First Grade's a Hoot: February 2012

Sunday, February 5, 2012

February Fun

Does anyone else think February is too short for all the stuff we need to cover in 1st grade?! I mean really Ground Hog Day, 100th Day, Valentine's Day, Presidents Day and Black History Month?!?!? In 29 days? Of which we are really only in school maybe 20? We have a 4 day weekend this year around Presidents Day so I have even less time! Thought I would post a bit of what we have been up to what I plan to get to and what might get left behind or pushed into March.
First off, my door--- each month we decorate our doors and post kids pictures. I am not sure who came up with this but Mrs. Cap taught me my first year and I really enjoy it. This time I decide to incorporate Catholic Schools Week, Snow and Valentine's Day. I think it turned out pretty cute but I might tweak it for next year...

We celebrated Ground Hog Day with Jennifer's Ground Hog Freebie and a short video on the Phil. We also read a story from Treasures.

For centers and Valentine theme units I decided on these:

Part of my to do list this weekend is to figure out what I am taking from each and get a list of materials together. I have all these units sitting next to my computer as we speak. If I have time I would love to make Jennifer's Valentine Friend as well.

Up next the 100th Day of School celebration which for us is this Tuesday. As you can see from the picture below I will be basing everything off of The Wolf's Chicken Stew. I was lucky to find a copy at the library and am using Michelle Oakes' unit along with a few other things I found on Pinterest. I am making these for the kindergarten-1st teachers at school tonight.

At our school kindergarten and first graders bring in a 100 Days project. It is supposed to be something that either has 100 items or says 100. Last year AJ made the number 100 out of 100 100 Grand Chocolate bars. Can I just say it was soooo yummy! Gish thought up that project last year so it was up to me to think up this years. Though last years wasn't super crafty I felt the pressure to come up with something good. Gish takes pride in telling me his project made all the teachers happy once it was over because we got to eat them all. I have this competitive side to me that had to find something good so he would be quiet. Sad but true I do battle him out on little things.

I had seen a wiggly eye t-shirt on Pinterest and asked AJ if she would be down for making a monster on canvas. We looked at a whole bunch of friendly monsters online and then she told me what she wanted hers to look like. I sketched it on canvas and had her paint it in the colors she liked. I outlined some parts for her and then we let it dry. The next evening we counted out 100 wiggly eyes, grouped them into 10's and then started sticking them on. I was scared they wouldn't all fit but they did. I think it turned out really cute. She named her monster Hundy and can't wait to take it to school.

Social Studies is where I am having trouble.. For Black History Month I plan to teach about Ruby Bridges and Rosa Parks. I would love to get more in but haven't found much on this topic. I am hoping to get to Presidents Day and use Rachelle's packet but how do I get all this in and finish our mapping unit, when we only meet 2x's a week?!

Instead of a brownie pan this month my class will be trying to fill a box of chocolates. I painted the inside of a canvas red and added black stripes. Then I put little mini muffin liners inside to place chocolates in. I will post a picture as soon as I can.

The thing I am still debating in Mardi Gras. So does anyone else think February should be just a bit longer or not have as much going on???

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Catholic Schools Week 2012

Just in case you were not aware, I teach at a small Catholic school in Maryland. People often ask me when I want to go public and if I have any idea how much they get paid. Some people even assume I'm not certified because I teach in a private school. It's like they don't understand why someone would want to teach in private school. Now I can't speak for every private school or much less for every private school teacher but in my case, I don't to go public, yes I know how much they get paid and I am indeed certified. The truth is I love my school and I love my job! Working my school is a blessing! I have so much fun everyday and honestly work with the best people ever! I mean I even send my daughter there and plan on sending my son next year. We get to do so many interesting things and have so much fun!

Case in point--- Catholic Schools Week. The last week in January we celebrate Catholic Education. We always begin with mass on Sunday, the students have to wear their uniforms and do the readings, petitions and gifts. On Monday of this week we had career day. My class was visited by one dad who is a surgeon, a school mom who is an author and a deacon. The kids loved hearing about their careers and of course sharing all they knew about being authors and doctors. They also made pictures for a book Mrs. D hopes to publish. On Tuesday we made Penguin Fact & Joke Books for the Children's Inn at NIH. This was the perfect final project for our penguin unit and really let the kids do something to benefit others. I used a Time for Kids flyer to introduce the idea of serving others and then we discussed what we could do the make someone's day brighter. They loved picking one fact and illustrating their joke.

On Wednesday we began the day with a prayer service dedicate to the parents and also had open house. Thursday was Student Appreciation Day. In 1B we watched Happy Feet, had a no homework night and joined the rest of the school for Double Dare. My team teacher Mrs. Cap created a game of HR Double Dare. She pinned the A classes against the B classes and assigned us each a color. I was white along with the rest of the B classes and AJ was red along with all the A classes. Lisa then drew names of 4th-8th graders and teachers. She came up with trivia questions based on pop culture, religion and teacher info. Probably the most loved part though was the physical challenges she threw in. My kids were hooting and cheering at the WHOLE time. Watching Cheeto head, the whip cream challenge and the relay race was so fun! In the end it was a tie, ~~truthfully I think my white team got creamed,~~ and everyone went home happy!

Whip Cream Challenge

The White Team

Double Dare Stage

Cheeto Head Challenge

Red Team

Friday was Teacher Appreciation Day and a half day. We had mass then our 4th grade buddies came over for a Snowman Birthday Party. We had been using Abby's Snowman's Celebration all week and invited our buddies to the party. The kids made invites for their buddies as part of writer's workshop this week. They were so excited to deliver them! I asked our room parents to help us gather up some supplies so we could do a snowman relay dress race I saw in Disney's February issue of Family Fun Magazine. My buddy teacher Mrs. H bought all the supplies we need for the children to make a Trinity Snowman make and take treat I found on Pinterest and I got all the supplies for to make snowmen sundaes. We tied this party into Catholic Schools Week by teaching the kids about the Trinity and giving them this poem.

After our party the whole school attended the variety show. Some teachers performed a skit to Teach Me How to Study, (a play on Teach Me How to Dougie), which was a hit with all the kids. Thankfully I just had one line! I am more than happy to leave all the rapping, signing and dancing to my more talented counterparts! And oh my word let me just tell y'all Mrs. Cap can rap with the best of them! She and one third grade teacher were A-MAZING!

If you've made it this far, thanks for showing interest in my world. I hope I have shown a small piece of why I choose to teach where I teach!

P.S. Can someone PLEASE share an easier way to format and organize pictures in a post? All the randomness of blogger is driving me CRAZY!