Handwriting Practice

Please work with your 1st grade student on handwriting. Students should practice on handwriting paper that was sent home. Students should be writing in the Zaner Bloser font which follows:

FIRST GRADE

We had a great first few weeks in first grade! We have learned how to be our B.E.S.T. at Speas:

B e  respectful
E ncourage others
S trive to be your best
T hink before you act

We have learned a lot in reading, math, science, social studies and specials!


What is your favorite thing about first grade?

Mrs. Heyland's First Grade Class

I have moved from Kindergarten to 1st grade! Our class is located in the pod, behind the back building. Our class is made up of 19 wonderful students whom I met last night at Open House! I am very excited for our first day tomorrow....We will have a great year!

 

We had a great time at the farm today! We learned a lot from Mr. and Mrs Woosley! We got to walk through their house and took a tractor ride through their farm.....both of which have been around for 100 years!

We got to see many animals, one of which was a baby cow which Mr. Woosley fed while we all got a chance to pet her!

Thank you for all the wonderful gifts for Teacher Appreciation Week! I love them all!

Each child created a jigsaw picture frame for their family members this week! We hope you enjoy, they turned out beautifully!

Rainforest Reading

We have been reading all about the rain forest this week! We have worked on a class mural with each student contributing a drawing of their favorite rainforest animal. (ABOVE)
We have done writing as well as math with rainforest creatures.

We have been working on taking notes to remember what we read. What is something you have learned this week about the rainforest?

Planting Flowers

Spring is here! We have been learning about seeds, and what seeds need to grow. We have learned that there are many types of flowers. We planted marigolds this week and will water them every day and then measure them as they grow!

Students can take their flowers home once they bloom.

                                                 

Fairy Tales

We have been studying fairy tales in kindergarten for the last few weeks. We have noticed that common themes in fairy tales are:

1-talking animals
2- princes and princesses
3-bad vs. good
4-fairies
5-special powers
6-happy endings

We have had great fun acting out fairy tales as well as nursery rhymes, and have been writing to our favorite fairy tale characters each day.

What is your favorite fairy tale that we have read in class or you have read or seen at home?

Shaving Cream Review

We took some time to practice our numbers today....in shaving cream! The students loved this, and I was excited that they were practicing, and getting better at writing numbers 1-30. As I checked each student after I called out each number, I noticed some were writing certain numbers backwards. We will continue to work on numbers 1-30, and writing the numbers the correct way. Please make sure your student is writing their numbers correctly.

We will soon do this activity again, practicing writing popcorn words.....

We've had a great week with Dr. Seuss! Today was our finale and we had a "Suessendipity" ~ Each of the four kindergarten classes rotated to each of the four kindergarten rooms to participate in a special event. Each teacher had a great activity planned!

For my project, each class recycled old crayons into new ones! Each child helped break old crayons into tiny bits, and we put different colors into each mold so that each child could have a new rainbow crayon to take home. We melted these bits in the microwave, and let cool in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. This project coincides with the Dr. Seuss book My Many Colored Days that we read this week and made a book on. On each page of our book, we wrote how we feel on a particular day (ex. on yellow days I feel sunny, on purple days I feel silly etc).

I hope the students will enjoy using their new rainbow crayons! If you are interested in trying this craft at home, or another craft to recycle your old crayons visit here.

Dr. Suess Week

Our kindergarten class is participating in the National Read Across America Day 2010, which is celebrated on Dr. Suess' birthday, March 2. We will be reading Dr. Seuss' books all week long, and have some exciting things planned! We will make Cat in the Hat hats, make a class rhyming poem, estimate how many Swedish fish are in each cup after we read 1 Fish 2 Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, and will finish the week with our Principal reading a special Dr. Seuss book to us!

Please come join the fun, if you would like to read a book to our class, let me know!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Have a great Valentine's Day! I enjoyed celebrating with you on Friday. We had fun making and decorating valentines and giving treats to one another. Everyone also liked learning the history of Valentine's Day.

Superheroes

We are beginning a unit on Superheroes. We will be talking about what good superheroes have in common. We will each talk about our favorite superhero and then compare and contrast. We will have Super Hero Dress Up Day!

What is your favorite Superhero?

100th Day of School!

Wow! Can you believe it? Today is our 100th day of school! We celebrated by reading 100th day books, working in cooperative learning groups to count 100 objects, and finished our day with a 100th day cupcake!

What has been your favorite thing about school so far?

At my house, I like to bake cookies on Snow days! I baked so many, I decided to bring some in and share with the class today :)

What did you do on your snow day?

Snow Snow Snow!

Well it snowed and snowed here in Winston-Salem. How much did it snow? In kindergarten we have been learning about weather and how to measure and keep track of the weather. I measured how much snow we got by sticking a ruler into the snow. I measured 7 inches! Wow that is a lot!

                                            
      
You can measure how much snow you got at your house by sticking a ruler down into the snow on a flat surface such as a deck or sidewalk.

Arctic Animal Reports

Students presented their reports to the class. We have learned a lot about different types of polar animals!

Our Bear Journals

We have been writing letters to our hibernating bear in class.

Animals in Winter

We have been learning about what animals do in winter! We learned that some animals hibernate, some migrate, and some stay where they are. We have taken notes, as well as graphed our findings. We are also learning about animals that stay where it is cold all year: the polar regions. Each student has chosen a polar animal to write a report about. These reports are due this Friday and will be presented in class. I will post pictures!

What is your favorite polar animal?

New Year's

It is a New Year: 2010! We are learning about how people in America, as well as people in other countries celebrate New Year. We are taking notes on what we learn, and we are comparing and contrasting the different celebrations around the world. Your child will have a New Year's booklet to take home when we are done with this unit.

Welcome!

Welcome to Mrs. Heyland's Kindergarten class! I am so glad you are here! Visit my blog to learn about what we are studying in kindergarten, as well as important upcoming information that you will need to know. Parents and students, feel free to comment!