What We've Been Up to in First Grade

This time of year tends to get crazy in First grade and we have as much fun with it as we can. Our reading program has a lot of great stories that lend themselves to fun projects and themes and I'm really trying hard to fit everything in. I have a great group of kids and some really involved parents this year so I've incorporate more activities than I would have in the past.

Last year I did a "Flat Stanley" project with my class and they LOVED it. I toyed with the idea of not doing it this year because February is a crazy month for me personally and the project involves a lot of work on my part. I finally decided I'd go for it and instead of coming up with 20 friends and family members on my own, I opened it up to the parents to provide an address of an out of state friend or family member of their own. I was surprised with the response and I only have a few kiddos that I'll need to match up with some participants from last year.

The Flat Stanley board last year.

Our Stanleys this year, coming soon to a mailbox near you!

Our Harcourt story this week was "My Robot", a science fiction story about a boy whose robot can do many things like help the teacher and bake great cakes but the best thing he can do is be a friend. I decided to ask my kids to make robots of their own at home and write stories about the things their robots can do. Less than half of the class participated but I'm glad I gave the kids who did a chance to be creative. They were all great! One robot was a small robot who cleaned people's ears and he "had to wear a mask when he is working". So funny!

This is Pearl :) I took pics of the rest of the robots with the kids and I can't figure out how to blur or cover their faces to post the pics (if anyone can help me with this, I'd appreciate it!)

This week is Valentine's Day and Arizona's 100th birthday, on the same day! We made Valentine cards for family on Friday. I got this idea from Erica Boherer, they turned out adorabs! I forgot to take a picture of the poem inside but they addressed the cards to their families and we put their school pictures inside.

We are also writing an informative piece on Arizona to celebrate the centennial. We started with an AZ "bubble map" and made a tree map with facts about Arizona. This week we will write our rough and final drafts and make our own state flags. It's about time I updated my bulletin board in the hallway so this is perfect timing.

I'm off to get ready to go to a Valentine's Day cookie decorating party at my friend Sarah's house. Last year was a lot of fun and I won "best cookie", the pressure is on.

Happy Saturday!