Miss Me?

I know your summer hasn't quite been complete without your daily dose of Klipfel & Kids but have no fear because we are back in action.  My summer has been fabulous.  What's not to love about swimming, reading, and running everyday?  Oh and don't forget sleeping.  Yes, I slept...a lot! Although I am going to miss summer (really, truly miss it), I am just as excited to start another wonderful year in 1st grade.  

I look forward to having many more "kids" this year. See you very soon 1st graders!

See You Later Alligator

Dear First Grade Families,

     It's finally here-summer! I cannot believe our year in first grade is already over. One last thank you to all the boys and girls for their continuous hard work this school year. Thank you also to the parents for your support and encouragement from home, as well as, all our faithful blog followers.  We loved all the times you visited our classroom as guests, mystery readers, or helpers.

     Today, I give you back the same child you sent to school last fall a few inches taller, a few months wiser, more responsible and more mature. Although this growth would have happened anyway, it has been my pleasure to watch them develop every day. Having spent this school year together we have grown close and we will always share a little piece of each other.
     We have lived, loved, laughed, and learned together this year. I wish it could continue but I must send them on. Remember, I will always be interested in your child's future, wherever they go, whatever they do. Their joys and sorrows I will always be happy to share. Enjoy your summer and don't forget to read!

Love always,
Miss Klipfel

         Hello 1st graders                                                        Goodbye my good friends

Author Week

1st graders have spent the last week celebrating themselves as readers. Yes, we can all read!! We've spent this last week of school together doing author studies on some of our favorite writers. We would always begin by watching an interview of the author to learn how they take their ideas and make them into a real published book. Then we would read a variety of that authors books and complete fun activities. After beginning with Margret and H.A. Rey on Monkey Day we moved onto the hilarious Mo Willems.

Don't let the pigeon drive the bus!

Inspired by Mo Willems' Knuffle Bunny

Next, we meet Laura Numeroff, who was told by 9 publishers that her books weren't good before she found someone who believed in her. She taught us to never give up. After reading many of her circlular stories we created our own circle cookie map to sequence the events from her story If you Give a Mouse a Cookie.

Kevin Henkes really showed us how long the writing process can take. We learned that he begins all his writing on a type writer and then starts his illustrations in pencil before he goes over them in marker and finishes with paints. 1st graders were inspired by Chrysanthemum to discuss character traits. We learned that Chrysanthemum was brave, loved, polite, sweet and so many other great adjectives.

Have you ever seen what Arthur looked like when Marc Brown first started drawing him? Marc Brown showed us that we never stop revising and editing our work. While reading his Arthur stories we worked on making connections. Marc Brown's stories are inspired by the events from his 3rd grade classroom. Buster was even inspired by his best friend. This allowed us to make many personal connections to his stories.

Making connections with Marc Brown

To end our wonderful study of authors, we practiced making inferences with David Shannon's stories. The No David series uses detailed pictures and few words which allowed us to infer what David Shannon was trying to tell the reader. No David! was a huge hit (just like he was in September)!

1st graders had a stupendous time learning about all these talented authors.  Who knows maybe someday room 116 will be doing an author study on one of these young writers or illustrators.