Winter Authors' Celebration

Today we invited parents in to celebrate the stories that the students published in the fall.   We started with some Christmas poems that the students have been practicing and really enjoy reading.  Then each student had the chance to read his or her story in front of our audience and into a microphone.  It is always very exciting for the students to use the microphone.  Afterwards the class had the chance to read favorite Christmas stories with their families.  Thanks to all who joined us today.  It is very special to the students to share their work and accomplishments with their family.  Merry Christmas!

Letter Writing Unit

Returning from Thanksgiving break we begin a letter writing unit in our classroom.  This is one of my favorite units because not only are the students able to work on their writing skills, but it also builds a sense of community in our classroom and in our school.  I begin by teaching the students about the different parts of a letter and modeling how to write letters.  The students start writing their own letters including the date, a greeting, at least 3 sentences in the body of their letters, a closing, and their signatures.  The class also learns how to address an envelope, and we use stickers as stamps. The students are free to write to anybody.  If they write to someone in the school, the letters go in our classroom mailbox, and the students take turns delivering mail all around the school.  We also receive mail in our mailbox from other classrooms and students who write back to us.  It is so very fun!

Presenting our Habitats

We have worked hard on creating our habitats.  The students were very creative and made the environment and animals out of paint, clay, straws, toothpicks, buttons, pipe cleaners and other art supplies.  The students completed the project by writing about the animals that live in the particular habitat they created and list facts about the habitat.  We invited kindergarten guests over to do a walk through and learn about the habitats.

Holiday Concert

This past Monday Lanesboro Schools hosted their annual holiday concert.  All the groups did a fantastic job, but I think the first and second graders were the hit of the night!  Their upbeat songs and fun dance moves had the crowd laughing the whole time.  The music teachers do such a good job preparing and directing the kids. Way to go!

Animal Habitats

We have been studying animal habitats in the last couple of weeks.  Our focus has been on the forest, ocean, wetlands, and desert habitats.  Our final project in the works is a habitat diorama.  Each student chose one of the habitats and is creating the scene in a shoe box.  Students broke off into groups today to discuss what their diorama plans are.  The first step was to paint the inside to create a background scene. Future posts will show our progress!

Giving Thanks

We took some time on Friday to get our hands messy and reflect on what we are thankful for.  We started by making handprint turkeys.  The kids thought that painting their hands was super fun!  After the art portion, they had to write a list of what they are thankful for in their lives.  We brainstormed some ideas, and a few of their thoughts included: family, friends, shelter, teachers, siblings, pets, Thanksgiving, and food.  Although these students are only in first and second grade, they definitely show gratitude for what they have in their lives!

Honoring Veterans

In honor of Veteran's Day, our class wrote letters to soldiers.  Through the website www.amillionthanks.org, I found an address to send our letters.  Before we started our writing, we discussed as a class what soldiers and veterans have done for us.  The class came up with a list of reasons they wanted to thank the soldiers....
Thank you for keeping the United States safe.
Thank you for protecting us.
Thank you for fighting for our freedom.
Thank you for giving up time with your family.
Thank you for filling our buckets.  (Refer to the post about The Bucket Book)

The class did an awesome job!  We want to give a big thank you for those who serve our country!