February Vacation Challenge

1st graders were given a little extra (optional) homework over vacation. I have heard all about your travel plans to tropical places, trips up north, and staycation activities. Now it's time to share them on the blog. Share a picture or comment anytime this week about what you are up to this vacation. Double click anywhere on the padlet below to add your comment. If you'd like to attach a picture then double click to add your sticky note and click the arrow symbol to attach a picture. You can also email me with your picture and comment and I will post it for you. I look forward to hearing/seeing your fun vacation posts to come.

Happy Valentine's Day

Roses are red, violets are blue. Miss Klipfel's Class says, Happy Valentine's Day to you! Enjoy our Valentine's Day poems by clicking the video below. We hope your day is filled with chocolates, hearts and lots of love. 

xoxo Miss Klipfel's 1st Graders

Snowman Should Not...

1st graders have been working with their Kindergarten Buddies in Mrs. Newton and Mrs. Fromhangen's room over the past few weeks to brainstorm tips for snowmen. We started by reading Snowmen at Work and listening to Olaf sing "In Summer". With buddies, students then completed a sentence of what a snowman should NEVER do. In partners, students illustrated a snowman in some hot places. We then used one of our favorite apps Chatter Pix and made our snowmen come to life. Check out our video below with everything a snowman should not do.

Global School Play Day

Today marked one exciting, fun and very educational day in 1st grade. During Global School Play Day, we focused on learning and researching through unstructured play. In the morning we had a "playdate" with Mrs. E. Higgins' class and went to town creating with boxes. Later, Mrs. K. Higgins' and Mrs. Newton's classes rotated through our room. Followed by a lovely visit in Mrs. Murphy's room. To end our shortened day we headed to the gym with Ms. Teixeira's class. During the whole day the smiles, opportunities to play, creativity and imagination were endless. It was truly inspirational to see the smiles, laughter and happiness. Check it out for yourself:

Hopefully today inspires your family to plan for more unstructured play time during non-school hours and help children’s imagination and creativity to grow both in the classroom and beyond.

Fancy Day

Ooh la la! Fancy February was one exquisite (that's a fancy word for great) day! Our anticipation has been building for this stupendous day and let me just say it was well worth the wait to see all the 1st graders dressed in their imaginative posh outfits. Of course, I couldn't resist dressing in my most elegant clothes too. Students were thrilled (that's even more excited than excited) to complete fancy activities throughout day.

Snack time was transformed (that's a fancy word for changed) into a Tea Party, using our imagination of course. 1st graders read Fancy Nancy books, went on a fancy word hunt, and used elegant vocabulary; looking exquisite while doing it all. 

We learned about Jane O'Connor and Robin Glasser, the author and illustrator of the Fancy Nancy series. A large part of 1st graders Writer's Workshop is focusing on using word choice in our writing pieces. Our Fancy Word Wall will help 1st grade writers' pieces sparkle and dazzle. Keep your ears and eyes open for 1st graders using them while speaking and writing. 

Fancy day was also World Read Aloud Day which brought one extra magnificent virtual visitor to first grade. Madame (that's a fancy way of saying Mrs.) Jodi McKay the author of Where are the Words generously skyped with us. She even surprised us by dressing fancy too! She inspired 1st graders by reading her creative story alongside her friend Mr. Period. She taught us to always have our antennas ready because we never know when an idea will strike. 1st graders loved her unique story and are excited to hopefully see more books from her soon!

To end our fabulous Fancy Day, we had a soiree with the rest of the first grade. Students paired up to finish the day with some phenomenal reading.

1st graders (and their teachers) had a splendiferous Fancy Day learning and working, with our pinkies up!

Common Core State Standard L.1.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using frequently occurring adjectives.