on the grass, the blacktop and then the playground. When we're on the grass, one of the kids favorite games is to look in the grates for frogs. Oh what little things entertain young minds! Thankfully.
Tomorrow is our Boosterthon assembly! Get ready to pledge!!!!!!
I spent some time this evening putting our aquarium together. The kids have kind of forgotten about it and stopped asking when the fish are arriving, but this will most definitely happen soon. I've got to finish figuring out how to put the filter together and then we'll get some fish. I'm hoping by next week that our class will finally have a class pet!
It may have been a good thing (with no intentional reasoning on my part) that the aquarium has been in our room for a while without anything inside. The kids were wanting to touch this continuously, but now the novelty has worn off. I'm hoping they remember to just look once there is water and fish in the tank!
During reading today, we read a story titled, Wolf! We talked about real wolves and compared them to wolves in fantasy literature. The kids remembered Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs. We got to watch a National Geographic Kids video about wolves (found here: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/gray-wolf/) and so the howling began. It was like having a classroom filled with active coyotes.
Before reading Wolf! we talked about farms and what could be found on a farm. I showed the kids a picture of an orange tractor and I mentioned how my Dad would like that tractor.
I then heard a little side conversation that went like this:
Child 1: Wait, she has a Dad?
Child 2: Of course she has a Dad.
(Yes, boys and girls. Teachers are humans!)
Child 1: Well, does she have a husband?
(Huh? Wait, where is this conversation going?)
Child 2: Of course she does, she's old enough to be a grandma!
(Grandma? What?)
Child 3: No she's not! She's only a teenager.
(Okay, someone this is not much better than "Grandma.")
Child 2: No, she's not.
Child 3: Yes, she is. Aren't you a teenager, Ms. Carter?
Me: Well, no not really. I'm a lot older than a teenager.
Child 2: See! She's not a teenager. She's like 22!
Okay, I'll take that. Whatever. The conversation of age ALWAYS comes up with my students and I don't usually tell them how old I am. The age range they guess is usually somewhere between 12 and 90. It's funny to hear them discuss things about me.
Okay, in this respect I do still feel like a teenager!
It was a beautiful day outside for recess; not too hot and not too cold. We also are doing better with our lunch routine so we got outside on time today. That's big for us (well, for me!). One of the boys in my class had a Batman jacket on today. He put the hood on and then zipped up the jacket while we were outside. He began running around saying,
"Hey, I'm Batman!" One of the little boys in another class heard him and began chasing him shouting, "Batman! It's Batman!" My little one ran up to me complaining that the other kid kept chasing him. I said, "Well why don't you just take off the jacket so you're not Batman anymore?"
Good idea, Ms. Carter
As soon as my little guy took off the jacket, the kid in the other class began chasing him again. Although this time, the other child shouted, "Bruce! Bruce! (as in Bruce Wayne - the alter ego of Batman" as he chased my little guy around the grass area.
We have been taking turns having recess on the grass, the blacktop and then the playground. When we're on the grass, one of the kids favorite games is to look in the grates for frogs. Oh what little things entertain young minds! Thankfully.
Tomorrow is our Boosterthon assembly! Get ready to pledge!!!!!!
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Well, we're FINALLY back to a more normal schedule after doing Dibels/TRC for a few days. We got to get back to our morning meetings, which the kids love because we sing songs and read new stories. Ask your kids about Suki's Kimono! They really enjoyed reading this during our reading block this morning. The story is about a 1st grade girl who decides to wear her kimono to school. Her sisters think that she needs to "wear something cool" because someone will laugh at her. Well, they're right. The other kids DO laugh at Suki. The end of the story is really adorable because Suki deals with the other kids' ridicule in an adorable way.
Here is a short video that we watched to develop background knowledge about Japan (where Suki if from):
In math today we talked about the equal sign, also known as =. For the most part the kids seemed to be catching on, however the explanation of what we are ACTUALLY doing is a bit more challenging. Hopefully we can help their understanding by using balances and number lines during math next week.
We also made a Yes/No graph in math today to answer the question, Did you go swimming this summer?
We found out that 3 kids in our class DID NOT go swimming this summer.
We had an AMAZING assembly today! The kids were treated to our character/discipline assembly this afternoon where they got to be an audience for high school cheerleaders and a drumline. The drummers were VERY animated! I think the kids will remember this experience for a while. The kids did a good job as well of listening closely and watching the speakers.
After the assembly, we came back to the room for a few minutes a played a marble math addition game found here: http://www.abcya.com/addition.htm
Well, we're FINALLY back to a more normal schedule after doing Dibels/TRC for a few days. We got to get back to our morning meetings, which the kids love because we sing songs and read new stories. Ask your kids about Suki's Kimono! They really enjoyed reading this during our reading block this morning. The story is about a 1st grade girl who decides to wear her kimono to school. Her sisters think that she needs to "wear something cool" because someone will laugh at her. Well, they're right. The other kids DO laugh at Suki. The end of the story is really adorable because Suki deals with the other kids' ridicule in an adorable way.
Here is a short video that we watched to develop background knowledge about Japan (where Suki if from):
In math today we talked about the equal sign, also known as =. For the most part the kids seemed to be catching on, however the explanation of what we are ACTUALLY doing is a bit more challenging. Hopefully we can help their understanding by using balances and number lines during math next week.
We also made a Yes/No graph in math today to answer the question, Did you go swimming this summer?
We found out that 3 kids in our class DID NOT go swimming this summer.
After the assembly, we came back to the room for a few minutes a played a marble math addition game found here: http://www.abcya.com/addition.htm
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Okay, so maybe I was a little too tired and short tempered. Or maybe that just keeps me from giving too many chances. : )
But we were doing a read aloud on Wednesday of My Mother is Ruining My Life for our family unit in social studies.
There is a point in the book where the mother gives the daughter the "Mom look." I, jokingly, said, "Ms. Carter never looks like this, right?" And what do you know... a little voice popped up and said, "Oh yes, you do! You look like this, Ms. Carter..."
And every little head nodded in agreement. Okay, it made me laugh, but really? I guess the kids have noticed my "teacher look." It's something we all do, but I do try to save it for only when absolutely necessary.
It make me think, though. Even though I am tired and rushed most of the time, I don't want the kids to suffer because of my shortcomings. I want them to remember how much they loved coming to school, not how mean their teacher was, although I really don't think that giving them the stern teacher face is exactly mean. But it's those moments that make me adjust my attitude and check myself. Because I would much rather my kiddos forget this:
But we were doing a read aloud on Wednesday of My Mother is Ruining My Life for our family unit in social studies.
There is a point in the book where the mother gives the daughter the "Mom look." I, jokingly, said, "Ms. Carter never looks like this, right?" And what do you know... a little voice popped up and said, "Oh yes, you do! You look like this, Ms. Carter..."
And every little head nodded in agreement. Okay, it made me laugh, but really? I guess the kids have noticed my "teacher look." It's something we all do, but I do try to save it for only when absolutely necessary.
It make me think, though. Even though I am tired and rushed most of the time, I don't want the kids to suffer because of my shortcomings. I want them to remember how much they loved coming to school, not how mean their teacher was, although I really don't think that giving them the stern teacher face is exactly mean. But it's those moments that make me adjust my attitude and check myself. Because I would much rather my kiddos forget this:
And remember more of this:
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Thank you, Pinterest:
This flowerpot is sitting in my windowsill behind my desk. The one on Pinterest uses Pixie sticks for the stems and the kids can take their flower on their birthday. But Pixie sticks and 1st graders? I think not. Also, I don't want to give up my flowers because by the end of the year there would be not flowers and that just seems, well, sad.
This is the dice addition activity I was talking about. The kids did well with this other than the flying dice being strewn (accidentally) around the room. The containers I mentioned are shown below. Again, thank you Pinterest. Now to just find some more at the Dollar Store...
Coming Soon To A Classroom Near You...
Just got these in the mail TODAY!
And what about these boys? It warms a first grade teacher's heart to see such enthusiasm for reading!
Monday, September 15, 2014
Sunday, September 14, 2014
You know you're a teacher when you get excited about Staples/staples - both the thing AND the store!
Whew! It's been a busy couple of days! I've had my last weekend of shows of Peter Pan, which is a bittersweet change. It was quite enjoyable and a wonderful experience! I haven't been able to play the piano for a few weeks, so I'll be glad to be able to get back to that now that I'm no longer a pirate!
But, wait for it...
Ahoy, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day this Friday!!
Will any pirates come swashbuckling through our classroom?
From Friday:
On Friday we had some excitement in our classroom! The kids were singing "Let it Go" during our Fun Friday time when one of the kids walked up to me with a tooth in her hand.
"Ms. Carter! Her tooth came out! And I helped her pull it! I just got a paper towel and yanked!"
: )
What is even funnier is I got all this on video. : )
Hopefully I can get uploaded soon...
By the way...
We didn't do a spelling test on Friday. It was a crazy day. But we'll start with a spelling test on Friday, September 19.
Have a happy Sunday!
See you tomorrow!
Love,
Ms. Carter
Whew! It's been a busy couple of days! I've had my last weekend of shows of Peter Pan, which is a bittersweet change. It was quite enjoyable and a wonderful experience! I haven't been able to play the piano for a few weeks, so I'll be glad to be able to get back to that now that I'm no longer a pirate!
But, wait for it...
Ahoy, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day this Friday!!
Will any pirates come swashbuckling through our classroom?
From Friday:
On Friday we had some excitement in our classroom! The kids were singing "Let it Go" during our Fun Friday time when one of the kids walked up to me with a tooth in her hand.
"Ms. Carter! Her tooth came out! And I helped her pull it! I just got a paper towel and yanked!"
: )
What is even funnier is I got all this on video. : )
Hopefully I can get uploaded soon...
By the way...
We didn't do a spelling test on Friday. It was a crazy day. But we'll start with a spelling test on Friday, September 19.
Have a happy Sunday!
See you tomorrow!
Love,
Ms. Carter
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