Week 35

Butterflies!

Students excited to see our butterflies hatched

Star of the Week showing off her pet

Mr. Smith (in his glasses) with students that have glasses

Student that just got new glasses!

New Samurai reader!

We had a great week this week!

Special Activities: We got to watch the high school swing choir and the high school jazz band perform.  Students really look up to those older kids, and they loved the performance.

This was also the last week of swimming for P.E.  Students got to have free-time for their last day, and they really had a blast with that.

Funny Stuff From Kids: During free time, students got a kick out of clapping to encourage the butterflies and make them have a desire to fly.  The funny thing is that their clapping actually did seem to motivate the butterflies.

Kids view the world in such a different way than adults, and they often they’re more compassionate.  We had one caterpillar that never did form a chrysalis to become a butterfly.  Students would say things like, “I feel so bad for that caterpillar.”

One student has had a lot of illness this year.  When I asked how she was doing, she replied “I have to eat pills…and I even have to swallow them!”

This week one of our students got glasses.  To encourage her to feel confident and comfortable wearing her glasses, I decided to wear my glasses instead of my contacts for awhile.  We got a picture of all the kids in the class with glasses, and I tried to compliment and encourage the kids with glasses.  The next day a handful of students showed up wearing random pairs of glasses, such as a parent’s old pair! 

After last recess, we took some time to clean up.  After cleaning up, students were expected to have their desks cleared off.  I looked over to find one student with a mayonnaise jar on his desk that had a sock over it!  (I have a few empty jars that they are allowed to play with during recess to try to catch grasshoppers, etc.)  Apparently he captured some ants during recess, and since he didn’t have a lid he took off his sock and covered the bottle using his sock!  Of course, I made him put his sock on and release the ants outside, but I do admit that I had to laugh. . .and it was pretty ingenuitive to find a substitute for not having a lid.  You never know what’s around the corner in first grade!!! 

One day this week I had a substitute.  I got a report from coach about their behavior at the swimming pool in P.E.  She had told the students that the only way that they could get candy from the quarter machine at the pool was if they brought quarters for everyone so no one felt left out.  Of course, she said this because she knew no one would bring a quarter for every kid in the class. . .Well, apparently the day I had a sub a student really did bring a quarter for every kid in the class!

Social Studies: This we talked about being aware of those around us.  We talked about treating everyone, including people with disabilities, just like we would want to be treated.  As part of that discussion, we learned about blind people.  Students learned what braille is, and they had a chance to try to create a message in braille by punching holes in a scratch paper with a sharp pencil. 

Math: This week we talked about several concepts.  One of the main concepts was how to use the math vocabulary of “certain, likely, and impossible.”  For example, if I have a bag of 7 red blocks and 1 blue one, is it certain, likely, or impossible for me to pull out a red block?

Project Read/Spelling: This week we focused on great big two syllable or more words.  Specifically, we talked about splitting up VCCV words between the consonants to hear the sounds for reading and spelling (din-ner instead of di-nner).  Students can usually read these hard words, but they have a hard time spelling them.  Students did not do extremely well on the spelling test, and we’ll spending a good chunk of time reviewing this concept over the last few weeks.        

Speedy Words and Rocket Math: Students are learning their math facts very well!

AR: Students keep progressing!

Writing: This week we continued working on the class writing project of making a first grade memories DVD. We also reviewed the things we’ve talked about for writing this year. 

Science: This week we watched a video about monkeys,  We also continued learning about butterflies.  We learned some fun facts about butterflies.  Our butterflies came out of their cacoons last weekend, and each group has had a chance to have the butterfly pavilion at their desks.  They have loved the chance to observe the butterflies firsthand!!