Gingerbread fun!

Yesterday morning we had our chilly, winter concert.  We rocked!!

We continued with our holiday fun by reading about the gingerbread girl.   Then we created our own gingerbread people.

We enjoyed tasting yummy gingerbread men and we graphed where we took our first bite

Last, we graphed whether or not we like gingerbread cookies..... Hmm.... I think the answer was a resounding YES!

What part of the gingerbread cookie did you eat first?  Why do you think you chose that part??

Another great day in first grade...

"What I liked today was reading with my friends, Sam and Pasha,"  babbled Dylan.

"I liked tracing my hand on green paper," explained Teddi.

"Playing the memory game was fun," said Max.

"Making my little snowman was really fun," roared Ella.

"I liked when we sang "Frosty the Snowman" in music class," rejoiced Pasha.

"Getting my cub kudo was fun," thought Sophia S.

"Doing pointers with my friend was wonderful,"  added Jeremiah.

"I liked when we moved to the art class because of the skunk,"  dictated Morgan.

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 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 what I really  wanted was something new and popular, 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? 

Daily News

"I liked reading from my book box," said Nic.

"We made penguins with Dylan's mom and I really liked it," babbled Juliet.

"I liked making the penguins," said Allie.

"I really liked when we went outside to play,"  explained Jalyn.

"I liked learning about the reading animals," stated Max.

Family Traditions

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As our weather in Southern California has finally changed, it’s beginning to feel like we are heading toward the winter holidays.  At this time of year, people look forward to certain family traditions. A tradition is “the process of handing down a belief or custom from one generation to the next.”  This week in our class we will start learning about different winter holidays and traditions around the world.

My family has a number of traditions.  My mom was a kindergarten teacher, and one of my favorite holiday traditions was helping her prepare for the winter concert at her school.  Each year I would cut out paper snowflakes until my hands were tired and help her decorate the stage for the school production.  As a mom, I eagerly await my son’s Holiday Winter concert with the school band.  This year will be his 9^th winter concert.  At Chaparral, our winter concert will be held on December 17^th, where we will showcase our fabulous singing for parents and the school.

Holiday Concert 2012

A second family tradition for my family is that on Christmas Eve we get to open one present.  When I was a child, that one present always ended up being pajamas.  As a parent, I have continued this tradition and my son gets to open up one present, of his choice from under the tree.

Do you have a favorite holiday tradition?   

November

Thanksgiving

Can you believe that next week is Thanksgiving?  It's my favorite holiday because it is a day that celebrates family, focuses on being thankful, and did I mention my love of pie. 

 What are you thankful for?   

Our City Hall and Library Field Trip

Three Little Ghosts

Jack-O-Lantern Big and Scary

Mr. Wiggles At School

Spooky Stuff!

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?

Our pen pals

We are so excited! Yesterday Mrs. McEvoy brought our first pen pal letters.  Today we wrote back to them.    

Our class

Our pen pals!

Here are some things we want to find out about our pen pals.

 Jeremiah asks "What are your favorite colors?"

"What do you like at school?" wonders Teddi.

"What is your favorite game?" dictated Nicholas.

"Do you wear glasses?" added Max.

"Where is your favorite place to go to?" said Pasha.

"What is your favorite thing to do at home?" thought Jayln.

Allie asks, "What is your favorite food?"

"Do you guys have a class pet?" babbled Ella.

"What is your favorite sport?"  claimed Dylan.

"What is it like in high school?" rejoiced Juliet.

Alcatraz Swim

 This past Sunday Mr and Mrs. Levy swam the Alcatraz Touch n Go Challenge.  In this race, we swam to Alcatraz Island, touched a boat  anchored off the shore of the island and then swam back to San Francisco, Aquatic Park.  It was an amazing loooooooong swim.  As the fog lifted I could see Alcatraz and San Francisco from the water.  Here is some video from the event. 


Mr. Levy is #7 and Mrs. Levy is #8.    The first girl to touch is 11 years old :-)

Poem of the Week : Funny Pup

Coastal Clean Up Day- Heal the Bay

On September 15 many of our Chaparral families participated in Heal the Bay's Coastal Clean Up Day.  

On Saturday many of our Chaparral families and teachers met at the Malibu Surf Rider Beach for California Coastal CleanUp Day.  It was a wonderful day in the sun with family and friends, helping clean our coast.

According to Heal the Bay website,  "Braving scorching heat, Southland volunteers collected and removed nearly 20 tons of ocean-bound trash today from Los Angeles County watersheds as part of Heal the Bay’s 23rd annual Coastal Cleanup Day. Working together to protect what they love, 9,323 participants scoured local beaches, inland waterways, regional parks and urban neighborhoods from 9 a.m. to noon. Santa Monica-based environmental group Heal the Bay mobilized 58 sites throughout the county, covering 56 miles of terrain. From Compton to Malibu, local businesses, faith-based organizations, schools and youth sports teams worked in tandem to gather and remove 38,598 pounds of debris. Cigarette butts, plastic bottles and caps, snack-food packaging, plastic bags and Styrofoam fragments are among the most frequently found items at cleanups."

Sophia and Isabella

Emili and Mrs. Levy

Mrs. Lampert and friends

Divers brought up a variety of trash, including a stop sign, plastic bottles, glasses, styrofoam and car keys.

What a perfect way to enjoy our beautiful California beaches.

 What type of trash did you collect?  

What other ways can we help our planet?

Poem of the Week- September

"I liked playing with the playdoh and making spelling words," babbled Dylan.

"I liked art class. We made cats," grinned Ella.

"Reading big books was fantastic," said Emili.

"I liked running around at recess," dictated Nicholas.

Visitors

Today we had two important visitors.  The first was Max's spotted gecko Spot. 

The second was Mrs. McEvoy from Calabasas High School.  She talked to us about her Freshman class who are going to be our pen pals this year. 

Then we got to write our first pen pals letters.

What was your favorite part of the day? 

Jumping into the new school year!

On the weekend,  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. Yesterday was our 15th day of school.  In class we talked about what we can do better today compared to the first day of school.  We have memorized poems, played math games, we are working on our reading stamina, we started working in our math books and writing in our journals.   Next 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 :-)

What did you do at school today?

What did you do at school today?

The Color Song

Our Daily News

Teddi said, "I liked PDR."

"I liked the blueberries," explained Ella.

"Playing with Legos was fun," said Jeremiah!

"I liked interviewing my friends," explained Juliet.

"I liked playing with the markers and bionicles," explained Nic.

"I liked playing with Jeremiah," said Nicholas!

What was your favorite part of the day?

First week of school

Our First Day!

Wow we had a great first day of school in Room F today! First we lined up on the upper yard.  We saw old friends and met some new ones too. 

We had our flag salute and listened to our Principal.

 Then it was off to our new class.  We learned a little about Mrs. Levy, took a tour of the school,  and talked about class rules.   We read some new books and graphed the number of letters in our names. 

We also played with magic playdough.  If the white playdough turned colors we knew it was going to be a wonderful year.

What color did your playdough turn?

We are off to  an amazing start .  What was your favorite thing that we did today?