Mrs. Shaffer's 1st Grade Class

RECYCLE

2012-02-08T18:22:00.000-08:00

Bottle village video

2012-01-30T18:32:00.001-08:00

This week our basal reading stories are focused around the theme of recycling. We read a story about Grandma Prisbry and her bottle village. This is a video about this true story.

On Friday we will do a fun activity with recycling. Students are bringing items from around their home that we can recycle into an art project. Here is the fun creations my class came up with last year.

Penguins

2012-01-29T18:56:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I won a give away on another teacher's blog; First Grade Blue Skies. One of the great activities that was included in the pack was this fun art activity for Penguins. Last week our reading basal was focusing on birds. As part of this we did a study on Penguins. I read aloud several non-fiction books about Penguins. The students wrote their own "report" about Penguins and mad this cute art with poem from the pack I won. Thanks again to Jennifer!

If I were a Snowman at Night.

2012-01-29T18:44:00.000-08:00

I love reading Snowmen at Christmas and Snowmen at Night to my students each winter. This year I found this awesome idea shared onThe First Grade Parade I knew this would be such a fun craftivity to add to our usual read aloud. It was also fun to see what the students came up with as they were writing their own stories.

To go along with our little snowman day I made these "Mixed up Snowman Snacks" that I found on Gourmet Mom on-the-go. I forgot to take pictures of them, but this blog shows how to make them.

December reading reward activity

2012-01-29T18:33:00.000-08:00

Students who read and turned in their weekly reading folder or note for the month of December were able to participate in a fun reward activity. This was the first week of January. Our class got to go to the gym and play "beach" volleyball with Mr. Lee. They had a blast! Keep up the great work reading @ home. The reward for reading and turning in weekly folders for January is a snowball fight with Mr. Lee.

Pictures from December

2012-01-29T18:04:00.000-08:00

I have been slow to get these pictures posted but these are from December. We compared and contrasted Gingerbread stories and filled out this little gingerbread house. After reading several different gingerbread stories our class wrote our own. Here are a few samples of their writing.

Before Christmas I also read If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff. The students in our class each made a page for a class book. Here are a few samples of the writing for this book.

Penguin Videos

2012-01-23T18:56:00.000-08:00

Gingerbread Recipe

2012-01-05T14:06:00.000-08:00

Today I brought gingerbread cookies for our class to eat. The recipe is one we read in The Gingerbread Man retold by Jim Aylesworth.

****Watch out when you open the oven door---gingerbread men have been known to run away!

Sift into a big bowl and mix:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice.

Beat together in another bowl:

1 large egg
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cu dark molasses
6 Tablespoons softened butter

Add dry ingredients slowly to wet mixture until well blended.

Cover and refridgerate for one hour. Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour onto your board and your rolling pin as you work to keep the dough from sticking. Roll out a portion of dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut out your gingerbread men with a two inch floured cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on a buttered cookie sheet. Bake 8 minutes, or until slightly firm to the touch. Cool on wire rack. This will make about 50 cookies.

Make sure you have a grown-up help you!

Polar Express

2011-12-29T16:58:00.001-08:00

Author Study: Chris Van Allsburg

2011-12-19T12:48:00.000-08:00

http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com/home.html

This week we will not be having a unit story and quiz from our reading basal. The first grade team has decided to do an author study about Chris Van Allsburg. We will be learning about this author/illustrator by using his website that is at the top of this post. We will also be reading some of the books he has written and illustrated. We will be having a Polar Express party on Wednesday. Your child may wear their PJ's to school on Wednesday to celebrate with us!

Grandparent lunch

2011-12-17T19:20:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all the grandparents and parents who came to join us at lunch last Wednesday.

Santa's Surprise

2011-12-12T19:09:00.000-08:00

Our class is working hard to earn points to fill up Santa's beard. If our class earns enough points to fill up Santa's beard we get to choose a prize from the "Santa's Surprise" envelope. Some of the prizes in the envelope are: class party, pajama day, play a class game, math station time with a partner of your choice, partner read with a partner and book of choice.

Christmas Ornaments

2011-12-12T19:01:00.000-08:00

These are the ornaments our class made to help decorate the big tree by the main office.

Elf FUN!!

2011-12-12T18:55:00.000-08:00

I love when I find great ideas that other teachers have shared on their blogs! I found this darling Elf Application from Cara Carroll at the First Grade Parade. She is an awesome teacher and awesome person! I loved her idea she shared about RACKING. Such a fun way to get in the rue Christmas spirit. Click this link to check it out. Let's Go Racking

I also found this great Elf Glyph to use on First Grade a- la- carte. I made my own elf pattern but used Ms. Law's glyph for our class to follow as they made their own elves. Kathy Law is another talented teacher I find great ideas/games to use in our class room.

2011-12-12T18:42:00.000-08:00

This is our class Christmas Alphabet on display in our classroom.

Here are a few samples of student work:

I read this book to our class. Then, we made our own class Christmas alphabet. It is on display in our classroom and I'll be making it into a class book that parents can see when you come to parent teacher conferences in February.

New game for math stations

2011-12-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

Our class learned how to play a new game to help us practice number facts that end in 10. Each pair of students turn the cards over and plays this game like memory/concentration. They take turns turing over 2 cards. If they turn over 2 numbers that add up to 10 they get to keep it as a match. This has been a great way to help with addition fluency. I found the mini deck of cards at our local grocery store, Kents, in the holiday isle for 99 cents a box. This would be another great way for your child to practice addition facts to 10. Have you child teach you this game. All you need is a deck of cards.

Doubles Rap

2011-12-12T18:20:00.001-08:00

I saw this rap on a blog in the fall and made a poster for our class. Using doubles is one of the math strategies we've been using to help us with our addition and subtraction facts. Please have your child practice this at home too.

Strategies for solving math problems

2011-12-12T18:19:00.000-08:00

This is a poster we made together as a class. These are the many strategies we have learned and are able to help us solve addition and subtraction problems.

December number line

2011-12-12T18:10:00.002-08:00

We made a number line from 1- 18 using ornaments. Each student had to make a pattern using their red and green ornaments, then write the numbers in order from 1- 18. We are using these number lines to play a game with a partner. The students each have a dice to roll and they add the numbers they roll to make an addition sentence. This has been another fun way to practice addition facts. Students will be taking their number line home for Christmas break. Please have your child teach you how to play their addition game. All you need is a pair of dice and this little number line they made.

TURKEY CHASE

2011-12-12T18:10:00.000-08:00

The reading reward for November was all students who met the goal got to chase Mr. Lee through the hall and pull a feather from his costume. Each student got a feather and exchanged the feather for one token to spend in the treasure tower. Thanks to all the students who are reading at home and remembering to return your folder, trackers, homework, or reading note each week. A HUGE thanks to parents that are making sure your child is being read to daily or that they are reading on their own each day. Thank you for helping your child succeed and get to participate in our fun monthly goal.

The reward for weekly reading in December is a beach volleyball game with Mr. Lee.

2011-11-30T19:08:00.003-08:00

Some samples of our "Rudolph" art.

Samples of our letters to Santa.

Thanksgiving graph

2011-11-30T19:08:00.001-08:00

2011-11-22T20:06:00.001-08:00

Retelling "I know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie"

2011-11-22T19:39:00.001-08:00

Making vegetable soup

2011-11-14T18:30:00.001-08:00

We had one bag of peas.

One can of green beans.

1 can of corn and 2 bags of corn.

2 baggies of celery.

2 baggies of onions.

2 baggies and one container of potatoes.

And 7 baggies of carrots!

Our class made vegetable soup. We read the book Stone Soup and then wrote our own "How to make soup" recipes. Thanks to everyone for sharing! Our soup was great! :)

Halloween Costume parade participants

2011-11-14T18:22:00.001-08:00

October math fun

2011-11-14T18:16:00.001-08:00

We used candy corn to help us with addition and subtraction fact practice. We used "ghost" marshmallows to graph and make addition sentences.

Writing informational text

2011-11-14T18:14:00.001-08:00

In October we did a little learning about bats. We read the fictional book Stellaluna. Then we read some informational text about books. Using the information we learned each student made a chart about what bats eat, can, have, are. They used this chart to help them write complete sentences in a page they created for a class book.

Book orders due NOVEMBER 11th

2011-11-01T12:54:00.001-07:00

Online Ordering Information

Web address: scholastic.com/bookclubs

Class Activation Code: GJR3X

Chopper 5 made a visit to our school last week...

2011-10-17T06:16:00.001-07:00

Fire Prevention Week

2011-10-11T19:50:00.001-07:00

Parent teacher conference

2011-10-09T13:39:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder....Parent teacher conferences are this week. You should have received a note about your scheduled time. Thanks for making your best effort to come and be on time.

New math stations

2011-10-09T13:38:00.000-07:00

So, I've added some new fun things for math stations. 2 of our new stations I found HERE. I love this blog! Feel free to do these activities at home. You can download and print your own set of candy corns and practice addition and subtraction using real candy corns at home. (Fun and the kids think it's yummy, I mean sugar? Who wouldn't go for that?) I love that the students are practicing addition and subtraction and having FUN too. A big thanks to all those teachers out there that blog about there ideas. Mrs. Carroll @ The First Grade Parade is awesome!

Pumpkin math and science fun!

2011-10-05T19:06:00.000-07:00

What a fun time we had with math and science! I hope your child brought home their book to share with you and completed the float and sink activity and weighing activity. Special thanks to Willies produce for donating the pumpkins.

Respect

2011-10-05T18:44:00.000-07:00

For the month of October our school wide theme for behavior is respect. (Our theme for September was making good decisions). We read A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon and talked about ways we can show respect at home and at school. Here are some samples of student work.

Pineapple pineapple.... taste so fine.....

2011-10-05T18:37:00.000-07:00

We did this fun literacy activity last week.

Growing Patterns

2011-10-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

To start the year we practiced repeating patterns and our class has done really well. We are now starting growing patterns. This concept is a bit more difficult. You can help your child by practicing at home. Use any real objects you have available at home. Here is an example of what we have done in class. You can click the picture here to download the PDF.

Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed

2011-09-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

We got to go out and have our "apple eating" party today at the end of the day.

Pictures of our apple print art.

The big books I read to our class.

One of our poems we are using to practice reading fluency.

Here are a few student samples of our character chart for Johnny Appleseed. I love when other teachers share great free ideas online.

Just a little peek at our Fall celebration day.

2011-09-23T16:25:00.000-07:00

Each student in our class was asked to bring an apple to school today. We did many fun math and literacy activities with apples to celebrate the 1st of fall. We graphed our apples according to color, we read our Scholastic News about apples, learned a bit about the legend Johnny Appleseed and did some fun art. We ran out of time to have an "apple eating party" at the end of the day. If your child would like, they may bring an apple to school Monday and we'll go outside and eat our apples then.

Our apple art. We used apples to make prints with paint.

This is an addition game that will be in our math stations. Each student works with a partner, and two dice. They each roll the dice and add the dots on the dice to see how many apples to draw on their tree. They also have to fill in the blanks on their paper to make an addition story problem.

ex. Conner has 5 apples.

Kaycee has 6 apples.

How many apples in all?

This is a fun and easy game to play at home. Each student should have brought home their paper from playing the game in class. All you need is a pencil to write down your names and numbers and a pair of dice.

The students made their own graph in their math journals.

Here is a graph the students helped me fill out.

Here is our class sitting on the floor next to our giant graph. We took one smiling picture and one silly face picture.

Also, my camera battery died so I didn't get to take some pictures of a few of our apple activities. I'll try to take some more pictures of them on Monday.
One of the activities I wasn't able to take a picture of was this cute idea for a main character chart about Johnny Appleseed I found here http://eberhartsexplorers.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-about-them-apples.html I'll post pictures of this Monday.

Main Character

2011-09-23T16:08:00.000-07:00

These are some student samples of a character web we've learned to use. I read

How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long and David Shannon and

Pirates Don't Change Diapers by Melinda Long and David Shannon to our class. We then discussed and decided that the main character in these two stories was Jeremy Jacob. We then brainstormed ideas of things that describe this main character. It was fun to see some of the things the students came up with about this fun character.

We have also been busy working on things that will be used during reading center time. Reading groups start on Monday September 26th. Students will spend time in a guided reading group for part of our "power hour", then the rest of the time they are working with a small group doing reading centers. During reading centers students are practicing skills they already have learned. Students practice reading and writing during this time. A big thanks to our parent and grandparent helpers who signed up to come help at centers. Anyone else who would like to help, please let me know. :)

Pictures of partners working with their math stations

2011-09-23T16:00:00.000-07:00

This past summer I read an awesome book about Math work stations.

Math Work Stations: Independent Learning You Can Count On, K-2 by Debbie Diller

I decided this was a great way to get students practicing Math in a more "hands on"/ applicable way while they are having fun and loving Math. We do our whole group Math lesson and work, then the class breaks up into pairs (see our previous post with pictures of how this looks). This does take more time on my part to get so many different stations prepared, but the results so far have been great!

Math Stations.. up and going! :)

2011-09-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

Pete the Cat

2011-09-20T06:11:00.000-07:00

These are some fun activities we did with Pete the Cat after I read the story to our class. I found these ideas on another teachers blog. I love the invented spelling that 1st graders use.

Pete the Cat

2011-09-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

We love Pete the Cat! More about fun activities with him later. Here is the website you can get on and watch online: http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/feature/petethecat/

Love it! :)

No school on Wednesday for students so I'll see our class on Thursday! Enjoy your day off. :)

Watermelon

2011-09-10T14:49:00.000-07:00

We've been learning about the 4 seasons and this week we wrote about summer and what we know about summer. We had a fun Friday tasting activity. I brought a watermelon from my garden and everyone got their own piece. Each student saved their seeds to use for a quick little art project.

Peacemakers vs. Peacebreakers

2011-09-10T14:41:00.000-07:00

A huge thanks to Cara @ the First Grade Parade. for sharing her idea about Peacemakers and Peacebreakers. Our class LOVED the David Shannon books and had fun making their own David. It was also a great way to review all of the rules we've been practicing.

Pattern practice for math stations

2011-09-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

Pattern key chains

2011-09-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

Our class used beads to make their own pattern key chains this week. It was a quick way for me to assess who is understanding how to pattern.

The four seasons

2011-09-07T20:30:00.000-07:00

We have been learning about what causes the seasons. Each student made their own sun and earth model to show how our Earth rotates around the sun.

Making Patterns

2011-09-07T20:25:00.001-07:00

Rules Rap

2011-09-04T20:29:00.001-07:00

Our class 2011-2012

2011-09-01T19:28:00.000-07:00

Math Stations

2011-09-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

This week we have been practicing what it should look like and sound like when we are at Math stations. The students in our class have had some exploration time to be able to use some of the "Math tools" that will be in their math stations this year.

Monday soon! :)

2011-08-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

Rules Rap

2011-08-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

I love this Rules Rap and will be teaching it to our class to help them remember the classroom rules! Rules Rap