Friday was a busy day at New Groningen! We all had a blast at the school-wide Penny Carnival and at our class party. Special thanks to the many, many parent helpers who popped in throughout the day; we couldn't have done it without you!
"Whole Brain Teaching is a highly interactive form of instruction that delivers information to students in short 'chunks.' Kids then teach what they have just learned to their partners, using hand-gestures to help remember specific vocabulary. While students teach each other, the teacher walks around the room to discover who understands the lesson and who needs more instruction. Research shows that children retain more information when they have an opportunity to put it into their own words and use gestures to emphasize key instructional units …plus, it’s amazingly fun!" (excerpt taken from the Whole Brain Teaching website)
Please check out the videos below for some demonstrations of how we use hand gestures to help remember some of our frequently-confused math terms! For more information about Whole Brain Teaching please contact me or go to the WBT website.  Our breakfast in bed party was a success! We all had a great morning snuggling up and reading with our stuffed animals and friends, and Mr. Nelson's famous chocolate chip pancakes were a huge hit! We really celebrated each other for the hard work and kindness that went into filling our class bucket and we were even back on schedule and having a "normal" Monday by 9:30 am! I'm so thankful for a class that knows how to have fun AND get down to business! What a great bunch! This is just a reminder to please sign up online for your November Conference slot ASAP!
My husband and I will be in Africa visiting our son from November 18-26, because of the holiday break, I will only miss one day of school with your children. I will, however, need to schedule parent-teacher conferences for alternate dates. Rather than meeting with parents on November 19-20, I will be holding parent-teacher conferences the week before Thanksgiving and the week after. Please visit the following link ASAP to schedule your 20 minute parent-teacher conference: SIGN UP HERE. We will use our time together to celebrate your child's success in first grade, review the November report card, and discuss any questions or concerns that you may have. As a reminder, I do value consistent and specific parent-teacher communication and I truly treasure that partnership that I have with each one of you. If I had any major concerns with your son/daughter, I would have brought them to your attention already. This conference is primarily to share and celebrate the incredible work that your child has done and to provide you with a framework so that you can see where we're headed and how you can help. First grade is a year of major growth and we are well on our way! Thank you for all that you do for your sweet child - I can't wait to brag about each of them soon!  WE DID IT!
The Frog Room kiddos filled our entire class bucket in just 32 days of school! With their kind hearts, helpful hands, and excellent behavior, they have certainly earned the fun morning that's coming! We took a vote today and the kids decided that their celebration of choice was a "Breakfast in Bed" party! On Monday (October 22), your child can bring a pillow or stuffed animal to school. We will spend the morning snuggling up around the room and reading with friends while a very special classroom visitor (Mr. Nelson!!!) makes us breakfast. Our menu will include a few different types of pancakes, milk, and OJ -- so please send your child hungry!! I am so proud of our class for all of their hard work as bucket-fillers! Way to go, Frog Room!  As you know, book orders are some of my favorite things in life! Several different book orders have been sent home in your child’s home-to-school folder every month, and many of you have taken advantage of these great deals. Scholastic offers incredible books and reading resources at very reasonable prices. As you also know, my husband and I are in the process of adopting a baby boy from Ghana, West Africa! We have recently solidified plans to take our first trip to spend time with him in the orphanage, and we will be leaving the week of Thanksgiving (more details coming soon!) The orphanage houses 70 children, ages 3-23, and allows them access to affordable education through a private school right on the campus. The school has a small library that was donated by missionaries who visited in 2003, but they have not received significant donations since then. The 300+ students are in desperate need of new books for all ages and reading levels. This is where our class comes in! The Scholastic Holiday book orders are coming home in your child's folder today; please look them over and consider any books that you might like to add to your family’s library. This time, I will be donating ALL bonus points (based on the dollar amount of our class total) and ALL free classroom book picks (1 book per family who orders online) to the orphanage. I will choose books that are basic and appropriate for all levels and will hand deliver them to the children when I go in November. You can view the catalogs, submit, and pay for your order online by clicking on the image below. Please be sure to enter our class activation code: GZ7YQ. Your family will also receive 1 free book pick (to be used on your next order) when you submit you order online.  November/Holiday book orders are DUE ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2!
Thank you so much for sharing and spreading the joy of reading!  October is halfway over, and that means that Halloween is almost here! In first grade, we always have fun celebrating Halloween in a joyful and non-spooky way. Please keep reading for important dates that are coming soon! Friday, October 26: New Groningen Penny Carnival and Class Halloween Party The Penny Carnival is an NG tradition that has been going on for over 20 years! After lunch on this day, the kids come back to the classroom to change into their Halloween costumes (we recommend simple costumes that they can put on themselves!) Then from 1-2 pm, the 3rd-5th grade classes will run carnival games in the Anchor for the K-2nd grade classes. Students will need to bring in a baggie of pennies in order to play the games, and we will make fun sacks in class to use to collect the goodies that they win! Parents are invited and encouraged to attend this fun event! After the Penny Carnival, all students will head outside for afternoon recess. At 2:30, we will meet back in the Frog Room for our class Halloween Party! Jessica Underhill and Kristie DiLaura, our fabulous room moms, have planned the entire party and have created a sign up sheet for those of you who would like to get involved. You can click on the link below to view the list of requested items and sign up to donate something. We are also in need of 3 parent helpers from 2-3:30 pm on Friday; you can sign up for that by following the link as well. CLASS PARTY: SIGN UP FOR DONATIONS HERE Wednesday, October 31: Pumpkin Day! Because you really can't trick a 6 year old into believing that Halloween is over after Friday's festivities, we've decided to stretch out the fun...but in a more academic way! Halloween day will be "Pumpkin Day" in the Frog Room. We will incorporate fun pumpkin activities into our typical Reading and Writing Workshop routines in the morning, and we will spend the afternoon doing "Pumpkin Math!" We will be conducting a variety of investigations (involving measuring, weighing, counting, making predictions, graphing, etc) with real pumpkins during this time. We will end the day by carving our pumpkins and enjoying a special snack that we'll make together in the crockpot! We will need 5 parent volunteers to help with this event. If you are able to come in and lead a group through their Pumpkin Math investigations from 2:30-3:30 pm, please fill in the form below ASAP. I will confirm with the first 5 volunteers that I hear from.  We have had some fabulous mystery readers over the past month! First, we had Mrs. Smith (Rylee's mom). She read us a couple stories about numbers (we loved the one on the left) and then led us through a fun addition and subtraction activity with fruit loops! When she was finished, the kids repeated the activity with beads and pipe cleaners and made number-partner bracelets. Thanks for sharing your great ideas, Mrs. Smith!   The next Monday, Mrs. Sytsma (Fischer's mom) came to read to us. She read an adorable story about a dog with no tail, and then surprised the kids by bringing HER dog with no tail to school at recess! This lovable Australian Shepard is just like the dog in the story and the kids had a blast seeing him in real life!  Mrs. Castilleja (Ana's mom) kicked off our mystery reader list for October with an amazing bi-lingual read-aloud! She read a story that was half in English and half in Spanish; the kids loved learning new vocabulary and hearing some familiar Spanish words, too! After her story, Mrs. Castilleja passed out a snack and a corresponding craft that went with the story. What a fun afternoon! Click the picture below to see a video clip of Mrs. Castilleja reading.  Yesterday, our Mystery Reader was Mrs. DiLaura (Sam's mom). She read a lively story about the changing seasons and it tied in perfectly to what we've been studying in class! After her story, Mrs. DiLaura led the kids through putting together a fun fall craft: cut out trees covered with colorful fall "leaves." The leaves were actually spray painted beans! This was a fun project to let the kids express their creativity. Those leaf covered trees will be coming home soon!  Thank you so much to all of the fabulous mystery readers who have volunteered so far! We are still in need of quite a few more to get us to Christmas Break. If you're interested, or know someone who might be (grandparents, coaches, babysitters, former teachers, etc.) please email me ASAP!
We love having special people join us in the Frog Room!  Last week was Fire Safety Week, and we sure had fun celebrating it in the Frog Room! On Thursday, we started the day by reciting our poem, Ten Brave Firefighters. Later that morning, we read books about firefighters and funny fire drills (all while discussing the difference between fiction and nonfiction books) After that, we had a visit from the local fire department!  We learned many important tips for fire prevention at home and at school, and we learned what to do if there is a fire somewhere. After our indoor presentation, all three 1st grade classes headed outside to see the trucks! While we were out there, the firefighters showed us their tools and explained each piece of their uniforms. I think we were all surprised to hear how heavy and hot everything is once they get all suited up. Their air tanks alone weigh as much as a first grader!  At the end of their visit, the firefighters let each student come out into the parking lot to shoot the water hose! It was a perfect day for this and everyone had a great time.
First graders celebrated Apple Day last Wednesday. It was a day filled with lots of learning about many apple-related topics: we read about (and tried) different types of apples, studied the life cycle of an apple tree, learned the history of Johnny Appleseed, made patterns with different colored apples, played an apple math game, sang songs about apples, and kicked off our unit on sequential (or "how-to") writing by following a recipe, making applesauce, and recording the steps with words and pictures. Please check out the video below for a full recap of our day! | AuthorMrs. Nelson ArchivesDecember 2013 |
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