Sterling's Snippets: Welcome to 1st Grade!

Greetings 1st grade families! Welcome to a new school year at Washington Elementary School. This is our classroom blog, and it provides you with a glimpse into our classroom learning. This blog will serve as our classroom newsletter. I strive to blog on a bi-weekly basis, though on occasion miss a post or two due to having a busy family myself. The blog posts are meant to be informal snapshots of the students and their work. Please forgive me if you find a typo or two! I typically blog from the comfort of my home with two, little boys busily running around me.

On Friday the September, Scholastic Book Orders came home in your child's G.O. Book. Please take a moment to look through the flyers to find some great specials. Book Orders can be placed online using the classroom code or via a check payable to Scholastic. If you plan to order books only once this year, I encourage you to do so in September. The monthly bonus point reward for September is the largest they offer. With the bonus points I am able to order new books for our classroom library.

On Monday I will send home information about your child's individual online portfolio using the program, Seesaw. Seesaw will empower students in our classroom to document their learning by snapping photos and recording videos of their own work. We will use classroom iPads so that students can "show what they know" to you! As a parent, you will be able to view and save your child's portfolio using a Smartphone, tablet or computer. Additionally, I will use Seesaw to send classroom reminders. You will also be able to communicate with me via the app. I strongly encourage you to sign up!

A Peek at our Week

We had lots of fun activities planned for the first two days of school. Our days were spent getting to know one another and setting the expectations for our classroom community. Our school year begins with very few rules. We spend several weeks learning about the purpose of our year and from there set the stage for routines and expectations. So far students have learned about being responsible learners in our classroom. We also read one of my favorites, Chrysanthemum, and learned how important it is to not "wrinkle" hearts in our classroom. Students learned that while not everyone is their best friend, kindness is expected for all.

The room was full of emotions on our first day of school! Some students were excited while others were a bit nervous. We decided to get rid of those "Jitters" by drinking Jitter Juice! Jitter Juice is magical and bubbly and it sure helped those butterflies fade away, Yum!

We love dancing in 1st grade! One of the perks of teaching little ones is they happen to think my moves are great even though I lack rhythm! We got our bodies moving and grooving with some math practice this week too! Counting to 100 can be so much fun!

Some other fun activities this week were Magic Playdough (thank goodness it worked!), locker decorations, and friendship trail mix. I hope next week is just as fun!