From Adjective to Washington

I should really rename this segment to the Two Week Review, because I always feel like I am catching up on two weeks, but anyway, here we go! Last Friday we had our last Historian Friday before we move back into SCI-FRI: in honor of President's day my lab student presented some information on George Washington. She showed us a Powerpoint while we jotted down important facts on post-its. After, the students were able to take a post-it from the board and write down Washington facts. Then they got to create their own George! 

 Aren't they cute!

Today we read about "Honest Abe" and since it was rainy and we couldn't go out for recess, we got to have Movie Time and watch a movie about our friend Abe. 

Here is a writing about George. 

 Last week our grammar skill was reviewing contractions. I took this fabulous idea from Cara and added a fun spin to put it on my bulletin board. We took our contraction and wrote about them and drew a picture. 

Dr. Apostrophe is ready for surgery!

They loved this one!

I was so impressed with their drawings!

 "I preformed surgery on ___ & ___. After surgery the two words became ____. " 

We have been learning about penguins the last two weeks and for one of our stations did an ABC word order game. My kids LOVE penguins and loved waddling around. 

This week our grammar skill was adjectives, which was a little tough for us: good thing we have two more weeks to prefect our skill. We read this book:

and then we used the activity at the back to make Acrostic Name Adjectives. 

I loved the B is for big with the picture of just a set of legs! 

Well I'm off to prepare for Read Across America Week with some fun Dr. Seuss activities, catch you up next week! 

~Miss Anderson 

the purpose of teaching and a little valentine's day

So I was thinking...today was a hard day. I am having trouble with one of my friends but I know with some more prayer and love they'll turn it around. But today ended on a good note from one of my special little boys in my room. One of my boys went to read with our reading coach (he came to me reading 5 wpm and now we are at 55!!) at the end of the day so I popped in to listen when I dropped my kids off at PE. After hearing him read and our reading coach and I gushing over how great of a reader he is this special gift was given to us. We were talking about something else and he began writing this note, totally unprompted.

"I am a good reader and my teecher think I am a good reader. 

and I Love my teecher and I love miss planz" 

Needless to say I left the room with tears filling my eyes. After a long day it was just what I needed to be reminded that I am making a difference. This little boy who came to me not know all of his sounds is now reading and BELIEVING IN HIMSELF! I am so proud that all of his hard work has paid off, he truly loves reading to anyone who will let him read! Now I know the words are spelled wrong and they aren't perfect sentences, but those are not the important things in life. Yes, I am a teacher saying that, but its because I believe believing in yourself can take you far in life!

Now before I start crying again, let's talk about Valentine's Day.

A great part of being a teacher: having 20 Valentines!

 They loved the crayons!

 Valentine bags to hold all of our loot!

 cake pops made a great Valentine treat! 

(for a how to look over at the sis's blog)

 ~sugar high~

 The class beside me made these! How cute, definitely going to try these 

out next year, or in our ladybug unit!

 We rounded the day out by doing a Candy Heart probability worksheet I found in blogland. 

Thanks for reading!

~Miss Anderson

Valentine's Day gifts for the Firsties!

As many of my ideas do, I took this idea from Pinterest and added my own twist!

You make life colorful Valentine!

We have been collecting broken crayons in my room since the beginning of the year, so over the weekend I snuck them out of the room for our little gift!

Let the peeling begin.

A few years ago, I found this silicone heart muffin pan. The hearts were bigger than the example but with the bigger the better in First grade!

 I broke the crayons and added them into the hearts and then the baking began. 

230 degrees for 15 minutes. 

(Remember to put the silicone sheet on a baking sheet before putting them in the oven)

After melting down I popped the pan into the freezer for about 7 minutes to quick freeze the crayons. 

Then came the presentation. I had some leftover heart di-cuts from another project so I brought those home and glued them together. 

Put a dab of hot glue on the paper heart and attach the crayon. This is important because if you try to put the hot glue on the crayon it will begin to melt again.

Add your saying!

Happy Valentine's Day! 

~Miss Anderson