First Grade with Mrs. Ledford and Mrs. Vaillette

Book Character Dress Up Day

2012-01-24T06:05:00.000-08:00

Today we were able to dress up as our favorite book character. We looked GREAT!

70's DAY!

2012-01-13T06:23:00.000-08:00

Today our school spirit theme was 70's day... here we are dressed in our 70's attire!

Weekly Homework #17

2012-01-13T06:17:00.000-08:00

This weeks skills words are high frequency words:

1. came
2. know
3. out
4. she
5. there
6. and
7. fast
8. best
9. just
10. next

Homework goes home today and is due back next Thursday, since next Friday is a teacher planning day. Have a GREAT long weekend and enjoy Martin Luther King Day on Monday! :)

Weekly Homework #16

2012-01-06T05:41:00.000-08:00

This weeks words are high frequency and rhyming words:

1. bring
2. carry
3. hold
4. our
5. us
6. cut
7. hut
8. rug
9. hug
10. bug

Have a great weekend!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T09:39:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to school! We missed you all over the holiday break and we are excited to get back to learning! Thanks to everyone who read every day over break and passed back their book logs today, we are so proud of you!

Pajama Day

2011-12-16T11:27:00.001-08:00

Our school spirit theme today was Pajama Day! Here we are in our favorite PJ's!

A reading log is going home today in place of the usual homework. Please make sure that your child is reading EVERY SINGLE DAY over this 2 week break. The students who bring their book log back signed when we come back to school in January, will have a special treat for their reading! :) Have a super holiday season!

Our Holiday Craft Party Today

2011-12-15T11:28:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the parents who were able to come help us out. We made 4 different crafts, and enjoyed a yummy snack! What a fun afternoon!

Star Students in November

2011-12-09T11:19:00.000-08:00

Malachi, Asia,

Damien, and Linda...
Congratulations on your great choices star students!

School Wide Door Decorating Contest

2011-12-09T08:10:00.001-08:00

Our door is decorated for the contest... each student has their face on a gingerbread boy/girl. I hope the judges like it!

Thanks for all the Birthday Cards and Wishes!

2011-12-09T08:08:00.001-08:00

What a special day today, with my decorated desk and a special handmade card from each student! Thanks for making it such a great birthday!

Weekly Homework #15

2011-12-09T07:14:00.000-08:00

This weeks skills words are high frequency and rhyming words:

1. jump
2. more
3. sleep
4. time
5. with
6. run
7. fun
8. sun
9. stuff
10. puff

Homework goes home today and is due back next Friday as usual. Have a great weekend!

Spirit Day Today - Stuffed Animal Day

2011-12-02T06:26:00.000-08:00

For our school spirit day today, we were allowed to bring in our favorite stuffed animal. Here we are with our cute little furry friends...

Alex and Bella brought in monkeys... they fit right into our classroom monkey theme!! We had to keep an eye on them though to make sure there was no "monkeying around"! :)

Weekly Homework #14

2011-12-02T06:23:00.000-08:00

We are finally back to a more normal schedule and the regular homework is going home again today and will be due back next Friday. This weeks skills words are high frequency and rhyming words:

1. for
2. some
3. good
4. want
5. too
6. met
7. get
8. let
9. ten
10. pen

Have a GREAT weekend!

2011-11-22T11:38:00.000-08:00

Making Thanksgiving bookmarks with Ms. Hunt today.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday! We'll see you back at school in 1 week (next Tuesday 11/29/11)! :)

Persuasive Writing

2011-11-18T07:58:00.001-08:00

This week in our writers workshop time, we started a new genre called “persuasive writing”. A persuasive story gives a point of view and tries to persuade the reader to agree. We all know that first graders are passionate about many things (like what toy they think they should receive this holiday season, recycling, changing their bed time etc...) Persuasive writing gives them an outlet to express some of these ideas. They will be taught how to use examples and give reasons to persuade, use a particular incident to persuade, use transitional phrases (This is important because... Another reason is... For example...), and imagine their audience.

We just read this book called "Hey Little Ant". It is a great persuasive story about a kid who is giving reasons why he should squish the ant on the sidewalk, and the ant is giving reasons back why the boy should let him live. After reading the book, we all decided for ourselves if we think the boy should squish him, or let him live. Then we filled out our organizer and gave reasons to support our decision. Here is Linda's persuasive writing organizer... she thinks the boy should let the ant live...

Our first persuasive stories are coming out GREAT!

Junior Achievment Program Today

2011-11-18T07:51:00.001-08:00

A big thanks to the Junior Achievement team from Chase Bank that came today to talk to us about families, needs verses wants, community, and many other GREAT topics. We had fun making sticker books and learning new things.

Weekly Homework

2011-11-18T07:46:00.000-08:00

We will only be in school for 2 days next week in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. For this reason, we are sending home a book log in place of the usual homework. We ask that your child be doing some extra reading over this break and please log the books down on the paper going home. The book log will be due back the following Friday (December 2nd).

Red, White & Blue Day

2011-11-10T07:38:00.001-08:00

Today our School Spirit Theme was Red, White, and Blue Day. We wore something red, white or blue in honor of Veterans Day tomorrow. We all learned about Veterans Day today and how important it is!

Several of us were confusing Memorial Day and Veterans Day, so we talked about them both. We learned that both holidays were established to recognize and honor the men and women who have worn the uniform of the United States Armed Forces. But Memorial Day, which is observed on the last Monday in May, was originally set aside as a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle.

While those who died are also remembered on Veterans Day, which is observed tomorrow on November 11, Veterans Day is intended to thank and honor all those who served honorably in the military - in wartime or peacetime. In fact, Veterans Day is largely intended to thank living Veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to our national security are appreciated, and to underscore the fact that all those who served - not only those who died - have sacrificed and done their duty. We are so thankful for them!!

Here we are today, dressed in our nations colors, to honor our wonderful veterans and all they have done for us!

Jiwon and Bella even had matching American flag bows today!

Our Field Trip Today

2011-11-07T11:44:00.001-08:00

Today we went downtown to the Florida Theater to see a production of Junie B. Jones. After that, we went to the Public Library and had lunch and listened to a story hour. What a fun day!

Here we are on the bus, on our way to downtown Jacksonville...

In the theater...Chris got his picture with Junie B. Jones after the performance!

Here we are eating lunch on the 3rd floor patio at the public library downtown...

Now we are listening to story hour in the children's section of the library, we heard some great stories!

The owl told us a story too...

A BIG thanks to the 4 parents that were able to come and chaperone our trip, we REALLY appreciate your help today!

Is that alligator real Demaria?

Can you find Mrs. Ledford or Mrs. Comerford hiding in the grass?

Anthony and Damien looked so nice in their ties today!

What a fun field trip!

Funny Hat Day

2011-11-04T07:31:00.000-07:00

Spirit day today was: wear a funny hat to school. Here we are looking very silly!

Weekly Homework - Week #12

2011-11-04T07:23:00.000-07:00

This weeks words are high frequency and rhyming words:

1. by
2. eat
3. sing
4. stop
5. them
6. hot
7. not
8. got
9. mop
10. top

Have a GREAT week! :)

Making Candy Corn Frames

2011-11-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that it is already November! This school year is flying by! Happy Harvest Everyone!

Red Ribbon Week

2011-10-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

In honor of Red Ribbon Week, our students have recited a "drug free pledge" several times now! We have also signed our names twice, signifying that we will:
stay in school, make the world a better place, keep our dreams alive, help others, and keep ourselves drug free!
Here we are signing our name to the large 1st grade pledge, and our own classroom pledge.
We are so proud of your great choices first graders, we have high expectations for you! :)

Star Students In October

2011-10-27T09:49:00.001-07:00

Here are our Star Students of the Week for the month of October:

Congratulations Bella, who was our star student for the week of October 7th...

Congratulations Alex, who was our star student for the week of October 14th...

Congratulations Darryan, who was our star student for the week of October 21st...

Keep up the good work! We can't wait to see who will be our star students next month!

Weekly Homework - Week #11

2011-10-27T09:47:00.000-07:00

This weeks skills words are high frequency and rhyming words:

1. does
2. into
3. he
4. this
5. water
6. frog
7. dog
8. log
9. rock
10. sock

Remember that there is no school for students tomorrow... so have a nice long weekend and we'll see you on Monday! :)

Using Quotation Marks in our Narrative Stories

2011-10-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

We introduced "talking marks" (or quotation marks) around the dialogue in our stories this week. Bella did a great job incorporating dialogue into her story, so we put her story up on the smart board and went through it all together. This way, we could decide where to add the "talking marks". Here we are at work...

As Bella read her story on the microphone line by line, we decided where to add the "talking marks" around her dialogue...

On our own Macbooks today!

2011-10-21T11:21:00.001-07:00

We had a great time learning how to use our own laptops today. We all learned how to log in with our own username and password and how to go to www.starfall.com to play a learning game together. We did a great job! Here we are at work...

Weekly Homework - Week #10

2011-10-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

This weeks skills words are high frequency and rhyming words:

1. how
2. many
3. on
4. why
5. they
6. fix
7. mix
8. six
9. king
10. ring

Homework is due next THURSDAY, since there will be no school for students on Friday 10/28. Have a great weekend!

Beauclerc Fun Run Today

2011-10-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

We started off our Fun Run today by doing some exercises/stretching... then we were off!!!

Jasmin was as fast as a gazelle today... look at her go!!!

Andre was keeping a very good pace...

Damien is totally in the zone...

Good job Jiwon & Otiyanna!

"D.J. Runs-Alot" was back today with his CRAZY hair! Thanks for the great music while we ran!

Darryan and Jordan A. were giving it their best!

Thanks for putting this all together for us Coach Dudjak! We had a great time!

A big thanks to all the parents that were able to come and help out. We had a great time and hopefully raised a lot of money for our school!

The "Counting Up" Strategy

2011-10-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

We learned a fun new game in math, called "How Many Am I Hiding?" This helps with our math strategy of counting up.
Each pair of students started off with 5 connecting cubes. One student had to hide some of them behind their back. When the other student opened their eyes, they counted how many cubes they saw, then counted up in their head to 5, to find out how many were hiding.
Once they get good at this game, we'll increase the number of cubes being used. You can play this game at home with any kind of manipulatives (like pennies, paper clips, Cheerios, etc.)
Here we are at work...

Elona counts 3 cubes on the floor... so she's going to put 3 in her head, then count on her fingers up to 5 to find out how many are hiding behind Destiny's back...

Essa is counting 3 cubes that he sees, so he will put 3 in his head, and count up on his fingers to 5, to find how many cubes are behind Demaria's back...

Sanem is counting 3 cubes that she sees, and will put that 3 in her head and count up to 5 to find out how many are hiding behind Alex's back...

Andre sees 1 cube, so he is going to put 1 in his head, and count up to 5 to find out how many are hiding behind Paige's back...

Reighna counts 2 cubes that she can see, so now she'll put 2 in her head and count up to 5 to find out how many are hiding behind Addison's back...

Chris is hiding 3 cubes behind his back while Bells closes her eyes...

Asia sees 3 cubes in Anthony's hand... how may is he hiding behind his back?

Gamari counts 3 cubes in Mya's hand... how many are hiding behind her back? You'll have to put that 3 in your head Garmari and count up to five! :)

Great job counting up everyone!!

Weekly Homework - Week #9

2011-10-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

This weeks skills words are high frequency and rhyming words.

1. went
2. walk
3. did
4. saw
5. me
6. it
7. sit
8. hit
9. pick
10. kick

Have a great weekend! :)

Sequencing Events In Narrative Writing

2011-10-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

In writers workshop today, we were focusing on how good authors have sequenced events in their stories. We read the book, The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, and then we did a fun activity on the smart board to practice sequencing the story events. Here we are at work...

Sequencing the days in the story...

Now we are sequencing the correct food the caterpillar ate on each day...

We are learning how to become great narrative authors!

Nine Peas and Carrots

2011-10-12T07:09:00.001-07:00

On the smartboard today, we were coming up with as many ways as possible to have a total of 9 peas and carrots on our plate. There are so many combinations of 9 that we came up with!

5 peas + 4 carrots = 9

8 carrots + 1 pea = 9

How many ways can you make 9?

Weekly Homework - Week #8

2011-10-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

This weeks words are high frequency and rhyming words.

1. all
2. are
3. find
4. make
5. play
6. had
7. bad
8. sad
9. fan
10. can

Have a great week! :)

Playing Ten Turns In Math Today

2011-10-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

In math today, we were working on a game where we accumulate small counters up to 60. Students have to keep track of a growing collection of objects. This game encourages the strategy of counting on rather than recounting the set starting at 1 each time. You roll the number cube, add that number of counters to your pile, then write down your new total. Here we are hard at work...

Great Job!

25 Book Goal

2011-10-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

Look who's met their 25 book goal so far this year...
Congratulations on your certificate and candy prize, we are proud of all your reading at home!

Star Students In September

2011-09-30T12:20:00.000-07:00

We are so proud of all these students.... They have been following our REACH pledge this month by:

Respecting others
Excelling at everything
Accepting resonsibility
Cooperating with others
Having a positive attitude

They each got a fancy Star Student necklace, and got to go up to the front office to be congratulated by our vice principal Ms. West, who also gave them a prize!

Way to go Star Students in September!!

Weekly Homework - Week #7

2011-09-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

This weeks skills words are high frequency and rhyming words.

1. come
2. down
3. away
4. no
5. will
6. at
7. cat
8. ran
9. an
10. man

Homework goes home today, and is due back next Friday. Have a SUPER weekend!

The Game of Double Compare

2011-09-28T07:45:00.001-07:00

Here we are, playing the game of Double Compare. In this game, partners turn over 2 "dot" cards. Together the partners decide which pair of cards shows the larger total. They find these totals by either counting all dots, counting on, or using number combinations. Look at us hard at work! :)

Weekly Homework - Week #6

2011-09-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

This weeks words are high frequency and rhyming words. Homework goes home today as usual, and is due back next Friday.

1. up
2. but
3. go
4. where
5. here
6. pig
7. dig
8. jig
9. fin
10. win

Have a great weekend!

Calendar Math

2011-09-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

Each morning, since the first day of school, we have been practicing our "Calendar Math" time. During this time we talk about: the calendar, patterns, the weather, tally marks, graphing lost teeth, odd & even numbers, name and value of each coin, how to count coins, place value, and telling time.
This is a very important learning time we do first thing in the morning. Starting this week, we have allowed 1 student each day to "conduct" our morning meeting (with the teacher sitting right beside them). This is a great opportunity for each child to practice speaking in front of people, and they LOVE to feel like the teacher in front of their peers. When calendar math time is over, we let the student who conducted that day share something from home for a few minutes (like a stuffed animal or book etc...) then take questions or comments from their peers.

So far this week Destiny and Elona have done calendar math, and today it was Alex's turn. Here's what calendar math time looked like today...

Here is Alex "CHAMPING" before he starts.
Before we start ANY activity, we always "CHAMP" , which means we ask the class:
What is our Conversations allowed to be right now?
What do you do if you need Help?
What is our Activity right now?
What is our Movement allowed to be?
How will we know if you are Participating?

Alex is asking the class what is the name of this coin and how much is it worth...

Since it is the 22nd day of school, Alex picked Takara to come up with a way to make 22 cents using coins. The class is following along with her finger as we count 4 nickels and 2 pennies together...

Alex is leading the class in counting by quarters... "25, 50, 75, 1 dollar..."

He is asking which column in our place value chart we should put today's straw into...

He just went over the parts of the clock, what time it is, and now he is writing down the time the digital way...

Since Alex is now done with calendar math, he is sharing something he brought in from home... his build-a-bear named Brownie...

The students loved his bear and had several questions and comments for him when he was done.
Great job today Alex!
We are excited to see each and every student conduct calendar math this year! :)

Weekly Homework - Week #5

2011-09-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

This weeks skills words are rhyming and high frequency words. The new homework goes home today and, as always, is due back next Friday. Have a great weekend!

1. get
2. what
3. we
4. will
5. are
6. cat
7. hat
8. bug
9. hug
10. rug

Find the Missing Numbers

2011-09-15T07:58:00.001-07:00

Takara is covering up some numbers on her 100 board while the rest of her group has their eyes closed...

No peeking in this group while Destiny was covering up some numbers...

Demaria guessed that 52 was the missing number... she said she knew it was the one covered up because "it comes before 53, and it comes after 51". Great job Demaria!

Malachi was asking Luke if 56 was the missing number... he said, "It's right by the 55, and when I'm counting, then comes 56." Great work Malachi!

Jiwon guessed that the missing number was 87, she said, " I look at the row, that all starts with 8, and I look at the up & down column, and they all end with 7, so I know that it's 87". Great strategy Jiwon!

Elona guessed the right missing number by looking at the number in front of it and behind it... good job Elona!

Recently in math investigations we have been working with the 100 chart in our room. We have been practicing counting by 5's & 10's and looking for number patterns.

Our essential question all week has been:
"What numbers come before, after, and in between any given numbers?"

Today, we played a game called Missing Numbers.
One student covered up some numbers on the yellow 100 board, while their partners closed their eyes. Then the partners had to guess the missing number and explain why they guessed that. We have come up with some great math strategies for finding missing numbers today!

Reading Celebration Today

2011-09-09T11:56:00.001-07:00

Showing off our NFL gear today!

We had a great celebration at school this morning. The mascot from the gator bowl came to visit our school as well as some football players and cheerleaders from Wolfson Highschool. They all talked to us about the importance of reading!
We know that when you read, you will succeed!

Weekly Homework - Week #4

2011-09-09T11:54:00.000-07:00

This weeks skills words are high frequency & number words. Homework is going home today, and as always it will be due back next Friday.

1. do
2. not
3. that
4. to
5. you
6. one
7. two
8. three
9. four
10. five

Have a great weekend!

NFL Friday Tomorrow

2011-09-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

Ms. Hunt made this poster for our door to celebrate NFL Friday tomorrow.

The jaguar paws on our poster have everyone's picture in them. We are all wearing chef hats in the pictures, since our 1st grade football chefs are cooking up healthy habits!

If your child would like to participate tomorrow, they can wear something that represents an NFL football team.
The NFL will be awarding 1 school in the Jacksonville area with a $10,000 grant for the best participation. So lets show our school spirit tomorrow by wearing something that represents the Jaguars, or any other favorite NFL team! :)

Visitor Today

2011-09-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

A former student, who is now a big 3rd grader, came to our room to read today! It was so good to see you Dillyn and you have become such a GREAT reader, we are so proud of you!

Happy Birthday Mrs. Ledford!!

2011-09-06T06:52:00.000-07:00

Monkey cupcakes this afternoon to celebrate!

Weekly Homework - Week #3

2011-09-02T05:18:00.000-07:00

This weeks words are all high frequency words. We will be going over them all next week in our skills time at school and they will also be included in the weekly homework. The skills test will be next Friday.

1. big
2. have
3. it
4. is
5. in
6. little
7. made
8. about
9. when
10. what

Have a great week! :)

Readers Workshop Today

2011-08-31T10:32:00.000-07:00

In an effort to build our reading stamina, we have been adding 1 minute to our silent reading time each day. We are now up to 10 minutes of silent reading time, with our eyes looking only in our books. We know that reading every day is going to help our brains get smarter this year!

Working Hard In Math Today

2011-08-31T10:25:00.000-07:00

We were making "staircases" with our connecting cubes today.

Today our essential question in math was:
"What numbers come before, after, and in between any given numbers?"
We think learning is fun!

OPEN HOUSE

2011-08-31T05:13:00.001-07:00

This Thursday, September 1st at 6:30 is our Open House night. Please come to our classroom (room 85) where we will be talking to you about our upcoming school year. Hope to see you all there!!

Weekly Homework - Week #2

2011-08-26T05:45:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that next week will already be the second week of school! Today we are sending home our first homework packet of the year. A homework packet will go home every Friday, and is always due back the following Friday. It is up to you if you would like to have your child do a little bit each night like the packet suggests, or do it all over the weekend when you have more time. We don't care either way, as long as you are reading each day, and the packet comes back completed each Friday in your child's black notebook. :)

Here are this weeks "skills words":

1. can
2. and
3. the
4. like
5. read
6. skip
7. jump
8. color

We will be going over these words at school next week, but please practice them at home as well, since we give them a "skills test" each Friday on the weekly skills words. We grade their weekly skills test over the weekend, and the test will go home each Monday for you to see.

It has been a GREAT first week of school! We are so glad to have have each and every one of your children in our 1st grade family this year!!!
Have a great weekend!

School Supply List

2011-08-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

Here are a list of supplies needed for your first grade student in our class this school year:

1. small pencil box
2. laminated pocket folders (2)
3. pack of pencils
4. crayons (24 count)
5. glue sticks (4)
6. school bag/backpack (PLEASE NO WHEELS)
7. facial tissues (supply throughout the year)
8. hand sanitizer (supply throughout the year)
9. liquid hand soap
10. lysol wipes (supply through out the year)
11. paper towels
12. 2 reams of copy paper
13. zip-lock bags (gallon and quart size)

P.S. We can ALWAYS use extra:
Hand Sanitizer, Copy Paper, Lysol Wipes, & Tissues...
we go through those very fast! :)

Welcome, New Class of 2011-2012!

2011-08-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

We are looking forward to meeting each and every one of you!
Orientation ("meet & greet" time) will be this Friday 8/19, in our classroom (room 85), at 11:30.
Hope to see you all then!
First day of school is Monday 8/22/11! We are excited to start this new year with you all!

Mrs. Ledford & Mrs. Vaillette have your recipe for success this year! :)

Have a GREAT summer!

2011-06-09T06:18:00.001-07:00

Good Bye!

Thanks to Ms. Hunt, and everyone who contributed to our end of the year gift card... that was SO thoughtful! We have THOROUGHLY enjoyed being your teachers this year! It's hard to believe that tomorrow is really the last day of school! Remember to keep reading every single day this summer and bring us your book logs when school starts back up for a great prize! Have a fun and relaxing summer!!!!!

End of the Year Party!

2011-06-09T06:12:00.001-07:00

Mr. Ledford brought baby Kayleigh in to meet the class! :)

We played limbo...

bean bag toss...

ring toss...

used sidewalk chalk... made a craft... had a snack... What a fun party! Thanks to all of the parents and grandparents that were able to come in and help out! :)

Island Vacation Day!

2011-05-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

Our school-wide spirit day today was Island Vacation themed! We looked great with our Hawaiian leis on! :) It was also our reading celebration day. All students in our class have met their 25 book goal, so we were all able to go watch our school talent show. It was a fun day!

Our Science Experiment

2011-05-11T10:01:00.001-07:00

So, for our science experiment today, we wanted to find out which type of Hershey's chocolate melts faster.... milk chocolate or dark chocolate.

Step One: Make our Hypothesis (most of us thought the dark chocolate would melt faster)

Step Two: Gather our Materials (chocolate, sticky notes, hands)

Step Three: Procedure (We passed out pink sticky notes to the students melting the dark chocolate and green sticky notes to the students melting the milk chocolate. Then we passed out the chocolate and held our hands together while we listened to a story and waited to see which type of chocolate melted faster.)

will it be dark chocolate...

NO!

The milk chocolate definitely melted faster... no chocolate chunks left in these hands! :)

Step Four: Conclusion (We found out that milk chocolate melts faster than dark chocolate.)

We started to write out the steps to our experiment and put it on a poster board that will be entered into the school wide science fair tomorrow. :)

Our science board looks great... we are super scientists!

Thank you for our lovely cards!

2011-05-04T06:37:00.000-07:00

How fun to open a little mailbox filled with hand-made cards. We loved them all... thanks everyone! We are lucky to be your teachers! :)

Thank you for the Sweets!

2011-05-03T07:43:00.000-07:00

We felt appreciated by all of your sweet treats today! Thanks everyone! :)

Thank you for our flowers!

2011-05-02T09:57:00.001-07:00

How sweet of everyone to bring in a flower today! When Michaela's mom put them all together in a vase, it looked just BEAUTIFUL!
Thanks also to Seth's mom for making the awesome poster... we LOVE IT! :)

Play Day Today!

2011-04-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

Taking a short break to dance!

"How low can you go...?"

Chole is GREAT at the Cha Cha Slide!

The balloon popping relay...

Seth looks great in the sack race!

The beach ball relay race.

The "penguin walk" relay.

We were really good at the 3 legged race!

The 'clothes' relay...

We did a great job and had lots of fun! Thanks to Mrs. Parks for the water bottles, and to the PTA for the yummy popsicles when we were done... boy it was hot! :)

Earth Day Today!

2011-04-21T12:00:00.001-07:00

We have animals on our clothes today! :)

We celebrated Earth day at school today.
If students wanted to participate, they could wear clothes featuring animals.
Also, each student at our school today had a chance to clean up a section of our school grounds. We spent a few minutes picking up trash and debris right near the 1st grade playground...
we had a great team effort! :)

Week #32 Skills Words

2011-04-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

We have no school tomorrow in honor of "Good Friday" and no school on Monday either. So we are sending home the usual weekly homework today, and it will be due back next Friday. This weeks skills words are high frequency and "or" words.

1. before
2. cold
3. full
4. off
5. would
6. born
7. fork
8. short
9. torn
10. storm

Have a GREAT 4 day weekend! :)

This Year's F.R.A. Books

2011-04-12T10:20:00.000-07:00

Each year, the F.R.A. (Florida Reading Association) invites Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade students all throughout Florida to participate in voting for the Florida Children's Book Award. Nominations for books to be considered for the school year are due by December 15. The books nominated must have been copyrighted within the last five years and be currently in print. A nomination form can be found under the Recommend a Book link.

Once students have read or heard the nominated books, their votes can be tallied and submitted to the Children's Book Award Chairman though the online form. Ballots must be received no later than April 15. Results will be announced on the FRA web site and in the FRA newsletter. The winning book will be honored at the FRA Conference in October.

Our school librarian, Mrs. Hartnett tallies up the winning books at Beauclerc each year, we should find out what that is next week. We voted in our classroom today, and the winning book in our class was.....

... The Three Little Gators by Helen Ketteman with 13 class votes! It was a very funny book. It was a spin off of The Three Little Pigs, but instead of a big, bad, wolf... there was a big bottomed boar! Instead of threatening to huff and puff and blow their house down, he threatens: "Then I'll wiggle my rump with a bump, bump, bump and smash your house!"

Please check some of these FRA books out of your local public library, they were all very good. :)

Twin Day!

2011-04-08T08:01:00.001-07:00

Today's spirit day theme was "Twin Day". Some of us talked ahead of time and made plans to wear similar outfits/colors today. Here are some of the twins in our class today...

Grayson & Aniyah wore their favorite matching shirts with glitter pockets...

Natalia made matching twin day shirts for her and Michaela with sparkly puff paints...

Chloe & Christina both wore black dresses....

Hafiz, Jaden & Malachi all wore red today...

Kristy, Darniyah & Eva all wore pink shirts today...

Gabriel & Thomas wore black today...

Joseph & Seth accidently wore similar shirts and shorts today! What a cool coincidence! :)
Everyone looked great!
Have a nice weekend!

Week #30 Skills Words

2011-04-08T06:21:00.000-07:00

This weeks skills words are high frequency, "ew" and "ue" words.

1. because
2. better
3. give
4. people
5. put
6. new
7. grew
8. true
9. glue
10. blue

Have a great weekend! :)

Cultural Arts Day

2011-04-04T05:52:00.001-07:00

The Navy Band was AWESOME!

our principal Ms. Kornblum

our Beauclerc teacher of the year, Miss Burns

and our school mascot, J.J. the Jaguar

The dog-frisbee was so cool!

Our very own Grayson was part of the dog frisbee show! We were so proud of her! :)

These dancers taught us about being kind to others and eating healthy...

We really enjoyed watching the BMX bike show too!

That's Ms. Kornblum on top of the bike ramp!

What a jam-packed day full of fun! We went right from one activity to the next! We are so glad that everyone in our class has been reading at home, and met our 25 book goal, so that we could all participate in this fun celebration of reading!

Our Zoo Field Trip

2011-03-22T09:52:00.001-07:00

Camron thinks that these lizards are having a staring contest...

We LOVE the squirrel monkeys...

The new penguin exhibit was so cool!

Magellanic penguins...

Noah with a tapir. :)

We had a great time learning about animals at the zoo today!

The Educational Program at the Zoo

2011-03-22T07:42:00.001-07:00

We learned about this screech owl, and it's adaptations...

Malachi was brave enough to touch the bearded dragon...

Denis touched the bearded dragon...

Devyn pet the bearded dragon...

Ms. Hunt was totally grossed out by the baby alligator...

Mrs. Vaillette's mom touched the alligator...

Camron pet the baby alligator...

Ian touched the baby alligator too...

Mrs. Ledford loves bunnies, she pet the rabbit...

Logan touched the rabbit too. We learned that adaptations are tools that animals use to help them get the food, water and shelter that they need. What a fun class at the zoo! :)

We Were SO Tierd On The Bus Ride Home!

2011-03-22T07:38:00.001-07:00

I guess the zoo really tired some of us out, because we caught quite a few nappers on the bus ride home! :)

Thanks to Our Chaperones for Coming!

2011-03-22T07:22:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Darniyah's dad for coming (on his birthday) :)

Thanks to Conners dad and grandma for coming...

Thanks to Michaela's parents for coming...

Thanks to Ian's mom for coming...

Thanks to Jaidyn's parents for coming...

Thanks to Grayson's grandmother for coming (it was her birthday too) :)

Thanks to Ms. Hunt (as usual) for all she does and for coming with us...

Thanks to Seth's mom for coming...

And thanks to Mrs. Vaillette's mom who came (from Massachusetts) as well! We appreciate you all donating your time to be with us... it was a great day! :)

Week #27 Skills Words

2011-03-11T06:07:00.000-08:00

This weeks skills words are all high frequency words.

1. girls
2. play
3. sing
4. write
5. sign
6. know
7. read
8. today
9. knelt
10. snack

Have a SUPER week! :)

We LOVE to Recycle!

2011-03-07T06:05:00.000-08:00

Today is the judging of all the school recycling buckets that were decorated. Of course our class decorated our buckets with monkeys! :)

We have been learning ways to save our Earth by reducing, reusing and recycling. Some of us have even been bringing in paper and plastic from home to recycle! :)

Week #26 Skills Words

2011-03-07T06:00:00.001-08:00

This weeks skills words target two vowel blends... "oo" and "ew". Make sure you are practicing at home, the skills test is always on Friday. :)

1. school
2. room
3. cool
4. food
5. spoon
6. new
7. knew
8. grew
9. threw
10. few

Have a great week!

Star Students In February

2011-03-01T07:28:00.001-08:00

Logan was star student for the week of 2/4/11

Jaidyn was star student for the week of 2/11/11

Denis was star student for the week of 2/18/11

Mia was star student for the week of 2/25/11

Great job Star Students! We are so proud of your good choices! :)

Red, White, and Blue Day!

2011-02-25T09:52:00.000-08:00

Today was another spirit day at Beauclerc... we were all wearing...

Red...

White...

and Blue!

Happy Spirit Day! :)

Week #25 Skills Words

2011-02-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

This weeks skills words are high frequency and vowel blend 'ea' words.

1. buy
2. only
3. or
4. right
5. think
6. team
7. bean
8. pea
9. read
10. reach

Have a great weekend! :)

Week #24 Skills Words

2011-02-18T05:55:00.000-08:00

This weeks skills words are high frequency and long e words.

1. about
2. any
3. ask
4. kind
5. over
6. we
7. he
8. she
9. see
10. green

Remember that there is no school on Monday in honor of Presidents' Day. Have a great long weekend! :)

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Seth's mom who sent in Valentine Cupcakes with each students name written on them! They were delicious!
We were able to choose which bookmark we wanted to make today, an owl or a heart... look how nice they turned out! :)

Crazy Hair Day Today!

2011-02-11T07:49:00.000-08:00

This is our 'messy hair' group today...

This is our 'big & poofy hair' group today...

This is our crazy 'ponytail & braid' group...

This is our 'mohawk' group...

This is our crazy 'hair color' group...

What a crazy but fun spirit day today!

The weekly homework goes home today and is due back next week as usual. This weeks skills words are high frequency and sneaky e words. The sneaky e is making the letter 'u' say it's name this week. When you add sneaky e to the end of the word 'cut'... the sneaky e makes the u say it's name, and makes the words 'cute'.

1. four
2. funny
3. long
4. watch
5. were
6. tune
7. rule
8. cute
9. mule
10. flute

Have a great weekend! :)

100th Day Of School!

2011-02-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today was the 100th day of school!
All day, our learning revolved around that number. In math today, we counted out 100 frootloops on our desk. We put them in 10 piles of 10. After we counted out 100, we strung them onto a necklace, and wore them around our neck. :)
When we were done with that, we each peeled 100 star stickers and put them on a hat that we were able to wear for the rest of the day.

Hazel counted out her 100 frootloops...

Devyn is ready to start stringing his 100 fruitloops onto a necklace now...

Grayson started making her necklace...
Mia is now starting her hat with 100 star stickers on it...

This afternoon, we were able to fill a bag with 100 snacks! We picked 10 snacks from each bowl (and there were 10 different bowls). Once we had 100 little snacks in our bag, we could take it to any spot in the classroom and silently read while we snacked. It was yummy reading today! :)

Our 10 different bowls of snacks...
Malachi counting out 10 mini-marshmallows...
Seth counting out 10 cheerios...
Aliana found a comfy spot to read and eat her snacks right by our listening center...
Here we are in the spot of our choice, reading and eating our 100 snacks...
Michaela looks comfortable over by her cubby...

Reading with 100 snacks is fun!!!!
Mia squeezed into a little spot over by the blocks...
Looks like a great book Natalia!

We had a great 100th day today!

Star Students In January

2011-01-28T12:08:00.001-08:00

Grayon was star student for the week of 1/24-1/28
Thomas was star student for the week of 1/3-1/7

Way to go Star Students! :)

Career Day

2011-01-28T07:26:00.000-08:00

For our spirit day today, we were allowed to dress up like what we want to be when we grow up. We looked great! Here are some of our outfits...

Hazel wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up...
Here's our group of famous sports players... (soccer, basketball & football)
Our group of karate/taekwondo boys... looking good... :)
Aliana, Kristy, and Mia all want to be teachers when they grow up...
Jadea wants to be a rock star...
Grayson will make an adorable country singer when she grows up...
Conner wants to be a layer when he grows up...
Hafiz wants to be a ninja...

Michaela wants to be just like her mom when she grows up (complete with her mom's coat and PTA badge) :)
What a fun day!

Week #21 Skills Words

2011-01-28T05:24:00.000-08:00

This weeks skills words are high frequency and more 'sneaky e' words. When you add a 'sneaky e' to the end of the word hop, it makes the o say it's name, and makes the word hope. :)

1. has
2. going
3. thank
4. very
5. what
6. rode
7. hope
8. joke
9.those
10. home

Have a great week! :)

Playing "Guess My Rule"

2011-01-25T10:53:00.001-08:00

We learned a new game in math today and we loved it! It was called "Guess My Rule". In this game, we had to identify common attributes of different shapes.

One player comes up with a secret rule for what shapes are allowed to go inside the circle. That player puts two shapes (on paper cards) in the circle that are the same in some way and 'fit' their secret rule. (for example, shapes with four corners, or shapes with 3 sides, etc...)
The other player has to see if their shapes 'fit' in the circle to figure out what the secret rule is. We had a great time, here are some of us hard at work today...

Meryl's Secret Rule today was: "shapes with four corners"
Mia's secret rule was:"shapes with four sides"
Chloe's secret rule was: "shapes with 2 sides"
Kristy's secret rule was: "shapes with 3 corners"

Seth's secret rule was: "shapes with no corners"

Denis' secret rule was: "shapes with corners"
Aliana's secret rule was:"shapes with 3 corners"
Jadea's secret rule was: "shapes that are curvy"
Grayson's secret rule was: "shapes with no corners"

We are learning that Geometry can be a lot of fun! :)

Week #20 Skills Words

2011-01-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

This weeks words are high frequency and "sneaky e" words. We are teaching the students that when you add a "sneaky e" to the end of a word it makes the vowel say its name. For example if you add a "sneaky e" to the end of the word 'mad'... the 'a' says its name, and it makes the word 'made'. All homework is due next Friday (1/28/11).

1. every
2. then
3. was
4. of
5. made
6. mad
7. tape
8. tap
9. cape
10. cap

Remember, no school for students tomorrow (1/21/11) because it's a teacher planning day. Have a great long weekend! :)

Making Applesauce Today

2011-01-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

In writers workshop we have been working on Functional Writing which can tell a reader "how to do something".
So today we learned how to make applesauce.
Hopefully we were really paying attention to the steps, because tomorrow we will have to write a functional piece on how we did it. :)

Here are the 4 ingredients we needed: apples, water, sugar, and cinnamon.
The 2 materials we needed were: a pot, and something to cut the apples with.

First, we got a chance to peel, core, and slice the apples with our nifty gadget...
Next, we added some water...
Then we added the cinnamon...
Finally, we added the sugar...

We let the apples cook down all day, and before the end of the day, we were able to try our very own applesauce! :)

Most of us really enjoyed it! Yummy! Now we all know how to make applesauce, and we have a great functional story idea to write tomorrow!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T10:22:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to school! It was a great day today, filled with learning! We hope you all had a wonderful 2 weeks off, and we are looking forward to a wonderful start to this new year! :)

Pajama Day!

2010-12-17T12:11:00.000-08:00

We had another school-wide spirit day today! Today's theme was: wear your favorite pajamas to school! We looked so cute in our favorite PJ's! :)

Have a wonderful and safe 2 weeks off! Remember to read everyday and fill out the books logs we sent home! See you January 3rd!

Star Students In December

2010-12-17T11:05:00.001-08:00

Jaden was star student for the week of 12/13-12/17
Joseph was star student for the week of 12/6 - 12/10
Darniyah was star student for the week of 11/29 - 12/3

We are so proud of you! Thank you for making good choices!

Our Field Trip to the Nutcracker Ballet Today

2010-12-16T10:03:00.001-08:00

The boys look so handsome in their dress clothes!
The girls look so beautiful in their pretty dresses!
Thanks for being our chaperone Ms. Hunt! :)

What a great time we had watching the Nutcracker Ballet!

In the Computer Lab Today

2010-12-15T11:38:00.000-08:00

We all had 1 hour in the computer lab with Mrs. Shaaber today. It was great to get practice on our own IBM computers, since we are usually on MAC's in our classroom. It was lots of fun!

Door Decorating Contest Today!

2010-12-15T07:36:00.001-08:00

The school wide door decorating contest is today, and our door looks great! Thanks for your help Ms. Hunt! Each student has their name on a penguin and they even have bow ties, hair bows, and googly eyes.... so cute!

Painting Our City-Scapes in Art Today

2010-12-10T07:39:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Schmidt, our art teacher, has been teaching us how to make a city skyline. We got to start painting them today... they look fabulous!

Thanks for the Birthday Wishes!

2010-12-10T07:36:00.000-08:00

Turning 30 didn't seem so bad with all of the sweet cards and birthday wishes! Thanks everyone for making it such a special day! :)

Week #16 Skills Words

2010-12-10T06:28:00.000-08:00

This weeks words are high frequency and rhyming words.

1. bring
2. carry
3. hold
4. our
5. us
6. cut
7. hut
8. rug
9. hug
10. bug

Have a great last week before the winter break! :)

Spirit Day with our Favorite Stuffed Animals

2010-12-03T10:24:00.001-08:00

For Spirit Day today, it was "bring your favorite stuffed animal to school" day. We had a great time independently reading to them! :)

Week #15 Skills Words

2010-12-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

This weeks skills words are high frequency and rhyming words.

1. jump
2. more
3. sleep
4. time
5. with
6. run
7. fun
8. sun
9. stuff
10. puff

Have a great week! :)