Once Upon a Time...

This week was full of magic and fairy tales! We finished up our fairy tales in both the morning reading class, as well as in our writing class in the afternoon. We read aloud our fairy tales and shared them with our 5th grade book buddies on Tuesday.

We also had a blast at our Fairy Tale Ball! The rest of the school lined the hallways as we (all first and second grade classes) paraded through the hallways of Parkview. Both the first and second graders loved it! The rest of the school also enjoyed seeing all our fairy tale costumes, as it brought back memories of their own time experiencing the Fairy Tale Ball. After the parade, the first graders got to listen to fairy tale stories, play games, and decorate crowns. Thank you to all the parents who came in and helped and supported the students--we loved welcoming you to our community and seeing you take part in all the fun! At the end of the morning, we participated in our second PEACE assembly of the year. Our first graders do an incredible job of serving their community by cleaning their room and making things clean and welcoming for all members of our school! Here are some pictures of all the students who made it to the Fairy Tale Ball by Morning Meeting time (2 students not pictured). Enjoy the long weekend!

 And, a silly picture, of course:

Walking in a Fairy Tale Land...

Hear ye, hear ye:

It is to be stated that all maidens and gentlemen from across the kingdom of Parkview First and Second Grades are invited to take part in a Royal Fairy Tale Ball, this coming Wednesday, the 25th of November in the year of 2015. Attendees are asked to wear costumes that represent their favorite fairy tale character or creature. They will parade through the hallways of Parkview whilst the rest of the kingdom looks on. Each maiden and gentleman will have the opportunity to participate in various events of sport (game room), illustrate their artistic finesse (arts and crafts) and listen to a bard tell tales (story room). It promises to be the most auspicious of occasions, marking the end of a wonderful trimester of learning and much knowledge gained across the kingdom.

With great pomp and ceremony,
Master of Ceremonies (Maryn)

Salute to our Veterans

What an incredible week! We welcomed guest teachers for Art Adventure this Monday morning, and will be privileged to work with them for two more sessions this fall--next Monday and the following Monday. Our class made a class honor quilt based on Native American artwork that we saw and learned about. Here are how ours turned out; each one unique and special, just like the students who made them!

Another obvious highlight this week was our class trip to see The Wizard of Oz production at the Children's Theater. Some of our favorite parts were the tornado, the melting of the Wicked witch of the West, and Toto the dog's appearance in the play.

Finally, this week we paid tribute to the men and women who have bravely served our country in the past and present in the United States Armed Forces. The students wrote a short note to our country's heroes, telling them why they are grateful to them. Some reasons were because our heroes are kind, brave, and they fight for our freedoms and keep the bad guys from ruling over us (direct quotes). I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed making the soldiers with the students! They did a phenomenal job! 

Cleaning up....

What a fun, fantastic Friday we had! A great end to the week. We've worked on Fairy Tales, both in the morning reading group class, as well as in our afternoon writing sessions. This week, we brainstormed different characters for our fairy tales, and the setting in which they'll find themselves. We know that fairy tales always have a "good" character, AND an "evil" character. I loved seeing all the creativity in these!

We also learned an important lesson about cleaning, and how it's a positive thing for our community and community workers. Our custodian was thrilled with how well these kids worked--he was surprised and wonderfully pleased with their hard work. We know that it's part of our responsibility to keep our classroom--where we learn and play--clean and sparkling! The most important thing we learned of all, though, was that cleaning and working together towards a common goal sure is a lot of FUN! Looking forward to next week, filled with art adventure, and our field trip to see the Wizard of Oz at the Children's Museum. Until then!