Lilly Grant

OK, I am almost done with my traveling and I haven't blogged once!  In my defense, my experiences with internet connections and traveling have been less than stellar! So can we all just pretend that the trip has just begun? 

Week 1:  My trip began by attending photography lessons in Columbus Ohio.  I not only took lessons from Okello Dunkley, but then I had the privilege of private follow-up lessons from Ben Griffin.  Ben and I went out to a local park and practiced all that I had learned.  It was incredibly fun although it made me realize just how much more  I needed to learn.

I think the lesson with Okello reminded me what it was like to be a student again.  It reminded me what it felt like to be "lost", so lost that you are not sure of the question to ask to help yourself understand.  Okello was a good teacher and so I didn't stay lost for long (most of the time).  It is still an uncomfortable feeling to be sitting in a classroom and not "get it".  During the lesson, every student had his/her camera out on the table in front of him/her.  We were all touching, looking through, snapping pictures with our camera's while the instructor talked.  It wasn't distracting.  It was necessary for us to try manipulating the settings as we were learning about them.  This reminded me of why I let my students manipulate objects as we are learning a new math concept.

The lessons with Okello were awesome, but without the follow up guided practice with Ben, I'm not sure how much I would have remembered from those lessons.  Hmmmm, another lesson to remember for the classroom!

So anyway, here are some pictures from one of the practice sessions with Ben:

And Guess What I Forgot????

Ok, so it's been a busy fun week and I do have a sick child, but REALLY?????  After the party was done and the kids were gone I started to clean up a bit.  What do you think I found sitting in a box right beside my reading table?  The Christmas gifts for my class!!  How could I have forgoten them?  I can't believe I didn't remember to pass these gifts out.  Along with each child's gift, I had made an activity book for them to use during break.  Yep, those were in the box too.

It does go to show you how nice and respectful my class is this year that not a one of them asked me about gifts.

I guess my class will be greeted by gifts in their mailboxes upon returning after break:)

We Followed It Up With The Grinch!

We loaded our Kid's Packs into Mrs. Nickell's van today, all 150 of them!  After the heavy work, all of first grade watched The Grinch and ate popcorn.  We talked about how we felt after helping others and how the Grinch felt in the cartoon.  We also wore our Grinch masks and sang a song about the Grinch. I think all of the students had a good time.

Our Giving Project

This December four of the first grade classes decided to give to others rather than exchange presents within the classroom.  The students were suppose to perform chores at home to earn money to buy supplies used in the Kids Packs given out at the Middlebury Food Bank.  Last Friday all of the students had an opportunity to build at least one pack.  Along with the food items we included a paper ornament that our students made and a brand new book.  We will load these packs into Mrs. Nickell's van this afternoon and then celebrate with some Grinch activities.

I will post more pictures later :)

Grandparents and New Books!

We all had a great time with our grandparents!  We played a game on the Promethian Board, made a puzzle and ate cookies.  The PTO gave us books from the Book Fair the next Monday also.      Thank You!

Have you ever wondered what math looked like in our classroom?

These pictures were taken while we were exploring the new math tools.  We will use these tools, plus others, all year as we discover how numbers work.  We will always begin to learn a new concept using manipulatives and then gradually transition to paper and pencil activities. We are now working on combinations or partners that make up a larger number.  For example, the combinations of 5 are: 0 and 5, 1 and 4, 2 and 3, 3 and 2, 4 and 1, 5 and 0.  Once we know all those combinations we can use them to add to 5 or subtract from 5. 

Our Forever Books

Karsyn's Forever Book: Biscuit

"This is my favorite book because my mom reads it to me and I can read it to her or my dad."

Alianna's forever book: Purplelicious
"They are mean to Purplelicious, then at the end they are nice. I like books about friends."

Landon's Forever Book: Who Stole the Cookies From The Cookie Jar?
"The dad in the book steals all the cookies and my dad likes cookies too."

Itzel's Forever Book: Animal Opposites
"I like it because it has sparkles. I like books about animals.  It's not a long book."

Brady's Forever Book: Who's Making That Smell?
"It's very funny because the baby poops in his diaper.  It's also a lift-the-flap book."

Alvaro's Forever Book: Chalk
"It's about making things, about making a dinosaur.  It's a scary book.  Mrs. Brickner read it to me."

Alexia's Forever Book: I Am a Rainbow
"I like this book because it has a lot of colors in it.  I got it when I went to Tennessee.  Dolly Parton talked to us on a screen."

Abby's Forever Book: Me and My Mom
It's about my mom.  I love my mom.  My mom and I read it together."

Ariana's Forever Book: Ice Cream Dreams
"It's a funny book.  They eat so much ice cream, they go on rides and fall asleep.  I like this book because Spongebob is my favorite."

Benjamin's Forever Book: Harold and the Purple Crayon
" There are animal's in the book.  The baby (Harold) is good at drawing."

Morgan's Forever Book: Houdini Was...
"I like hamsters and I like books with real pictures."

Ben's Forever Book: Dinosaurs Love Underpants
"I like this book because it's funny.  My mom gave me this book for my birthday when I was six."

JaiCe's Forever Book: Colors
"There is food and animals and colors. I like it because bats and black cats are my favorite and they are in the book."

Braden's Forever Book: Are You My Mother?
"I like birds.  A lot of times I see birds at my house. I like books about animals."

Aubray's Forever Book: Stell Lou Ella's Runaway Book
"It's really funny.  My grandma reads it with me, it's my grandma's book.  My grandma is a librarian."

Aris's Forever Book: How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?
" I like books about dinosaurs. I like books about being naughty."

Makayla's Forever Book: You're All My Favorites
"In the book they have three bears and my mom and dad have three children."

Gunner's Forever Book: Five Little Monkeys
"This is my favorite book because it is about monkeys and I like monkeys."

Damon's Forever Book: Adam Racoon Lost in the Woods
"I like the pictures. I like the book!"

Preston's Forever Book: Berenstain Bears Bad Dream
"It has a monkey in it and I like monkeys."