Snowman Soup and Marshmallow Men!

Hello Everyone!
Snowman Soup??  That's right!  Our first graders are earning snowballs to trade in for Snowman Soup on Friday. This time of year we sometimes need extra incentives to keep kids motivated!  We came up with this fun idea to incorporate into our snowy theme this week. Each kiddo has a bag where he/she is collecting "snowballs" (cotton balls)  to trade in for different things on the Snowman soup Station Menu.

Graphics are courtesy of djinkers!!

We have also turned it into a math activity practicing that "Missing Addend" concept that so many kids have trouble with.

  On Friday kids will have the opportunity to visit the Snowman Soup Station and buy ingredients with their snowballs.
Want to try it? Click here for the printables!!

Today we continued with our "There's Snow Time Like Winter" fun with some practice with adjectives using poetry, a craft connection with a writing component.  We showed the kids how to make these cute little marshmallow snowmen, and then brainstormed as many adjectives as we could think of to describe him!  We also enjoyed the language in this cute little poem.  

 All these activities, craft connections, including patterns, and poem are available here. Click!

Such a fun day!  Stay tuned for more fun learning!  Thanks for stopping by this little look into the amazing world of first grade!!  
Joyfully!
Nancy

Brag Tags

Hello Everyone!  One more post for today! 
Did your kiddo come home telling you about his/her brag tags?  We had a wonderful awards assembly today where kids were awarded with brag tags to add to their chains.  These are sweet litle momentos of things your kiddo should be very proud of.
Our students earn brag tags for things like Perfect Attendance, Outstanding citizenship, Science Fair Participant, Setting Goals, Birthdays, Reflections Contest Entry, Summer Reading, etc.  The chains are kept here at school for kids to continue to add to, and will go home at the end of the year. Some kids save them from year to year.  I know some older kids who have thirty tags or more!!  So proud of my kids who earned tags today!!  Keep it up!

OH!  We also were tied for having the best attendance in first grade! YAY! And congratulations to Brie for getting our Kindmess and Compassion Award and to Jaydan for getting our Hard Work and Dedication Award!!!  Way to Go Everyone!!
Thanks for taking time out to peek into our Wonder-filled world!
Joyfully!
Nancy

Friday Fun

A peek into Friday...Hello everyone!  I thought I would post a little bit about Fridays!  This past Friday we had the incredible opportunity to dedicate a new bell for the school. It is so special because our building has been open for seven years which means that the first group of kindergarteners are now sixth graders and we will also have our first group of kids who went to this school graduate from high school this spring.  Our graduating sixth graders and our graduating seniors will be able to ring the bell. What a wonderful incentive to stay connected! What a wonderful new tradition!

Fridays in my classroom is Gold Nugget trading day.  Kiddos have the opportunity to earn gold nuggets (goes along with the western theme in my classroom) for going above and beyond the norm in the classroom.  They can save nuggets to trade in for things like "treasure box" items, pencils, stickers or ice cream.  It is always amazing to me what kids save for and what they choose.  Enjoy the pics!

Friday is also a day we celebrate science.  I call our science time SCI FRI!  The kids so look forward to our little experiments and experiences, and are really learning what scientists do.  Today we were distinguishing the differences between living and nonliving.  We went outside to document our observations.  We chose objects found outside and answered questions about their characteristics.  The kids had fun and learned so much about living and nonliving. All of our documents are added to our Science journals!!  I will post some of our outher SCI FRI activities soon!

Thanks for taking a peek into our Friday!!  Please stop by again soon!!
Have a wonder-filled tomorrow!
Joyfully!
Nancy