Moving on to First Grade....

Hi Fox Hill Families!

I hope you all are enjoying your summer!  I can't believe the school year it about to start.  This summer has flown by and I have kept busy by visiting friends and family, preparing for the upcoming year, and enjoying the city.

Since we are no longer Kindergartners, I decided to create a new blog for our upcoming year in First Grade.  Our new blog will be used for similar purposes as this blog-just with new first grade fun! :)

You can visit our new blog at:

http://firstgrade-foxhill.blogspot.com/

I look forward to seeing you all at Back to School Night (Tuesday, August 1 at 6:30).

Field Day

We had a great day celebrating our success this school year during field day. We played many games and had a blast! Thank you to Mr. Morris for a great day!!! 

Countdown to the end of the year!

The countdown has begun!! Students are getting so excited for summer and to help them know how many days are left I have hung balloons around the room! Each balloon is filled with a fun activity for the class to do. Students have been loving popping the balloons and reading our activity! 

Measurement

Students have been busy measuring many different things in our room. We started out measuring our feet. Students thought it was so silly that that's what I was asking them to do but we had a great time. Today we measured pencils, the carpet, markers, paintbrushes, bookshelves and our desk. We are learning a lot!! Check out some pictures of the kiddos in action!

Earth Day

Today, students started to learn all about Earth Day.  We read The Earth and I and then wrote letters to Mother Earth.  I was so pleased with their writing I had to share a few with you!!

(Left: Thank you for summer! I like your sun.  What is it like to be the earth?  You look beautiful.  I promise to keep you clean.  From, Ava.  Right: Thank you for making trees because I like to climb trees.  I promise I would clean up.  From, Tyler)

This afternoon we read one of my favorite stories Michael Recycle.  It is all about a young boy who is a superhero and helps save a dirty town!  The students got VERY into the story.  We then made superhero bracelets to show everyone our own Earth Saving Powers!! It was the start to a great week!

Problem of the Day

Students have been working on finding solutions to word problems daily.  Two students get the chance to show us their skills on the white board.  It's quickly turning into one of my favorite times of the day.  Here are two pictures of the students and their work to answer the problem.  Way to go!

100 Fox Heads

Our class received 100 Fox Heads!!! This is such an accompishment and I am so proud of the kids.  The students can recieve Fox Heads for showing good behavior in the hallway, cafeteria, in specials, and on the bus.  We have worked hard to get to this point-- so of course we had to celebrate!! I brought in an ice cream treat for the kiddos to enjoy during lunch.

Reading Groups

Students have been working hard during our small group instruction time.  Each day I meet with two groups based upon their reading level.  We read a book together and then do some sort of word work activity.  Today, I had the kids write on the table with dry erase markers.  They were shocked when I told them what we were going to do!  The kids had a blast and enjoyed practicing our sight words in a fun way.

Indy Parks: Rabbits

Today we had another visitor from Indy Parks.  Mrs. Roche talked about Rabbits and their lives.  Here's what we learned:

Miss Gilbert: That rabbits have big back legs so they can jump.

Tyrone M.: Rabbits are good jumpers.

Aundrea: Foxes eat rabbits.

Noah: Rabbits have babies.

Tyler: Rabbits have small front legs.

Sebastian: I learned that bunnies have big feet to jump.

Sedric: The name of the fox in Indiana is a Red Fox.

Jabes: I learned that foxes sneak to the rabbits to eat the rabbits.

Erica: The boy bunny had a wife.

Brianna: The mommy bunnies go out during the day and leave their baby bunnies and then the mommy comes back in the night time to check on them.

Aidan: I learned that bobcats are really really quiet.

Kennedy: You can see foxes by our school.

Mya: The bobcat sneaks up on rabbits.

Riviera: The are different kinds of foxes.

Lewis: Bunnies eat many plants.

Caleb: Bunnies have big front teeth.

Dilan: Rabbits eat carrots.

Kailey: The foxes live in the trees and bushes.

The most common type of bunny rabbit is the Cotton Tail Rabbit.

Read Across America

I apologize for not getting this post up sooner.  The pictures that I took of the kids were erased and I've been trying to recover them for awhile.  Unfortunately I am unable to get them back.

 
Today has turned into one of my most favorite days of Kindergarten.  We celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday by reading books all day.  We had many different guest readers throughout the day.  Students got to cuddle up in their pajamas and blankets and listen to stories.  It was so fun to watch them become so excited as each guest reader stepped on the stage.  We heard stories from Ms. King, Mrs. Gray's Mom, Mr. Stephens, Mr. Taylor, Mrs. Reynolds, a doctor, some firemen, and Mrs. Murphy.  The kids had a blast!

Amazed

Yesterday while in small reading groups, I sat in amazement as I watched my kids pick up a book and read it completely on their own.  I then started to think back to where these kids started.  Many didn't know the letter names let alone their sounds.  To see the kids go from August until now is unbelievable.  It all seems like magic.

I want to thank all families for their continued support at home because we couldn't have gotten to this point without each other. 

I can't wait to see how the students continue to grow and where they will be by the end of the year!

Love,

Miss Gilbert
Extremely Proud Teacher :)

Valentine's Day

I'm finally getting around to tell you all about our Valentine's Day celebration!  All day we talked about Valentine's Day and each learning activity revolved around this theme.

We started out the morning by writing about things we loved.  It was so cute to see students ideas.  After that we wrote Valentine's to someone special.  Some friends wrote to their moms or dad, others to their brothers, and some to even Ms. Coles our assistant principal.

We then created our Valentine Man to hold all of our Valentines.  The kids loved it and I think they had a fun day.  Thanks to all the families who donated or volunteered their time to our party!  We couldn't have done it without you!!

Math Stations

Students have been working hard during math stations each day.  We take about 20 minutes before lunch and do rotations of different math activities.  Some of their favorites are working with the jewels and finding the missing number.  Here are some pictures of students during math stations:

6 Simple Things

I'm sorry I haven't been keeping the blog updated.  The days seem to get away from me.  Regardless...here are a few things making me smile this week:

1. havefunteaching.com The students LOVE watching the sight word videos on this sight.  So fun and interactive!
2. Spending time with my nephew Michael-who is getting so big, so fast.
3. A great Valentine's Day party
4. Parents commenting that they love our class blog (Thank you for reading!! :) )
5. 'The Tunnel' that we do to celebrate when a student moves up a reading level
6. When my little friends cheer each other for learning how to tie shoes.

What is making you smile this week?

100th Day of School

We made it!  I can't believe we have already been in school for 100 days.  I feel like it was just the first day of school!

Here are some activities the students completed today:
1. Reading a 100th day book
2. Counting to 100 many, many times
3. Making our 100th day hats
4. Drawing 100 gumballs
5. Creating our own 100th day book
6. Doing 100 jumping jacks
7. Licking a lollipop 100 times
8. Getting a $100 bill
9. Writing about what we would do with 100 dollars
10. Working together to think of 100 words we knew

Overall it was an awesome day! 

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Last week we were busy learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  We started the week off by looking at two eggs: a white egg and a brown egg.  The students shared their observations.  The students realized their only difference was their color.  We broke open the eggs and realized their insides were the same.  We then looked at each other and saw we were different colors.  This activity helped students to understand that even though we are different colors on the outside, we are the same on the inside.

We followed up this activity by reading The Crayon Box that Talked.  This book is a cute story about a box of crayons that doesn't get along because they are different colors.  We connected this idea to ourselves, and talked about even though we are different colors and people, we can work together to make a beautiful picture.  Students then created their own crayon and we put them together to make our "class crayon box."

One of the last activities for the week was watching Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's speech.  Afterwards,  the students thought about what their own dreams were. We wrote them down and put together an awesome bulletin board outside our room.  Be sure to check it out if you are in the building! :)

Love being back at school!

This week's 6 simple things were very easy to come up with! There were so many things making me smile!

1. Aidan reading an entire book on his own!
2. Seeing Asia and Aundrea playing 'school' and reteaching what we had learned that day (picture below!)
3. A book donation from Donor's Choose
4. The amount of candy I still have in my apartment that was left over from the holidays
5. Getting an apple from a student.  I guess that means I'm an real teacher now! ;)
6. Going to dinner with a friend from college, who I don't get to see nearly enough.

What made you smile this weekend?