Specials Schedule for the Week of 9/29 - 10/3

Monday (D) - Media Center
Tuesday (A) - Music
Wednesday (B) - Music & Art
Thursday (C) - PE
Friday (D) - Media Center

Please remember to bring gym shoes on days we have PE and return library books on days we visit the media center.

Mystery Reader

Thank you so much Mrs. HH for joining us in Room 112 as our first Mystery Reader of the year!  The children loved Library Mouse!

If you would like to be a mystery reader, please use the below sign up genius link. The link can also be found on the left side of our classroom blog.

 http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080a4ba4a822a46-mystery1

Fall Frolic Coming Soon!

From the Harlan PTA:

 Fall Frolic - October 10 

"The Harlan Fall Frolic is coming!  Harlan's Annual fun fair, AKA "The Frolic" will happen Friday, October 10th from 6-8 pm at the school.  If you are new to Harlan, you might be wondering "What is this Frolic thing?", "What is an Apron Lady?" and "How can I help out?".  Please see document below, which has the most frequently asked questions about the event.
Pre-order admission wristbands, which allow admission to all of the games and activities, will be available to order next week.
Look for the order form to come home this Friday.

2014 FALL FROLIC
OCTOBER 10^th FRIDAY
Frequently Asked Questions

Mark your calendar for the biggest family event of the school year!!!  The Harlan Frolic will be held on Friday, October 10^th from 6 to 8PM.  Here are a few FAQs to help you plan.

 What is the Frolic?  The Frolic is the annual fun fair for all students, preschool through 5^th grade, and families of Harlan.  There are carnival-style games with prizes, face painting, inflatable obstacle course and food.

What is Spirit Week?  The week of the Frolic will have designated themes each day to get all the students excited about the event.  If the student chooses to dress according to the theme, they will receive a ticket that they can redeem with the “Apron Ladies” during the evening of the Frolic to receive a piece of candy.  Daily themes for Spirit Week will be revealed in the Harlan Happenings as well as the Harlan PTA web site a week before.

What is an “Apron Lady”?  One of the most popular features of the Frolic is the “Apron Ladies”.   “Apron Ladies” are volunteers who walk around the evening of the Frolic wearing an apron filled with candy.  Students can exchange tickets earned by the children for participating in Spirit Week for small treats.

How much does it cost to attend?  Students can purchase an “all you can play” bracelet to attend the event.  The bracelet allows the students to participate in an unlimited amount of games, face painting, photo booth and play in the inflatable.  Bracelet order forms will be available online at www.harlanpta.com.  Pre-ordered bracelets are just $5 per child, with a maximum price of $15 per family.  All pre-ordered bracelets will be distributed via the oldest child’s classroom prior to the event.  Pre-order forms MUST be completed and returned to the Harlan Office by Monday, October 6^th to take advantage of the discounted rate.

Bracelets will also be available at the door for $10 each, maximum of $30/family.

Is there food?  Yes, food is served at the Frolic!  The full menu will include pizza, pretzels, apple slices, baby carrots, chips, popcorn, soda, water and more.  A Harlan Husky Meal bracelet can be purchased for $2.50.  The meal consists of one slice of pizza, a choice of chips, apple slices or baby carrots, and a drink.  Pre-ordering a meal is on the same form as the “all you can play” bracelet form.  To take advantage of the discounted meal, forms MUST be returned to the Harlan Office by Monday, October 6^th.

Food items will be $1 each the night of the Frolic purchased on a cash basis.


What is a “Cake Walk”?  The Cake Walk is a musical chairs-type of game with one big winner per round.  Each child that does not win a large cake will receive a mini-cupcake just for playing.  Peanut free cakes/cupcakes will be available.  Please support this fun event by donating a “prize” baked good.

What is the Basket Raffle?  During the week of the Frolic, raffle tickets can be purchased by students for $0.50 per ticket during lunch or the evening of the Frolic.   Students will place their raffle tickets in the container for their desired basket.  There are six different themed baskets of prizes.  All baskets will be on display in the front hall the week prior to the Frolic.  Drawing will be held at 8PM the evening of the Frolic in the cafeteria.

How can I help make this successful?  Volunteers are the core to the success of the Frolic.  Several volunteer opportunities exist with varying dates, times and responsibilities.  Sign up via  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084ba4a622a75-harlan   www.harlanpta.com to help with:

• Selling basket raffle tickets
• Bringing in a cake for the cake walk
• Helping set up
• Running a game
• Serving food
• Helping clean up

How will you communicate the details?  Most Frolic communication will be done via email.  The following forms or links can be found at www.harlanpta.com:

• Pre-order “all you can play” and Harlan Husky Meal Bracelets
• Volunteer sign up
• Cake Walk information

Volunteer Opportunities

Our class is looking for morning volunteers to help us get our days started on the right foot!  If you are interested in becoming a Morning Manager, please use the following Signup Genius link and choose a date(s) that work best for your schedule.  Morning Managers volunteer from 8:45 - 9:20am, and their responsibilities include helping the children put their things in their cubbies, making sure all lunches are in the outside bins, collecting red homework folders, taking any notes, forms or money out of folders, taking attendance and assisting with our Wake Up Work.

If you are interested, the link can be found below or on the right side of our blog under Morning Managers.

Thank you so much in advance!  The Managers that have already volunteered have done a fantastic job and they are much appreciated!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080a4ba4a822a46-morning

Properties of Matter - Solid, Liquid and Gas

We are currently learning about the different properties of matter in science.  While exploring a variety of solid objects, we compared them to see which ones were flexible or rigid, smooth or rough, soft or hard, has color or not, and pointed or flat.

We also discussed the differences between a solid, liquid and gas.  We learned that a solid has its own shape, while a liquid and a gas take on the shape of the container it is in.  We also found out that a liquid flows, while a gas completely fills its container. 

We had an interesting discussion about how the "gas' we put in our car is actually a liquid, and how our sun looks solid, but is actually a gas!  The children asked wonderful "I Wonder' questions just like real scientists!

Exploring Solids

In science today we begin our exploration of different types of matter. We are beginning with solids!

Our discussion began by learning that a solid will not change its shape based on the container it is in.

Here we are exploring a bag full of different kinds of solids. We discussed the different properties and attributes that they had including color, shape and material. 

Tomorrow we will be sorting different solids by their properties and attributes as well as comparing and contrasting them!

Delayed Start Reminder

This Wednesday, September 23, will have a delayed start to the school day. School will begin at 10:25 AM.

Popcorn Day Reminder

Tomorrow, September 22, will be the PTA's first Popcorn Day sale! Each bag will cost $0.50.

I will make sure to have a few extra quarters in case some of my friends forget their money. If you do not want your child to have popcorn, please let me know. 

Thank you!

Specials Schedule for the Week of 9/22 - 9/26

Monday (C) - PE

Tuesday (D) - Media Center

Wednesday (A) - Music

Thursday (B) - Music & Art

Friday (C) - PE

Please remember to bring a change of gym shoes on days we have PE and return library books on days we visit the media center. 

Detroit Tigers Day

Next Monday, September 22 will be Detroit Tigers Day at Harlan.  Wear your Detroit Tigers gear and help us cheer on the team as they face off against the White Sox!

Go Tigers!

Popcorn Day - Tuesday, September 23

The PTA will be having a popcorn sale next Tuesday, September 23.  Each bag of popcorn is $0.50.  I always to try to keep a few extra quarters in our room in case a friend forgets their money and would like popcorn.  If you do not want your child to have popcorn next week, please let me know so that I do not assume they forgot their quarters.

Thank you!  :)

Bee a Reader Logs

Ms. Groszek, our school reading specialist, is asking that any children who participated in the Bee a Reader summer reading program  please send their reading log to school by tomorrow, Friday, September 19.  Currently I have reading logs from:

NM
ES
KH
CW

If you do not see your child's name and you have already sent in the log, please let me know.

Thank you in advance!

Gentle Reminders

Tomorrow, Thursday, September 18 will be picture day. If you have not already done so, please return the picture day envelope indicating which pictures you would like your child to take.

Also, I wanted to let all families know that I will not be in the classroom this Friday. I will be in the building, but will be participating in a daylong professional development meeting around our first grade math curriculum with the rest of the first grade team and our instructional specialist, Mrs. Moss. I will still be able to respond to emails during the day it if you have any questions.

Thank you advance!

Word Wall Words

Below are the word wail words that we are reviewing this week.  Please go over them with your children at home if they are having trouble reading them on sight.  A few game suggestions were sent home yesterday through the blog.  A few more that I love are homemade word wall bingo or word wall Candyland! Write our word wall words on the Candyland cards and the children have to read the words to move to that color space!  It makes the game both fun and educational!


This week's words are:

at        all       are      come
her      his      look     put
she      this

Picture Day Reminder

This is a gentle reminder that our school picture day will be this Thursday, September 18. If you have not already done so, please return the picture order form in your child's red folder. If you have any questions, please let me know. 

Thank you advance!

Math Workshop

This week the first graders were mixed up and practiced switching classrooms for math.  Two of the activities the children were able to participate in were combinations of 10 and place value.

Here some of us are playing a game called Bears in a Cave.  This game helped us recall the different combinations of 10.  Each student had a paper bowl "cave," a bag of 10 bear manipulatives and a recording sheet.  The children placed different numbers of bears in the cave and found how many were left out in the forest.  For example, if 8 bears were in the cave, 2 bears were in the forest.  They then turned that combination into an equation:  8 + 2 = 10.  We had a blast playing this!

In another classroom, the children worked on place value.  Here they are becoming familiar with base 10 blocks.

Word Work

Before moving on to our first grade words, we are reviewing all the words we learned in kindergarten to put on our word wall.  To help familiarize ourselves with these words again, we have been playing games to remember how to read and write them without help from a fluent reader.  We call these word wall words or sight words - meaning you can read them on sight rather have to stretch them out.

Here we are playing a dice game where we rolled a dice and wrote the word that matched that number of dots.  We played to see which word would "win," and was rolled the most times.

Word Wall words that we have been reviewing are:

am                   in                       be                         is
did                  on                      do                         we
for                   he                      a                           and
I                      the                     see                        like
go                    to                      my                         me

We will be reviewing 10 more this week.  If your child is struggling with reading these words on sight, my favorite ways to practice them are with flashcards and magnetic letters.

Games to try:

Mix It, Fix It (with magnetic letters) - give them the letters they need to spell a word and have them mix them up and put them back together.  See if they can do it faster each time.  They can even race you!  When they become really good at a word, throw in a couple of extra letters they don't need to see if they can pull the word out of the pile.  And of course, you can't forget the mixing chant...

"Mix it, mix it, then we're going to fix it!  Mix it, mix it, go ahead and fix it!"

Slap It! (with flash cards) - place flashcards with the words you are reviewing face up on the table.  When you call out a word, the first person to slap the card gets to put it in their pile.  The reader with the biggest pile of words at the end is the winner!

Good luck, readers!

Launching Our Reader's Workshop

Just as we did in kindergarten last year, the first graders participate in reader's workshop everyday.  We begin with a mini lesson that focuses on a strategy or reading skill and then practice that skill together.  The children then have time for independent reading where they can utilize the skill we learned in the mini lesson.

We also learned how to "check out" books from our classroom library and return them matching the sticker on the book to the sticker on the bucket it came from.  In addition to this, we practiced selecting "just right" books for us to read for our book boxes.

By using a stamina chart, we have been keeping track of the amount of minutes that we can successfully read to ourselves.  We are already up to six minutes!  This is actual reading time, with no book selecting, bathroom trips or drinks from the drinking fountain! 

Welcome to First Grade and Room 112!

Hello, First Grade Families!

I am so excited to work with you and your children this year!  Thank you for being patient as our blog transitioned from last year's kindergarten blog to our new first grade blog!

On this blog, you will find pictures, reminders, important dates and sign ups for several family involvement opportunities. 

I hope you enjoy pictures for our first day of first grade!

Please let me know if you have any questions and thank you in advance!

The Magic Mix

At the end of our first day, each first grader was given a bag of plain white playdough.  On the outside of the bag was a poem.  It stated that the playdough was magic and would tell us how our year was going to go in Room 112. 

Magic playdough,

oh so white,

I make this wish with all my might!

If a color does appear,

it's going to be a great school year!

 

 

After opening the bags, we began to mush and smush the playdough together.  After a few minutes we started to hear gasps and squeals and our once white playdough changed before our eyes!  I guess we are all going to have a great time this year!

 

 

Getting our First Day Jitters Out!

On the first day of 1st grade we read the book First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg.  In this book, Sarah is having a hard time excepting that she has her first day of school that morning.  We got to hear about all the things that made her nervous.  In the end, we found out that Sarah wasn't even a student, but the teacher!  The kids loved hearing that even teachers are nervous for the first day!

We talked about all the different things that we were nervous about in 1st grade including trying new things, reading bigger books, doing harder math and making new friends.  We then made our own Jitter Juice to make those scary feelings go away!

Here we are drinking our special concoction (actually white grape juice, blue food coloring and peach sparkling water!)

Not only did it taste delicious, but the magic made us feel much better about starting a new school year!

Goodbye, Kindergarten

To the families of Room 100 2013-2014 Kindergarten Class -

It was an honor to share your children with you during their first year of school.  Each one of them holds a special place in my heart and I will always remember their amazing energy and bright smiles!  Please enjoy these last pictures of kindergarten, and know that I will always be there for you and your children if you ever need anything.  Remember, I moved with them into the first grade hall this year, so I will continue to keep an eye on my little friends!  :)

The first day of kindergarten

The last day of kindergarten

The kindergarteners of Room 100

We may have started as strangers, but we left as a family!  See you later, first graders!