100th Day of School

Wow!!! Happy 100th day of school. The official countdown starts now till the end of the school year..... 79 days.

Have you ever wondered what you would look like in 100 years? This morning one of our fun activities that I had the kiddos do was draw what they think they would look like. Here are some of the examples:

After they all had shared their predictions. I showed them what they would look like according to an aging app, and boy was there some hysterical laughing! Here are some examples:

Another 100th Day activity that we did today was during math. Each student created a gum ball machine using finger paint. Each kiddo got to choose from six colors of paint to create gum balls. They then had to graph their gum ball results for each color. Here are our finished products:

Later in they day each student was able to make a book with 100 words.They were all so proud of themselves for their finished books.  Here are some pictures of their writing process:

Another favorite activity that we did today to celebrate the 100th day of school was to see how many licks it took to get to the middle of a Tootsie Pop. As each student was licking they were also keeping track of how many licks it took them, and it was HAARRRD WORK!!!

Here were the results:

A Winter Weather Wonderland

The first snow storm of 2016 has hit Atlanta!!!! Although not much snow has come with this storm, it is ALWAYS very exciting when Atlanta gets any snow. The snow storm started out with a bang with school being released 2 hours early on Friday, and of course the kids LOVED that!!

Ansleigh enjoyed having mama and dada home early from work on Friday too. The snow started to come in Friday afternoon, and Ansleigh just loved it!!

On Saturday morning we bundled her up and went outside for about 2 minutes to snap a quick photo before the strong wind knocked her over. She just thought it was hysterical and kept laughing! 

 All this snow tied perfectly into our science unit: Weather. During this unit we learned about several different types of weather. We also studied the four seasons and discussed activities, clothing needed, and temperatures that happen in each season. We concluded our unit on weather by doing a project using the app Tellagami. For this project students were partnered up. Each set of partners had to select a season to report on. Once they agreed on a season they illustrated their season. Next they wrote down facts about their season. Here are some pictures of the writing and illustrating process:

Once they finished writing down their facts they had to decide who would say what. Then the fun began with Tellagam!  Using this free app students were able to create an avatar to resemble themselves. They then took a picture of their season to set as their background. Last, they were able to record their voices about their seasons. Finally, each group was able to share their finished project with the class. Check out our finished product on our Padlet site:

http://padlet.com/nolan3/43j61l02ap3y


Stay warm and enjoy the wonderful weather!! :)

Polar Express Day

This is a little late, but I still wanted to share about our incredible Polar Express Day. For the past three years now, our 1st grade team celebrates the last day before winter break by having Polar Express Day. This year, it just happened to fall on my birthday which made it even more amazing! This is one of those days that the kids CANNOT wait for and look forward to for several weeks, as do I :)! On Thursday afternoon after the kiddos had all left is when the magic begun. Our team decorated the hallway with banners, lights, and a big railroad track down the middle of the hallway.

On Friday morning, the children arrived into the not ordinary 1st grade hallway but onto the Polar Express. Hearing their "ooohhhs and ahhhs" as they come down the hallway can't help but put a huge smile on your face!

Polar Express Day consists of many fun activities. One of my favorite is the annual 1st grade teacher chair race down the hallway. This year I made it to the finals but did not win, Ms. Walker was the reigning 2015 champion. It was also very special to have our assistant principal, Ms. Thompson come to be the judge. Here is a video clip from the finals (We all wear our PJ's on Polar Express Day so don't mind my festive elf PJ's):

After the chair race was over we went back into the class for our Mug Exchange. For the mug exchange, each child brought a winter mug in a gift bag. Each child then selected a number which determined the order in which they selected their mug. The mug exchange is always a HUGE hit and full of many giggles as the kids get to choose to pick a new mug or steal one that someone has already chosen. After the mug exchange is complete we get to enjoy our delicious hot chocolate bar complete with whip cream, marshmallows, sprinkles, and cookies!!!

While we enjoyed our hot chocolate we played some games, made a snowman craft, and sang some songs.

Finally after lunch we all get to relax and watch the anticipated Polar Express Movie after boarding the train with our gold tickets.

My class also sang the birthday rap to me at the end of the day. I know many of you have been asking to hear the birthday rap so here are the lyrics:

Well that's the wrap of another successful Polar Express Day!