art appreciation 2.0...

This week the 1st graders in room 116 were treated to another amazing art appreciation venture. This activity was led by Mrs. Robbins, with the help of Mrs. Bromley and Mr. Gale. The children were first introduced to Dancing Girl by Paul Klee. There was a fantastic discussion regarding the piece and what letters, numbers, and images were contained within the work. They then created their own sketches in which they drew some letters and numbers on paper and then created pictures out of these shapes. Next, the children moved to a different medium, black paper. Again, drawing letters and numbers and seeing what images could take shape. They then added texture and color.

This was an excellent activity. The children were so focused as they created their art. The best part is the children learned that Klee's Dancing Girl can be found in the New Modern wing at Chicago's Art Institute. They are all eager to take a venture to see the work in person and try to find the monogramed "PK", as Klee used a handkerchief as his canvas for Dancing Girl. 

I want to thank Mrs. Robbins for a wonderful project as well as Mrs. Bromely and Mr. Gale for their help making this so successful!!!

I have created a slideshow to capture the budding artists of room 116. :)

Pictures in our minds...

We have begun a new unit in our Open Court reading series, Our Neighborhood at Work. This unit explores a plethora of occupations and how the workers help their surrounding community. This mirrors nicely our unit on community in social studies we are concurrently studying.

Each unit in Open Court begins with a read aloud connected to the theme. During this opening story, I do not show the children the illustrations. The children are instead encouraged to draw a picture while I read out loud to them. Their picture may be an illustration inspired by the story, a personal connection to the story, or even a picture about the unit's theme. The children then add the read aloud's title to their creation (remembering to capitalize the beginning letter of each word and underlining said title) and take turns sharing their picture on the ELMO with the class. We thoroughly enjoy this activity!

This unit's initial read aloud is called Wake Up, City! by Alvin Tresselt. Here are some pictures the children created while they enjoyed this reading selection about a city coming to life in the morning.

From Miss C.'s Blog

From Miss C.'s Blog

From Miss C.'s Blog

From Miss C.'s Blog

From Miss C.'s Blog

From Miss C.'s Blog

November Skills Checklist...

Our work in room 116 has been diligent; we have now completed three units of study in Open Court Reading and Everyday Mathematics. Monday will be a review day and we will have our game face on to tackle the assessments of unit three on Tuesday. The assessments at the first grade level are a snapshot of skills, concepts, and topics we have covered in the unit of study. These assessments are a way of practicing test taking skills. There is no real preparation necessary for the first grade assessments. As long as your child has been participating and working hard, they will be successful.

That said, I'll share with you my November skills checklist. Again, these skills checklists are intended to inform you of what we will be working on in school and a suggestion of topics you can practice at home. Reading nightly and having great family conversation are always encouraged.

• can tell time on an analog clock to the hour and half hour
• can count backwards from 100
• can count by 2's to 100
• can count and exchange pennies, nickels, and dimes
• can read 2 and 3 digit numbers
• names even and odd numbers
• identifies before and after a specific number
• can write a complete sentence using correct capitalization and punctuation
• can identify and complete a pattern
• can solve addition and subtraction number stories
• can use standard units for measuring length
• completes frames and arrows diagrams
• can recognize the Dolch high frequency words 1-100
• can identify the main idea and details of a story
• can identify nouns, verbs, adjectives and compound words
• can recognize singular, plural, and possessive nouns
• can recognize and identify letter and sounds (j, dge, f, e, x, z, sh, th, ch, tch, ar, mb, ir, wh, ur, w, er, ng, k, qu, ce, ci, y)
• can identify living and non-living organisms
• can define and provide examples of habitats and organisms
• can identify address and phone number
  
• practices the Mustang Motto of respect, responsibility, and compassion

In closing, we enjoyed a three day (beautiful!) weekend in honor of Veteran's Day. I am including a picture of one of my heros...my cousin Seamus. He has been like a brother to me growing up, and he is currently serving his second tour of duty in Iraq. My thoughts are with him every day! Thank you so much to those who serve this great country!

From Miss C.'s Blog

Happy Halloween!

It was a dark and rainy afternoon...

Our Halloween party and parade day began like that of a spooky story, but we made the best of it! The costumes looked fantastic, the party activities were engaging, and the indoor parade was a rousing success! The children were grinning from ear to ear at their moment to shine as they marched down the hall. They thoroughly enjoyed watching the other classes parade by. Thank you so very much to ALL the parents that made our day a success! :)

From Miss C.'s Blog

Our first art appreciation venture...

This week the children in room 116 were treated to an amazing art appreciation activity! Mr. Gale with the assistance of Mrs. Robbins and Mrs. Gale, helped the children to discover their inner artist. First, the children were given a brief introduction of Picasso and his works, in print and plate sculpture. Then, the children completed a four square drawing. In each square, the children sketched a different face. Next, the young artists were shown a piece and encouraged to sketch each of the four faces depicted. Finally, they took their art to scuplture, and drew their own four faces sculpture. A BIG thank you to the parents that made this activity such a success! Enjoy the slideshow below of the artistic venture we took!

Is that pink in your hair?

I have a surprise in my hair. If you do not know you are looking for it you miss it. It is a teeny sliver of a dark pink hair extension in the back, on my left. The color pink is my favorite, but I would never put it in my hair...that is until this opportunity came about that I couldn't pass up.

I was at a local salon and spa with friends getting manicures and pedicures. The discussion came up that it was the month of October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In honor of this, the salon was offering pink hair extensions, with all the procedees going towards a breast cancer charity. I couldn't pass the opportunity up!

So if you look closely, you might see a sliver of dark pink in my hair, but know that while I am nothing but the professional, I couldn't pass up the chance to give a little bit for the fight against the devastating disease that is cancer.

From pink

October Skills Checklist...

I just adore this time of year! Apple picking and pumpkin carving, world series and football, hoodies and scarves! The school year is moving right along. It is already mid-October! The children are diligently working in room 116. We have already tackled two units of Everyday Math and Open Court Reading. I look forward to sitting down with you face-to-face at upcoming conference time to discuss in detail your child's academic and social progress for the beginning months of 1st grade.

As I sit here drinking my pumpkin spice latte and snacking on a taffy apple, I have some suggestions of things you can work on at home through the month of October.

• tell time on an analog clock to the hour/half hour
• count 1-100
• write a complete sentence using correct punctuation and capitalization
• add or subtract using a number line or hundreds chart (no finger counting or calculators)
• knows phone number with area code
• knows street address
• knows birthday month, day, and year
• knows city and state (and how to spell them with correct capitalization)
• can write first and last name (with correct capitalization)
• can count by 2's to 50
• can count by 5's to 50
• can sort the same objects into two different groups using and identifying different sorting criteria
• can find and name dates on the calendar
• name places in a local community
• can identify main idea and details of a story
• recognizes an antonym and a synonym
• can identify a noun, proper noun, and adjective
• calculates the values of combinations of pennies and nickels
• finds compliments of 10 (6+4,5+5,9+1, etc.)
• solves simple addition and subtraction story problems