From August to December

These are the first of the year photos and the December photos I use for our elf ears ornament.

I am watching them become second graders.

Christmas Card Exchange

We opened the last of our Christmas cards during our "Reading Party".  Look at the map behind us to see where we received cards from during our exchange.  We even received one from Canada! This was a revelation to the class.  They never realized there was another country north of the United States.  The students tracked our mail on their own personal maps.  We learned so much from this great exchange with classes from around the world.
Below is the video the class worked on to share with the other classrooms about West Virginia.  The class learned quite a bit about our own state, too.

Christmas Program

Our music teacher, Mrs. Bookman, puts on a Christmas program every year.  It is preformed at school in the afternoon and then in the evening for family and friends.  This year first grade sang "Rudolph" and "Must Be Santa".  The classes made white beards and red noses to use as props as we sang.  We really had a lot of fun practicing these songs and they became class favorites.

I took pictures of some most of my class that showed up for the evening performance.  I did miss getting Lilah's photo since she came in right as the show was beginning.  Sorry.

Snowman Art Lesson

Mr. Jones, our principal, came in during our reading party and gave us an art lesson from the book

"Snowmen at Night" pictures by Mark Buehner.

Mr. Jones discussed light sources in the book that make the snowmen appear to be different colors.  He talked about light reflecting off of snow and how usually the moon is the light source at night.

We love having him into our room and teaching us about art.  Thanks Mr. Jones.

Reading PJ Day and Christmas Party

We had "Reading PJ Day" the last day of school before our Christmas break.  The students brought in their favorite book from home to share with classmates.  At the end of the day we had our Christmas Party with snacks and painting salt dough ornaments.