****Crickets*****

Sorry for the dead air over here at Bee the Change. We are on February Break this week and I have been very busy doing tons of fun things without much to blog about. I have a few pictures locked on my camera that I may work on but I will very likely just continue to have fun and catch up on my TV watching!

I just wanted to see if any of my followers sell their creations on either TPT or Teacher's Notebook? (I know that you do because I am a little addicted to stalking there too!)

I have toyed with the idea of doing it and was looking for advice.

Bee the Change~

President's Day

We had a writing task due this month based on fact-writing about either Washington or Lincoln. I had the children watch the BrainpopJr. videos about each of these Presidents and we then wrote down some facts that we learned about them. Below are the charts that we made together accented by the fantastic graphics from Kirsten over at KPM Doodles. (Have I mentioned that I am a little addicted to her graphics?)

The children then filled out a graphic organizer containing their 3 favorite facts about the president of their choice.

The final step was the writing!

Go and get them for yourself!

Lincoln Idea Web

Presidents Writing Paper

Washington Idea Web

Bee the Change~

Valentine Bloggy Gift Exchange

Happy Valentine's Day +1!

I have to say that I LOVE getting gifts. I was SO SO excited when a HUGE package arrived at my house the other day addressed to ME! I had so much fun doing the Holly Bloggy Christmas Gift Exchange put on by Sarah over at Kindergarten Korner and Caitlyn at Ms. Preppy that I hopped on board for the Valentine's Day gift exchange. I was so impressed by the craftiness of the gift from Amber of at Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher! A very nice (love the colors) custom clipboard and post-it note holder to match (complete with a little bling). Of course, some chocolate and a fantastic new Burt's Bees. I included a close-up of the post-it holder because I did not think that you could fully appreciate its coolness from this far away.

Thanks Amber!

Bee the Change~

Valentines for Veterans --Part 2

Remember when I posted about our Valentines for Veterans (Part 1)? Well, we finally got a chance to present them to the veterans from our community! Each grade was assigned to sing the first verse of one of the military branches' songs. The first grade was responsible for learning the Army hymn. After a week or so of practice, we sang it beautifully! I am going to try to post the video of it later because I was having a few technical difficulties.

Here we are sitting in front of the guests of honor!

After the presentation in the cafeteria, my favorite veteran, my Dad, came back to talk with my class about his career in the Army. The kids thought that it was totally cool that MY DAD was in school.

My Dad also brought his uniform with him. He told the children that a soldier's uniform tells the story of a soldier's career. He explained all of the different pins and badges and what they mean.

The children asked a bunch of good questions about his uniform and his time spent in the medical unit.

He left us his hat to try on too. Little Miss is wearing HER Dad's hat. He came to the ceremony too!

It was a FABULOUS day for everyone involved! Can't you tell by the smiles?

Bee the Change~

Middle of the Day Smile

After a quick lesson about Abraham Lincoln and a discussion about what is important about Abraham Lincoln, one of my friends chose to write about Mount Rushmore. The Founding Fathers never looked so good!



Bee the Change~

100th Day Pictures!

We had a fun afternoon of 100 day snack (pretzel rod, small donut and small cookie). Lots of laughs and smiles!

We are more than half way to 2nd grade!

Bee the Change~

Snowy Day Freebie!

We finally got some snow here in Upstate NY.....it has been a strange winter. I thought that I would share a freebie with you all.

Clipart by KPM Doodles.

Snowman ABC Order

Snowman ABC Order Recording Sheet

Bee the Change~

Learning about Blogging!

Today I was at a staff development all day. I love having the chance to learn about teaching and share what I have learned with others. During our presentation, we had the chance to think about blogging and its use with our classroom. One of my professional development goals for this year was to expand my blogging and extend it to my first graders. We were connected to a GREAT blog by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano.

If you are interested in blogging with your students, click below!

http://langwitches.org

Bee the Change~

Valentine's For Veterans --Part 1

Today was a great day in first grade! We participated in Valentines for Veterans. This is a program that was started at our school by a teacher whose son is a serviceman. All of the first graders gathered in the cafeteria to make cards that will be presented to veterans at a ceremony later in the month. This awesome teacher also wants different classes to learn the first verse of each of the different service branches songs. Fun....I will definitely post that when it happens!

We made a word poster for the children while directions were given.

(My artistic shot of the supplies at one of the tables BEFORE the children were let loose on it!)

Such a beautiful card!

Thinking about what the message will be!

Working together!

Having fun!

Adding lots of details!

I am pretty sure that they could have worked on this project ALL DAY! They worked for a good half hour on ONE CARD each....a perfect way to spend a Friday afternoon. Be on the lookout for the Part 2 of this post coming later this month. I am also going to get some pictures of our honor wall at school. A wall full of pictures of servicemen (current and retired) that have served our country.

Do any of you do things similar to this in your schools?

Bee the Change~

6 more weeks?

We were just hog wild in our classroom this week. After watching the ABC news coverage of Punxsutawney Phil and Gobbler's Knob (all words that we loved saying), we made groundhog hats.

We read and recited this poem......all.......day.....long.

We then got together with another first grade class and made our predictions about whether or not Phil would see his shadow.



So 6 more weeks of the weather that we have been having will not be a sacrifice at all!

Bee the Change~