We are all on the bus to first grade and we are off to a great start!
We have the perfect class of 20, and we are all excited to be here... Meet this year's group of hard workers!
Back to School Night was a great success. It was so great to meet all of the parents and I think that they enjoyed seeing all of the work that their children have done so far this year! The night was filled with lots of information about all that we do throughout the year. Everything was included in this little flipbook that I made (Yes... I am really proud of it!! hehe)...
And although there was LOTS of information given throughout the night, my favorite are the more informal parts of the night; reading the notes that the parents write back to their children, watching as the parents enjoy the work that their children have done, interacting with parents, and visiting with parents from previous years! The apple gift is another one of my favorites. The leaf on the apple says, "An apple for the teacher is really nothing new, except when we remember that parents are teachers too!" So true!!! For all my 2015- 2016 parents out there... I am really looking forward to developing this partnership with you!
One of the projects that we do at the beginning of the year is a "Guess Who?" project. The kids love writing clues about themselves for parents and other friends. The idea is that at Back to School Night, the parents have to guess which one is their child only by the clues. Because there is NO WAY that you can tell who is who by the pictures! These pictures are now hanging out in the hallway and I love watching children from other classes stop by, trying to guess who is in the Miakisz Clan! See if you can tell who these kiddos are below...
The first theme that we explore in September is apples. One of the activities that we did was an apple glyph. For those of you who have followed my blog for awhile, you may remember the snowman glyph that we made last winter. For all my newbies, I am happy to quote myself, as I explain what a glyph is: "When you hear glyph you probably think about hieroglyphics, which is an ancient form of writing that uses pictures. That is where the word glyph comes from in the crafting world. When you look at a project that is a glyph, you will get information about the artist from the pictures or parts in each individual piece." There were a few different questions that helped to make each apple unique. By looking the apples you will know if the child likes or dislikes apples, what color is their favorite, if they have ever eaten a seed, and how they like their apples best. The apple glyph poster, bulletin board with all of the apples, and a few close up examples are shown below.
We also read the book Johnny Appleseed. The book does a great job teaching the students about biography and folk lore. They always enjoy deciphering between the parts that are real facts and the parts that have been elaborated. They learn that John Chapman was once a boy, who became known for loving nature and planting many apple trees. They also learn that it probably is not true that he enjoyed frolicking and wrestling with a family of bears! After we read the book, we make our own apple orchard. All done with paint, and no paint brushes. Yes... I said it.... finger painting. Brave, I know! When there are rules anything is possible! My little artists created some beautiful apple trees. Take a peek!
With all the talk of apples in school, I decided that it was time for me to go apple picking with my little family. It was Clark's first time. Being only 6 months old, he seemed to enjoy it and even got to pick some of his own apples!!
Then it was time to really kick off fall! The first day of fall, September 23rd, was actually a very nice day. I decided it would be fun to go on our fall scavenger hunt. Although most of the trees were still green, we were able to see some of the leaves changing. We also read a book about why and how the leaves change. The students report to me each day that they have observed more and more changing leaves as the days go on. During centers one day, the students created a cute acorn craftivity (acorns were one of the things that we looked for on the scavenger hunt). After the students made their acorn, they wrote about their favorite part of fall. These came out cute!!
And then it was October, fire safety month. On the first day of October, we had our annual fire prevention/ fire safety assembly in the cafeteria. The firemen come and do their presentation. Prior to this date, the first graders all create their own fire safety poster. Then, the firemen choose (in their opinion) the 3 best posters of all! The first prize winner gets to ride in the fire truck and the second and third place winners get a ca$h prize! I am happy to report that the second and third place winners came from room B4. That's right folks, two winners from our class! I was ever so proud and I think they were too :). Here's Bailie and Shaelyn, showing off their beautiful work!
That's all for now! More October news in the next post. Until then...
