Our Holiday Party

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"I liked reading The Legend of the Poinsettia," babbled Mia.

"Visiting Australia was fun," roared Colin.

"I liked working on our wooden snowmen," explained Shayna.

"Doing the pointers was fun," grinned Nicholas.

"Seeing Davo was exciting," exclaimed Jadon.

"I liked reading my Garfield books," roared Ben.

In the season of giving...

I love this time of year.  In class we have started to learn about the different continents and winter traditions around the world.  We learned about Sinterklass (in the Netherlands,) Hanukkah, Christmas in Australia.    In our class we are created a special present to give to our parents . 

Thinking of this reminds me of one of my favorite presents.  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 a record player.

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 but 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? 


 Is there anything special you want as a gift this year? 

A visitor from down under... Tasmania

Today we had a visitor from Tasmania, Australia.  Miss Wyatt has been traveling across the United States and Canada since September with her stuffed buddy Davo the Tasmanian devil.

 She shared lots of interesting facts with us about Australia, the Tasmanian devil and other Australian animals.

Here are some of the facts we learned:

"In Australia there is a kangaroo called the red kangaroo," added Sally.

"The red kangaroo uses it's back legs to attack, " babbled Mason.

"Tasmanian devils run when they get their food, so that the other Tasmanian devils won't get it," roared Christian.

"Tasmania is an island near Australia," grinned Colin.

"There's a lot of Australian snakes that are poisonous," exclaimed Noah. 

You can see Miss Wyatt's adventures on her blog:  http://mrdevil.edublogs.org/

Turkey Dinner

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving is fast approaching. 

We have been busy in Room 125. We have been making turkey glyph puppets, making a pie chart about who likes turkey and solving turkey fact familiy equations.  We wrote about what Mr. Turkey would say the day before Thanksgiving and we wrote about how to catch Mr. Turkey.  

What will you do for Thanksgiving? 

Will you stay home or travel? 

November- Our poem of the week

November

In November's gusty gale

I will flop my flippy tale

and spout hot soup

I'll be a whale!

Spouting once, spouting twice

spouting chicken soup with rice.

                                       written by Maurice Sendak

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"I liked playing with Shayna," said Jade.

"I liked doing the Word Find at the when you are done table," babbled Colin.

"I liked meeting Adam," said Michelle.

"I loved doing the separating of the season things,"  roared Mia.

"I liked doing the pointers," claimed Nicholas.

Happy Halloween!

First Grade Halloween Party

Creepy Crawly Spiders

This week we have been learning about spiders.   

Mrs. Levy brought in her son's pet tarantula Morgan.  

We observed Morgan, read spider books and wrote spider facts.

We looked at a remote control tarantula and compared it in a Venn diagram with the real spider.

What was your favorite spider fact? 

Which spider did you like better- the real spider or the toy tarantula?

Halloween Fun!

This week we are learning about bats, spiders, pumpkins and other fun Halloween creatures.

 Is your jack-o-lantern going to be funny or scary?

What are you going to be for Halloween?

Daily News

"I liked doing the spider web with glue," grinned Ben.

"I got a Cub Kudos for doing the challenging word search," roared Jadon.

"I liked playing at lunch with Michelle," thought Gabrielle.

"I liked doing the math problem with the creepy tree and the spiders," said Shayna.

"Reading with the pointers was fun,"  roared Sally.

"I loved being line leader," said Mia.

Just keep swimming!

This week we read many stories about characters that just didn't quit.  In Jasper's Beanstock, Jasper worked and worked to make sure his bean grew.  Zig, in A Hut For Zig Bug, kept of finding more things to decorate his new hut.  On Sunday Mrs. Levy is going to try to remember those great characters when she is swimming in the Golden Gate Sharkfest.  I will swim from San Francisco to Sausalito, right under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Update:  Here is a picture of 

Mrs. Levy and Mrs. McEvoy at the swim. 

 

Poem of the Week: Jack-O-Lantern Big and Scary

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"I liked making the Columbus project," said Michelle.

"I liked doing the Touch Math subtraction," babbled Mason.

Ben said, "I liked reading the Skippyjon Jones books."

"I liked making the community art,"  roared Sally.

"I liked seeing the map of Moby island on the video that we saw,"  added Noah.

Spooky Writing Prompt

In honor of Halloween , 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?



Poem of the Week - October

Math Fun!

We have been working on many concepts in math.  

 More and Less

Subtraction & Addition

Patterning

What is your favorite math center? 

Daily News

"I like being the busy bee," said Jade.

"I like reading with pointers today," roared Evan B.

"I liked coloring the plant page," roared Jadon.

Leann babbled, "I liked going to lunch today."

"Seeing Mrs. McEvoy was fun," grinned Colin.

"I liked learning about plants today," rejoiced Mia.

Special Visitors!!

Today we had two special visitors in Room 125.  Mrs. McEvoy (our penpals' teacher) and Mrs. Foss (the Calabasas High School principal)  came to see our class and talk about our penpal letter exchange.  You can see the pictures and story at the CHS blog.


 http://calabasaspack.blogspot.com/2011/09/chschapparel-elementary-pen-pals.html

Daily News

"I liked seeing the pictures of my penpals.  They looked beautiful and I like them," said Michelle.

"I liked doing subtraction," roared Colin.

Mason babbled, "I liked doing math with Jade on the white boards."

"I liked being busy bee," roared Sally. 

"I like knowing my penpals better,"  said Mia.

"Using the pointer was fun," babbled Leann.

Ben added, "I liked reading from my book bag."

Welcome Penpals!

On Tuesday Mrs. McEvoy came from CHS to pick up our first penpal letters.  

We asked her all sorts of questions about our new high school buddies.  We can't wait to see what they write back.  

What do you want to learn about your penpal? 

If you're one of our penpals, please leave us a comment!

Daily News

"I liked doing the dot to dot kitty," babbled Jade.

"I liked reading the books," added Mia.

"I liked coloring the crayon," roared Christian.

Evan B. roared, "I liked lunch today!"

"I liked snack today," thought Jadon.

Ben said, "I liked doing the cupcake writing."

Jump on in, the water is fine...

On Sunday mornings  I swim in the ocean.  I love the swelly, blue-green salt water and the chill in the misty morning air.  It is an amazing way to start the day.  As much as I love it, I am always a little bit nervous right before I jump in. I stand at the waters edge with butterflies in my stomach.  Will the water be really cold?  Will I see any dolphin or seals?  What direction is the current traveling?   Slowly I get my toes wet, then I go in up to my knees and before I know it I am swimming through the first wave, then down the coast.

As I was swimming today I was thinking about how starting the school year is a lot like going out into the ocean.  Most of us, on the first day of school are a little nervous because we don't know what to expect.  But as the first few days pass, we meet our teacher and make new friends, we learn rules and routines and begin to work together as a class. In just 12 days we have already learned so much!  We have memorized poems, played math games, started working in our math books and writing in our journals.   This week we will start reading in our literature books, map our community and get our first homework packet. 

Our class has jumped in and we are diving through the surf :-)

September- our poem of the week

Today we will bring home the poem of the week September.  This will be the first poem of our Room 125 poem collection.

Please come to back to school night tonight!

We have so much we want you to see!

Wednesdays News

Jade said, "I liked doing the yellow color page."

"Doing the friend interviews was fun," roared Leann.

Gabby liked seeing Mrs. Sokolor today.

Shayna explained, "I liked using our new math books."

"I liked doing the pointers," roared Jadon.

Daily News

Colin roared, "I liked doing super readers."

Ben said, "I liked doing the pointers on the poems."

Caroline roared, "I like recess!"

"I liked writing the color words with the play doh," said Suhana.

What did you do today at school?

What did you do today at school?

Daily News

Noah said, "I liked reading the books."

"I liked running around with Samuel at recess," said Christian.

"I liked coloring the Timothy sheet the best," said Evan B.


"I liked coloring and writing about my favorite t-shirt," babbled Mia.

"I liked working with my friends on the letter sheet," said Nicholas.

Daily News

Michelle roared, "I liked snack time."

Sally said, "I liked going on the Mystery Letter Hunt."

Mason thought, "I liked making my self portrait."

Remember tomorrow is t-shirt day, wear your favorite t-shirt!

First Day Of School

Wow, on the first day of school time flies.  Today we introduced ourselves, talked about summer vacation, charted the number of letters in our first name, read books, took a tour, talked about attentive listening and played with magic play doh.

Here's what some people said was their favorite part of the first day of first grade.

Sally said, "I liked putting my name on the poster."

"I liked sitting in the circle with the busy bee," said Jade.

"I liked playing the quiet game," said Noah.

Kimmie said, "I liked seeing Mrs. Levy and playing with the playdoh you made for us."

Charting Our Names

Reading in our library

Magic Playdoh!!

What was your favorite activity today?

Back to School

Tomorrow we start our new school year. I can't wait to meet our new first grade class and get started on this years adventures.

Read Any Good Books Lately?

Summertime!

Hurray for summer!   The weather has changed and it's now sunny and warm in Southern California. Next week I'm going to Kauai, Hawaii. I can't wait to go snorkeling, swimming in the ocean and just relaxing on the beach. 

What are you doing this summer?

Our Pen Pal Visit

This Week ...

This Thursday our penpals from Mrs. McEvoy's class will be walking up to our class for a bagel brunch.

Are you excited to meet your penpal?

What do you know about your penpal?

What are you going to ask them?

Slideshow from Open House

Open House Room 125 on PhotoPeach

Open House

Tonight is Open House from 6:30-7:30. We have so much that we have learned this year.

What was favorite part of Open House?

Our Trip To Underwood Farm

Our Trip To Underwood Farm on PhotoPeach

Glitter Text @ Glitterfy.com

Africa

Jambo! (that's hello in Swahili)

Today we continued our tour of Africa.  Miya's mom, Lisa came in and shared some wonderful stories about her trips to Africa and also shared some interesting souvenirs from her travels there.  She brought in wooden statues of African animals.

This is an African chief wisdom stool.

We took turns sitting on the stool. 

The wisdom stool must have worked because wrote amazing facts about giraffes!

What facts do you know about giraffes?