We are thankful for music!

Today we are thankful for...

Check out these silly dancers!

Are you thankful for music? What kind of music do you like? Leave a comment!

Countdown to Thanksgiving Days 5 & 6

Yesterday, we talked about how thankful we are for our homes! We each made a plan to help out at home this week, and we will be commenting on the padlet below to share what we did. Check it out!

Today, we are thankful for our school! We spent a few minutes before our last recess today cleaning up the playground. We picked up lots of trash, put away balls, and returned TONS of bark chips to the bark box!

Thanks for reading! You can leave a comment on our post! What are you thankful for?

Writing Together

This week our first graders did some amazing writing together, both at home and at school, both on paper and digitally!

At school, we all worked together to write a paragraph comparing the two types of whales we have learned about. Each team got to contribute a sentence or two to our paragraph, and we revised and edited it as a class. It turned out awesome!

One of our homework digital challenges this week was to add a word to the padlet below with the spelling pattern we have been working on, /ing/.

And my favorite of all... on Friday, we got to go to the computer lab, and each first grader left a comment on our penguin padlet!

Do you like to write? Do you like to write on paper or digitally? Working with others or by yourself? Leave a comment below!

Countdown to Thanksgiving Day 2

Today we are thankful for...

Friends working together on a team task

Thanks for reading! Are you thankful for friends? What do you like to do with your friends? Leave a comment below!

Countdown to Thanksgiving Day 1

Because Thanksgiving is coming soon, we are going to spend a little time each day being thankful!

Today we are thankful for...

Our first graders have some cool facts to share with you!

Did you know that Luke turns into a jedi and the cheetah is the fastest animal in the world? -Jalen

My sister is the best and leopard seals eat penguins. -Courtney

Did you know 10x10=100 and 1x1=1? -Parker

I know that 5+5=10 and blue whales have baleen. -Milana

Good scouts give awards to good people. -Wesley

I have 5 senses. -Jacob

Thousands of years ago there were dinosaurs and they are now extinct. -Milo

Humpback whales communicate by singing. -Amaru

Friends help friends. -Cedric

Dolphins are actually fish. -Ariana

Did you know that a blue whale baby drinks more than 100 big gallons of milk each day? -Olivia

Blue whales are big. -Isaiah

I'm learning about orca whales and blue whales! -Katherine

The blue whale is bigger than the orca whale. -Eliana

I know that the orca whale has a dorsal fin. -Ainsley

I learned that hedgehogs are mammals. -Rohin

12+12=24 -Noah T.

Books can teach you lots of amazing things. -Emma

I learned that when orca whales swim by a leopard seal, they make a big wave and the leopard seals will go into the water. -Hailey


Thanks for reading! Do you have any cool facts in your brain to share with us?

Whales, Penguins, and More

Here's what our first graders had to say about the week...

We did Reader's Workshop. -Isaiah

We learned about orca whales. -Eliana

We learned about the blue whale. -Ariana

We painted blue whales. -Leila

We watched Happy Feet with Mrs. Kahler's class. -Amaru

We retook our pictures. -Analisa

We learned about Antarctica animals like penguins. -Milana

We learned about the blue whale and orca whale. -Parker

We made a list of what we are thankful for. -Emma

We are going to compare the blue whale and the orca whale. -Olivia

We read with our reading buddies. -Noah T.

We did Fit Friday. -Cedric

We did our spelling tests. -Thomas

We also did Read to Self. -Sarah

We got to shop the library. -Rohin

We learned about the North Pole's animals, like polar bears. -Hailey

We read really cool books like How Deep is the Sea? and Antarctic Antics. -Milo

Miss Kloczko told us the story Sea Life. -Jacquelyn

Jacob's mom was the mystery reader. -Jalen

We learned "Penguins Here, Penguins There." -Courtney

We learned that the blue whale has two blowholes. -Katherine

We did "Whales Here, Whales There." -Noah K

We did a new world map. -Ainsley

We read Dear Mr. Blueberry. -Wesley

We ate donuts for my birthday. -Jacob

Ask your first grader to teach you one of our signal words from this week, like "cetacean," "spyhopping," or "hemisphere!" -Miss Kloczko

Thanks for reading! :)

Red Ribbon Week!

Aside from all of the fun spirit days for Red Ribbon Week last week, these first graders did some awesome writing!

On Pajama Day, we read one of our favorite Mo Willems books, Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late. Then, we discussed reasons why the pigeon should get to stay up late, or why it is important that he go to bed and get some sleep! Most of our class was in favor of letting the pigeon stay up late. :)

In the afternoon, I let the kids know that I was having a bit of a problem, that I didn't know yet what I would be dressing up as for Halloween on Friday. They each got to tell me their thoughts... too funny!

Tuesday was Twin Day!

Market Day is a big day for second graders at Star Academy, and our class loved visiting Market Day on Wednesday! There were tons of goods and services for sale. With just two "Market Day Dollars," the kids could buy anything from a pet rock to a fancy manicure. These first graders were very happy with their purchases!

We also wrote opinion pieces on Wednesday to wrap up our science unit on weather and matter. What is your favorite season?

Sports Day was on Thursday, and it could not have been scheduled for a better day! On Wednesday night, the San Francisco Giants beat the Royals in Game 7 of the World Series, and Thursday morning, my classroom was full of many happy first graders in Giants gear... as well as football jerseys, soccer uniforms, a karate outfit, and even a Peja Stojakovic jersey, which all of you loyal Kings fans can appreciate, I'm sure!

Thursday morning, we read I Wanna Iguana, and each first grader wrote a letter mom or dad asking for a pet!

Perhaps my favorite writing of the week came on Friday... informative writing about our Halloween costumes!

This was a fun week for SO many reasons. I loved getting a deeper look into the kids personalities and interests through their outfit choices on our spirit days, and it was a pleasure sharing their progress with parents during conferences each day after school. I'm so proud of everything these amazing first graders have accomplished since the start of the year, and there is so much more fun and learning ahead!

Thank you to all who helped to make our Halloween celebration so exciting for our first graders!