Thank you Mrs. Glaser's mom!

Today we opened a gift to our class from Mrs. Glaser's mom!  We were so excited to find four Laura Numeroff books and the stuffed animals that go with them.  During our Daily 5 time, a large group of us were eager to try out reading to our new "reading buddies"!

First Grade Musical Photos

On Wednesday, the class performed their holiday selections at the First Grade Musical!  The Musical was called "Santa for President".  They were so excited to share their talents with their peers and families.  They did an outstanding job in both the afternoon and evening performances!  They should all be so proud of their hard work!  Enjoy the photos below:

First Grade Musical Reminders!

Tomorrow will bring our much anticipated First Grade Musical! The musical will start at 7:00 p.m. Students are to arrive at 6:45, and report to their classrooms. Parents, please make sure to take your child's coat with you to the gym, as the classrooms will be locked after the performance and will not be open for the students to return and put their coats on! Students are to wear red, green, or blue on top. I am looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Global Royal Readers!

Today, two of Mrs. Glaser's friends from Ireland dropped in to be Royal Readers on their way to O'Hare to travel back to Dublin.  The students enjoyed hearing them buddy read "Rock Star Santa", and were able to ask questions about life in Ireland.  Next, they showed the class where Ireland is in relation to Chicago.  

This tied in nicely with our LMC lesson today, where we studied the names that Santa Claus has in other countries, and used Google Earth to "fly" to each of those countries.  The first place that we "flew" to was Great Britain, and the students were able to see Ireland again, neighboring Great Britain.  A few of them recognized it instantly, and were excited to see this pop up in another lesson so soon after meeting our Irish Royal Readers!

Royal Reader!

Last week, we were surprised by another Royal Reader!  Annie's dad visited us and read, "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!"  The class really enjoyed the book and helped sing along!

Coin Dice game & Domino Top-it

This week in math, we've learned two new games that the students have enjoyed, and they are both great ways to reinforce the math concepts we've been working on.  The first is Coin-Dice, and it is based on the same concept as Penny-Nickel Exchange.  Players will need a bank of dimes, nickels, and pennies, and two dice.  Player 1 rolls both dice, and takes the number of pennies from the bank.  They can then make any exchanges possible to have the fewest number of coins.  Player 2 then rolls, takes the number of pennies they rolled, and makes exchanges for fewer coins.  When the bank is empty, the players count the value of their coins, and the player with the highest amount of money wins.

       

Today, we played Domino Top-it.  Domino Top-it follows the same rules as Top-it, or Coin Top-it, but using dominoes instead.  Each player has a stack of dominoes, face down in a stack.  (You can use the paper dominoes we cut out and brought home today, or you can use real dominoes).  Each player turns over the first domino and adds up the number of dots (total) on their dominoes.  The player with the highest number on his/her domino wins, and takes both dominoes.  This continues until one player has all of the dominoes/domino cards.  (Similar to the card game "War".)  

Playing these games would be a great way to keep those math skills strong over the long Thanksgiving break!  Enjoy!

Text Talk Words!

Below are the text talk words for the story this week, Six Dinner Sid:

-perfect

-suspicious

-gullible

-nasty

-damp

-versatile

Encourage your child to use these words in their conversations at home!

Trick or Treat!

Although the rain kept us from our annual Halloween parade through the neighborhood, it did not rain on our parade! We paraded through the school before enjoying our Halloween party that followed. Check out our super costumes!

Pumpkin Carving

Thank you so much for joining us last week for pumpkin carving! The children looked forward to this special event, and they had such a great time. In the morning, we chose, measured, weighed, and read to our pumpkins. I've included photos from our pumpkin preparations below, and I will be emailing you the individual photos of your child and your child's special guest carving together! Enjoy!

Water Cycle Experiment

Last week, we made it rain in our classroom!  After studying the water cycle, we conducted an experiment to see the water cycle in action.  We used a lamp (to act as the sun) to help heat a bowl of water (which served as the 'pond').  A plate of ice served as our sky on top of the aquarium, and as the water vapor cooled and clustered together, we saw a cloud forming underneath the ice.  Finally, the water began to fall!  We were so excited to watch each step of the water cycle take place.  See our photos below:

Royal Readers!

I apologize for the delay in posting our newest Royal Reader photos!  We were visited a few weeks ago by a Royal Reader who read us the book, "Miss Malarkey Doesn't Live in Room 10".

  Just last week, another Royal Reader surprised us and read the story, "Big Al and Shrimpy".   We are on the edge of our seats wondering who our next Royal Reader could be!

Text Talk Words!

We have now introduced two more units of Text Talk. The words are listed below:

Mole's Hill:

• quivered
• strolled
• compromise
• gathered
• burst
• obstacle

Possum's Harvest Moon:

• autumn
• creature
• harvest
• snug
• conclude
• accomplished

Fire Safety Week!

Today, we had a practice fire drill in which the Arlington Heights Fire Department visited, and they took some time at morning recess to show us the fire truck and all of the neat tools they use!

Picture Day!

Reminder: Tomorrow is picture day! We also will have our Mo Willems virtual visit in the afternoon! It will be a busy day at Dryden tomorrow!

Technology Thursday!

Today we had two engaging technology experiences that your child may be interested in exploring further at home! The first was with Google Earth, in which we were able to see the virtual representation of our planet, continent, country, state, city, and right down to our school! This was a nice illustration of these concepts we've been learning so much about in our Map Skills unit. We also used the street view tool in Google Maps to see famous landmarks around the world. Your child may be interested in finding your home on Google Earth, or using the street view to virtually walk down the street in downtown Arlington Heights or downtown Chicago!

The next experience we had today was using time on the laptops to explore the Mo Willems website, Pigeon Presents. This website is accessible by clicking here. The students are starting to get very excited about our virtual visit with Mo Willems on October 6th!

Text Talk Words!

So far this year, we have introduced two sets of Text Talk words. I will begin posting these words on the blog so you may access them here, in addition to the handout that I send home with the students when new words are introduced. This week, the Text Talk story was "The Principal's New Clothes". The words for this week were:

• drafty
• delicate
• imposter
• trickster
• rave
• genuine

The words for last week's story, "Ruby the Copycat" were:

• coincidence
• loyal
• bitter
• murmured
• recited
• sensitive

Please continue to integrate these words into conversations at home so the students continue to practice and use them!

Royal Reader!

Yesterday, we were surprised by our very first Royal Reader! Her majesty read us the book, Prudy's Problem and How She Solved It! The students were so excited for our Royal Readers to start visiting the class, and they are already wondering who our next Royal Reader will be...

Math games!

So far in math, we have introduced two games, both of which are fantastic for reinforcement at home! You should have received a handout last week explaining the game "Monster Squeeze". If you did not receive it or would like another copy, please let me know! Today, we learned the "Penny-Dice game". Students played with a partner, and began with a pool of 20 pennies (you can use more if you would prefer a longer round!). The first player rolls the die, and takes that number of pennies from the pool. The second player then rolls, and so on until all of the pennies are taken. You can play two different ways- whoever has the most pennies wins, or whoever has the fewest pennies wins! Today in class, we played whoever has the most pennies was the winner. Have fun reinforcing those math games at home!!

We are on a roll!

Our class has had such a wonderful time getting to know everyone, and learning all of the routines in first grade! This is an enthusiastic group who seems to approach all new things with a great deal of excitement. I am looking forward to watching this enthusiasm propel them forward in their studies this year. Our biggest concern to this point has been lunch, and I've been so impressed with the way they are handling themselves. We have now been to lunch twice, and no tears were shed either time! Fantastic!

I am looking forward to seeing everyone at Curriculum Night tomorrow.

Back to School!

I am looking forward to meeting all of my new first graders on back to school night! Back to school night begins at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday the 27th.