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!

All about ART!

This week was full of art, art, art! We got to have art with Todd almost every day this week. Students learned about acclaimed artists, such as Romare Bearden. They also experimented with collage (Bearden's main medium) and pop art. Students chose a picture of a cow (steer) or a chicken to copy. They filled the inside with one pattern, and the outside with another. The results were so much fun to see, and the kids loved it.

Another highlight this week was taking the last week or so before Winter Break to focus on the idea of place value. Students learned about the hundreds, tens, and ones places and their values in the numbers we see in math. They got to experiment and explore place value using base ten blocks, which was helpful for all.

We look forward to a week full of more reading, math, and especially winter art projects in hopes that more snow will soon come our way! See you next time!

Pajama Day (and other things)!

This week, we have started our Writing "How To" unit, where students write and illustrate about different things they know how to do. We will continue this until Winter Break. We got a good start this week! We also finished another math unit on addition, and will begin a week of learning about place value next week. In health, we will concentrate on choosing a healthy diet of fruits, veggies, protein and grains. Students will go "shopping" for just the right foods for their own meal. I can't wait to see what they will come up with.

Next week, we will to focus a lot on the Community aspect of our classroom, and how that is a part of our school's P.E.A.C.E. project. We will also start up our intervention reading groups again, and we will experience Art with Todd from Monday to Friday. Todd is Parkview's incredible art teacher.













In sum, we had a wonderful week, learned new things, and can't wait to start our last full week before winter break. It will be jam-packed with new learning and fun! Until then, here are a few snapshots of our Friday Fun time outside (multi-grade) and pajama day!

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!