Get Caught Reading Pictures

Don't forget to snap a picture with your camera, tablet or phone of your child reading!  We will add his or her picture to our wall of celebrities who have gotten caught reading!  Please email me the picture and I will print it at school.  We got our first picture up today!  

Benton Community HS Marching Band

The extremely talented, award winning Marching Bobcats surprised us with a visit this morning.  We started our day by listening to the marching band's half time performance!  It featured songs from many action/adventure movies that the student's recognized.  They also got a chance to sing the Benton Fight Song.  Thank you Mrs. L, Mr. W. and the rest of the marching band!  What a great way to start our week!  

Johnny Appleseed

Today is Johnny Appleseed Day!  We celebrated his birthday by writing our own applesauce recipes, making homemade applesauce with 1H, reading books about Johnny Appleseed and talking about many ways we can be generous, just like Johnny.  

Our applesauce recipe:
4 medium apples
1/2 water
1/4 cup sugar
cinnamon

I'm sure you've already heard, but our caterpillars have spun their cocoons and we are patiently waiting for our butterflies to arrive!  Keep asking your first grader to share his or her new learning about this amazing transformation!  

We also logged onto ScootPad for the first time today.  The students now know how to log on and generate and launch reading and math practice.  This is a great way to practice the skills we've worked on or that we will get to later in the year.  There is a laminated log in card in your child's take home folder with his or her user id and password.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  

Kid President Video

Someone sent this video to me and I couldn't help but share it with my students today.  We talked about some of the things the "Kid President" said, how we can all work to be our best version of AWESOME and how being our best version of AWESOME can make our classroom an AWESOME place every day.  If you like this video, check out more from the "Kid President" on TED Talks.  

Book-It/ScootPad

Today, your first grader brought home information about Pizza Hut's Book-It program.  This is a free program through Pizza Hut that is meant to keep kids reading and reward them for it.  Please develop a reading goal together.  I can be "x" amount of minutes or "x" amount of books. Make sure your student's goal is challenging yet attainable.  The program runs from the beginning of October through the end of March.   Each month, your student will bring home a Book-It calendar.  Fill in the minutes or books read on the calendar, return it at the beginning of the following month and your student will receive and coupon for a free personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut.  Please email me if you have any questions about how this program works.  

Tomorrow, your first grader will be bringing home information regarding their new ScootPad account.  This is a website that is set up with various practice activities that are directly linked to the skills required by the Common Core.  Math and reading opportunities are available. You can find your student's username and password on the letter.  I will also send home a laminated card to keep next to your computer or iPad for easy access.   There is a place where you can sign-up to see how your student is doing in different areas.  I encourage you to look at your students work reports as well.  Also, students can change their avatar and mood and earn coins toward fun games.  They are also allowed to write messages to me or each other on the class wall   All messages must be kind or encouraging or they will be deleted.  Please let me know if you have any questions about this website.  

ScootPad

Shapes/Symbaloo

We have moved our focus in math from graphs to shapes.  Today, we discussed plane shapes and some of the features of plane shapes (flat, 2D).  Some plane shapes include the following: circle, square, rectangle, triangle, trapezoid, hexagon, etc.  Soon, we will be talking about solid figures (take up space, 3D).  We were able to find shapes all over our classroom.  Please discuss the shapes inside and outside your home with your first grader.  Key focuses during this unit are plane shape and solid figure identification and many ideas centered around spatial awareness.  Please let me know if you have any questions about what we're working on in math! 

Looking for more ways to support your student's learning at home?   Don't forget to check out our Benton Community Symbaloo page created by Mrs. Bange!  You can make this the homepage on your computer by clicking the link below and making it your home page.  The students know their own way around Symbaloo very well!  

BC Elementary Symbaloo

Homecoming Parade

We had a great time celebrating Benton's Homecoming again on Friday!  Our classroom was full of Bobcat blue and gold.  Below you'll find a few pictures of the parade and other activities.  Enjoy! 

Benny Bobcat

Earlier this week, students wrote letters to Benny Bobcat, our school mascot.  They asked all sorts of interesting questions from, "What is your favorite color?" to "Do you know how to break dance?"  I had "delivered" these letters to Benny Bobcat himself and he in turn made an appearance in our classroom with responses!  Everyone was so excited to not only get mail and have their questions answered but to also have a chance to see/hug Benny Bobcat!

 

Foam Fingers!

We really love Homecoming Week in first grade!  Today, we decorated our very own foam fingers to celebrate being a Benton Bobcat.  The students will get to take these to the Homecoming parade on Friday and then home with them after school.  

Animal Day

Benton Homecoming 2013 - Superhero Day/Villain Day/Sportsmanship

We had a great first few days of Benton Homecoming in 1U!  I really enjoyed seeing so many superheros in our classroom.

Some of the cheerleaders, football players and coaches came to our building and talked to our students about sportsmanship.  The little ones really do admire those big "kids" and the message that they deliver.  Homecoming Week is a great time to discuss sportsmanship and what characteristics make a good sport.  In order to make this message clear as glass, I read Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns About Sportsmanship: Winning Isn't Everything today.  Then, we discussed how we are a good sport and made a book of our own. Click on the link below to view our story.  I strongly recommend the Howard B. Wigglebottom series to anyone looking for a good book with a strong moral lesson.  Children love Howard B. Wigglebottom, too!  Below, you'll find a link to resources and more information about this series.  All of the books are available to listen to as well!

Click here to listen to our LBT about sportsmanship.

Howard B. Wigglebottom

Superhero Day!

Villain Day!

Check back tomorrow to see pictures of an extra fun Homecoming activity!  I can hardly wait to see what kind of "animals" fill our classroom tomorrow!  Go Bobcats!  :) 

DOT Day 2013

Dot Day has finally arrived!  We celebrated our differences and how we can work together to make the world a better place by wearing our Dot Day t-shirts, creating a class book, taking pictures of our dots on the app Colar Mix and creating a gallery of dot art just like in the book.  

See below for a picture of our class in the Dot Day shirts we made with Mrs. Bishop.  Also included is a link to a video of The Dot being read aloud, a picture of the Colar Mix app and our DOT GALLERY.  

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds

Check out how we used Colar Mix to change our 2D drawings into 3D shapes!

Our Dot Gallery