Pete the Cat

1st grade kicked off our genre study on Animal Fantasy with our friend Pete.  Pete the Cat helped us learn all week with his positive attitude and catchy songs. We read all the Pete the Cat books by Eric Litwin and found out just how cool Pete is. Pete helped us in writing when we labeled his parts. When we write, labels give the reader more information. Then we used sticky notes to brainstorm describing words about Pete.

Click here to listen to Pete's song 

Pete visited in math and helped us graph our favorite color. We then analyzed our graph and found that students like green the most. The number of students who like red is less than the number who like pink.  We then compared our color graph to the graph filled out by visitors to our classroom for open house.  Purple got the most parent votes. Blue got the least amount of votes. Green and red got the same amount of votes.  Check our graphs out below.  What do you notice?

We can't learn about Pete the Cat without practicing our color words. During reading and center time we practiced writing, spelling and reading all the color words.  1st graders also used their read and respond journals to write about their favorite Pete book.

Pete's attitude was with us all week: no matter what happened, we kept working and singing our song!

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. I look forward to seeing you again soon!

Dot Day

Today, Room 116 celebrated International Dot Day inspired by Peter Reynold's book The Dot. Dot Day is a global celebration of creativity, courage and collaboration. The Dot is the story of a caring teacher who dares a reluctant student to trust in her own abilities by being brave enough to "make her mark". After staring at her paper with no ideas for drawing, the little girl angrily jabs at the paper and says, "There!"  Then, this one little dot marks the beginning of this girl's journey to find confidence and courage in her work.

First grade students were given the same challenge today-to make their mark in the world.  After reading the story and listening to the adorable Dot Song (listen above), 1st graders made digital dots inspired by the story.  

Check out the dots they created:

Throughout the day we encouraged any visitors to our classroom to make their mark as well.  Mrs. Carreiro, Mr. Sam, Mrs Pecci and Mrs. Thomson were just some of the visitors who left their mark on our door.  In order to join in the international day, we made sure to tweet about it using the #dotday. Sorry to report but our tweet didn't make us famous even though many 1st graders thought it would.  Maybe our next tweet will make it big.

 Friday we will be connecting with a 1st grade class in Texas to continue our Dot Day celebration and share our work.  We encourage you to make your mark and see where it takes you...

Friendship

The theme throughout Room 116 and Fuller Meadow for the month of September is friendship. As a class we read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. This popular tale of a mouse whose name just doesn't fit in, allowed our classroom to discuss character's feelings, author's message and ways to be a good friend. 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 compliments. We discussed how giving compliments and using kind words are ways to be show friendship.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!

Friend Request Accepted

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 are becoming experts with the creative pen on the Smartboard, popping balloons to get to know each other, and practicing with ten frames. Three days down and many more learning adventures ahead. Thanks for following us at Klipfel & Kids.

Klipfel & Kids

September 2015