Surprise Pajama Day TOMORROW!

Hi everyone!! So sorry for the delay in posts lately...we have so much to catch up on. First, our kids have done it again! We have filled up another compliment chain and so I designated a last-minute PAJAMA DAY TOMORROW, Wednesday November 13th!!! Your first grader is bringing home a note about tomorrow. Since it is going to be so cold, I thought coming to school in jammies sounded pretty cozy. They are invited to bring a blanket and favorite STUFFED ANIMAL if they wish. We will have a regular day of learning and then a little special treat fun in the afternoon. With the windchill being only 18 degrees today, we were unable to go outside for recess and I can tell that the kids are getting a little stir crazy already. Please help your child get plenty of rest in order to stay healthy, happy and helpful in the upcoming weeks. Have you been practicing 10-Teams with your first grader? Your child needs to be able to know their 10-Teams accross the board. 10-Teams are the partners that, when added together, make a sum of 10: 9+1, 8+2, 7+3, 6+4, 5+5, 10+0. We have had our first Around the World champion today for our game of 10-team Around the World game! Congratulations to Bryce for knowing his 10-Teams SUPER FAST!!! Keep practicing and we will have a new champion soon! Did you see the new book order that came home yesterday? There are some wonderful titles in this month's order, so be sure to check it out. I would love to have orders back to school by this Friday. Also, did your child bring home their paper shopping bag? This week is our annual food drive and we would love any donations you would be able to send in order to help us reach our Sunflower goal of 1000. We will be taking donations until Friday November 22th. Thank you in advance for your support! Don't forget about tomorrow's cozy PJ day! Have a cozy night together!

Happy November!!! What a Week!

November already? Amazing! What an incredible week this has been in Room 111. First, I have to tell you ALL thank you so much for makinig my birthday this past Tuesday SO wonderful. The surprise party that the kids had for me and the dear cards, pictures and gifts are received touched my heart more than you can know. My cup truly runneth over. Thank you to all for your amazing children. It was the best birthday I have had in a long time! Thank you also to everyone who helped at our Pumpkin Festival and Fall Party yesterday. I was so sad to miss the festivities as I stayed home with a sick baby of my own. I heard all about it today and it sounds like it was a success. If anyone has any pictures from yesterday, please email them to me so that I may include them in this blog. Our post-Halloween day has brought some very excited, turned exhausted kiddos. We have kept our day very low-key and will save our big activities for next week after we are all rested up and healthy again. Today we made our flat selves to send off for our Flat Stanley project. If you have not already done so, please return the Flat Stanley letter that came home last Friday to school asap. If you need another copy of the letter, shoot me an email and I will send another one your way! Did your child tell you that they wrote their OWN math subtration story this week? Be sure to ask them about their pumpkin math story and see if they can retell you how their story goes. They did a great job...it is my hope to get the pictures or video feed uploaded next week so that you can see their brillance in action...stay tuned. Did you hear about our disgusting pumpkin? We are learning about plant lifecycles and we discovered that we had an experiment happening in our room and we did not even know it until Wednesday! Our giant pumpkin was going through one of the lifecycle changes right in our very room...it wasn't until we SMELLED it that we knew something was happening. Have your child tell you about the rotten pumpkin and what we did with it. Our bean seeds are growing like crazy! Did you child tell you about the changes their bean seed has encountered since we first started the experiment? Be sure to ask them to describe their seed so far...next week, we will unveil them again and see even MORE transformation. There is some seriously exciting stuff happening in our classroom this quarter. I am sending home a new "Book-It" log for November this afternoon! If your child would like to earn their free mini pizza, have them bring it back before November is over...I am also taking the pizza sheets from October if you haven't sent yours back yet. Remember this is optional!!! This month always flies by so quickly, so please be sure you don't hesitate to ask any questions and check our blog frequently! Thank you so much for an amazing week! Get some rest and stay HEALTHY!!! There is lots more learning ahead! Have a great weekend!

Newest Slideshow from Last Week's Learning Adventures! Enjoy!

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Picture Retakes TOMORROW!

Hi parents! Quick reminder that tomorrow is our PICTURE RETAKE day! If you would like to have your child's pictures re-taken, or if your child was absent on Picture Day please remember that they will have an opportunity to have them taken again tomorrow. Also, be sure to ask your child about their "baby bean". We had an awesome science discussion on living vs. non-living things and began the first step in a bean-growing experiment. Be sure to watch the video below with your child and have them explain to you what is happening with different beans in the video. As we dive in to our lifecycle unit, we are going to be uncovering all sorts of cool truths. You should be proud of your little scientist, they worked hard today! Have a great night!

We started a bean experiment today--CHECK THIS OUT!

Cookie Dough Pick-Up and Taco Dinner

Happy Tuesday, families! Just a quick reminder that TONIGHT is our FREE taco dinner and cookie dough pick-up. If you have no already come by to pick up your cookie dough, it is waiting for you in the gym. Grab some free dinner when you're here, too! Also, your child brought home a baggie tonight to begin their seed collection. They have been asked to go on a seed hunt and collect any kinds of seeds they can find. Please help them to remember to put their names on the baggies and return them to school by Thursday October 24. Also, have your child tell you about our newest computer math game-Monster Crossing. To help us sharpen our skills on word problems, we have found a great game. I have attached the link to the game on our website under "Math Games". Look for "Monster Crossing" and have your child teach you how to play! Have a great night! Stay warm and cozy...it looks like rain!

We learned about NOUNS today! See how many nouns your child can find at home!

We're BACK!!! Quarter 2, HERE WE COME!

Happy Monday everybody!!! We are back in action! First of all, thank you so much to everyone for taking time out of your busy lives to come to conferences last week and learn about all of the wonderful things your child is doing in first grade! I loved having the opportunity to visit with each one of you about your amazing children. We got right back into the swing of things today. I enjoyed hearing about all of your fall break adventures in their journals this morning. Sounds like everyone had a good or adventurous time! A few injuries, stings, vacations, staycations and playdates made for some great share-outs today. We kicked off second quarter in math today with learning some tricks for story problems. Today we learned about some "brain alarm" words to help us know what to do when we are reading story problems. Check with your child to see if they can remember what the words are in a story problem to help us to we are going to PT+ to find the answer. Also, we learned about the strategy of drawing pictures in story problems because the "PROOF IS IN THE PICTURE!". Thank you to everyone who brought us apples for Apple Week this week! If you did not send an apple in today, no worries! Feel free to send one in tomorrow. We had so much generosity that I think we have plenty for everyone! Thank you so much. Don't forget that next week is Pumpkin Week and we need each child to have their own pumpkin. I noticed that they marked them 1/2 off at Walmart this weekend, if you still need one! Thank you in advance. Don't forget that tomorrow is our annual Taco Dinner and Cookie Dough Pick-Up! We will be serving a FREE taco dinner from 5-7 for families, so come on over! Also, if you sold Cookie Dough (and LOTS of you did since we were the top-selling class) it will be available to pickup tomorrow as well! Did you get our letter about our Basket for our annual Basket Auction? We have a Family Golf-themed basket cooking, so if you can donate any items big or small to our collection it would be awesome! All the proceeds from this awesome event go directly back into the classrooms. Let me know if you have any questions. Finally, next week is our Fall Party already! Where did October go? Yikes! Please mark your calendars that next Thursday October 31 from 12-1:30 will be our "Fall Festival". This will be a first grade opportunity to showcase what we've learned about plant lifecycles and experiment with some different activities. Parents are invited to help run different stations and hang out with us! THEN, at 2:30 we will be having our traditional Fall PARTY! This is where we will eat our treats, play games and make crafts before we head out for the evening festivities. As always, parents are welcome to attend one or all of the day's events. Let me know if you have any questions or if I can plan on you to come by and help us out! Here is a schedule of our Specials for the week: Monday= B Tuesday= C Wednesday= D Thursday= A Friday= B Have a wonderful night! Don't forget to send your child in a jacket tomorrow...it was pretty chilly at recess this morning. See you soon!

One Version of Our Story This Week... The Little Red Hen PBS Kids.rm

Today's Field Trip...ENJOY!

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Metamorphosis From Caterpillar To Butterfly

Practically Perfect Day!

Hi everybody! We made it back from our first field trip and WHAT an adventure it was! We had a wonderful time at Pendleton Farms in Lawrence, today. We made it through a surprise thunder storm, hunted for butterfly eggs, searched for caterpillars, chased butterflies, picked pumpkins, played in a corn bath, learned fancy science words like "metamorphis" and "proboscis" and even fed tomatoes to chickens! WHEW! Your child is coming home with their self-selected pumpkin. They are probably worn out, dirty and (hopefully) very happy and excited to tell you about our day. Be sure to ask them about the rain storm and camping on the bus, the butterfly pavillion, corn bath and ask them about tagging live butterflies and setting them free. Thank you SO much for all of the moms who were able to come with us today. It was a fun-filled day together and a WONDERFUL way to jump-start our next unit on lifecycles! I took so many pictures that I wore out my camera battery...I will run to the store this afternoon and get more so that I can upload a new slideshow for you to enjoy. Our kids were amazing (especially with waiting out the rain storm). It should be an interesting dinner conversation as your child shares their favorite parts of today with you this evening. Check back soon for the latest pictures from our adventures at Pendleton Farms!