Arbor Day Celebration

On Friday, December 5, my students celebrated Arbor Day with the planting of a pink dogwood tree near our school sign. The Lady Slipper Garden Club presented OES with a tree in recognition of our recycling efforts.

In September, one of the garden club members, retired teacher Sandy Huggins, came to visit, and she read a book about recycling.

Afterwards, Mrs. Huggins challenged my first graders to collect 100 items that could be recycled. She promised to donate a tree to our school if we succeeded. Little did she know how motivated my sweeties are! Within one week, we had collected 2000 recyclable items! Wow! Mrs. Huggins was delighted, and we decided to plant the tree in a small ceremony on Arbor Day. By the way, Arbor Day in South Carolina is celebrated the first Friday in December, and it marks the beginning of our state's planting season.

My students presented a poster and wore "Arbor Day Hats" as we joined the garden club members in front of our school early Friday morning.

Lake Wagner and Grant McAbee read an Arbor Day poem as each student shoveled some soil around the base of the tree.

What a great way to teach our children about the importance of natural resources! 

Wondering About the North Pole

Last Friday, Mrs. Mac's class welcomed a new member! Introducing our new student, Charlie Jingle!

Charlie is a Christmas Elf sent from the North Pole. He will be watching my students very carefully for the next three "how-can-I-calm-this-class -down" holiday weeks. As you can imagine, my students were very excited and had lots of questions! One of the most often asked questions was, "Where did he come from?" Well, that was easy! The North Pole, of course! But then came the next inquiry: "Where is the North Pole?" So, just like we did when learning about our Wonder Pet, we got out the globe to find the North Pole. 

Guess what? We couldn't find the North Pole! So we began our quest... and look what we found through our Google searches. We created a Noticings/Wonder Chart for our classroom.

Students are posting lots of questions on our a Wonder Wall, and we've already found the answers to many! Did you know:

*The North Pole is located on a huge hunk of ice, 6-9 feet thick, in the Arctic Ocean.

*The temperature at the North Pole is approximately -45 degrees in winter and 32 degrees in summer.

*Polar bears live at the North Pole, but there are no penguins or wolves.

Do you have any wonderings about the North Pole? Post them here and we will do our best to find some answers! In the meantime, students better be good! Charlie is taking notes!

Dedicated Dads and Delicious Doughnuts

OES First Graders shared doughnuts and hugs this morning with some special people!

Here are some pictures to enjoy!

What Have We Been Doing?

Well, we have had some REALLY busy weeks at OES. Lego Walk To School Week, followed by Red Ribbon Week! We also crowned a prince and princess in our Relay For Life fundraiser, and we had our annual Career Day, where students learned about many different professions. We had huge football players who came to our room to talk about making good choices. We had Pumpkin Inquiry Day, with tons of pumpkin treats to taste! (Thx so much parents for your generous contributions!) 

And then, there were lots of dress up days, special activities, and excitement! We plundered through, however, and my students did a GREAT job with their community helper research project!  Check out these industrious kiddos:

Plus, we had our very first Awards Day, and I love all of my sweet students who have already grown so much in less than 4 months. Every child deserved an award for growth, perseverence, and friendship! Such a great group of Firsties! They ABSORB information like little sponges. :) love my sweeties!

Royalty Day to celebrate our Book Fair

Last week, we were so excited to visit the OES Fall Book Fair. There were lots of interesting books at great prices, and several of my sweet students purchased books to donate to our classroom library. Thank you so much!

Here are some pictures from Dress Like Royalty Day:

A king and his trusty knight!

Fair princesses dressed in beautiful blue!

Young researchers hard at work!

Using Blendspace to learn more about careers.

Taking notes during research!

Working together to compare and share facts.

Collaborating and highlighting - having a blast! Firsties LOVE to highlight, and they are learning to pull out important facts.

Careers and Communities

This week we launched our first PBL (Project Based Learning) unit on "Jobs in Our Communities." 

Our first graders had a very busy and educational week as we learned more about several specific jobs: bankers, pastors, police officers, dentists, artists, firefighters, bakers, librarians, and stay-at-home parents!

On Thursday, we hosted a panel of 6 "Mystery Guests." Students developed questions ahead of time to ask our panelists, in an attempt to guess their career. We've been working on Questioning as one of our reading comprehension strategies, so this gave our students a chance to practice a new skill in a relevant, real-life experience. Parents, you would have been so proud; our students were completely attentive and engaged the entire time! They successfully guessed each career based on the answers to these questions:

> Why is your job important to our community?

> How do you communicate with others?

> What types of transportation do you use?

> Do you wear a uniform or use specific tools?

> How many years of education did you need in order to do your job?

Here are some pictures:

Mr. Clevenger, police officer

OES parent and artist, Lorie Johnson

Mr. Cannon, pastor and Mr. Moore, banker

Stay-at-home mom, Natalie Patterson, our artist, and a dental hygienist.

On Friday, we continued our learning experience with a field trip to the Spartanburg Public Library and Krispy Kreme bakery, and then back to school for a presentation by the Boiling Springs Fire Department. At the library, students toured the children's floor, watched a puppet show, and listened to a read aloud. (By the way, the book, Creepy Carrots, should be on sale at our upcoming book fair!)

At Krispy Kreme, our students watched the baking process, then enjoyed a doughnut and small drink. Everyone got hats to wear home!

Finally, back at OES, we congregated in the cafeteria to learn more about fire safety and the responsibilities of a firefighter. What a great way to end our trip!

On the way to the library!

"Hey, Mrs. Mac, we know this author because we read a lot of his books!"   

Makes a teacher so proud! I think I teared up a little. :)

Exploring new activities in the children's section.

"The Three Billy Goats Gruff" - a musical puppet show

Observing the automated baking process at Krispy Kreme.

Waiting for our delicious glazed doughnuts! Yum!

My students displaying their hats . . . and their sugar rush from the doughnuts!

Firefighters are friendly, helpful community helpers! 

Thank you to the parents and businesses that made our PBL launch such a success! Now, to continue our work, each student has chosen one of the professions mentioned above to research in depth, using books, Blendspace lessons, computers, informational articles, and videos. My students will use their notes from research to create  "Question and Answer" booklets.

Stay tuned for more updates!