A Winter Mystery

On Monday, February 24th, we enjoyed a visit from another Mystery Reader.  Here were our clues:

• I love children's books.
• I travel around the world for work.
• I have blonde hair and blue eyes.
• I lived in a country in Europe that produces over 300 cheeses.
• I was born in the state most famous for potatoes.

Can you solve this Mystery?  

Sophia recognized this person......... it was her Mom, Mrs. A.K!  

Mrs. A.K. read the story Millicent the Monster by Mary Lystad.  She also read the poem If I Were in Charge of the World by Judith Viorst.  

 

After reading the story and poem, she asked us what WE would do if we were in charge of the world. Here's what we said:

If I were in charge of the world.............

• candy would be healthy- Annabel
• X-Boxes would be free- Quentin
• kids (not parents) would be in charge - Sam
• it would be summer all year so I could go to the pool outside and swim- Roisin
• we'd have more choices at meal times- Sophia
• everyone would be nice and no one would feel left out- Max
• candy would be served at every meal and it wouldn't rot your teeth- Lukas
• everyone would have lots of jewelry and fun- Lily
• school would start a little later in the morning- Laya
• kids would get sacks of toys everyday- Francis
• it would be Christmas everyday- Eva
• I'd have a gift card to Game Stop without a limit- Dylan

This conversation reminded me of one of my favorite books growing up:  If I Lived Alone by Michaela Muntean (Pretty cool that we have the same name, huh?- Lots of people have asked if we are the same person!).  It was one of the first books I learned to read by myself and I was just tickled that we had the same name only spelled differently!

First grade family members, how would you finish this sentence?  If I were in charge of the world.......... Post a comment to share with all of us.  Please remember to only use your first name or refer to yourself as _______(your child's name) Mom/Dad/Grandparent.  

  

Valentine's Math Fun

Although it was many days after Valentine's Day, first graders in my math group applied their math skills to complete a Valentine Math activity.  We estimated, sorted, counted, tallied, graphed, measured, and used our addition and subtraction skills to work through the problems.  The  BEST part was we used candy conversation hearts!  Take a look:

Math + holidays + a little candy = Lots of Fun!!!

First graders in my math class, what was your favorite part of this activity?  Post a comment to share with all of us!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We enjoyed Valentine's Day in 1A today!  Yes, it was a little late due to the snow last week, but it was still a lot of fun!  Take a peek:

Passing out our Valentines..........

Reading our Valentines and enjoying a few treats............

Showing off our boxes........ They were AWESOME!!

First graders, what was your favorite part of Valentine's Day?  Post a comment to share with all of us.   Feel free to comment on the real day (February 14th when you were with your family) or our celebration today.   

Another Mystery

We always get SO excited to see our top secret envelope hanging it our classroom.  It's our signal that we have another mystery to solve and another Mystery Reader coming soon.

Last week we revealed these five clues:

• I am a female.
• I like music.
• I am not from Baltimore.
• I have one cute son.
• My son likes to draw more than anything in the world!

Can you guess who this is?............. Vanya definitely figured it out!  

Mrs. S. read the story, The Littlest Matryoshka, by Corrine Demas.  

She even brought a set of these beautiful nesting dolls to help tell the story.

After the story we enjoyed some Russian treats!

They were delicious!  Thank you, Mrs. S!

Our Flight to Mexico

On Friday, January 31st, first graders boarded FSB Airways for a trip to Mexico!  Our Captain, Mr. Knott, greeted us from the cockpit and told us all about our journey from Baltimore, MD to Mexico City, Mexico!

Do you recognize our Captain?  He happens to be Mr. Scott's Cousin!

After our flight took off we enjoyed some in flight entertainment consisting of a video that told us all about Mexico.  The flight attendants were super nice and even gave us an authentic in flight snack straight from Mexico- a tortilla!

As we got close to our destination, Senora Pena-Welch distributed our immigration papers to complete.

We went through customs and got our first stamp in our passports too!  It was a wonderful journey to Mexico and we can't wait to learn more about this amazing country!

First Graders, did you enjoy our flight to Mexico?  What was your favorite part?  Post a comment to share with all of us.

Where in the World?

Since returning from winter break, we've been working on a geography unit in social studies.  Ask your first grader to share their learning about the globe.  They should be able to tell you about the poles, the Equator, the hemispheres, and the continents.  

Today our focus was the continents.  This catchy little tune helped us to remember the 7 continents.  

First graders, we identified that we live on the continent of North America.  Have you visited another continent or do you have family that lives on another continent?  Post a comment to share with us!  

That's a Fact!

During our short two-day week, my language arts group was quite busy!  We launched our penguin study and learned about fact and opinion.  Let us show you some of the facts we identified in our recent Scholastic News Magazine.  We worked in partners and used Educreations on the iPads to demonstrate our learning.

Sam & Asuman

Ejaz & Francis

Henry & Roisin

Hannah & Eva

Dylan & Ben

As always, we enjoy trying new things and reflecting on what worked well and how we can improve.  Please know that these are not polished or professional works by any means.  Mr. Hanes and I thought they turned out pretty well and were pleased with how well our first graders worked together!  

First graders in my language arts group, what do you think worked well with this project?  How do you think you can improve?  If you're willing, please post a comment to share with all of us.  We will talk about these questions on Monday.