Vehicle Day Field Trip

It was a chilly, damp day on Friday but we headed out to see the vehicles anyway! Students LOVED that they got to get in and check things out up close and personal.  Here are a few of their observations from the day.
I hugged Dollar Dog. - Garrett
We sat in the limo.  - Meredith
I sat in the mailman's truck. - ?  Forgot to put their name on! ?

I like the Cox Car and the plumbers car. - Macie
I go to the Fed Ex truck. - Sophie
I loved the zoo car.  - Elle
My third favorite was the fancy police car. - Ben

I honked the big truck's horn.  - Ethan
I like the fire truck. - Zak
My other favorite was the corvette.  - Hunter (?  Must of missed that one!?)
I got to get in the limo. - Jade
I liked when we went on the bus. - Amy
We got to see a K-9 Unit.  - Jonas
I like the big truck. - Mya
I like all the cop cars. - Dannika

Week 5-5th Grade Buddies and Collage Making / Rubric Writing 101

The highlight of this week was our field trip of course, but look for a post ALL about that to be coming soon!  Another highlight was that we got to meet our 5th grade buddies from Mrs. Osborne's class!  All year we will get to do activities with our buddies.  For this visit we decided to show off our reading skills.  They read a book to us and we read a book to them.  We can't wait for them  to come back and visit again in October.

Students also really enjoyed making their community helper collages for social studies.  Before we began working on our posters we discussed how they would be graded.  In the Papillion-La Vista School District and in schools all over the country, children are graded based on proficiency levels instead of the old A, B, C, D and F system.  Our district  uses numbers that correspond to the following proficiency levels:  beginning (1) progressing (2) proficient (3) and advanced (4). These are the indicators that you will see on papers that come home and on their report cards.  Teachers often use a document known as a rubric to help them determine proficency levels.  Put simply, a rubric is a guide that outlines what the student must demonstrate at each level.    I am a firm believer in the idea that children can achieve anything, but that we must make our expectations known to them!  This week I explained to the students what a rubric is and what each level stood for.  We then worked together to list the exact features that their collages should include to earn a 1, 2, 3, or 4.  When their collages were done they helped me to grade them using the rubric.  They were able to understand what their grade was and why they earned it.

 I am including a few sample rubric for you to look at.  Please do not hesitate to call me or email me if you would like more information or if you would ever like to see the rubric used to grade an assessment.  You can see a copy of a basic rubric here.  1st Grade Grading Rubric  I created this one to use with kids because they can relaete to the different faces.  A specific rubric also includes exactly what the student is expected to show for that assignment.  You can see a copy of the rubric for our first math assessment here:  Math Rubric 

Love,
Mrs. Heath

One More Video...

Community Helpers

Today the students shared their group community helper posters that we have been working on this week.  We learned a few things about getting video taped.  1)  We need to be prepared!  2) We need to talk louder and 3) It is pretty funny to see a video of us!  Here are a few of our presentations. 

Remember that on Monday your child has to do an individual presentation on a community helper.  They can NOT read from a paper, but must give the talk from memory.

Thanks,
Mrs. Heath

The Star Spangled Banner

Today is the birthday of The Star Spangled Banner.  It was written on September 14, 1814.  That is almost 200 years ago!  We were singing to our beloved flag.  (Dannika)  We always respect our flag.  (Elle)  We love America!  (Mya)  We love our flag!  (Meredith) 

You can watch and listen to the Star-Spangled Banner just like we did!

http://youtu.be/jAYPN-1Yjt0

Love,

Mrs. Heath's 1st Grade Class

Hickory Hill Students Sing "America the Beautiful"

On September 9th Hickory Hill celebrated Patriot Day by singing a patriotic song. District personnel joined us to watch and took a video.   Please click the link below to watch it on youtube.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfw9gfuZasA&feature=youtu.be

Week 4 - Communities

We are learning all about communities in social studies.  Students are able to identify the people, places, and things that are found in a community.  This week they had the opportunity to use community helper puppets and put on a quick play about where the helper worked and how they helped the community. In order to build our 1st grade classroom / school community, we invited the other first grade classes to join us for a video of the book "Office Buckle and Gloria" on Popcorn Reading Friday.  Learning in the guise of play..no better way to do it! Stop back by next week to see some more pictures of our learning as we venture off to our first field trip. 

Love,

Writing down they are going to say for their puppet.

First grade friends getting ready to watch and listen to a great book!

Mrs. Heath

Celebrating September 11th

I love America. (Elle)  We are learning about the flag because it is important. (Dannika)  We love singing the song about America. (Meredith)  America is our country and we love America. (Hailey) We love our flag. (Ethan) We are remembering what happend on September 11, 2001.  (Mrs. Heath and BilliJo)  We read a book about how America stayed strong even though bad things happened.  (Leah)  We are so glad that we live in America!

Love, Mrs. Heath's Class

Week 3 - Active Learners or Bumps on a Log??

Mr. Snyder reads us a story about "filling buckets" with kind words and deeds.

Students LOVED singing happy birthday to PFC Heath in Afghanistan!

Week 3 in 1st grade and we we are motoring along!  Students continue to practice working independently.  That is one of the biggest differences in 1st grade -- I expect them to do many more things on their own!  As students become more independent they also gain ownership of their learning.  One of my favorite sayings is "Are you an active learner or a bump on a log?"  We have had talks about how a bump on a log can't learn.  I can be the BEST teacher in the world but I still can't teach a bump on a log ANYTHING!  However, an active learner is in control of his/her learning.  Active learners are involved in their education and can learn ANYTHING and EVERYTHING!!  Room 302 is full of active learners who are learning a lot!! In addition to reading, writing, science, social studies, and math learning -  we also have tons of fun. This week we especially enjoyed singing happy birthday to PFC Ben Heath in Afghanistan and learning how to fill each other's buckets from our principal Mr. Snyder.  Enjoy our snapshots of the week!

Love,
Mrs. Heath

Week 2 - Learning How to Do Reading Centers

Mr. Snyder turns a Read to Self moment into a Read to Someone moment!

We had another AMAZING week in 1st grade.  We were able to go to the library, go to computer lab, begin working with our IPADS, and we got to bring Take Home Book Bags home for the first time!

Read to Self

Students spent the week practicing and perfecting their Daily 5 / Reading Center skills.  In addition to whole group reading instruction, our classroom spends 1 hour each day on small group reading instruction.  I work with small groups of students at their individual reading levels, while the rest of the students are engaged in literacy activities.  These activities are referred to as centers.  Our centers are based around the concept of The Daily 5 literacy activities:  Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, Work with Words.  The students do Read to Self everyday, after which they will rotate through the other 4 activities.  There are a variety of things for the students to do for each activity and they are self directed; when they are finished with the station they are able to move on to something else.  Each child has a checkoff sheet that they mark when they have completed an activity, this allows them to track what they have done for the week and what they still need to do.  Students will also have the opportunity to work in small groups with our para-educator, Mrs. Shirley, and our classroom volunteers.  Enjoy taking a look at us in action!
Love,

Read to Someone

We listen to reading wtih TAG Readers and Leap Pads

Folder help us keep track of what we need to do!

Work on Writing is one of our favorites!

Mrs. Heath

Students practice phonics skills in Work with Words

Book Orders

Just a quick reminder that August book orders must be submitted online or sent in to class by Monday, August 29th. 

The Bear Who Wouldn't Share

Dear Parents,

We were practicing reading in 1st grade.  (Dannika)  It is fun reading The Bear Who Wouldn't Share.  (Meredith)  We changed our voices for different people.  (Ben)  We love this book! (Leah)  We love READING!  (Elle)

*I shot a video of them reading but am experiencing technical difficulties in getting it to load on the computer.  :(   I'll keep working on it!
Love,

Mrs. Heath's 1st Grade Class

Week 1 - First Grade Rocks!

Our 1st Day of School Self Portraits.  Names are to the left.

The first week of 1st grade was fun, fantastic, fabulous, and TIRING!!  It is HARDWORK being a first grader!  By the end of the day I  have 21 sets of drooping eyes and tired postures but at least they are still grinning! 

Our 1st Day of School self portraits.  Names are to the left.

One thing that we learned this week was how to be "A Golden Ruler".  What is A Golden Ruler you ask?  It is quite simple, A Golden Ruler is someone who follows the Golden Rule and treats others the way that he/she wants to be treated.  We read a story about the kingdom of Hickory Hill and Queen Mean and King Nasty who lived there and were not nice to others. They learn how to follow the Golden Rule and everyone lives happily ever after!

All and all it was a wonderful week.  I look forward to the remainder of the year with this great bunch of kiddos!

We decided we would be Golden Rulers, not Queen Mean or King Nasty!

Happy Teacher!!!

What a happy teacher I am!  Sshhh...don't tell other first grade teachers but I have the BEST 1st graders in the world!!  I was so happy to meet all but one of you and your families today.  We are going to have an AMAZING year!! 

Parents:  remember that you and your child are welcome to make comments on our blog.  Just remember two things: 
1) You comments will not post right away -- I have to approve all comments.  This just keeps us all safe from the yucky stuff out there! 

2) Once I approve the comment, everyone will be able to see it.  If you need to tell me something that is personal or private, please feel free to email me at dheath@paplv.org 

Thank you all for coming tonight.  I look forward to a wonderful year together!

Love,
Mrs. Heath

Meet the Teacher

Welcome First Graders and Families!!!
I'm hoping that some of you have gotten your postcards and have stopped by to visit our little blog.  I am SO excited for a new school year to start and for all the learning and fun we are going to have! Don't forget that Meet the Teacher is on Monday from 5:30-6:30. Until then, have fun poking around here and our class website at www.mrsheath.us and find out all about our classroom.   I will see you on Monday!

Love,

Mrs. Heath