Our first 3 days back at school!

Let me just say that being back in First Grade makes me SO happy!! We have the sweetest, smartest, most precious group of little bobcats in the whole school!! I was blown away by them! I can already tell this is going to be a great year! Here is a little recap of our first 3 days as first graders!! 

After getting everyone settled in class, we read our first book of the year: First Day Jitters. We discussed what it meant to have “jitters”. After reading this precious book, we discovered that sometimes even TEACHERS get first day jitters!! We decided it was best for us to have some “jitter juice” to wash away our butterflies! Plus… by this point in the day, we were all a little bit ready for a snack :)  SO…. we went outside and enjoyed out Jitter Juice and snacks!

                          

                       

We also did a fun “Gallery Walk”. This helped us get to know our classmates, and interesting facts about them! We rotated to each poster in groups and chose our favorite thing on each list. After we were finished, we talked about each one and discussed how we knew which one was the class favorite. They did SUCH an awesome job at this activity!

 

                                      

To end our first day in first grade… we made crowns! They say “I survived my first day of First Grade…and can’t wait to go back!”

   

One of my most FAVORITE activities was the one the parents helped us do! We read The Kissing Hand in class. After reading this book, the kids painted their handprints on a poem to give their parents. To return the favor, the parents each decorated their handprint for their son/daughter to have at school anytime they get lonely! These “kissing hands” will hang in the students cubby to look at whenever they are feeling sad! Here are a few of them! LOVE!!!

         

        

In Math this week we completed a “Math About Me” activity. The students used what they knew about math… and themselves… to finish this little craftivity! I was so super impressed that I hung them from their clips in class!!

                                                  

To finish up our week of fun activities, we read the BEST book- Pout Pout Fish. The kids LOVED this book… they kept asking me to read it again! We made a chart about different feelings we have from time to time. Then, we were able to write our very first journal entry! We worked together to create a class sentence, then I sent them to their desks and they wrote away! They knew right away what they were feeling, and were even able to tell me WHY they were feeling that way! I was so proud!

 

                 

                   

Were your kiddos as tired as I was after school on Friday?! We had a great first 3 days of school! Be sure to check back to more updates of our days and what we are learning!

You’re a First Grader… At Last!

Dear First Graders (and families of first graders),

Hurray, hurray!  You're a first grader...at last!  That's me {Mrs. Secrist} and my friend, Junie B. just hanging out talking about all the wonderful things about first grade!  I have been waiting all summer long to meet you, and I can't wait to take you on the most wonderful learning adventures this year!  Get excited--we are going to be reading tons of the BEST books ever written, conducting fun science experiments, writing and illustrating books just like real authors, solving all kinds of puzzling math problems, and all along the way we'll be dancing, singing, laughing, and having a GREAT time learning together!  Some of you may have butterflies flapping around in your little bellies-- maybe some of you are so nervous, you even have whole birds in there!  Don't worry.  First grade is going to be a BLAST!  I promise.  Pinky promise.  See you soon, first grader!  

Love,

Mrs. Secrist