Week 11

Time for Fall

We enjoyed reading "Time for Fall" play with Ms. Lirenman's class from Vancouver, Canada. 

James Hersch Concert

We had a blast with James Hersch! Thank you to Spirit Lake PIE group for inviting him back.

"Going Places" by Peter H. Reynolds

This week's Global Read Aloud book was "Going Places" by Peter H. Reynolds. It was all bout celebrating creativity, imagination and collaboration. After the story, the students were given the following materials. 

The wheels were turning! The room was buzzed with excitement!

We are sharing our creations with other classes. Two more classes are planning on joining us. Next week we will spend some time visiting our art gallery.

Created with Padlet

Kidblog

Please make sure to visit your child's blog!

kidblog.org/MrsDeGrootsClass2014-2015/

Parent/Teacher Conferences

I am looking forward to seeing you & sharing your child's progress! If you haven't signed up for a conference, please do so as soon as possible. Thank you!

Week 10

Plant Tasting Party

We learned that we eat all parts of plants. We eat roots, stems, leaves, flowers, seeds and fruits of plants. Thank you to Lauren, Wes, Nolan, Racheal and Lucas's families for providing vegetables for this activity!  Some of us blogged about the party (some chose to blog about their plant). Please make sure to check your child's blog!

http://kidblog.org/MrsDeGrootsClass2014-2015/

Halloween Celebration

What a cute group of trick-or-treaters! Special thanks to Evelyn, Olivia, Isaiah, Solomon, and Carter's moms for organizing a great party! We had a great time:)

Cannot see the slide show? Click HERE.

Week 9

Plant Observation

All our corn seeds finally sprouted! We discovered that we do need to water, but not every day:) We can’t wait to find out how tall they will get in a week.

Global Read Aloud

This week we read “ish” by Peter H. Reynolds. We discussed that we should learn to love our work and ourselves when we do our best. We took photos of classroom objects and exchanged with in Mrs. Fliceck's (Wisconsin), Mrs, Stoufer's (Florida), and Mrs. Beck’s first graders. Then we drew isn picture. Here is what we created. I think they are so great!!

Halloween

We will have a costume parade in the morning next Friday. Please send your child in his/her costume. They will also need change of clothes so that they can change after the parade.

Week 8

What a beautiful fall week we had! We enjoyed spending some time outside this week:)

Columbus Day

On Monday we celebrated Columbus Day by learning about Columbus's Journey and his character traits. We thought he was brave, courageous, patient, exciting and nice. Then we brainstormed where we would like to go if we were an explorer like Columbus. Here is what we said.

Created with

Seed Day

We enjoyed looking at different kinds of seeds. We discovered that the seeds come in different sizes, shapes, colors and texture. Thank you for helping your child with this activity!

Leaf Art

On Wednesday we enjoyed going outside looking at the trees and leaves. We picked up some leaves and made pictures. Please check your child's blog to view their art!

http://kidblog.org/MrsDeGrootsClass2014-2015/

Global Read Aloud

We read "I'm Here!" by Peter Reynolds this week. We thought that Peter Reynolds wanted us to learn how to be "here" for our friends. We brainstormed the ways we could be here for our friends, then made a paper airplane (as shown in the book). It was great to see everyone helping each other to create the paper airplane.  

We went outside to fly our planes. 

We also played a "All About Me" matching game with Mrs. Flicek's first grade class in Green bay, Wisconsin. Please ask your child about the game at home:)

Halloween

On Friday, October 31, there will be a costume parade right away in the morning. Your child may come to school dressed in his/her costume. Please make sure to send change of clothes along. 

Week 7

We had a very busy week with many special events. 

Healthiest State Walk

On Wednesday we participated in the state initiative "Healthiest State Walk." The entire student body and faculty got together to walk 1 km. 

HyVee Flowers for Kids

HyVee Floral Department came to our school to teach us about flowers. Our classroom was filled with flowers and smiles. I hope you enjoyed the bouquet of flowers!

Global Read Aloud

Our class is participating in a reading project called "Global Read Aloud." It is a six week project, and each week we read a book written by a children's book author, Peter H. Reynolds along with many classes around the world. This week we read "The North Star." It was a story about a journey we go on to reach our dreams. We shared what we discussed on Twitter. 

And... Peter H. Reynolds HIMSELF tweeted back to us! What a great surprise!!

Then we made a class book our dreams.

We also practiced a reader's theater written by Mrs. Stoufer in Florida. On Friday we got together with her class and Ms. Lireman's class in BC. Canada on Google Hangout to read the script together.  

We have many more collaboration projects coming up following weeks.

Seed Day

We will continue to explore and learn about plants in science. Tuesday, October 14 is Seed Day. The students have been asked to bring seeds to school. Please help your child find seeds outside or even in your kitchen! One favor to ask... please make sure your child knows what kind of seeds they are bringing to school. Labeling would help me out a lot! Thanks!