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 with musical accompaniment by Andrew's grandfather.

Later in the day, each 1st grader made their own Grinch card with pictures and kind messages to help grow another person's heart. We even got to visit different first grade classrooms while we worked.

At the end of the day, 1st graders then gathered around in a circle (just like the Whos) and played musical cards to the song, Jingle Bells. We passed our cards from one Who to the next until the singing 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 lookout for others showing kindness to one and all throughout the day. We added lots of new hearts to our giant Grinch and learned the most important lesson of all.

"It doesn't matter if you get a present or not, it matters if you are with your friends and family and care for each other.

Merry Grinchmas!

Fairy Tale of Teamwork

Once upon a time, in a school far far away, our class along with Mrs. Higgins', Mrs. Thomson's, and Mrs. Scharffenberg's classes wrote one magical fairy tale. It all began many days ago with our initial collaborative brainstorming session to discuss potential fairy tale elements. After each classroom wrote one section of the story, we swapped to create illustrations that complemented our peers' writing.

Klipfel & Kids was responsible for illustrating the beginning part of our fairy tale that Mrs. Higgins' class wrote. In groups, students illustrated one or two sentences using Drawing Box on the iPad. Once illustrations were completed in all four classrooms, our group fairy tale was ready to be put together in Book Creator using a little extra fairy dust. 1st graders are pleased to present The Magical Tale of Teamwork!  

Click below to hear 1st graders reading our tale.

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 The Magical Tale of Teamwork to your digital library. 
Click on the link: The Magical Tale of Teamwork from an iPad or tablet.
Then click on OPEN IN and then Open in (see illustration below)

Click Open in iBooks.

Option 2: Read The Magical Tale of Teamwork in PDF form by clicking here.

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

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.  We also jetted off to Italy and checked out the Leaning Tower of Pizza, Coliseum and Venice.

Working on our scrapbooks

Our next stop took us to France where students put their shoes by the fireplace, like traditional French children.  We even discovered prizes in our shoes, just like Pere Noel would leave.

Snapping pictures to
remember our trip

Next, our flight on Klipfel Airlines will depart to Germany, where we'll sing O Tannenbaum, a traditional German song and discover that Germany is famous for their gingerbread men. Our layover in Sweden will allow us to learn about Tomte, a traditional Swedish gnome.  Have your child share what new customs and traditions they're learning. Bon Voyage!

Gingerbread People Loose in Fuller Meadow

Last week, 1st graders had a blast creating gingerbread people for our Tri-Town 1st Grade Gingerbread Exchange.  See previous post Gingerbread Exchange for more details.  With inspirations from the book The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School, we decided to have some fun with our beloved gingerbread people. Even though we mailed them off, we used some Miss Klipfel magic (also know as Green Screen) to have some fun with them around Fuller Meadow.  Check out our story below: 

You may download our story 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 The Gingerbread People Loose in Our School to your digital library (for iPad or tablet reading).
Click on the link: The Gingerbread People Loose in Our School
Then click on Download.
Click Open in iBooks.

Option 2: Read The Gingerbread People Loose in Our School in PDF form by clicking here.

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 practiced how levers use a fulcrum as a pivot point to make lifting the load easier.  Students got to see how pulleys help us use less force to move heavy loads. 1st graders even got to go outside to use the pulley on the flagpole to help make the work of raising the flag easier.  Mr. Sam even used a pulley to lift a 1st grader!

Scientists went on a simple machine hunt around Fuller Meadow and found all SIX simple machines!

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.

Rudolph

You know Dasher and Dancer and Miss Klipfel and Vixen. Mango and Cupid and Donner and Bongo. 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 with our song below.

Gingerbread Exchange

1st grade classrooms from Middleton, Boxford and Topsfield partnered up for a 1st Grade Tri-Town Gingerbread Person Exchange.  Each classroom was responsible for creating and decorating a gingerbread person and writing a letter to send to all the other classrooms.  Klipfel and Kids got creative by drawing and decorating our very own gingerbread people.  I love how different they all came out!

After our gingerbread people were ready, as a class we wrote a letter telling the other 1st graders about us.  Top news to share included our love for monkeys, our monkey chia pet and our real winter fireplace in the classroom. Oh and we of course had to send along a joke.  What did the gingerbread man put on his bed?  A cookie sheet!

Finally we packaged our gingerbread people and letters up and off in the mail they went.  Now we wait for our twelve packages from the other 1st grade classrooms to arrive.  We can't wait to learn about all the other 1st grade classes.  

Check out more pictures of the project on Twitter with #TTUGingerbreadExchange.

1st Grade Fairy Tale

Princes and princesses of 1st grade have been royally enjoying exploring the elements of fairy tales. We discussed how fairy tales are made up stories that usually have magical elements and often contain the number 3 or 7.   Klipfel & Kids along with Mrs. Higgins' Class, Mrs. Scharffenberg and Mrs. Thomson's class were inspired to write our very own group fairy tale. We began with a collective brainstorming session to discuss possible story elements.

After coming up with some magical ideas, possible settings and even potential characters, each class had to determine which part of the fairy tale they would write. Here is how we broke the story into parts: The Beginning, Middle (two classes will write this) and End.

Klipfel & Kids rolled the dice and landed on the middle, meaning we are responsible for writing about the main events and problem in our first grade fairy tale. 

We are anxiously waiting for Mrs. Higgins' class to write the beginning so then we can get started.  Once each class writes one part of the story we will then digitally illustrate the story and create a digital book.  This really is one collaborative project! Stay tuned for our first grade fairy tale coming to an iPad near you soon.

First Grade Common Core Standard for Writing - W.1.6. With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

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 already 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!

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 2016 has come to an end. This week we celebrated the big event by reading the last chapter of our shared story.  We used our beloved book The BFG to help us work on our retelling skills, which is a strategy we have been using to help us comprehend texts.  As a class we discussed the five major details to include in every retelling (characters, events, setting, problem and solution).  We refer to this as the "five finger retell".  We divided up the major events and used the iPads as a digital tool to create detailed illustrations. After, 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.

Kindness Day

Monday Fuller Meadow celebrated World Kindness Day by creating our very own kindness rock garden.  Kindergarten and 1st grade classes have been hard at work over the last few days to get these inspirational rocks ready.  First we met with Mrs. Libby's class and painted our rocks.

After our rocks dried, we met back up with Mrs. Libby's class and Mrs. Halligan's class to draw kind messages and pictures. 

Once all the prep work was done, all Fuller Meadow Kindergarten and 1st grade classes met in the courtyard to place our rocks in our own kindness rock garden. 

Thank you to Mrs. Halligan for bringing the Kindness Rock Project to Fuller Meadow.  If you are ever in need of a kind message or something to put a smile on your face, check out our rock garden in the courtyard. Remember, always be kind!

Election Day

The results are in and with a 45 to 17 vote, 1st graders overwhelmingly voted for an Extra 1st Grade Recess.  Each 1st grader had a job throughout the day to help make Election Day run smoothly.  Picketers were out again, trying to gather any last minute votes.  1st graders worked at the voter check-in booth.  Voters needed to present their registration card, have their names checked off the voting list before receiving their ballot.

Once voters received their ballots, they stepped into the voting booth and with a little help from some step stools cast their votes.

Voters then checked out by putting their ballots in the ballot box and received their "I Voted" stickers (thank you to Middleton Town Hall for their donation).

When all votes were cast, the vote counters were needed.  They counted the votes, and then made sure to double check so no recount was needed.

We gathered as a whole first grade at the end of the day to hear the results.  There was a huge roar when the results were revealed.  1st grade voters will be having an Extra 1st Grade Recess soon!