First grade had had a lot of fun activities keeping them busy lately! Spring has spring around campus and we took the opportunity to check out the tadpoles in the preschool building. The three year olds loved having the big kids come visit, and the first graders loved being the big kids. It was a fantastic way to wrap up our mini study about the lifecycle of a frog. Later in the week a student found a frog on the playground and we were able to see another living stage of the life cycle.

Earlier in the semester I incorporated the game boom, boom, clap into class to help with counting syllables and phonemes. I saw a variation of the game using the vowels A,E, I, O, and U. It was a lot of fun having the students listen to a word and try to be the first to grab the vowel they heard. It could be tricky because many words have a silent vowel in them, and some students went for the vowels they knew to be in the word, but the instructions were to listen for the vowel sound. I’ve got a highly competitive class and these games are always stir up a lot of excitement!

First grade made the annual trip to Historic Washington State Park. It did not disappoint! It is the best trip. Students get to be outside for almost the entire tour, learn about how people lived on the frontier of America about 150 years ago, visited the oldest magnolia tree in the state of Arkansa, made candles, and learned some interesting facts about the art of blacksmithing. The picnic lunch is always a good time too! Our weather wasn’t perfect, but it did not slow us down or keep us from leaning in a fun way!

I last left you with the class preparing for cereal box presentations. The students randomly drew an animal from the unit we were covering in reading, research the animal, and in class prepare a cereal box with specific guidelines to tell all about the animal. Once the projects were completed, the children’s families came to watch as the they shared information about animals and their cereal box designs. The day arrived and the class was nervously excited about presenting all of their own. Of course, they had rehearsed at school and home, but public speaking is hard at any age. The students did an excellent job of communicating what they learned.

A new module has been started in math and it covers 2D and 3D shapes. Introducing young children to geometry is fun and intriguing. The children have seen and learned about these shapes their entire lives. Now, they can see the mathematical qualities and purposes they can be used for. The first lesson discussed 2D shapes and the attributes (how many straight lines and corners). While in math groups, the students had to build a shape when only given its attributes (3 straight lines, 3 corners). The next few lessons progressed to 3D shapes. To reinforce the differences between 2D and 3D shapes the students built models with marshmallows and toothpicks. It was a good way to see and feel the difference between 2D and 3D shapes, and it was an opportunity for the students to work in groups and practice their communication skills.

It’s hard to imagine that the end of first grade is just around the corner. We’ve got some big first coming up - spring musical and the Historic Washington State Park field trip to name a couple!

The class has been busy preparing their cereal box presentations. The children will present to their parents next week. I have introduced two new reading centers to class: alphabet arcs and a sentence reading game. The alphabet arch is used to build words, count sounds and syllables, and practice spelling patterns. I love these because they can be used in small group or as a center where the children work independently. The sentence reading game was fun and the students read 16 sentences while doing it! I wrote seven sentences that specifically covered the diphthongs we’ve been learning in class. I put the sentences in a large circle and had each student stand behind one. When I said go, the students walk around the circle. When I said stop the students had to read the sentence as fast and accurately as possible then raise their hand. I’d walk around the circle and call on students to read their sentence. Adding new centers and playing learning games are always fun to add to reading groups. I love seeing the students be excited about learning with a new tool!

Every spring, first grade has a project that combines language arts and science. The students are assigned an animal from our language arts unit, Animals Head to Toe. Then they research it at home. The learned material is presented on a cereal box. Aside from the research, the students complete the project entirely in class. Each child has to wrap their cereal box, design the cover, and put their facts on the box is certain places. It take a great deal of work to get all of these steps finished and be ready to present. The class has begun the process and they are so excited! Stay tuned for the final project in a few weeks!

St. James had the opportunity of watching the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra. The performance was centered on movements, not just musical, but physical too. It was an excellent experience for the students. This interactive show was fantastic and showed the children that classical music can be fun!

First grade has been classifying different animals based on their characteristics. The children had the chance to see a real reptile up close. One of our eighth grade students, Cooper, brought his bearded dragon to class. Beardie got to stay in first grade all day, and the children had a question and answer session with Cooper. We all loved hearing the interesting facts about the reptile. We’re so thankful that Cooper allowed us to have Beardie in our class and shared his knowledge with us.

This past fall I wrote a grant to get items that would enrich my reading and math groups. I was fortunate enough to be awarded my grant. I was able to purchase so many spectacular tools for reading and math groups. I cannot thank the Junior League of Texarkana enough for presenting me with the Teacher Take Wing Grant.

It has become a tradition in first grade for the children to make compliment bags to hold all of their valentine goodies. I provide the large white bags and the students provide the compliments! Each child writes a genuine compliment on every child’s bag. This takes a bit of time for each kid to think of an original compliment for every student in the class. However, once this activity is complete, the students have a bag covered in sweet words and phrases from every single one of their classmates. It’s one of my favorite things for the students to do.