We Are in a Play!

After an awesome two week Mo Willems author study, the kids were pumped to see "We Are in a Play!" based on the adventures of the hilarious Elephant and Piggie. If you've never read a Mo Willems book with your child, I highly encourage you to do so! He is seriously entertaining for both kids and adults. If you haven't already, please ask your child about the play; it was awesome! You can ask: who did you like more: Piggie, or Elephant? Why? Which song was your favorite? Which part made you laugh the hardest?

Here are some pictures I snapped quickly as we walked in:

The firsties were amazed by all the intriguing displays around ImaginOn, the theater's venue. ImaginOn is a library, theater, and engaging play center; I wish we could have stayed longer!

This giant hanging sculpture really wowed the kiddos!

The set was simple, yet super dazzling with the sparkling curtain! 

Sadly, I couldn't take pictures during the performance, but luckily, pictures of our class are cuter than even the most adorable play! :) I think their faces capture their excitement perfectly:

What a fun, enriching experience to watch a musical based on books by one of our favorite authors! Our spring field trip sure has a lot to live up to now! 

Classroom Catchup!

Can you believe exactly two months ago, we were starting our journey together in C110?! I sure can't! So much has happened since our last update! Our first field trip taken, our first writing and math units finished, many conferences held... It sure has been a memorable month!  Let's take a look at some pictures, shall we?

If I had to pick our class's favorite things, two of the most favorite would definitely be games and music! Thankfully, I'm able to incorporate these two things throughout our days.  Math games are awesome because they give students the opportunity to hone their math and social skills, which are both crucial, not only for first grade, but for life! 

Here was a favorite math memory game from last month: 

Chloe is all smiles playing with Bryson and Jack!

Jessie looks on to see if Lauren will make a match. 

Kenneth proudly shows Mrs. Whitten a match!

Another game the class loves? Word Wall Detective! The premise? Each table gets a flashlight, and the students take turn playing "detective." Mrs. Whitten gives students clues about words, and the kids shine their flashlights on the word they think I'm talking about. For example: "I'm thinking of a pink word... It is four letters.... It starts with a w... It rhymes with there..." By this point, the kids are falling out of their seats with excitement, whispering, "Where! Where! Where!!!" It gets the kids thinking about certain things I want them to be looking for in the words (like vowels and syllables), and the kids love it! 

Detectives hard at work. 

The word wall takes the spotlight during this fun game. 

It's imperative that our classroom is a community, where we all work together and encourage one another. In order to build that supportive environment, I give students plenty of opportunities to cheer for each other. One way we've done that is through sharing our writing. While the speaker is practicing his or her oral presentation skills, the audience is practicing respectful listening!

Jessie shares her narrative with the class. 

Bryson reads his favorite story. 

Matthew shares with his friends. 

Brody reads aloud. 

Amber displays her work. 

Will turns the page of his favorite piece. 

Moriah reads her small moment story. 

Lauren displays the cover of her book. 

Jack captivates his audience. 

One thing that never fails to get the kids engaged is a hands-on science exploration. We got down and dirty with earth science a couple weeks ago, and the students loved studying their rock collections they brought in! 

Bryson and Amber curiously look on as Dawson puts his fool's gold under his magnifying glass. 

Patrick and Ava the geologists. 

Ray and his rocks shine! 

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Creigh takes a closer look at one of his rocks.

Saylor and Dawson work together to measure Saylor's rock. 

Oliver inspects one of Ray's rocks. 

 Next on the list of catch-up? Our Mo Willems author study and field trip! Stay tuned!

Sneak a Peek at Our Fourth Week

My, how the time flies! While I truly enjoyed having time to talk to the other 50 first grade teachers in our district and share ideas today during a professional development session today, I sure did miss my firsties! They have stolen my heart in less than a month, and I am excited to be back at Doby's Bridge tomorrow!

Our fourth week was my favorite yet; we got to settle into our routine without any interruptions, which really helped the kids focus. Even though it was a four day week, we covered a lot of ground in many of our content areas! Here are a few pictures to show you a peek into our week:

During our reader's workshop, we added a fun new element: laundry-basket-reading! The students adore the cozy baskets and look forward to their chance to lounge in the special baskets; thank you so much, Swigunski family, for donating these nice new laundry baskets! 

Ray shares an exciting part of his book with Brody.  

Oliver looks comfy during independent reading time. 

Our writing has grown leaps and bounds in such a short amount of time! We are still working on writing narratives ("small moment stories") about our lives, and we had a "museum" of our work one day this week. I gave each student their very first piece of writing from the first week of school, and they compared it with their favorite piece they've written so far. You should have heard all the kids remarking about their own growth; they were so proud (and so was their teacher!!!). Once they had a chance to compare their own work, they laid both pieces on the table and had a chance to look at their friends' work. As much as the kids loved looking at their own work, they were even more excited to show their work to their friends!

Lauren proudly shows Jessie her work. 

Saylor reads her first piece to Creigh. 

Our writing museum walk was a success!

Friday was a super-special day: Grits for Grandparents, Bring a Stuffed Animal Day, and Pajama Day! Wahoo! This was probably my favorite day of school so far; the kids were just so happy! 

Saylor and Jessie math-journal in their jammies!

Lauren and Jack take a break from their math journals to say "Cheese!" for Mrs. Whitten. 

We practiced our presentation skills when we shared our stuffed animals after math!

I just had to get a picture with all my sweeties in their jammies! 

I'm looking to another wonderful week at Doby's Bridge with my favorite first grade friends! 

Sneak a Peek at Our Third Week!

Like I said in my last update, time is flying; I felt like I blinked my eyes and we were finishing our fourth week of school! I think Boosterthon was a big contributing factor to this; it really brought our beginning-of-the-year excitement to a whole new level! Thanks to all of your amazing support, families, Doby's Bridge reached its fundraising goals! Also, thanks to our class's incredible efforts, we had a lot of fun this week, celebrating with fun class incentives, like pajama day! However, I won't get too ahead of myself, talking about this week... Let's go back to our third week- the week of our actual Dragon Dash!

This week was certainly a hectic one, with Boosterthon grade-level meetings each morning, prize deliveries in the afternoon, and lots of learning jam-packed in between! Besides Boosterthon, we began exploring the concepts of addition and subtraction, became scientists and conducted an experiment, and said goodbye to Dr. Frattaroli. Whew! Now that I reflect on all that we did, it's no wonder that week is a blur! :)

Here are some pictures to commemorate everything:

Creigh, Kenneth, and Moriah try their hand at Subtraction Bowling! We watched subtraction happen as we knocked down pins in the empty room next door! 

Saylor and Dawson showed fabulous sportsmanship, clapping for their teammate, Amber!

Ray and his teammates watch anxiously to see how many pins he'll subtract from his total!

Patrick, Ava, Lucy, and Tanner record their subtraction sentence. 

The sporty theme continued as we moved throughout the week, leading up to our Dragon Dash on Thursday morning! Again, we Doby's Bridge Dragons send you a hearty thank you for supporting our school fundraiser and cheering on our Dragons as they ran! Here are some pictures of the Dragon Dash fun: 

Our class anxiously awaits our turn to be announced and run through the giant tunnel! 

Can you feel the excitment?! The kids do a bit of dancing to get out those pre-race jitters! 

And they're off! 

On Friday, we were all worn out from all that running, and the kids happily took a break after our writer's workshop to watch a special video of Dr. Frattaroli being turned into a human-ice-cream-sundae, our school-wide incentive for reaching our "50 State Challenge!" 

The kids were cracking up! They especially loved watching one of their classmates pour ice cream and cherries on our principal- Saylor was one of the school's top fund raisers and, as a result, got to partake in the sundae-making! During writer's workshop, she wrote a small moment story about her experience, and read it to all of us before we watched the video!  

After turning into a human-ice-cream-sundae, Dr. Frattaroli went home to clean up, and it's a good thing he did, because we had a surprise up our sleeves for his final day at Doby's Bridge! At the end of the day, we lined the halls and did a clap-out in his honor. He walked down all of the halls, giving lots of high-fives and hugs along the way!

Waiting for our turn!

High fives all around!

I'll admit: it was an emotional end to a busy week! Even though I only worked for him for a few months (technically, only one month!), I've known Dr. Frattaroli since I was in grade school; he was the principal at Sugar Creek, where I was a teacher cadet in high school! Like anyone who knows him, I admire him for his character; thankfully, it is already evident Mrs. Black possesses the same strong leadership qualities Dr. Frattaroli contributed to Doby's Bridge! It was a bittersweet day, and as cheesy as it sounds, I think it's just the end of the bright beginning at our school!  

Well, families, we're almost caught up! Be on the lookout for our fourth week's Sneak Peek!