Halloween Fun

We had so much fun celebrating Halloween...check it out below!

Mrs. Kelley working on "A" journal with her. We will be doing the same type of writing for all holidays. I picked up some Fall"ish" stickers but we could always use more! The kids absolutely love this!

Notice the heart?? This is called a "heart map". Each child made their very own heart with their own interests inside. Grab one here so you can print it out & have them do one at home to get them writing more!

Here is our monthly writing! Oh how far we have come since August! All of these beauties will be put into their memory books.

Now for some spooky costume pictures!

Aren't they the cutest first graders you've ever seen!

All dressed up waiting for the parade to start. We were very good listeners while Mrs. Kelley read a Halloween book.

 The room moms were in the back corner working hard getting ready for our party.

After the parade eating a snack.....

The mummy wrap...yay!

Thank you to the room moms & everyone that sent goodies in for our party. The kids had a blast!

To celebrate our AR goal (2 points) for the month of October we decided to make witches brew. This was the first year we did this & the kids absolutely loved it. It was designed by yours truly ;o) Here is a list of the spooky ingredients.

The first grade teachers put our witches hats on & used our best witch cackles and made some witches brew!

Here is our set up.......

This is me posing for the paparazzi...just kidding.

Look at all those AR rock stars!

Watching a 2 minute witches brew video to get the crowd pumped up!

Just got done mixing all the ingredients one at a time....as the kids were screaming "EEW!"

And here it is...not as gross as they thought :o)

Today we wrapped up all the Halloween festivities with a graphing activity with Halloween treats!

We can make anything educational ;) Have your child, grandchild, niece or nephew tell Mrs. Kelley or I that your read the blog by Thursday & they will get a BIG WARM FUZZY!

That was "Easy", Chickens, Stars, Apples, Game Day & More

Did you ever wonder what the EASY button can be used for??? Well, I finally figured out a reason....

I love hearing "That was easy" go off all day! That is ringing to my ears that one of my students just passed an AR test & they were just dying to push that button & run to get their BIG warm fuzzy :)

You might have heard that I started to call my students that don't raise their hands "chickens". Yes, it's true, I do in fact call those little "blurters" chickens & that is my code that they owe me a fuzzy for not raising their hand. This is a fabulous story that inspired this little joke between us. We were having a problem with following that rule so something had to happen & it's amazing how many hands are in the air now. :o) 
 

We have been doing the "Work on Writing" rotation of Daily 5 for several weeks now & they LOVE IT! Here are some pictures of them writing in their journals. 

 And this is why we need seasonal stickers  & stamps......

You would be surprised how they race to write now! They love it! This is something that can be done at home as well :o) 

"J" as Star of the Week

"E" sitting in her throne as Star of the Week

Apple Unit Fun 

 Our first AR celebration! 

Game day with Mrs. Ramirez's class! 

Finally, here is a class picture to thank our H.S.A. for funding some books for our classroom! Our Daily 5 bins are bursting with new books! Yippee! 

If you read this blog have your child, grandchild, niece or nephew tell me I owe them a BIG FUZZY! Valid Monday morning ONLY.

Postcard Exchange & Skype

This is the front cover of our postcard we will be sending out at the end of October. I signed us up for my very first postcard exchange. We will be exchanging postcards with classrooms around the United States & even Germany & Great Britain! This is going to be very exciting for us & we will also be learning so much about all the other states & countries we are exchanging with. I ordered enough to send home a postcard with each child. I am hoping to hook up with a few classes to Skype with. Speaking of Skype, check this out.....

 This is how we see the teachers & Dr. Blohm at IUN. They just got finished watching the kids during their first "Word Work" rotation, which is part of Daily 5. Then the teachers read "Green Eggs & Ham" to them. 

How cool is that? I love it! I love the fact that my students get the opportunity to experience this in our classroom. Technology...I don't know how I taught without it! 

If you read this far, tell your child that I owe them a BIG WARM FUZZY for reading the blog. Deadline is Thursday morning. I must have a deadline because word will spread, trust me ;o)

Help Your Child Become a Better Reader

Do you want to know how to help your child become a better reader? Click HERE to find out how.