Welcome to First Grade at OES, room #109, member of the special group known as "Mrs. Mac's Baby Chicks!"

School supplies, backpacks, lunchboxes, new shoes ... it must be that time of the summer that inevitably comes around every year: We're heading Back to School! I'm ready to meet my new group of first graders and looking forward to an exciting year of exploration and discovery. We're going to have a WONDER-ful adventure!

Here is a little bit about me: I graduated from Converse College (a LONG time ago) with a Master's Degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. I've been teaching in District 2 for 22 years, and everyone calls me "Mrs. Mac." My family includes an Irish husband, two amazing daughters, one cat, and a chinchilla named Oliver Button. (Ollie comes to school with me everyday to entertain my class!) I love, love, love to read, and my favorite color is blue. I got to spend three days in Seattle, Washington this summer at a teacher convening, and it was amazing to connect and share with educators across our nation. My church family is The United Methodist Church of the Covenant where I teach Sunday school to 3rd through 5th grades. Most importantly, I am so blessed to be a teacher! Children are precious gifts, and I treasure my time spent guiding each new group of students through the wonders of first grade.

I can't wait to meet everyone! See you soon!

Great start to the new year!

Our first week back from the Christmas holidays - we made it! There were some unexpected glitches ( see picture below) but overall, we had a productive, engaging week. We just started a new PBL unit, focusing on WATER! Our driving question is: If most of the earth is covered with water, why is only a tiny portion used for drinking water?

My students have been thinking and talking about water with great enthusiasm. On Wednesday, we went to the Wonder Room for some water exploration. My students were deep in discussion, using words like "volume," "transparency," and "reflection."

This week, we are going to pretend to be a tribe in Kenya, collecting a days worth of water. It will be a challenge the students will never forget! 

Monday morning, 9:00 am - uh oh! Houston, we have a problem!

Now some pictures of our Water Exploration:

Stay tuned for more...

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!