Global Read Aloud

Today marked our first day participating in Global Read Aloud.  The Global Read Aloud mission is for one book to connect the world. Over the next few weeks we will be reading, doing activities, and working on comprehension skills while reading Marty McGuire by Kate Messner.  Schools and classrooms all over the world will be reading this story along with us.

Here are just some of the schools and classrooms participating in this project.
Click on the link to find Fuller Meadow.

We will be connecting with Mrs. Gelles' 1st graders from Bear Creek Elementary School in Grapevine, Texas.  This morning we sent our new friends in Texas a class picture and were so excited to receive one back.  Along the way both classes will be doing similar activities and skyping to share our read aloud experiences.

        Hello from Massachusetts!                                        Our new friends from Texas!

 To kick off the project, 1st graders used clues from the story and what they already know to make predictions.  

Tomorrow we are going to add our class prediction to Bear Creek Elementary School's 1st grade prediction wall.  We look forward to our first virtual meeting!

Open House

Normally, Klipfel & Kids looks like this...

Last night, Klipfel &Kids looked like this...

It was a pleasure meeting all of you at Open House.  The boys and girls loved seeing your picture, names on the Smartboard and reading your notes.  Oh and of course they loved that you helped earn them some Klipfel Kash. Thank you for your continual support from home during this school year.

Klipfel Kash

Money! Money! Money! 

Students have been hard at work earning Klipfel Kash. Klipfel Kash can be earned by following the classroom rules and showing outstanding behavior. Students might earn a dollar for including a friend, being kind to someone else, showing excellent manners, having a clean desk or simply following the directions. You just never know when you could earn some Kash.

On Fridays, students take a visit to the Klipfel Konvenience Store to spend their hard earned money.  Prices range from $5, $10 and $20.  Boys and girls remember to keep your eyes on those flyers, Klipfel Konvience Store often has sale prices for special occasions.

Each week one of our class jobs is the banker.  The banker double checks that all Kash has been counted correctly and finalizes the transaction.  It's always fun to see who's a saver and who's a spender.

Make sure to pay the banker-correct change only.

Centers

One of the more popular times during our day in 1st grade is center time or W.I.N (What I Need) time.  During center time, students work on different reading, writing or math activities around the classroom. Take a peek around our classroom...

Students using our class symbaloo to explore reading and math websites on the computers.  Make sure to check out our symbaloo at home too. 

Working in pairs and groups to practice sight words with magnets and stamps.  We're trying to read and spell these words automatically.

Playing hang mouse on the Smartboard.
Check out http://www.spellingcity.com/Klipfel/
 to play hang mouse at home but don't wake the cat!

I'm so excited to announce that thanks to this Klipfel & Kids blog, we earned a free class subscription to spelling city this year! Students' logins and usernames are the same as those for IXL.  When signing in students can access the free activities as well as the premium ones.

Lots of reading takes place during center time, either with me, at the listening center or with a friend. 

Kevin Henkes

This afternoon we took part in a live webcast with the wonderful author Kevin Henkes.  Mrs. Higgins' class came to join us for this special event.  This was my very first live webcast in room 116 and I think I'm hooked.  It was fascinating to hear first hand how a real author creates and writes his stories.  Just like Kevin Henkes' Lilly, we just stood back and proclaimed, Wow.  Just wow.  Kevin Henkes spoke to the students about being an author, writing stories, revising and following the writing process.  We were pretty shocked to hear he writes all his stories on an old fashion type writer.  He doesn't even use email or a cell phone!

Kevin Henkes in 1st grade

In preparation for the webcast, 1st graders have been listening, reading, and exploring Kevin Henkes stories.  At the start of the school year as a class we read Chrysanthemum. This popular tale of a mouse whose name just doesn't fit in, allowed our classroom to discuss character's feelings and author's message. Each time Chrysanthemum was teased, we crumpled up a giant heart. Every time someone did something nice to her, we smoothed the heart out. By the end of the story, the heart was a wrinkled mess that couldn't be completely smoothed out.

The students made the connection that our own hearts can feel wrinkled and crumpled when someone says unkind words to us. After completing the story, students paired up to give each other compliment.

1st graders then signed their names to a band-aid as a way to show that we will all think before we speak because wrinkled hearts are hard to heal.

Before you speak, think and be smart.  It's hard to fix a wrinkled heart!

After reading so many of Kevin Henkes' stories and loving so many of his characters, 1st graders were given the tough task of choosing their favorite.

Lilly and her purple plastic purse                                                          Baby Julius                      

Students decided on their favorite character (most went with cute mice) and wrote an entry in their read and respond journals.  We are definitely getting more and more excited about reading!

Heart Maps

Writer's Workshop has launched in room 116.  Students filled in heart maps with topics that they love. These ideas will serve as "seeds" for future writing pieces.

Our heart maps show what is close to our hearts: people, places, events, and memories.

After finishing our heart maps we chose one "seed" to draw a detailed picture of. We labeled our picture to give the reader more information. We're now going to use these pictures to add a caption and practice going through the writing process.

School Rules

Inspired by, NO, DAVID!, as a class we read David Shannon's hilarious books about one trouble making boy. We then used David's naughty behavior to discuss the rules of our classroom and school. Students came up with their own rules and put their "John Hancock" on our class constitution.

We the students of room 116 pledge to follow these rules:

No touching the projector. Sophia
Pay attention. Kaitlyn
No running in the halls. Carter
Listen to your teacher. Natalia
Do not scribble on each others' papers. Matty
Follow the teacher. Hailey
No hitting. John
Always raise your hand. Quinn
Don't be late for school. Katherine
No overflowing the sink. Luke
Listen to directions.  Marco
Come in from recess when the teacher tells you. Ella
No kicking. Brannon
No piggy back rides. Teagan
Include friends when playing a game. Langdon
Respect our friends. Ashwin
Do not leave the classroom without asking a teacher. Jake

1st graders also used No, David! as the first entry in our read and response journals.  After reading all the different David stories, students chose their favorite part of the stories to draw a picture of what they visualized while reading.

Friend Requests Accepted

17 Friend Requests

I am happy to report that all of us in first grade have made many new friends. Here's a quick glimpse into our first few days... 

1st graders have been playing learning with play dough, becoming experts with the creative pen on the Smartboard, and popping balloons to get to know each other.  Two days down and many fun adventures ahead.  Thanks for following us at Klipfel & Kids.

Klipfel & Kids
September 2013

1st Day

First day of 1st grade is over.  Time sure does fly when you're having fun.  I guess the smiling faces, excitement and adorable new outfits of all the first graders only helped.  I loved hearing about your summer adventures and look forward to many more shared stories this school year.  Klipfel & Kids is your one stop spot into room 116.  Come on in, take our hand and let us take you for a tour...

My favorite spot in the class is our library area.  Browse the shelves, pick out a favorite story and snuggle up with a monkey or two.