Oobleck and Leap Day!

Today we listened to Bartholomew and the Oobleck  made Oobleck with Ms. Dyer.  It is a mixture of cornstarch and water (food coloring can be added, but can/will stain clothing).  If you want to make some at home don't put it in the drain when you are finished unless you want to have a visit from the plumber.  If you would like the recipe, most sites use this recipe:
- 1 cup water
- 1.5-2 cups corn starch
- a few drops of food coloring of your choice

Our other readers today included Mrs. Stephanie Gardner and Mrs. Diane Hutchinson.  Again thank you to all readers.

We have also gotten some students on the iPod Touch.  Thanks to an iTunes gift card I was able to get all students access to Teach Me First Grade.  A number of students had a chance to try it out today.  I can't wait to get some more students trying it out tomorrow.

Read Across America WEEK!

Our class is celebrating the birthday of Dr. Seuss all week with guest readers.  We will have even more over the next few days.  Thank you to all who have been reading to us and who will be reading to us over the next few days.  We are hearing a lot of fun stories before the week is out.  Are you reading at home?  If not, pick out your favorite Seuss book and see what tongue twisters you can read as a family. 

Our readers and books so far have included:
Ms. Ashton Williams ~ Green Eggs and Ham
Mr. Ronald Monroe ~ The Things You Can Think
Ms. Debra Dyer ~ Bartholomew and the Oobleck
Mrs. Nancy Swink ~ Hooway for Wodney Wat & I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!
Mrs. Mary Behre ~ Horton Hatches an Egg
Mrs. Yvonne Richard ~ Fox in Socks

We are looking forward to hearing from:
Mrs. Stephanie Gardner ~ The Lorax
Mrs. Diane Hutchinson ~ ??
Mr. Scott Elchenko ~ Oh, the Places You'll Go!
Mr. Stanley Jones ~ ??
Mr. Joe  Grzeika ~ ??
Mrs. Roselyn Dale ~ ??
Mrs. Robin Morgan ~ Daisy Head Maisy
Ms. Laura Jo Darcy ~ ??

I am very excited to have all of these people come to our school to help teach a lifelong love of reading to our class.  If you want to come and read but can't make it this week, PLEASE let me know and we can schedule a time that works for you.

Don't forget that this Friday is an early dismissal for students.  Please make sure your child has someone who will pick them up from school or the bus stop.

Thankful Thursday

A huge Thank You to E's family for sending an iTunes card for our class iPod Touch.  Several students have had a chance to use it this week and they are really enjoying it.  I spent a good part of the weekend loading lots of free apps for reading and math.  If you are interested in getting some apps for your iPod or iPhone, send me an email and I will be happy to share some names of ones that we have found to be very helpful.

Our class is still looking for some guest readers for next week.  If you are interested in coming to read to our class, please let me know. 

Happy 100th!

Happy 100th day!  We survived 100 days of school.  We had rotations with all the first grade classes, made a 100 day craft, and in general had a ton of fun.

I would like to say a special thank you to Stephanie Gardner from Fit For This World for coming to KGES and exercising with our first grade students.

We will bring our 100 items home later this week.  We had so much going on today in class that we did not get to fully explore all of our 100 items.

Happy Valentine's Day

Thank you for all the help at the party and all the yummy snacks that were sent in.  The party was a big success and I think everyone had a great time.  Tomorrow is our 80 minute planning day and we will also have rotations in the afternoon to celebrate the 100th day of school. 

Also thank you to all who ordered a copy of our class book.  If you missed out, but still want a copy, please send back the order form tomorrow.  I will be able to get it to the librarian before she heads to the post office at the end of the day. 

On another note, I will be out of school most of the day on Thursday for professional development.  I will be back late in the afternoon and the rest of the first grade teachers will be visiting our classroom to see a lesson that we developed as a team and I will be teaching my class.  The rest of the team will be teaching the same lesson to their classes over the next few days with the added bonus of seeing what went well and what did not. 

Back in the Saddle

We are back in our normal routine this week.  Normal homework, mostly normal schedule, and hopefully normal for everyone at home.

Our duck tape book labeling is going well.  If anyone is out and about and can pick up a pack of leopard pattern tape, it would be great!  I seem to be a little short on that one.  If you would like to come in and check out the tape in action.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Wild Wednesday

Can you believe it is February 1st?  I can't believe it, the weather has been so warm it seems more like March 1st.  We are learning some new centers in class this week and will be ready to put them into use next week when we really jump back into a normal schedule.

I am also working on a way to organize our classroom books.  I am hoping to do this by using lots of different colors of duct tape.  If you have some left over from a crafting project and are willing to share, that would be wonderful.