Classroom Paintings

On the first day of school, students worked together to create a painting that will be hung in our classroom. The students were divided into 4 groups, and each group given a blank canvas and paint. Some groups worked together developing a plan before beginning to paint, others dove right in with each child painting something important to him or herself. I hope you can visit our classroom to see the final four art pieces. They are truly beautiful and a part of our clssroom family.

Fun Friday: Apples

Today was another Fun Friday in first grade. This time our focus was apples. We did many activites for math and patterns, We read books about apples and watched a Reading Rainbow video about apples and cooking. Students also got to enjoy an applesauce treat at the end of the day. Yum!

We also found a huge praying mantis during our spelling test today. We kept it in our classroom for the afternoon, but decided to let it go at the end of the day. I was worried it might have babies over the weekend, and I did not want to return to class on Monday to a room full of tiny insects. My father found one once when he was a small boy and put it in a showbox in his closet. My grandmother found the box a while later and hundreds of baby bugs flew out scaring her senseless!

First Day of School

I am happy to have shared a great first day of school with my new students. We made new friends today, and saw some old buddies from kindergarten as well. A lot of today revolved around discussing the Mary Castle Expectations, and going over procedures in our classroom. We practiced lining up and walking in the hallway.

We also read the book Chrysanthemum, and talked about our own names. We played a game to learn our friends' names and how they are spelled, and we also made a class graph to show how many letters each name contained.

I am hopeful that the buses run smoother tomorrow and students arrive home safely and on time. Everyday they should get better. See you all soon!