Sunday, August 31, 2014

High Quality Work

We are diving into high quality work as part of our first case study for our Learning Expedition: "Everybody Has a Story".   Students are sharing about themselves through oral communication and drawing a high quality self portrait. As first graders, we realized this is a lot of work that takes a lot of perseverance.  









First, we had Mrs. Fisher, our art teacher, come as an expert to teach us about how to even start a self portrait. 

On days 1 & 2, we used YouTube to help us with a step by step plan using a mirror to complete our rough draft of our self portrait.  As artist, we used both our eyes and our hands to observe our facial features.








On day 3, we conferred with a friend using the model...

"I noticed...."
"I wonder...."
to give constructive feedback.  This allowed us to revise some of our drawings by adding and removing some things.


Lastly we transferred our rough draft onto our final draft copy.  We have had to show GREAT perseverance.  This week, we will be adding the final touches with color techniques such as blending and shading.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Tie Dye Week

What a fun three day week!  We continue to discuss routines and procedures.  We have created our classroom norms..... 
This week we talked about healthy food choices.
~Green light foods - foods that we can eat all the time and help us keep going
~Yellow light foods - foods that we eat once or twice a day to keep us healthy
~Red light foods - foods that we eat once in a while as a special treat
 We had so much fun tie dying our yellow shirts!  These will come home on or with your child on Monday. Thank you for sending in the correct writer's notebooks and a big thank you to those of you who sent in extras to donate to our class.  

Thank you again for getting your child to his/her scheduled time on Assessment Days!  This gave me a lot of information to drive my instruction.

Friday, August 15, 2014

First Week!

We had a great first week of school!  Thank you to all the parents who attended Back to School Night.  I always love sharing the information about our year.

This week, we practiced routines, routines, routines!  The students learned the expectations of the: lunchroom, bathroom, hallway, playground, CREW and classroom.  We are practicing a lot so that we know exactly what to do!  We will continue to build relationships next week by talking about friendship skills and CREW.

Please remember that we only have 3 days of school next week due to Assessment Days being on Thursday and Friday.  We will have P.E.(continue to wear athletic shoes) and technology on Monday.  We will go to music on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Please send in a labeled white t-shirt and Primary Notebook by Monday, August 18 if you haven't already.


Sunday, August 10, 2014

The First Day of School is here!!!

Ms. Chris (1st Grade Educational Assistant), Ms. Rivera, Mrs. Schumacher & Mrs. Lysinger

We are all ready for the first day of school!  We are so excited for the learning and growth that will happen this year in first grade.  If you didn't get a chance to bring in your student's supplies, please bring them tomorrow.  Remember to pack a healthy snack (fruit or vegetable please) and a water bottle. 
These first weeks of school will be about building relationships and routines.  This will lead to a strong first grade community!  Thank you for helping your child get lots of rest and a healthy breakfast!

See you tomorrow!