Woo-hoo! Welcome back!

Welcome to first grade!

First grade is such a fun grade. We are fortunate enough to go on many field trips, have many specials events, and learn SO much academically! On this blog, you will see me update things almost weekly about what we are learning inside the classroom. (Or at least I try… J) It’s like a window into the classroom. Parents and students, feel free to check out the website! Yay to this being the first post for the 2014-2015 school year!

The first week of school, we learned and practiced basic procedures such as:

- how to unpack when we get to class

-how to walk in line quietly

-how to stand in line quietly

-raising our hands when we have something to share

-rules to the math centers

-rules to the class library

And the list goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on!

So it took me about 2 weeks to set up the classroom. I basically kept the same layout as last year just because it worked with traffic flow and everything else. Here is what we started the classroom off with. By the end of the school year, this classroom will be filled.

Our Vietnamese word wall!

Math Corner where all the fun manipulatives are located.

We read "Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker." They really enjoyed this book. It was about an owl named Lacey that talked so much, she lost her voice! We talked about what it looks like to be a good listener after reading the book.

I felt like they were ready for math centers so I have slowly been introducing activities/games one by one. Even though the math center is fun, there are certain rules they must follow. Ask your child to share with you what these rules are!

We did a fun science experiment with gummy bears during the week. We placed gummy bears in a cup of water, observed what we saw, and recorded our observations. We then also predicted what we thought the gummy bear was going to look like the next day.

Most of the students predicted the gummy bear would get bigger and they were right! There is something about an oversized gummy bear that makes everyone so excited. The kids were so excited that it got pretty loud in our “science lab.”

This is the before and after of the gummy bears. I know, it looks like a blob but in person, you could see the definition of the bear more. 

Silly Quote of the Week:

T: “Cô Tracy, are you a kid?”