A Visit from Miss River City

 This week we had a visit from Miss River City (Jacksonville is called "The River City" and she read one of her favorite books to the class "I Knew You Could".

 The children could not take their eyes off of Miss River City and our very own "River City Princess" who accompanies Miss River City to various pageants and events.

"K" did not know that she would be getting crowned today by Miss River City and was very happy and surprised.

P.E. is Teamwork

The children had loads of fun in P.E. stacking cups by working together.  The standard (PE.K.R.5.1) says to "Identify ways to cooperate with a partner during physical activity."  Looks like they had a lot of fun utilizing teamwork...go girls!!

Work Over Time Bulletin Board 2013-2014

At the end of every school year, we are invited to celebrate student achievement by doing a "Work Over Time" bulletin board. This board showcases children's academic development from the beginning of the school year until the end.  On this board, Math is on the top limb with "J." writing his numbers in September (1-12), in January working on a 4-part math journal, and by the end of April, completing word problems. The bottom limb represents "L" drawing pictures coming into Kindergarten, writing a "How To" in November, and then writing a persuasive piece by the end of April.  It is amazing to see the growth in these and all of our students throughout the year.  With Kindergarten quickly coming to an end, the growth in First Grade will be even more amazing.  Time really does fly when you are having fun!!

Writers Learning the Power of their Words

 For the past month, students have been very busy looking around their school and the world around them and trying to make it a better place. They have learned how powerful their words are when they write them in letters,  signs and petitions. They have learned how they can convince people when they see a problem by telling their opinion with a story, giving lots of reasons for why they feel a certain way, giving a "fix-it" idea, being polite, including important information and writing a  "How To" piece to help them explain their solution. (These are lessons from "Persuasive Writing of All Kinds-Lucy Calkins".) The following is a completed letter that a child wrote to his brother. He explained his thoughts before he wrote the letter. EZ wrote that he was at a golf tournament this weekend and noticed a problem. People were putting recyclable trash into the regular trash can. He wrote the following letter to his little brother:

 May 12th, 2014

Dear Chi,
How are you? I am kind of proud for you throwing your trash away so it is not on the ground but I don't...

 ...like that it is in the trash can because it takes 100 years to dispose (decompose) and my recycling (reasons) are:  1) I do not want the world to be stinky. 2) I want my kids to be happy.  3) The world looks better with recycling. 

"Let's Recycle"
I hope this helps you recycle.
1) First find a recycling can.
2) Next put the recycling in the recycling can.
3) Finally fill the recycling can.
There - you have recycled.
Love EZ
Thanks EZ -- this helps us all to remember to recycle to preserve the Earth for future generations.

Firefighters Visit

We had a surprise visit from a very special firefighter this week who just happens to have his daughter in our class. Piper's dad surprised us with two of his firemen friends and taught the class about fire safety.  They brought the fire truck and the students had the opportunity to see it up close and walk through the front of the truck. It was a great experience for children to learn about this first hand.  Thank you Robert and fellow firefighters for your visit.

Walking through the huge fire engine truck.

Dressing in fire gear for children to see what they may look like so they won't be afraid if they are ever in a fire.