We all had a great time on our first field trip! We had absolutely perfect weather for our walk to the Howard Miller Library and the kids were such troopers -- it's a long walk! When we got to the library, Miss Jessica, the children's librarian, gave us a tour and showed us how the library system works. Then we went upstairs and she read us a story and let us decorate bookmarks to take back to school. Finally, Miss Jessica talked to us about how to choose "just right books" and she showed us where to find them in the library. We have been practicing this skill a lot within our classroom library, so it was nice to have a refresher and practice picking out books in the big library.
This is the chart that we made for our classroom -- it helps us remember how to find books that are good for us to read:
After spending some time curled up with just right books in the library, it was time to say goodbye and head to Captain Sundae! We enjoyed the sunshine, the company, and the ice cream (!) before walking back to New Groningen to finish our school day. A HUGE thank you to Mrs. Lencioni, Mrs. Stevens, and Mr. Emmons for coming with us on our first field trip!
As [hopefully] you've heard, we have been busy studying magnets during science. On our first day of this unit, we all had a blast exploring different types of magnets and finding out which things in our classroom are magnetic. The kids were wonderful, respectful, and responsible scientists during this time and they discovered quite a bit during their explorations!
Enjoy the pictures, and the song, below! This was one of our poems/songs of the week. The kids did a great job using it to practice improving their content area vocabulary and their fluency in reading.
Enjoy!
 Our first three weeks of Mystery Readers have been wonderful!
First, we had Mrs. Poll - our principal! Mrs. Poll read the story Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon and we talked about believing in yourself. She also brought a delicious snack for us to enjoy afterwards. Thanks, Mrs. Poll!
 Our second Mystery Reader was Mrs. VanderZwaag, Morgan's mom. She read a number story about fish and brought in a yummy fish snack! Thanks, Mrs. VanderZwaag!
 Our third mystery reader was our superintendent, Mr. DeKuiper. He read the book One and talked about how to stand up for yourself and others. He brought rolls of Smarties for each of the kids and talked about how it's "cool to be smart!" Thanks, Mr. DeKuiper!
We all love having Mystery Readers on Friday mornings!
If you haven't had a chance to sign up yet, please email me. We would love to welcome you into our classroom!
In math, we are learning what to do when we see an addition sign and a subtraction sign. We created the following chants to help us remember!
First, here's our addition chant: Second, here is our subtraction chant: What a wonderful group of mathematicians!
 Just a reminder that tomorrow (Friday) is school picture day! If you want to order pictures for your child, please return the packet and payment to school in his/her folder tomorrow.
Smile BIG!
Do you have an hour each week that you would be willing to use helping our class?
I am looking for a parent volunteer who could come in regularly to help with office work: making copies, stapling packets, binding class books, filing student work, etc. It's not the most glamorous job, but it is necessary, and certainly much appreciated!Please send me an email if you are able to help! Thanks so much!
Today we read the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. In it, a little girl is teased because her name is so different from the other children's. It was amazing for me to watch the expressions on the students faces as Chrysanthemum "bloomed" or "wilted" with each comment that was made about her name; these first graders are so sensitive!
After the story, I had the class form a circle and I showed them the red heart that I had cut out of butcher paper. I asked the students to share examples of things that other people could say or do (like making fun of a name) that would "crumple" our heart, just like Chrysanthemum's. As the kids listed things like "you can't play with me because you're too tall," or "you can't be my friend because I already have a best friend," we passed the heart and everyone got a chance to crumple it a little more. By the time the heart made its way around the circle, it was unrecognizable.
Next, I used an example from the story about how other students' words helped Chrysanthemum "bloom." Again, I asked the kids around the circle to share examples -- but this time they were saying things that could "smooth" the heart. As your kiddos listed things like, "I like your shirt today," and "if you don't have anyone to play with on recess, you can meet me by the swings!" -- I felt my OWN teacher heart bloom! How precious! By the time the heart made its way around the circle this time, it was almost completely smoothed out. At the end of this lesson, we observed that even though the nice comments smoothed out the crumpled heart, the wrinkles did not completely fade. One student was even able to verbalize that sometimes just one mean comment lasts longer than a bunch of nice comments -- WOW!
In order to remind us of this experience, we decided that we should keep the big red heart somewhere in our classroom. But before we hung it up, we knew that we had to do something to fix it! Before the lesson was over, I handed each student a bandaid and gave them the chance to write their name on it if they wanted to commit to helping heal "crumpled" hearts. All 26 kiddos took the opportunity to do this and it was an incredibly moving experience.
Once our big heart was healed, the kids each completed a worksheet that they can take home as a reminder of today's lesson and how we have all promised to help heal crumpled hearts. This paper would be a great thing to hang on the fridge as a constant reminder and source of motivation for your first grader. Way to go, Frog Room!
We have only been in school for two days, and for two days in a row, your kiddos have gotten to "kiss their brains!" In our classroom, we tell each other over and over again that "we can do hard things!" When we all work really hard and succeed at doing something that we've never done before, we celebrate with a special song. You can listen to the song, "Kiss Your Brain" by Dr. Jean, below.
For a fun family moment, grab your first grader and have him/her sing along and show you the motions!
Today, the frog room friends got to kiss their brains for learning the routine of writing workshop and then writing independently for almost 30 minutes...on the second day of school! WOW! When everyone had finished working, we met together in front of the smartboard to congratulate one another, sing our song, kiss our brains, and share a sweet treat! I am so proud of this new group of kiddos already!
I am so glad you are here! Throughout the year, I will use this blog to keep Frog Room parents and students up to date on important events and fun things happening in our classroom. I will post homework hints, volunteer opportunities, reminders, links for learning, pictures, videos and more!
I will also invite students to share in the blogging with me and some of the updates here will come from the mouths of your little learners! My hope is that by teaching my students to safely and successfully navigate this new form of communication, I will increase their passion for sharing life with others and their sense of urgency for writing — both inside and outside of the classroom.
Our school year is off to a great start!
Keep checking back for updates!
Warmly,
Mrs. Nelson
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