Reader's Theatre

Friday is quickly approaching and we are very excited for our Kevin Henkes Celebration Day. Just a reminder that you are invited to join us for our Reader's Theatre performance in the media center at 1:15. We look forward to seeing you.

Kevin Henkes Author Study

Throughout the author study we have been reading as many of his books as we can. One of the great things through this unit are retellings. We practice these through many different ways. Making puppets and retelling stories with them is so much fun for the kids. They love being creative and putting their own thoughts into the puppets. They were great! In class we have used them to do retellings with their friends. These stories are the same ones that many of them have done a retelling on in Writer's Workshop as well. Here are a couple of our friends with their puppets.

Computer Math Games

Looking for some fun games for your child to reinforce skills we have been working on in class? Check out these websites that focus on number words and time.

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/match/dragflip.asp?filename=donofrio-numberwords

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/match/dragflip.asp?filename=donofrio-numberwords2

text to graphic match(o'clock): http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/StopTheClock/sthecR.html

hour and half hour: http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/StopTheClock/sthec1.html

15 min intervals: http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/StopTheClock/sthec2.html

5 min intervals: http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/StopTheClock/sthec3.html

Barnyard Bingo

Did you hear about the Bingo Party on Thursday? All students that met their reading goal for the 2nd 9 weeks were treated to Barnyard Bingo with Mrs. Phillips. Each student was given a bingo board with farm related pictures. Then our own Mrs. Phillips would call out the name of the pictures. Each child walked out a winner with some chosen prize. The kids had a great time and even wrote Mrs. Phillips thank you cards for the great party. Here are some highlights:

Aren't they cute?

Last week we were treated to a special visit from some newborn chicks. The 5th grade team took part in the incubation of the chicken eggs over the course of a couple weeks. Once they were hatched they shared their new babies with our classroom. The kids had a ton of questions and our patrols did a great job of answering their questions. Here are some pictures from their visit with two of my previous students.

First Graders Making Connections

This week we started our Kevin Henkes author study. In Writer's Workshop, we have been making connections to his books. Today we read Owen. Here are some of our favorite connections:

Simran:
This book Owen reminds me of when Owen doesn't give up his blanket and always wants his blanket Fuzzy. I remember when I was almost four years old and I was still on a bottle and my mom and dad said that O needed to stop the bottle and now I am six and I stopped the bottle. Then I am going to turn seven on April fifteenth and that is how Owen is.

Jennifer:
Have you read the book Owen by Kevin Henkes? That story reminds me when I was a little girl and I had a stuffed bunny. He was pink and white. It was my sisters. She got to big for her so she gave it to me and now it is mine. In the part of this story when Owen didn't want to give it up his blanket because he loved it.

Prabhmeeka:
This book Owen by Kevin Henkes reminds me when Owen did not want to give his blanket away because Owen was to big for the blanket and my sister giver her shirt because she is too big for her shirt and now I am wearing her shirt like Owen. The end.

It's the 100th Day of School for First Graders

WOW! What a fun and exciting day we had for our 100th day of school. We had a great time dressing up as if we were 100 years old. I am not sure if the kids or the teachers had more fun. Our day was full of 100 day activities such as writing 100 words we know, completing a 100 day book, reading lots of 100 day stories, making hats, doing 100 exercises, and eating 100 snacks. We even had a quick surprise visit from Zero the Hero. Here are our little ones dressed up as 100 year olds.