Happy Summer!

Thanks to all the students in 1st/2nd and their families for a super year!  Enjoy your summer... 

as you can see my children have wasted no time starting summer:)

See you all back in the fall!

Final Balloon: Pick Your Own Spot in the Classroom!

It's pretty exciting when you are in first or second grade and you get to move your desk to sit in any spot in the classroom to sit by your friends!  All 8 balloons have been popped!  This was such a fun way to end a great year.  Have a wonderful summer everyone!

Balloon 7: Reading Time Outside + 5th Grade Dino Dig

A beautiful morning to enjoy a book outside!  In the afternoon we visited the 5th graders uncovering bones during their dino dig.

Balloon Number 6: Lunch in the Classroom

Eating lunch in the classroom is always a special treat!

Balloon Number 5: Marker Day

On Friday we popped balloon number 5, and the message inside said to use a marker on your assignments all day long.  As if this wasn't exciting enough, the students got to pick out a "teacher" marker to keep forever!  The kids couldn't have been more excited... who knew how happy markers can make kids:)

Finally It's Mrs. Gjere!

Mrs. Gjere is our Title I teacher, and she is in and out of our classroom working with students a lot during our days.  Very often after reading the Mystery Reader clues, the class would say, "Oh, it has to be Mrs. Gjere!"  Then she would come walking into our room to work with students, and we'd know it wasn't her.  I thought that Mrs. Gjere would be the perfect finale!

The 3rd clue really threw the class for a loop: "I biked across the United States when I was 23 years old."  Nobody guessed Mrs. Gjere, but a few students thought maybe their parents had secret biking lives they hadn't shared with their children!  When Mrs. Gjere came into the room, they had to think about it for a second before they realized Mrs. Gjere was really their Mystery Reader!

We spent a lot of time discussing her biking trip; the kids found this fascinating!  Mrs. Gjere did an awesome job helping the kids make inferences as she read "Willoughby and the Lion."

Authors' Celebration + Ice Cream = Balloon Number 4

Our balloon popping event today was an Authors' Celebration with the kindergarten class along with an ice cream treat.  We wrote and published poetry in April, but we still haven't had the chance to share it.  This provided us with the perfect opportunity!  The kindergartners also shared books they recently wrote and will be sharing at their kick out!

Balloon Number 3: Math Fact Kickball

This morning our balloon picker opted to sit on the ball to pop it.  This sure made the class laugh!  Our balloon surprise was math fact kickball.  Before the students could kick, they had to solve a math fact.  Thanks to Mrs. Gjere for flashing the cards while I pitched.

Another wonderful surprise was that the seniors showed up at our door with letters they wrote back to us.  How fun!

Balloon Number Two: Nature Scavenger Hunt

Perfect day to enjoy the outdoors!  There are also a few pictures of us below delivering our letters to the seniors that we wrote yesterday.  Watching them hand-off their letters to the surprised seniors was priceless.

Celebration Countdown

At the end of every school year I'm on the search for an interesting and creative way to bring the year to a close with my class.  I found this great idea on Pinterest of hanging balloons in the classroom with a fun activity in each balloon as a way to countdown until the last day.  Over the weekend I brainstormed 8 activities that I knew the kids would enjoy, jotted each down on a slip of paper, slipped each message into a balloon and hung them up.  Right away this morning the students noticed and wondered what was going on.  They counted 8 balloons and guessed that we would pop one for each day that is left in our school year.  They were half right, but they didn't realize all the fun that was to follow popping a balloon!

Today the message said "Write a letter to a Burro graduate."  The class was really excited about this, especially about hand delivering them tomorrow!  I happened to have fancy graduation paper on hand which always makes writing even more special!

2nd Grade Field Trip

On Thursday, the 2nd graders went on their field trip which included a few locations.  They started the day at a local farm owned by the Taylors and Troendles.  The students learned about the animals and how the farm works.  Our next stop was the news station KTTC in Rochester.  It was fun for the kids to meet Jessica Abrahamson and Ted Schmidt.  There were many questions for Ted about how weather is forecasted, and of course their favorite part, the green screen.  Many students remembered to wear green so as to disappear as they went across the screen.  Our final stop was at Silver Lake Park where they were able to enjoy the equipment and a few baseball games.

Mrs. A. to Most; Grandma to One

Today the beloved Mrs. A. came in to share a favorite story of hers, "The Moon is Following Me."  Mrs. A. is not only a staff member at our school, but she is also the grandma of one of our students.  She chose the book because of the deep text-to-self connection she felt when she first read it.  Many of the students were able to have that same connection as we all thought about a time when we thought the moon was following us.  One student even remarked how the book was very "calming."  What a remarkable thought, and Mrs. A.'s soothing voice helps out too!  Thanks so much for reading with us today!

Ag Day

Yesterday with much excitement we visited Ag Day.  It is not only a special event because the students get the opportunity to see a variety of animals and farm equipment, but many students have an older brother, sister, cousin, or friend that presents.  We walked around to each student lead presentation, and the class had the chance to pet the animals, ask questions, and sit up in the tractor seats.  The high school students did a fanstastic job teaching us about their specialty!

Mr. S. Crashes First and Second Grade

It was such a pleasure to have Mr. S. come in today as our Mystery Reader.  He works right across the hall from us in the kindergarten room.  All the students see Mr. S. each day, but they just couldn't figure out who loves the Twins, has a sweet tooth, and very large feet!  (No kidding... the kids measured them on his way out because they were fascinated by this clue!)

He read the book "The Three Wolves and the Big Bad Pig."  This was a book that was recommended by one of our students a couple of weeks ago, and the class loved it!  Afterwards the class had a million questions for Mr. S.  They asked him everything from "Who is your favorite author?" to "How old were you when you got your first bike?"  Thanks for hanging out with us today Mr. S.

The Principle's New Clothes

Each week that we have a Mystery Reader, one of the class' first guesses is "Mr. Semmen!"  As we continue through the clues, we usually end up taking him off of our list of guesses.  This week I thought it would be fun to actually have Mr. Semmen come in as our Mystery Reader.  The class was definitely surprised.  I think the clue about being a Steelers' fan is what threw them!  He read a spin-off of "The Emperor's New Clothes" called "The Principle's New Clothes."  The class enjoyed making text-text connections as he read this silly story.  Thanks Mr. Semmen!

First Grade Fieldtrip

Yesterday the kindergartners and first graders had a wonderful day spent in LaCrosse.  Our day started with the play "Jack and the Beanstalk" which was performed at Viterbo College.  We then headed over to Myrick Park for lunch.  There was a variety of climbing, hanging, and sandcastle building areas for the kids to play in.  In the afternoon we visited the nature center and learned about insects, and we even had the chance to be scientists and go exploring for them.  It was just a perfect day, except according to the students, it went too fast!

Grandma of the Birthday Boy

Today's mystery reader is a grandmother to 10, lives on a farm with several animals, and has lived and worked locally her whole life.  One student guessed right away that it was Mrs. Ruen.   Thanks so much for coming in to share a story with us.  This made the birthday boy's day extra special!

Older Sister and Former Student

Today we had an extra special Mystery Reader.  The older sister of one of our students who is now in 3rd grade came in to read "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs."  I happen to know this awesome 3rd grader because I also had her in 1st and 2nd grade.  When she came walking in the whole class was so surprised, and her brother had the biggest smile on his face!  He kept looking at her like he couldn't believe it!  Thanks for sharing a story with us today Miss T.

Mom of the Birthday Girl

Today is the birthday of one of our special students.  When her mom contacted me about bringing in a birthday snack on Friday to celebrate I recommended that she come in as a mystery reader as well. What a special surprise for her daughter!  Not only did the class get to hear a new story, but they also got to enjoy some chocolate cake and ice cream.  Thanks for the story and treat Mrs. LaDoux, and happy birthday to your daughter! (The birthday girl wanted a silly picture with her mom:)

Gopher Loving Teacher

On Friday we were lucky to have 2 mystery readers visit our classroom.  The first one is a mom of one of our students who is at school regularly since she is part of the ECFE program, helps in the Ag Department, and subs in other classrooms.  You can tell that Mrs. Ruen is a teacher in the way that she interacted with the students throughout the read aloud.  She chose to read a book by Tomie dePaola since that is her favorite children's author, and she met him when she was in elementary school.  Her daughter knew it was her right away when she heard the last clue "I love the Minnesota Gophers."  Thanks for visiting our classroom Mrs. Ruen!

Kindergarten Authors' Celebration

On Friday the kindergarten class invited us over to their classroom to share the stories they wrote called "What Do You See?"  The stories were awesome, and my class sure enjoyed listening to the kindergartners share.  Many students in my class were able to partner up with a brother or sister or cousin.  I felt especially lucky to partner up with my son, Mason.  The kindergarten class is a group of super writers and illustrators!

Fun Website!

This week we have been using a new website to help us practice our spelling words.  The website it called goanimate.com.  The students began by writing up a dialogue between 2 characters including as many of their spelling words as possible.  Using this website,  the students were able to see their scripts acted out by 2 characters of their choice.  The class is having so much fun with it that many have wanted to go home and try it out.  I thought I'd post it here so students can try it out with their families!

New Pigeon Book!

I have to share that another new book is out by my favorite children's author, Mo Willems.  Willems is the author of the Piggie and Elephant books which my class loves.  He also has a series of Pigeon books, and I've been waiting forever for a new one to come out.  The newest book is called The Duckling Gets a Cookie!?  I can't wait to share this book with my class tomorrow!

Mother of one student and Teacher to Many- Mystery Reader Four

When our mystery reader walked in the door today her son was so exited to see who had arrived.  Not only was he excited, but half the class called out that Mrs. Berg is their dance teacher or Sunday school teacher among other ways that they know her.  It is obvious that Mrs. Berg is very committed to being involved in the community.  Thanks for taking the time to share one of your favorite stories with us today!

Mystery Reader Three

We were very lucky to have another mystery reader to end our week.  In the morning, I display the book with the clues taped on the front.   The students now come in the morning eager to read the clues right away and try to figure it out!  One of the clues was: "I have 5 grandchildren."  After reading the clues, it was so cute to see the Mystery Reader's grandson stop and immediately start counting up his cousins on his hands.  He declared, "That has to be my grandma!"  He was right.  This student has been particularly lucky to have both grandmas surprise us now!  She did a great job asking the class questions as she read which was helping them to make "text-to-self" connections.  Thanks for joining us Mrs. Olson!

Our 2nd Mystery Reader!

We were very lucky to have another mystery reader join us today.  She is the mother to the set of twins in our classroom.  After hearing her clues, the class had it narrowed down to the librarian, Title I teacher, or principal.   You can tell that she has a lot of experience reading to children since she has four of her own. Thanks for sharing a story with us Mrs. Peterson!

Our Very First Mystery Reader!

During 4th quarter mystery readers will be joining us in the classroom to share a story with the students.  Today we were joined by the grandmother of one of our students.  As I read aloud the clues, many guesses were made.  The class was convinced that it was the 6th grade teacher that would be coming in.  When this nice grandma walked in, her grandson's face absolutely lit up!  Thanks for joining us today Pat!  Please contact me if you are interested in surprising the class as a mystery reader.  My goal is to have at least one mystery reader each week of 4th quarter!

Picture Parade

Our classroom is filled with creative students, and we have been lucky enough to have a very creative parent come to our classroom once a week to teach our students about art through the Picture Parade program.  The students have learned about different types of art and artists.  They have been thinking about and discussing the art that is presented each week.  Most recently the class has been working on creating tightrope walkers.  Using a variety of materials, such as corks, wires, feathers, cups, pipe cleaners, screws, and bolts, the student have had the challenge of constructing a figure that is balanced in way to sit upright on a tightrope that is currently stretched across our classroom.  The students have certainly enjoyed using their hands to create their projects!  Feel free to stop in anytime to check out our tightrope walkers!

Leprechaun Day

The students at Lanesboro get pretty excited when St. Patrick's Day is near, and they go on watch for the Leprechaun.  A few special activities were added into our day to honor St. Patrick's Day.  Our morning meeting game was changed from "Doggy, Doggy Where's Your Bone?"  to "Leprechaun, Leprechaun Where's Your Gold?"  During math we used a Leprechaun's favorite cereal to sort and graph.  We also made a class book about what we would do if we caught a leprechaun.  We were lucky enough to have the leprechaun leave us a package in the office at the end of the day.  The leprechaun knows how much we love to read and brought each student a bookmark and a new Piggie and Elephant book for our class.

Special Guest

The students were so excited today for our special guest: TC Bear.  TC Bear from the Minnesota Twins joined us today to act out a story.  The story was about TC not being able to hit the baseball, and he needed to practice, practice, practice in order to become a better hitter.  At the end of the book, TC's hard work paid off when his hit earned his team a win! This can be related to our reading.  When we put in a lot of hard work and practice, we become great readers!

Batter Up For a Good Book

Today kicked off the events for "I Love to Read Week."  This year the activities are centered around a baseball theme, and today was baseball cap day.  It is a very fun treat for the students to be able to wear a favorite hat all day long.  The students also enjoyed tallying up our runs for reading throughout the day including an additional "RBI" time (Reading Books is Important).  Our reading runs will be recorded on our reading scoreboard.  We look forward to the events ahead!

Winter Authors' Celebration

Last Friday families joined us for our Winter Authors' Celebration.  During our daily read aloud we had read many circle stories like "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" by Laura Numeroff.  The students then wrote their own circle stories.  They were so creative in their characters and plot.  Some of the titles included "If You Give a Lion a Latte," "If You Give a Butterfly a Boomerang," and "If You Give a Squid a Sea Gull."  The stories were illustrated using crayon and water color.  The illustrations turned out wonderfully!  We also shared with our families a reading of "Olive My Love" by Vivian Walsh.  Thank you for all who attended!

Happy 100th Day of School

Today we celebrated our 100th day of school with several activities.  During math we compared the weight of sets of 100 objects.  The students then took a few of those items and measured how long 100 items were lined up.  We found that the popsicle sticks were the longest in a row and the paperclips lined up were the shortest.  The students were probably most looking forward to making a 100 day trail mix.  Each student brought in 100 snack items and we combined them all in a big bowl.  As they enjoyed their snack, they used the digits in 100 to make creative designs.  They could move the digits around to make them into whatever design they chose.  The students came up with wonderful ideas such as a mask, tractor, guitar, alligator, monster truck, eagle, and a classroom with a teacher and students.  We'll put all of our designs together in a class book.

Froggy Books

The students in first and second grade are crazy about a new series- Froggy books by Jonathan London!  We have been reading them during our read aloud for the last few weeks, and the students have enjoyed getting to know Froggy and predicting what he will do next.  We have learned that Froggy is often forgetful, clumsy, turns more red in the face than green in each story, and is very kind to his family and friends.  We had a few of these books in our classroom library, and after seeing how much the students love reading them I quickly added more!  During our Daily 5 reading block I see many students reading Froggy books to self or to a classmate.  I just love seeing students getting excited about a favorite series, or character, or author! "Froggy Goes to Hawaii" is going to be at our upcoming book fair, and we can't wait to get our hands on it!

Circle Stories

During Writing Workshop we are currently working on writing our own circle stories.  Circle stories end where they begin.  We read many examples by Laura Numeroff such as "If You Give a Pig a Pancake."  Using a graphic organizer, the students came up with their own character and plot.  The trickiest part is to make sure that you make the full circle and that your character and events end up where they begin.  The students had so much fun with this writing project and came up with several different stories.  Each student chose his or her favorite one to publish.  The students typed up their own stories and are currently working on making the illustrations for their stories using the mediums of crayon and watercolor.  We will be having an Authors' Celebration mid February to share our finished books with our families.  Not only are the stories very creative, but the illustrations are detailed and beautiful!

Line of Symmetry Masks

We have been studying symmetry in our math curriculum for about a month now.  The students have practiced finding lines of symmetry on given shapes and cutting their own shapes with a line of symmetry. Today we made line of symmetry masks.  I found this idea on www.mathwire.com.  I thought this would be a fun project for the students to incorporate what they have learned about symmetry.  Everyone did a great job following each step of the project, and the students made some very unique masks!

Winter Snowflakes

Today we ended our day by making our annual 3-D snowflake project.  This project requires that the students listen very carefully to each step.  The steps include specific folding, cutting, rolling, taping, and stapling.  This year we also added a little sparkly fake snow that was left over from our Christmas ornaments.  The result is a big fluffy snowflake that is perfect to decorate our classroom as we wait for actual snow to fall upon us!  Each year this project produces a mix of excitement and frustration.  The 2nd graders feel excited because they know what the final product looks like, and with their experience they feel confident they can do it.  In the beginning, the 1st graders may feel a little overwhelmed because the steps have to be followed very specifically or one of the snowflake pieces may have to be redone.  As the 1st graders catch on, they also begin to move through each step with ease.  I love to see the students come together to help each other with the steps once they have gained the confidence themselves.  Once students finish their own, they move on to help other students who have questions.  It is teamwork at its best!