Mrs. Nordman ~ 1st Grade: Veteran's Day

Every now and then I experience a moment with my students that brings tears to my eyes. Today was one of those moments. After Morning Announcements, a video was shown to the entire school in honor of Veterans Day. It was a more serious movie than first graders would choose to watch, and I glanced at the group to see how their attention was holding up. The picture above is what I saw… Audrey sitting with her hand on her heart, during the entire movie, as a flag was shown and Veterans were honored. I was so moved. I quickly got up to grab my camera, and yes to hide my teary eyes from my students! I am so blessed to be working with these children everyday. They continue to amaze me, inspire me, bring smiles and laughter to me continuously, and remind me to not take some things too seriously! Thank you, Parents, for sharing them with me. One note about the movie… the beginning of the movie made a subtle reference to 9/11, and a discussion arose from that. I handled it very sensitively, and I can honestly say I think it was a very beneficial conversation to have. The children truly grasped the magnitude of what our Veterans have done for us. I think they approached all our activities today with a seriousness that may not have been there before the conversation. I just thought you should know that 9/11 was briefly discussed in case your child asks questions. Now for a few other things about 1-3 happenings…

Behavior Chart ~ I noticed a need to assist a few students with best behavior. I didn't mention any names, but after a discussion about behavior charts, THE KIDS asked if they ALL could have one! Sooooo… Mrs. Lutton, one of our resource teachers at OMS, created an adorable owl chart and offered it to us. Each student keeps one in their pencil bin, so it's private. Everyone starts a sliding paper clip on green at the beginning of each day, and they move the clip up or down the chart depending on behavior throughout the day. If a child is on orange by 10:00 in the morning, and there is NO opportunity for him/her to "redeem" himself/herself, it's a LONG day for us all. At the end of the day, they each color in an owl on their weekly chart that will come home on Fridays. I am NOT offering any material award for great charts… just the satisfaction and pride of doing a job well done. IF a child ends up on pink, the top color, they have earned a HOOT from me, so I can tell you that doesn't happen frequently. If your child is on green or above, they have done an outstanding job!

READING: We continue to work on the Comprehension Strategies Retelling, Main Idea and Details. One game the children like to play is the "Spinner" game in their reading notebooks, which has four question words on it. Something new this week: your child is to spin but then ask YOU a question about the story. It is difficult for kids to generate questions, so this is a skill we are working on now.

WRITING: We are finalizing our How-to Books and will be writing letters to soldiers. We have been doing a lot of brainstorming before writing to organize our thoughts. Hopefully you saw the Veterans Day organizer below. Our writing will be displayed in the hall with a soldier craft we will complete tomorrow.

MATH: Chapter 3 test is NEXT Wednesday, Nov. 19. A review will come home early next week.

U.S. Symbols: We LOVE doing research on the USA! The next two weeks we will learn about The Washington Monument, Mount Rushmore, The Great Seal and The White House. We will finish our U.S. Symbols unit before Thanksgiving vacation. After Thanksgiving we begin a unit called "Lighting the Holidays" where we study how different holidays use light as part of their celebration. We will also do some Family Traditions writing. Here are some pics of researching U.S. Symbols:

And finally, some pictures of making our Kings and Queens of Fairness crowns for Character Counts and also of our Dance Party, which was the choice for filling our Fuzzy Jar, AGAIN! Enjoy!