Finally a new Post

I can't believe that it's been almost a whole month since I've updated my blog!!! Part of the reason is that I got blocked
 from my blog and had to find someone to help me figure out how to get around to where I was a manager and all this crazy technology stuff that I don't understand.  The good news it that I know how to do it now and I can finally update this! 

Here's what the latest and greatest is:

We finally got something up in the hallway thanks so much to Mrs. Abrahamson for coming in to help with it!!  Everyone was even here that day!!  It's an idea I got from pinterest of course.  These are silly jack-o-lanterns.  I think they turned out great!!

Another thing that we did was had our first reading celebration.  We had a guest reader come in and read to our class.  Mr. Smith was our guest reader.  He came in and read 'The Principal from the Black Lagoon' to us.  Then we all signed a Reading Constitution that we created together.  This is something that we pledge to do during readers' workshop to make readers' workshop a place where everyone can work hard to become better readers.  We thought it would be a great idea to make an owl and we could then each sign a feather and then we could hang the owl on our giant willow tree in the library.  Here's how it turned out:

One more fun thing that we did was finished a chapter book of a series called Ready Freddy.  The title was 'Going Batty'.  At the end it teaches you how to draw a bat.  We decided we would give it a try.  Here's how they turned out:

Be sure to check next week for our Halloween celebration pictures!!

Library Grand Opening Celebration

We just keep celebrating here in first grade!!  This week we didn't have any birthdays but we did celebrate.  After Open House I covered all the shelves in the classroom library so you couldn't see the boxes of books.  On Friday after we went to Library for the first time, we came back and we had our very own library celebration.  We had a ribbon cutting ceremony, followed by juice and cookies, followed by reading in the library!  It was soooooooo much fun!  I think they would've read the books in the library FOREVER!!  That gives me goosebumps!

Lauran got to cut the ribbon

We were also able to finish our classroom promise at the end of last week.  We say this every morning to each other when we come down to the math area.  Here's how it goes: 

"When we care about each other and our classroom, we always tell the truth, we share what we have, we are bucket-fillers all the time.  We listen carefully, try our best, and have fun together.  We treat others the way we want to be treated and when someone asks us to stop, we stop.  This is who we are, even when no one is watching."  We made a plate to look like us and signed our names to make a collage around the promise.  I think it turned out GREAT!

What a Busy First Week of First Grade!

We had a very busy week!  I don't know about your little firstie, but I was exhausted on Friday.  I took a 3 hour nap BEFORE bedtime!  We sure did have a lot of fun though!  I am getting to know bits and pieces of each and every one of our new class members. 

Our first day was full of nerves and jitters for sure!  We enjoyed a story called First Day Jitters.  It's got a surprise ending...the whole time you're reading the story, you think a little girl named Sarah is not wanting to go to school because she's nervous...but it turns out to be the teacher!!  After this story, we enjoyed some Jitter Juice to help calm our "first day jitters".  We also enjoyed some trail mix that we made for ourselves that we took very seriously because it was a special recipe for first grade success!  Here's the recipe:

You Will Need:                    2 cups effort                        2 cups kindness
                  1 handful curiosity                 3 Tablespoons honesty
                  2 cups teamwork                  1 cup excitement to learn
                  1 handful fairness                  Sprinkle of pride in your work
We talked about about what all of these were and what they meant.  I brought in an ingredient for each of these and they put a little of each of these in a bag and enjoyed!

 I was also able to capture the classes first day pictures....just in case you forgot I got their First Day of First Grade picture!!  I got this idea from pinterest.  Yes, I will admit that I am a pinterest freak!  I love the ideas on there though.  Hopefully you do too!

We do A LOT of sharing circles in my class - one after each core subject workshop - so we get to learn about each other very quickly.  Bringing in their favorite books helps us get to know each other too and each others reading likes as well!!  Here are a few pictures of our favorite books.  We share a few each day.  I am very excited to see that I have a lot of these very same favorite books in our classroom library!  It's crazy to think that by the end of the year they will be reading their favorite books!!  I get goosebumps just thinking about it!

  

We also had birthday celebrations last week as well.  Not 1, but 2!!  Nothing like starting the year off with a bang!  Dominick and Hailey both turned 6 last week.  We were happy that we got to celebrate with them.  We hope that they have a very blessed year!

Whew....are you exhausted yet?  We did this plus much more!  We created a classroom promise that I will post a picture of next week.  We also learned all about how first grade works....even inside recess!  It has quite a few changes from kindergarten, but I think they will like it.  They all keep coming back!

So excited to meet my new class last night at open house!!!  Some of you stayed and did A LOT of exploring!  That was wonderful!  I hope you liked what you saw.  We will be doing MUCH more exploring throughout the year so I hope you are excited to come back on Tuesday!  I know I am now that I got to put some faces with these names that I have been writing on everything!  I hope you all enjoy the LAST weekend before school starts!  Looks like its going to be warm.  I hope you can enjoy it doing your most favorite thing of summer.....SWIMMING!!!!  Or maybe it's eating s'mores around the campfire?  Whatever it is, I hope you enjoy this last taste of summer!  See you Tuesday!!

Fun to Be Wet

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!  That's what we had to do for Fun to be Fit day on Friday.  We had a lot of rain and didn't have a choice but to make the most of it.  We changed the corse and ran with it!!  Thanks to all the parents who supported this and came out and helped.  I planned ahead (a little) and made rain ponchos for all the little kiddos the night before out of garbage bags.  Some loved them and some weren't so sure about wearing a garbage bag.  I think they were grateful because it kept us dry!!  I think we all had a lot of fun!!!  Here are a few pictures of us all dry and in our Fun to be Wet attire:)

Just a few reminders:  Track and Field day is Tuesday afternoon from 12:30 - 2:30 and our Field trip is Friday afternoon to Carl T. Johnson Center.

Surprise Day Fun

Surprise Day was a hit!!  It wasn't easy...My youngest daughter Brecken woke up in the middle of the night with the flu.  So, needless to say, my husband and I had a dilema on our hands.  I was up most of the night taking care of her.  The best plans that we could come up with were to split the day so that I could still do Surprise Day with the class.  So, I took the morning off and he took the afternoon off.  I had to go to school in the morning to get sub plans around and let the class know I was going to be gone in the morning but would be back in the afternoon for a surprise that you and I had planned for them.  I had put all the letters in a big red, shiny box and put it in the front of the room.  The rules for the sub were that if anyone touched the box or misbehaved that they wouldn't be able to participate in the surprise.  I can truly say that was one of the best sub reports that I had all year!!  They were so excited about the box!!  I gave them clues throughout the afternoon about what was in the box until it was time to open it.  Some of the clues were:  There was something in there for everyone, They came from near and far, They were shaped like recangles, etc.  I gave them clues until someone guessed that it was mail.  Then I had them all go to their reading spots and I played mail carrier and delivered their mail.  They all opened and read their mail.  They were very excited to see what they had gotten.  Thank you so much for participating!

Mileage Club:  Mileage Club has ended for the year.  Thanks so much for those of you who helped make that a success.  It was a success once again!!  Over 2,100 miles were traveled.  We had 2 marathoners in our class.  Analiese was our first followed by Nathan!  Way to go to all who participated this year!!

This week's newsletter is the last newsletter of the year.  It contains all the end of the year information so don't lose it!!  I will keep it posted on my BLOG as well!!  Here's what the rest of the year looks like.  I can't believe it's the end all ready!!

Fun to Be Fit is this Friday!!!  We still need about 40 juice boxes and 4 dozen cookies if you can get those here by Wednesday that would be great!!  If you plan on coming the run starts at 1:00 p.m.  If your child has ordered a t-shirt he/she will receive it on race day.  SO looking forward to this SUPER fun day.  If you get the chance to get a couple of hours off of work it's quite the thing to see!!

Track and Field Day:  Our Track and Field Day is Tuesday, June 5th.  We are beginning promptly at 12:30 and will go until 2:30.  I believe that this is different than years past.  I haven't received any more information than this and I'm a little out of the loop myself but this is what the memo said that I received from Mrs. Kelley.  Please watch the weather and make sure that your little kiddo is dressed properly and has a water bottle and sunscreen if needed.  It can be hot up on the track and there is not any shade!! 

Field Trip:  We will be going to the Carl T. Johnson Center for our end of the year field trip.  This is always a fun trip believe it or not!!  They have an interesting museum inside the center, archery, and we get to go fishing on the canal.   We will be leaving school at 10:45 and having lunch at Kenwood Park and playing for a little while before heading over to the Carl T. Johnson Center at 12:00.  We will be back at school at 2:30.  If you would like to join us, please remember to check the box at the top of the field trip note that I sent home and send that back to me.  

I think I have given an update on all of the crazy happenings of the major events!! I have a few fun classroom events up my sleeves but those I plan on keeping a secret and low key until the right moment...if you know what I mean:)

Don't Forget Surprise Mail

Don't forget about surprise mail.  It's coming up on May 25. 

Keep those letters coming in.  Below is how many pieces of mail I have received so far for your child.  Remember it's not about how many pieces of mail your child gets but about every child getting at least one piece of mail!!

Your child’s name

Mrs. Gilde’s First Grade

McBain Elementary School

107 East Maple Street

McBain, MI  49657

Logan A. 2                                Emma   8                     

Isaac    3                                  Logan S.  0

Alexis  0                                  Jason  0

Haley   2                                  Justin   1

Drake   0                                  Mackenzie  0

Analiese  0                               Parker  6

Michael  2                                Nathan  1

Paige    6                                  Elizabeth  1

Nolah   5                                  Zoey  4

Savannah  1                              Regan  9

Kahli  0

Fun to Be Fit is coming up on June 1st.  We did not receive the grant this year which provided a lot of the things that we had last year.   We need to have supplies provided to make this a super special day.  Here's what we need donated:  50 juice boxes, 4 dozen store bought (these won't crumble or break) cookies, and I need 1-2 volunteers to be up at the track who can identify my students so that when they finish they can direct them to where they need to go because I will be out running with the rest of the class.  Thank you so much for helping make this a great success!!