November 13, 2012

Happy Tuesday!

Today in skills, the Organic Squirrels worked on ee as long e (like in meet).  They're working hard at reading Gran!

The Zesty Wombats are working on spellings for long o.  They've learned o (open), oe (toe), ow (snow), oa (goat), and o_e (bone).  They read a story called Val's Training about a girl who swims.  They're also reading Henry and Mudge books.

The Screaming Mustaches are reading books about the Littles, a family of small people.  Half the group is reading The Littles and the other half is reading The Littles Take a Trip.

The Ice Dragons are reading Henry and Ribsy which is a book about Henry and his bad dog, Ribsy.

We didn't have centers today.  Instead we worked more on Social Skills.
We read a story called The Worrywarts.  It's about three animals who worry about the worst things that can happen to them.  They prepare for the worst, and then when the bad things happen, they're ready.  It uses humor, too.  After we talked about how to break big worries down into all the things that would have to happen in order for that bad thing to happen.  It helped them see that the chances of big, bad things happening are teeeeeny tiiiiiny.

For example, one student said that she's worried about her Christmas tree catching on fire.  We talked about how, in order for that to happen, first you have to have unsafe lights that you didn't check before putting them up.  Then you have to leave the lights on for a long time, or overnight.  Then they have to malfunction.  Then they have to start a fire and the tree has to catch.  Then nobody has to notice it.  Then your smoke detectors have to not work.  The chances of ALL of these things happening at once are so small, and steps can be taken at each step, to minimize the chances of this happening (checking bulbs, unplugging the lights, putting batteries in the smoke detector and checking it, etc).

If your child comes to you with a worry that seems oversized, you can help them by breaking it down to see that it probably won't happen to them.

This afternoon the kids had Spanish, in which they're learning about seasons, music, in which they're singing folk songs and songs about Thanksgiving, and science, in which they're learning about body systems.

The kids had a generally good day.  It can be hard to come back after a long weekend, but they settled in and were ready to work!  Remember, tomorrow is a library day and we're going to the farm early!  Please send a packed lunch!

Friday 11-9-12 skills and centers from Michelle

... Just thought I would add on a little to Amy's post from earlier. Today in skills the first graders started their new book "Gran". They were so excited to read something new. Everyone's fluency is really starting to increase and that us exciting to see! We learned our first long vowel sound this week with the spelling of EE as in feet. The pace of new sounds will rapidly start to build from here in in. You will see more practice reading sheets coming home to reinforce skills the kids are learning. Please continue to practice tricky words as well.

In Centers today with all students we talked about using art as a calming strategy. We discussed that when we look at soothing pictures it can take our mind off what is worrying us or stressing us out. We then listened to relaxation music and colored our own calming pictures. The students were so relaxed after this it was wonderful to see!

Have a wonderful long weekend!
Michelle

November 9, 2012

Happy Friday!

Today we spent some time learning about Veterans' Day. In the morning, we learned about what a veteran is, and why we celebrate Veterans' Day.  We talked about how veterans serve in different branches of the armed forces, and that they work to protect us and to preserve our freedom.  We also talked about how they protect others and help others.  Most of the children know someone who is a veteran, which made our talks a bit more personal to them.

In the afternoon, the kids wrote about Veterans' Day and reasons they're thankful for veterans.  They also made a craft - a handprint eagle.  We talked about how eagles are a symbol for the United States.

They really enjoyed the craft!

Another thing we've started is a social skills initiative that I thought was really important.  

A lot of children suffer from anxiety, and even without anxiety, everyone has worries.  I started a mini-unit on worrying yesterday.  We read The Huge Bag of Worries by Virginia Ironside.  It's a book about a girl who has lots of worries, and the worries start collecting in a bag that follows her around.  At the end, her neighbor helps her "unpack her bag" and work through her worries.  

After that, we talked about some of the kids' worries.  They shared things like being afraid of the dark, worrying about going upstairs or in the basement alone, and people they care about getting hurt.  They seemed reassured that others shared their worries.

From here, we're going to read more books and learn how to sort our worries into things we can control and things we can't control.  We'll talk about how to work through worries, and how to deal when a worry seems too big.  

I'm hoping that by teaching the kids about worries and how to handle them, they'll be able to handle things better both at home and at school.  I'll keep you updated on the progress!

Enjoy your extra day off, and thank a veteran if you know one!

November 7, 2012

What a fantastic day it was, despite the horrible weather!

Today in project, the kids prepped seeds to put in the greenhouse. 

First, they had to poke holes in the bottoms of old milk containers.  This will allow for drainage when the plants are watered.

 

 

Before doing anything else related to actual planting, they smelled all of the seed choices.  They were planting herbs and spices, and many of the kids had never used or seen or smelled them.  They smelled fennel, cumin, caraway, mustard, poppy, dill, and celery seeds.

 

 

Next, they added soil to their milk cartons.

 

 

Then, they labeled popsicle sticks when they chose which seeds they would plant.  And, finally, they planted their seeds of choice in their containers.

It was quite a production, but the kids worked hard to stay calm, be patient, and be neat.  It will be interesting to see if these seeds grow!

Another wonderful thing that has happened involves the introduction of more games into the classroom.  I bought a bunch of board games for Grandparents' Day, and they're fun, cool games.  The kids have been INCREDIBLE about sharing, taking turns, and including each other in their play.  Today, they had a longer recess because it was project day and they were playing so wonderfully together.  They did games, blocks, and crafts.  I taught the kids how to make paper hats, and they really got into decorating them!

 

I was really pleased with how well the kids did today, academically, socially, and emotionally!

Grandparents and Special Friends Day

Today was Grandparents and Special Friends Day.

It was a really nice day.  The kids started off by making Ants on a Log.  Some of them decided to teach their grandparent or special friend how to make them, and others just munched all day long.

After that, they had the opportunity to play some new games.  The games ranged from Snakes and Ladders to Trouble to an Angry Birds game.  It was exciting for the kids to get to play games they hadn't seen before, and to share them with their loved ones.

They also colored pictures together, did word searches, explored the book fair, and got their pictures taken.

Sadly, I didn't have an opportunity to take any pictures today, but there are many on SSCPS' facebook page!  Check them out there!

It was a wonderful opportunity to see the kids playing so well together, including each other with their family members, and to meet so many more people!

Pre-Election Day

Because tomorrow is Grandparents' Day, I decided that we would hold our class election today.  I started by teaching the kids about the electoral college.  I used pie:

I likened a vote to a piece of pie.  Then I explained how each person gets a piece of pie, and the states with the most pie get to cast the most votes.  Then we split up into towns.  Rockland had 7 kids while Marshfield had 3 and Hanover had 1 (etc.).  I showed them how the kids in Rockland had a choice of who to vote for, and whoever got the most votes in Rockland would get ALL the Rockland votes.  Same with each of the towns.  Using pie helped the kids to understand the electoral college.  How cool!

After that, the kids got to vote. 

They had to stand in line, just like a real election.

They got their ballots...

Then they voted!

\

Everyone was happy to have voted!

And our results!  

Scott Brown beat Elizabeth Warren by one vote!

And Barack Obama had a decisive victory over Mitt Romney!

It was a great experience to vote and learn about the electoral college.  The pie wasn't bad, either!

Friday skills and centers from Michelle

This week the first graders have been having a pausing point in skills. This means they have finally finished the first book Snap Shots! Their fluency with reading is really starting to develop! We have been reviewing all of the concepts we have learned so far. We will continue with this part of next week as well. Please keep studying tricky words at home!!

In centers for our calming strategy today we discussed humor. We talked about how humor can help if your stressed, angry, sad or if your engine is low. We also discussed how if your engine is high humor may make you too silly. We took a poll of how everyone was feeling, watched a funny movie clip, then took another poll and compared. We talked about things that make us laugh and told a few jokes. We will add a joke book to our calming basket.

Hope everyone is recovering from the storm and Halloween.