I Have a Dream

"I have a dream that someday....little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

One of the greatest peace-makers in all of American history was celebrated this week, and I hope everyone enjoyed an extra day off! This week, we spent more time working towards our active goal of 90 minutes of activity time during the school days in the month of January. We also spent some time commemorating Dr. King by watching part of his famed "I have a Dream" speech. Then the students took some time and wrote about their dreams and hopes that they have for peace in the world. Finally, we wrapped up the week by attending our school-wide P.E.A.C.E. assembly. We learned that Parkview will be raising money at a school-wide Art fair in May, and then using the money to donate an animal to a family in need somewhere around the world. This is through Parkview's collaboration with Heifer International. 

Looking forward to the last week in January and saying good-bye to the (usually) coldest month of the year!

Penguins and Polar Bears and More

What a cold week! Our freezing weather this week allowed us to easily connect with the two different animals we'll be researching in the next couple of weeks--polar bears and penguins! Students were able to spend some time looking through books on Thursday. We watched two short videos about both species, and after watching the videos and doing a quick book look, students chose which animal they wanted to research for the "All About" books we'll be writing. Surprisingly, we had just about an equal number for each animal!

With the news of Kristen's illness, we also spent time this week making get-well cards for her. I was amazed at how well the cards turned out and how one student said, "We should put knock-knock jokes in every card. Because they say that laughter is the best medicine!" In learning about CARES last week, I was touched by the amount of empathy these first graders have towards others.

A final highlight this week was finding out the winner of the Caldecott Award. Our very own librarian, Laura Givens, was a part of the committee that chose the winning book. Below, you can see both the winning announcement as well as the students' pleased reactions:

Welcome to 2016!

PEACE begins with me!

Students practicing Cooperation through
"building" letters

It was a busy week back! This week, we got back into math, did some writing of goals for the new year, and learned about CARES. CARES is an acronym for Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy, and Self-Control. The students got to do some fun games and community-building activities for each of the letters, and we're learning what it looks like to use them in the classroom. Our week ended with extra Friday Fun time out in the newly-fallen snow.

Finally, we talked about what a Community looks like (The 'C' in P.E.A.C.E.). The students decorated hearts to show how THEY care for their own communities. They came up with great ideas--visiting the elderly, recycling, picking up trash, and taking care of others.

For those of you who are went back to work this week-I hope you all had a great first week back! We sure did!

Goals for 2016

How I help others in my community

Hard at work in writing new goals for a new year!