Jumpin' January! Snow and then more Snow!

Happy January! Well, i guess our wishes came true! All during Christmas vacation, I moaned because it was too warm to be winter. I wanted to feel the cold!! And... the cold arrived in a big way!

Here are some pix of the snow around my house:

My biggest question now - how am I going to drive my car up the gentle incline of my street? Before I go crazy from cabin fever and the fact that I have NO MORE PRETZELS left in the house?

As I look ahead to the rest of this month, I'm excited about the new PBL that our first graders are starting! We are going to explore earth's natural resources including water, air, land, and plants. Last week, Mr. Lemcke from the USC Upstate Watershed program visited our firsties to tell them why it is so important to preserve our fresh drinking water. It was a very hands-on experience and was a great way to "kick-start" our PBL.

Stay tuned for more info about our earth's natural resources!

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends! I love this time of year because there are so many special things going on. I'm already looking forward to the Polar Express Pancake Breakfast at the Applebees in Boiling Springs this Saturday, December 5. I'll be there in my "jammies" to serve breakfast to our OES families. Last year was a lot of fun and fellowship, and I plan to make this a yearly tradition!

In Room 109, we ended November with two wonderful events: our first field trip and the Clemson-Carolina Relay For Life Challenge. Our field trip took us to Kidsenses in Rutherford, NC, an interactive children's playground, where we also learned about solids, liquids, and gases. The students had a blast, and I appreciate those great parents who volunteered to chaperone!

Finally, the week before Thanksgiving break, our school participated in the Clemson-Carolina Relay For Life Challenge. As you can see below, both teams were well-represented in our classroom. Unfortunately, Clemson was able to raise more money than Carolina, so I, as a loyal Gamecock fan, had to get a pie in the face from the two students who raised the most money in my class, Carter Robinson and Brittany Moss. Hey, It's all for a great cause - to stop cancer!

What Makes a Good Leader?

There's always something going on in our first grade classroom, and November has been another busy month! My students have been learning about authority figures in our community, and our most recent visitors were Mayor Huff (Inman ) and Judge Ledbetter.

These two outstanding citizens spent time explaining their jobs and responsibilities in kid-friendly terms, and the students learned so much about leadership and serving the people. Many thanks to Mayor Huff and Judge Ledbetter! We are looking forward to meeting Craig Sims and Donna Hicks this week.

October is Over: The Grand Finale!

What a great finish to a jam-packed month! This past week, we celebrated Red Ribbon activities each day, from dressing in red and black to support our visitors, the Boiling Springs High School football players, to dressing "For Success" to Career Day! My firsties were involved in activities that promoted good health and lifestyle choices. WE also had our annual Fall Festival on Thursday which was "a complete blast" in the words of one of my students! I was busy face-painting so didn't get any pictures but go to the OES FB page to view some awesome photos. Career Day was HUGE, and I'm proud to say that three of my students' parents both presented and "represented!" The students were engaged, excited, and now are ready to start out first PBL, focusing on our community and authority figures. Then we ended the week with a Pumpkin Investigation in our classroom that involved squishyness and wonder!

Check out the pix below:

Looking forward to all the wonderful things we are going to explore in November! Stay tuned!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Wow!  Boosterthon Fun Run, Walk to School Week, Student-Led Conferences, Awards Day, Red Ribbon Week, the Fall Festival, and on and on and on! Could we possibly squeeze anything else into the month of October? Oh yes, we can - Career Day is this Thursday!

What a hectic, whirlwind time of year, but it's so rewarding to see the wonder and excitement in the eyes of our students. They are learning so much each and everyday!

So let's catch up on what's been going on. As you know, our class raised the most money in the Boosterthon Fun Run! As a reward, we got to throw a pie in Dr. Patterson's face and spray him with silly string. It was a hilarious experience for all of us!

What a great sense of humor our leader has!

Go ahead and watch it again; you know you want to!

This week is Red Ribbon Week, and students are asked to wear different things each day to support our pledge to "Just Say NO!"

We will encourage our students to “Believe, Achieve & Succeed…Drug Free!”  Here is a sneak peek of next week’s events:

·       Monday – Bulldog Spirit Day (wear red & black)

·       Tuesday – Dress for Success (dress in your best)

·       Wednesday – College, University, & Military Day (wear a favorite college/university/military shirt)

·       Thursday – Career Dream Day from 8:30-10:30am (dress in clothing that matches future career)

·       Friday – OES Spirit Day (wear an OES shirt or school colors)

On Monday, students will receive a “dog tag” to wear throughout the week.  

Next, here is a picture of our class pumpkin book character, Skippy Jon Jones. We are raising money to support Relay for Life. Each classroom decorated a pumpkin as their favorite book character. My sweeties fell i love with SkippyJon Jones last week when I read one of his books for the first time. Skippy is a Siamese cat who wants to be a renegade chihuahua. Here is a link to learn more about Skippy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCoeGJLWnYc 

Students can vote on their favorite pumpkin each day through Thursday by putting money in a jar next to the book character of their choice.

Congratulations to Mrs. Mac's Firsties!

Wow! What a wonderful, busy, whirlwind it has been at school this week! We celebrated Walk to School Week and the Boosterthon Fun Run. Yesterday was the actual Fun Run, and all of my students ran 35 laps. They were awesome, and I'm so proud of their endurance! Best of all, we found out that our class raised the MOST money in our whole school!!! 

Woo hoo! Way to go Mrs. Mac's Firsties! 

Kool and the Gang - Celebration

Our class raised over $2400.00! What is our reward for raising so much money to create a hands-on "makerspace" in our library?

We get to put a pie in 

Dr. Patterson's face on Monday!

Poor Dr. P and Mrs. Skinner were great sports last week as they rode on tricycles, danced on the roof, and got duct-taped to a pole! They are so enthusiastic about our students and our school!

Dancing on the roof!

Just hangin' around!

Not sure I can breathe!

You gotta love being the OES AllStar principal!

How did I get "stuck" doing this?




Walk to School Like a Pirate Day

The Boosterthon Fun Run

What a week!