Week 24

Here are some highlights from the week...

This week we learned about Ruby Bridges and added her to our biography journal! They loved learning about such an important first grader :)

On Thursday, we got together with our 4th grade buddies and made moccasins. The fourth graders have also been studying important people in history and they had just learned about Sacagawea, the moccasins that they made were representative of her moccasins. We also took advantage of the dry weather and had a buddy recess! Both me and Mr. Graham are beyond impressed by how well they all work and play together!

On Friday, our four legged friend, Jack, came back to be a reading buddy. The first graders also got to give him some snacks...I'm not sure who loves his visits more, the kiddos or Jack!

We ended the week with a Hawaiian celebration assembly featuring the Mrs.Herder's class, Ms. Saunder's class and Mrs. Bussey's class. The kiddos preformed traditional Hawaiian dances and songs for the school - it was a great way to get in the Hawaiian spirit for the auction!

Finally, thank you to all of the parents who helped make the Stephenson Auction such a success! A HUGE shout out to Tiffany (Joey's mom), Lindy (Reid's mom) and Kim (Gavin's mom) for sharing their amazing artistic ability and creativity with Room 112, and to Jen (Claire's mom) and Sean (Mason's dad) for being incredible MCs :)

I can't explain how much I appreciate your constant support and the Auction was a true reminder of the amazing community we have at Stephenson. What a fun night!


Here are some photos from the week...

Week 23

Another busy week in Room 112!


The first graders have started their Words Their Way journals - a HUGE thank you to Heather (Finley's mom) for constructing all of the journals! Each  morning they are reading and sorting their words and engaging in different activities to support their understanding of phonics and sound spelling patterns. At the end of the week they will be taking their completed sorting mats home! After working with and studying their words all week they should be able to read and write all their words! 

We added Helen Keller to our biography journals this week. The first graders were eager to learn more about her and the challenges she overcame. After learning about Helen Keller we studied the different ways that she learned to communicate and read - Sign Language and Braille. The kiddos used the Braille alphabet to write out some of their words from the week in Braille. After we drew the dots to represent the letters, we put liquid glue on top of the dots to make them raised. 

On Wednesday, Stephenson celebrated Aloha day in support of our upcoming auction (2/25). The students were greeted at the door with leis and Hawaiian music. In the afternoon we had a visit from Teva Oriata and it was quite the amazing performance! All of the Stephenson students and staff got to learn the Hukilau!

On Friday, we had our Valentine exchange! In Room 112 we celebrate friendship everyday; however, the kiddos were very excited about all of the love (and treats) that they got on Friday :)

Reminders:
2/20 -- No School - President's Day
2/22 - 2/23 -- Auction Art Show in the Wet Area @ 2:15pm - 6:00pm
2/24 -- Hawaiian Day Assembly @ 1:30pm
2/25 -- Stephenson Auction!


Here are some photos from the week...

Week 22

Here are some highlights from the week...

The first graders spent some time editing their How-To writing both independently and with a partner. We practiced our "street light editing" - where the students outline the capital at the beginning in green, underline their transition word in yellow and outline their punctuation in red. This is a great tool to support sentence structure. We also want to make sure that we don't have any random capital letters popping up!

We added Rosa Parks to our biography journal. After studying MLK, it felt only natural to study another important figure who worked with MLK to end segregation. The first graders are inspired by their perseverance! 

The week ended with a special four-legged guest! Jack, a retired therapy dog, spent the morning in our classroom and the first graders got to take turns reading to and petting Jack. The first graders did a great job with their dog etiquette and Jack seemed to feel right at home with all of the belly rubs he got! We are looking forward to having him and Phyllis (Solja's grandma) come back again soon :)

Reminders:

2/13 -- Report card envelopes signed and returned! (For a treat)
2/15 -- Spirit Day - Aloha Day
2/15 -- TAG Saturday Academy class 8:15 - 10:15am
2/15 -- Teva Oriata Assembly @ 1:15pm
2/17 -- Valentines Exchange
2/20 -- No School - President's day



Here are some photos from the week...