Don't worry, we're all still here!

It has been quite awhile since I've posted to update you about our classroom! I apologize for the long duration between posts! I was absent from school from Tuesday, January 17th through Friday, January 20th so if your kiddo came home and reported that things were a little crazy at school, that's why. We had some fun guest teachers who taught us about space, helped us learn new math games, and taught us new games and songs.

Now that I have returned, and we're returning to normalcy again here are some things we have been working on:

• We took our Unit three assessment and really did show what we know! We are experts at making groups of 10 (8 and 2, 7 and 3), we can count pennies, nickels, and dimes together, tell time to the nearest half hour, and solve number stories! WAY TO GO FIRST GRADERS!
• We also took our winter reading and math tests and have all made great progress! I am excited to share this information with you at conferences!
• With the beginning of the new quarter, we examined our classroom rules and have added a couple more. We will continue to work on these on Monday, but I will post them as soon as we all agree.
• Next week we will also look at the hopes and dreams that we made at the beginning of the year. If we have accomplished the ones we set, we will set new ones for the rest of first grade. (Can you believe the year is half over already?!)

Thank you for your patience with me this past week and a half as I recover from being gone. Conferences are coming up on Thursday, February 2nd and Wednesday, February 8th . I will send home information on Monday that confirms your conference time and day.

"Is that really your outfit today?"

I was greeted by the very first kiddo with that question today. What a way to start that day, with brutal honesty! Ok, I admit I hit the snooze for an extra 15 minutes of sleep in lieu of a shower so my hair might have been questionable, but other than that my outfit was pretty normal. Nothing like a kiddo's brutal honesty to snap you awake in the morning!

Yesterday we started Read Well with Mrs. DeWitt joining us! She was checking in to see our progress, how we are working, and the amazing work our kiddos are doing! We have come so far in our reading I know families have seen improvements, but wait until the end of the quarter! We started reading a new poem about my favorite animal today titled "WH as is Whale". I'm not sure who has loved these two days more...me or the kiddos. Today to end Read Well we read a non-fiction book about whales and the kiddos shared what they knew about them. 30 minutes later we finished the book! Apparently I have been spouting out more whale facts than I realized or our kiddos love whales as much as I do!

Yesterday and today were very important days because our kids took their winter reading tests! The progress our kids are making literally made me cry! They have made some huge gains! I didn't need to wait for the winter tests to tell me that, but the confirmation was wonderful! While our friends took their tests, some of us waited in the hallway reading books. I was proud of how patiently, silently, and focused we waited!

And, after we got done with our testing we rewarded our hard work by playing a long game of eraser tag. It's similar to freeze tag with one difference; the taggers have erasers on their head and have to keep them balanced while in pursuit of the other kids. Our kiddos LOVE this game!

bby was sweetly talking to Josiah about recess and then
BAM! she tagged him. He never saw it coming.

Here are a few pictures that I forgot to post of our kiddos role playing "Stop, Walk, and Talk". They're too sweet not for you to see. We have really been practicing this these past two days and are good at it.

Stop!

Walk to a teacher.

Talk to the teacher so they can
help you.

Books We Read Today:

Baby Beluga (well, technically we sang through the book) 

Whales and Dolphins 

Interesting Tidbits from our Day

"Whoa, this writing stuff is hard!" (We are becoming better writers too, so I don't believe it!"

"Why are you crying? Did someone wrinkle your heart? I'll help you un-wrinkle it." 

"I made the treasure map for you. And guess what... it leads to gold!"

Well, since I have a new treasure map, I'll be spending my weekend searching for gold. The pictures, trinkets, and even maps, that I get are wonderful and make me smile. The best part about this map is the question that this kiddo asked about 15 times today: "Did you use the map yet?" Upon my response, "nope, not yet!" he let out a disappointed sigh followed by, "Ok, but later?"

We have had a busy two days in Room F! I am floored by how much the kiddos have grown physically, but also academically. Winter break usually one of the times that we see kids sprout and it's refreshing every year! Many of the concepts we have been working on throughout the fall are finally "clicking" now. Today we started using base ten blocks to represent numbers. We learned how to trade 10 ones for a group of ten. Understanding this concept will help us as we start to use larger numbers more often, but also as we count money, add, and subtract. We learned how to play a new game today called "Subtraction Tic-Tac-Toe". This game is especially tricky because it gives students two numbers and they have to decide which number to subtract from. Not only did our kiddos understand, but they played so with ease and compassion for each other. In the next two weeks, we will take our winter MAP tests. I am anxious to see the improvement that each of the kiddos made.

Today we revisited the "Stop, Walk, Talk" approach to conflict. We learned this in the fall and are refreshing our memory with the new year. When the students find themselves in a situation of bullying that they cannot resolve themselves they  say "stop", walk away, and then talk to an adult to. The students are becoming more adept at using this skill and I am confident in their abilities especially after today.

Books We Read Today:

The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers by Lisa Campbell Ernst

"Ugh, that was worse than Thanksgiving break!"

It almost doesn't seem fair that I get to A. spend my day with these kiddos and B. get the joys of witness all of the hilarity that ensues in Room F! I was greeted at my door this morning not by usual greetings, but by at least 3 children talking about their holiday break...at the same time. At one time I counted 7 kiddos all tugging on my clothes and talking away. It was exciting to hear about how each of our kiddos spent their time away from school. When a kiddo said the above comment and I asked him why, he said "Well it was like 10 times longer!"

I was suprised at how seamlessly we transitioned back into school life. We took very little time today re-teaching our routines- moving in our classroom, lining up, getting and putting away tools, sitting on our carpet, Read Well logistics. The kiddos were very proud that they remembered these details and this pride made for a successful day! We did struggle to get our brains in gear though...myself included. I asked the kiddos this question during math: "Start at 14 and count up 7. What number do you land on?" As a disclaimer, this is the exact type of problem we have been working on all year and I know for a fact that we can all do it. Instead, I gazed upon 15 faces that looked at me as if I was speaking a different language. One kiddo even sighed and said discouragingly, "Man, this is haaaaard."Have no fear however, after a few problems we started to remember how to do this.

We continued to study different types of families today by reading the book Pink by Nan Gregory. In this story, the main character wants a pink doll more than anything. Her family can't afford it so she starts working and saving only to find out that someone else from her school bought it. This is a powerful lesson for our kiddos in how sometimes we don't always get what we want and it's ok. It was interesting to hear the stories of the kiddos and of the things they wanted. We will continue our discussion tomorrow about how we can cope with disappointments like this and how we can support each other.

Books We Read Today:

Pink by Nan Gregory

Pirates Don't Change Diapers by Melinda Long and David Shannon (In honor of our poem this week that teaches us that a and r say "Ar!")

The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers by Lisa Ernst
THANK YOU TO MARCIA AND JOHN O'DUGGAN FOR THIS GREAT BOOK! WE LAUGHED ALL THE WAY THROUGH IT!



Interesting Tidbits From Our Day

"Ms. Carlberg, santa was creeping in my house! Can you believe it!? I didn't even hear him creeping around!"

[After making a joke which I'm sure wasn't as funny as I played it off to be I stated, "I have some sillies in my brain today.] *Putting his hand on his hip, "Umm, you have sillies in your brain EVERYDAY not just today!"


"It's time to go home already! What is it with all of this leaving?!"