Our Holiday Party!

Our Holiday Party in Room 125 on PhotoPeach

In the season of giving...

I love this time of year.  People are very busy buying and receiving presents during Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa.  In our class we are creating a special present to give to our parents (shhh! It's a secret!). 

Thinking of this reminds me of my favorite gift.  When I was 14 years old my mom gave me her high school I.D. bracelet for Christmas.  I liked it, but really I wanted something new, like a swatch watch 

 or an album. 

I put the ID bracelet in my jewelry box and there it sat gathering dust for a few years.  When I was a senior in high school, I gave the bracelet to my best friend, as a way of saying that we would be friends forever.  After a while, my friend and I lost touch; we went to college, moved to different parts of the world, and got married.  She kept the bracelet with her.  It reminded her of me even though we never got to see each other.  Many years passed, and one day when I was feeling very sad my friend brought me my mom's ID bracelet.  I was shocked.   I had completely forgotten the bracelet existed. I was amazed at how beautiful my mom's name looked engraved in the shiny silver.  It was the perfect gift.

What is the best gift you have ever received? 

What was your favorite gift and why?

Dreidel Song

I had a little dreidel,

I made it out of bread,

I did not spin my dreidel,

I ate it up instead.

Daily News

"I had fun going to library today," roared Jake.

"Starting our surprise project was fun," babbled Amy.

"I liked coloring the worksheet about the boy and girl from Mexico," roared Ethan!

"I loved reading Go Dog Go," exclaimed Yuval.

"I liked doing the super holiday sentences," rejoiced Gia.

"When Mrs. McEvoy came to class, it was great," dictated Collin.

Hurray!

How exciting our blog was listed as one of the Top 100 Classroom Blogs  !  Also listed was our own upstairs blogging pals Mrs. Yollis Class Blog .

Daily News

"I had fun doing a sand castle with Charlotte and Gracie," rejoiced Gia.
 
"I had fun doing math," said Nick.

"I liked playing handball," roared Jeremy.

"I liked reading An Egg Is An Egg.  I also liked studying holidays around the world," said Matthew.

"Reading Stellaluna was fun," roared Yuval.

Happy Friday!

We had a very busy day.  We read stories, took our spelling test, sang songs with Mr. B, continued our holidays around the world unit (we found Israel on the map and ate some gelt.) Then we finished our stained glass snowflakes and even had enough time for PDR.  Whew...

Here's our daily news:

"I liked finishing the snowflakes," explained Matthew.

"I had fun doing play doh with Aliya," rejoiced Gia.

"I had fun doing Legos with A.J.,
 noted Nina.

"I liked doing our math pages," roared Jules.

Stuck on a word?

We have been practicing some reading strategies in Room 125 the past few weeks.  For each strategy we have a animal buddy that helps us remember what to do.

CHUNKY MONKEY! Chunky Monkey reminds us to "chunk the word," look at the word, and find chunks you might know (at, an, un, ing, er.)

LIPS THE FISH!  Get your lips ready, say the first few sounds of a new word, read to the end of the sentence and say it again.

STRETCHY SNAKE!  Stretch it out!  Stretch out the word slowly then put the sounds back together.

EAGLE EYE! Look at the pictures, the pictures might give you clues to the words on the page.

SKIPPY FROG!  Skip a word you are having a hard time with, read to the end of the sentence and hop back and try again.  Skip it, skip it and then read it, read it.

TRYIN' LION!  Try to reread the sentence, try a word that makes sense.  Try it again!

Helpful Kangaroo!  Ask for help after you have tried all of the other strategies.

Never let the word win.  Keep on reading!!


What is your favorite reading strategy?

Happy Thanksgiving

First Grade Thanksgiving Party on PhotoPeach

Mr. Turkey

 

Mr. Turkey Mr Turkey

 Run away, run away!

If you are not careful,

You will be a mouthful,

Thanksgiving Day, Thanksgiving Day!

Daily News

"I loved Thursday because we did not have any school, and I went to boys and girls club," explained Rain!

"I like doing music" explained Jules.

"I liked playing Chinese handball," thought Jeremy!

"I had fun playing with my friends at recess," rejoiced Ava!

It's Finally Fall~ Writing Prompt.

Last week we were reading and writing about the seasons.  This week, it finally feels more like fall. 

The leaves are changing color.

The weather is changing.

And in a couple of weeks, it will be Thanksgiving! 

Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions?

What is your favorite food at the Thanksgiving feast?

To Ava

"I liked eating my lunch at lunch time," rejoiced Noel.

"I had fun having our Halloween party," said Parsa.

"I really want to see you when you come back next week," rejoiced Elsie.

"Ava we really miss you and we hope you have fun on your trip, " explained A.J.!

"I had fun doing P.E." explained Matthew.

Daily News from Room 125

"I played with Yuval," explained Elsie.

"I liked doing math," said Aliya.

"I had fun building a castle with Natalie, Jenna and Savannah," explained Miya.

"I loved when we went to P.E. yesterday," exclaimed Amy.

"I had fun writing my Q's" noted Kiernan.

"I had fun playing with Jules," rejoiced Gia.

Halloween Party

1st Grade Halloween Party on PhotoPeach

From Mrs. McEvoy

Dear Mrs. Levy's class,

Thank you all for making my Thursdays so special.  I smile all day long after my visit with you.

Peace & Love,
Mrs. McEvoy

Jack-O-Lantern Big and Scary

Jack-o-Lantern
Jack-o-lantern, big and scary
Some are sad, some are merry.
Some are large, some are small.
Some just have no teeth at all!

Spooky- Writing Prompt

In honor of Halloween coming up in just 11 days, please leave us a comment about something that scares you.

Are you scared of spiders?

Are you scared of snakes?

Are you scared of thunder and lightning?

Are you scared of ghosts?

 

What scares you?

Buddy Reading

We have been practicing reading to ourselves for a few weeks now.  Some important rules about reading to yourself are: 

1. Read in your head.
2. Read the whole time.
3. Stay in one place.
4. No talking.

Today was very exciting because we introduced "Buddy Reading."  Students could choose to read with a classmate, read to themselves or read with one of our stuffed buddies.   They did an amazing job and had fun too.

Mondrian

Today we learned about the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. We looked at his paintings and discussed his use of lines and primary colors.

Here are our Mondrian inspired pictures:

 

Who is your favorite artist?   

Do you like Mondrian's artwork?

Daily News

"I liked being with Mrs. McEvoy," rejoiced Noel!

"I have fun going to the library," rejoiced Gia.

"I had fun playing with hula hoops with Ryan," explained Elsie.

"I liked writing my letter to my penpal," noted Jakob!

Aliya said, "I loved doing math."

Quality Comments

Today in class we read a wonderful blog post from Mrs. Yollis about how to compose a quality comment and watched the video they created.  We learned that in a quality comment there should always be a capital at the beginning of your sentence and punctuation at the end of your sentence.  Also, you should only use one exclamation point if you want to exclaim something and you should try to end your comment with a question.  If you end your comment with a question, you will keep the conversation going. 

Check out this perfect example of a quality comment from Hannah in Mrs. Yollis' class.

"Dear Mrs. Levy,

My name is Hannah and I am a student in Mrs. Yollis' class. Congatulations on your amazing swim! 58 degrees sounds very cold!
I went to San Francisco two years ago with my family and friends. I loved it! My favorite part was going on the cable cars. We went on Thanksgiving and all the holiday decorations were up. Ghirardelli square looked beautiful and festive.
My question is, how long did you have to train for the swim? I love swimming but I don't think that I would be able to do the Alcatraz swim any time soon!!


Sincerely,


Hannah"
 
Very impressive Hannah and all of Mrs. Yollis' class.  Thank you for all of your commenting tips.

October

Our poem of the week by Maurice Sendak

October

In October I'll be host,

To witches, goblins and a ghost.

I'll serve them chicken soup on toast.

Whoopy once,

Whoopy, twice,

Whoopy chicken soup with rice!

Penpals

Our Penpals, Mrs. McEvoy's Class

Mrs. McEvoy came today to bring the letters our penpals wrote back to us.  We were so excited to read what they wrote.  Tomorrow we will write back!

Reading our letters.

Our class with our folders

Daily News

Busy day for the busy bees!  Please remember that homework is due tomorrow.  Thanks for all of the classroom donations.  I will be sending out volunteer info. over the weekend, once I compile my email list.

Here's our daily news;

"I liked when Mrs. McEvoy came in," exclaimed Amy!

"I loved doing the leaf art," explained Aliya.

"I had fun doing our math pages," noted Natalie.

"I had fun going to the library," rejoiced Jake.

Daily News

"I had fun doing our math work," explained Jules.

 "I loved looking at the Winnie the Pooh books," explained Rain.

 "I had fun playing at the playground at recess time," noted Noel.

Nina said, "I liked jump roping."

"I liked to learn in school," noted Kiernan.

Alcatraz swim!

Mrs. Levy, Mr. Levy and Mrs. McEvoy swam from Alcatraz to San Francisco on Saturday.  The day started out cold and rainy but fortunately the rain stopped in time for the race.

We jumped off of the ferry at Alcatraz Island and swam the 1.5 miles.   The water temperature was 58 degrees (the same as the temperature as the water at our beaches.)  All three of us successfully crossed and enjoyed the fabulous swim!  We celebrated by enjoying a great day in the lovely city of San Francisco.

Have you ever been to San Francisco?  

Where was your favorite place to go?

Hello to Mrs. McEvoy's Class

Dear Penpals,

Kiernan asks, "What is it like in high school?"

Nina noted, "I hope you have a great time."

A.J. wondered, "What are you learning about in high school?"

Collin rejoiced, "I cannot wait to meet you."

Ava asked, "When are we going to get our letters from you?"

What do you think?

Next Saturday Mrs. Levy and Mrs. McEvoy will be swimming from Alcatraz in the 8th Annual Swim with the Centurions.  

 How long do you think it will take Mrs. McEvoy and Mrs. Levy to do the swim?

What is the distance from Alcatraz to San Francisco? 

Do you know any facts about Alcatraz? 

Do you think the ocean temperature is warmer or colder in the San Francisco Bay?

Daily News

"I had fun watching the movie during recess and lunch,"  explained Parsa.

"I liked doing P.E." rejoiced Ava.

"I liked going up to get hot lunch," noted Luke.

"I had fun doing the monkey bars," explained Elsie.

"I had fun doing the pen pal letters, "  rejoiced Matthew.

Music with Mr. B

On Friday we had music with Mr. B.  We practiced the song"You're a Grand Old Flag."  

Do you know the lyrics to You're a Grand Old Flag?

You're a grand old flag, You're a high flying flag And forever in peace may you wave. You're the emblem of The land I love. The home of the free and the brave. Ev'ry heart beats true 'neath the Red, White and Blue, Where there's never a boast or brag. Should auld acquaintance be forgot, Keep your eye on the grand old flag.

Daily News

"I had fun playing marbles at PDR with Logan and Rain," exclaimed Jakob!

"I loved drawing at PDR," noted Ethan.

"I liked doing math," said Nina.

A.J. said, "I loved writing Lego pictures."


Wow, look how impressive our sentences are getting! 

What was your favorite activity this week? 

Dogs, dogs, dogs

This week we have been writing about dogs, reading about dogs and today we checked out some inspiring artwork from George Rodrigue,  Blue Dog series.  

We created our own interpretation of Blue Dog.   Here are some of our colorful results

"I loved playing with my brother," explained Noel.

"I had fun playing handball," rejoiced Collin.

"I had fun making our Blue Dogs," rejoiced A.J.!

 "I loved reading books," explained Amy.

Daily News

Aliya said, "I liked the rainbow words."

"I liked playing in the sandbox with Jules, Charlotte and Savannah," exclaimed Miya!

"I loved doing the word stamps," noted Kiernan.

Book order forms went home today and please remember picture day is Friday.

Poem of the Week

Our second poem of the week went home yesterday.  Remember to keep collecting those poems until the end of the school year.

Cats
Cats are furry, cats are small,
Cats are hardly big at all.
Cats can purr and cats can mew.
Do you like cats?
I sure do!

Friday = PDR

Friday is always exciting because in the afternoon we have PDR.  Students can choose from a variety of creation stations.  Here is what our class had to say about PDR today.

"I had fun playing Legos with A.J., Luke, Ethan, Yuval and Nina," explained Parsa.

"I had fun doing PDR," rejoiced Jules!

 Jeremy said, "I had fun playing play doh with Noel and Jake."

What was your favorite PDR station?