Fairy Tales

Once upon a time in a far away classroom, sixteen first graders were hard at work reading and writing their very own fairy tales. In this magical classroom, students discussed all the different elements of fairy tales. Unknown things such as royalty, magic, villains, heroes, spells and sometimes even dragons became part of everyday lessons.

It all began one warm winter day with students filling in castle organizers with title, characters, problem, solution and setting.  Students then wrote, wrote and wrote some more using all the fairy tale elements. Some students had magical bananas and even Princess Miss Klipfels.  1st graders then used the iPads to make a detailed illustrations.  We put our writing and illustrations into a class book in book creator.

You may download our fairy tale on any electronic device to add to your digital library or you can view our book as a PDF for reading or printing on a computer.

Option 1: Add our First Grade Fairy Tales to your digital library (for iPad or tablet reading). 

Click on the link: First Grade Fairy Tales
Then click on Download.
Click Open in iBooks.

Option 2: Read out First Grade Fairy Tales in PDF form by clicking here.

As the story ends, students and teacher lived happily ever after with a new magical tale added to their digital library to read again, and again and again.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from all of us in 1st grade! Thank you for all the adorable holiday cards and the generous gifts. Have a wonderful relaxing vacation with your children. Klipfel & Kids hopes you enjoy our holiday video below and we'll see you next year.

Klipfel Airlines

Welcome aboard Klipfel Airlines! This is your captain, Captain Klipfel, speaking. Please fasten your seat belt and prepare to hear about Holidays Around the World.

Last week, 1st graders began their trip around the world. We have been creating a Holidays Around the World Scrapbook as we travel on our adventure. We began in the United States and discussed traditions and customs of different holidays celebrated. We then boarded Klipfel Airlines and flew to Mexico. Students learned about poinsettia plants and holiday piñatas.

Working on our scrapbooks

Last week we also jetted off to Italy and checked out the Leaning Tower of Pizza, Coliseum and Venice. Our next stop took us to France where students put their shoes by the fireplace, like traditional French children.

We even discovered a prize in our shoes

Next, our flight on Klipfel Airlines departed to Germany, where we sang O Tannenbaum, a traditional German song and discovered that Germany is famous for their gingerbread men. Our layover in Sweden allowed us to learn about Tomte, a traditional Swedish gnome. Today, we flew first class to our last stop, England to make Holiday Crackers. Have your child share what new customs and traditions they're learning. Bon Voyage!

Grinch Day

1st graders had an idea, an awful idea, a wonderful awful idea...Grinch Day!  All the Whos down in Whomeadow, the tall and the small, enjoyed an awfully wonderful Grinch Day.  1st grade gathered in the gym and enjoyed the story How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  

Each 1st grader made their own Grinch card with pictures and kind messages to help grow another person's heart.

1st graders then gathered around in a circle just like the Whos and played musical cards to the song, You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch.  We passed our cards from one Who to the next until the music stopped.  Each 1st grader then got a card made by another 1st grader to help make their heart grow (it also helped grow their teachers' hearts).  It was truly adorable!

We know the Grinch's heart was too sizes too small so 1st graders were on the look out for others showing kindness to one and all throughout the day.  We added lots of new hearts to our giant Grinch.Merry Grinchmas!

Rudolph

You know Dasher and Dancer and Miss Klipfel and Vixen.  Mango and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall the most famous 1st graders of all?  1st graders started this adorable project with a directed drawing to make reindeer.  They were instructed with step by step directions that turned into darling reindeer that were all just a little different.  We then painted and of course added a glitter red nose.

Once our drawings were finished our reindeer came to life.  Check it out in our video below.

Measurment

Length and measurement have been our focus for the past few weeks during math instruction. Students used non standard units to measure different objects around the classroom. We began by practicing our new mathematical language to compare two objects.

Are the objects taller or shorter than the links or yard stick?

Once we became experts with two objects we moved onto comparing three objects.  Have your child show you how they can make their body large, larger and largest or short, shorter and shortest.

Which links are the longest?  Which links are the tallest?

1st graders will now be moving into number sentences and word problems to 20, so please continue to work on automatically knowing addition and subtraction facts to ten!

Common Core State Standard: MD 1 Order three objects by length; compare the lengths of two objects indirectly by using a third object.

The Grinch

The Grinch's heart is two sizes too small, take a look at how we're showing kindness to one and all. The mean Mr. Grinch has made an appearance in Room 116, with one grouchy face. During our Olweus Health and Wellness Block, students discussed ways to include others and be a good friend. 1st graders are showing the Grinch ways to be kind by writing about acts of kindness they see in our classroom.

So many hearts have all ready been filled out and it makes not only the Grinch's heart grow but mine as well. Take a peek at a few hearts that have already been added to our Grinch.
What better time than the holiday season to remind ourselves that something as kind as a smile can brighten a classmate's day.

Look at our Grinch's heart grow!

Simple Machines

1st grade scientists and Science Sam (also known as Mr. Sam) have been having a simply sensational time exploring simple machines.  Through real-life simple machines set up right in our classroom (thanks to Mr. Sam) scientists have had 1st hand experiences to explore and investigate during our science unit.  

We got to see how pulleys help us use less force to move heavy loads.  1st graders even went outside to use the pulley on the flag pole to help make the work of raising the flag easier.

We practiced how levers use a fulcrum as a pivot point to make lifting the load easier.  Science Sam taught us that a swing is really a level and helped us use levers to lift the lid of a paint can.

Wheel and axles were our next investigation.  We thought about scooters, bikes, wheelchairs and even the wheel and axles on cars.

In the classroom and around the school we have also explored inclined planes, wedges, and screws.  Click on the pictures below to try some fun simple machine games at home (they are on the class symbaloo too).

Thank you Science Sam for helping us see that these simple machines have sure helped make our work easier.

Numbers, numbers, numbers

Math has been all about numbers. Number bonds, writing numbers, number words, comparing numbers, counting numbers, and creating number patterns all from eleven to twenty.  We have also gotten festive with our math work by making number dreidels and using snowmen eyes to help us count by 2's.  Here is a little Klipfel & Kids by the numbers...

One magnificent m loving monkey, Mango

Two snowmen eyes

Three student computers

Eight giggly girls

Eight silly boys

Twelve brownies to fill a pan

Fifteen tens and ones

Sixteen smiling students

And...

Too many monkeys to count!

We'd love for you to leave a comment with some numbers that represent you. 

We are Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving from all your 1st grade friends. There are so many wonderful people and things we are thankful for each and everyday.

I am thankful for my lovable first grade family. Happy Turkey Day!

GRA Finale

1st graders (and their teacher) are sad to say that Global Read Aloud has come to an end.  Last week the whole 1st grade joined together to celebrate the event and read the last chapter of our shared story.  Students had glow sticks, teachers wore chopsticks in their hair just like Mrs. Silver (the teacher in our story) and Mrs. Thomson even made a poetry man.

We couldn't end there!  We used our beloved book The Year of Billy Miller to help us work on retelling, which is a strategy we have been using to help us comprehend. Students split into four groups based on the sections from the book to discuss the characters, setting, and important events.  Students used the iPads as a digital tool to create their detailed illustrations.  Then we put our illustrations together to retell the whole book. Check out our final project created in animoto:

Common Core State Standard RL 1.2 Retells stories including key details and demonstrates understanding of their central message or lesson. RL 1.7: Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

K Buddies

1st graders have begun working and meeting with their Kindergarten buddies. We love Fridays when we get to meet with Mrs. Newton's class.  So far buddies have shared poetry binders and shared a reader's theater skit.

This week in order to get ready for Thanksgiving, buddies designed beautiful feathers for Tom the Turkey. Buddies sat together and discussed different people, things, and places they are thankful for. 

After their discussion students designed a thankful feather with pictures, words or labels. Check out how beautiful Tom turned out!

Veterans Day

Thank you Veterans! Fuller Meadow had a wonderful assembly today in honor of Veterans Day. Our class and Mrs. Scharffenberg's 1st graders preformed the poem, Poppy Poppy. Check out our performance below.

GRA Continues

The Global Read Aloud project has not only allowed us to connect with classes around the world but also with classes right in our own school.  We have been pairing up with other 1st grade classrooms at Fuller Meadow to read The Year of Billy Miller and practice our reading comprehension strategies. We made connections based on the chapters we read with Ms. Flynn and Mrs. Scharffenberg's classes.  Lots of students connected to having an annoying sibling just like Billy's sister Sal.

We practiced visualizing with Mrs. Higgins and Mrs. Thomson's 1st graders by focusing in on one paragraph from the story.  Visualizing helps readers paint a picture in their minds and understand the story better.

Students then spread out across the classroom to create their visualizations in their read and respond journal.  We shared and saw what other readers pictured while reading-of course they were all a little different.  What did you visualize from the above paragraph?  

Retelling has been a focus during reader's workshop so we used our Global Read Aloud book to help. As a class we worked on retelling the Sister section of the book remembering to tell about the characters, the setting, and important events in order with transition words. 

Yesterday, we took advantage of the beautiful November weather and read a chapter outside with Mrs. Higgins' and Mrs. Thomson's 1st graders.  We were inspired by Billy so we headed inside to write poems about our family members-just like Billy.

As you can tell 1st graders have learned so many reading comprehension strategies and are becoming wonderful readers while staying connected to many teachers, classes and students!

First Grade Common Core Standards: RL 1.2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message. RL 1.3-  Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details. RL 1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or event