Miss Felderhoff

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"The secret of patience is doing something else in the meanwhile.”





I saw this quote once, and it popped into my mind when talking to the students regarding our recent chick experience.
 


We finally got the eggs in the incubator, and now you’re telling us we are going to have to wait 18-21 days. I think the children were a little disappointed to learn this news. I took this opportunity to talk to them about patience. I explained to them that we would just have to be patient. Well, with eggs in our room it was a little challenging to be patient and “do something else in the meanwhile.” We couldn’t keep our eyes off the eggs. (We-me included…I think I was just as eager as the kids!)  Each time we turned the eggs, we had to check for cracks! It didn’t help when chicks in two other classrooms started hatching. While we were excited for the other classes, we began to worry a little bit about our chicks. However, we were pleasantly surprised two days later…they started hatching one by one. Next thing we knew, we had 8 baby chicks chirp,chirp, chirping and I had 17 students happy, happy, happy!!

It’s a special time of year in first grade.  When we returned from Spring Break, the students were very curious.  There was an incubator on our cabinet!! Little did they know, we were about to have a dozen eggs delivered to our classroom.  We anxiously awaited the arrival of the eggs.  As soon as they arrived, we put them in the incubator.  Now, we are waiting for the eggs to hatch into baby chicks!! We can’t wait!! It will be 18-21 days before we see any real action.  In the meantime, we will be turning the eggs THREE times a day and making sure the temperature stays at 99.5 degrees.


 
  
       

I was very impressed with the questions and predictions the first grade students came up with...Will the color of the eggs have an impact on the color of the skin, how many eggs will hatch, will the chicks from the bigger eggs be bigger than the chicks from the smaller eggs...Some predicted that the bigger eggs would hatch first, some predicted that the smaller eggs won't hatch. 

Here are a few journal entries:

 
  

We will be studying and observing these eggs to learn about the life cycle process.  It is going to be such a fun learning experience for us all!

Bittersweet:

both happy or pleasant AND painful and sad

            Syn: Miss V's Last Day

Words cannot even begin to describe Miss V's last day.  It was like a roller coaster.  Just so you know, I am quite fearful of roller coasters.  In fact, I do not like them AT ALL!  I guess Miss V's last day wasn't quite as bad as a roller coaster.  She did bring the "best cupcakes in the world" for an afternoon celebration.  One minute we would be soo happy and excited for Miss V. and the next minute we were all in tears.  By we, I mean ALL of us-students and teachers! 

Miss V. truly spoiled us this past semester!  It was so great having her in our classroom!  She went above and beyond to make learning fun and memorable! 

 

We made Miss V. a class book to tell her how FABULOUS she is...


I practically had to force the smiles in this picture...it was right after some tears. :(

Congratulations Miss V!  You will be a fantastic teacher!! We are so proud of you!
She is with her professor, Ms. Elliott, who often came to visit us too!  We will miss them both!

I have some serious thinkers on my hands and I absolutely LOVE it!
I need to share some of my favorite moments from the past couple of weeks...

Connections....One of my favorite moments as a teacher is when a child makes a connnection that I am not expecting.  We have been talking a lot about text-to-self and text-to-text connections.  We went to the library and Mrs. Carter read a holiday book.  A student shared a connection to a book, The Relatives Came.  We read that book at the beginning of the year! Yay for listening, learning, remembering, and connecting! Mrs. Carter told her to kiss her brain.

My little scientists...In Science, we are exploring how things change.  This week we have been discussing how to make things look bigger.  I had a clear container, a white container, and a metal container.  We talked about big fancy science words: magnify and transparent.   First, we observed a picture of a bird behind each container.  We decided which containers were transparent.  Then, we decided to put water in each container.  We made predictions on whether or not the picture would change.  I was impressed when one student took his pencil and water bottle to see what would happen before he made a prediction about the eagle and container.  Then we did some more investigation and exploring with water, tea, and objects.  What objects were transparent?? Were the objects magnifiers??
 

Reading and Writing go hand in hand... and now I know that my first graders even understand that!  This weeks decoding strategy: when you come to a word you don't know...CHUNK it!! We practiced and practiced during reading time this week, but it wasn't until yesterday during writing that I REALLY KNEW that these first graders were using it and understanding it.  During Miss V's writing lesson about spelling words a student shared that they could CHUNK the words just like they do during reading. 

One more favorite moment about writing...when I was conferencing with a student we were talking about how his writing is very readable now compared to the beginning of the year.  I got out his writing from our first unit.  He took a look at it and then glanced (sparkle word!) back at his most recent piece.  His words, "Whooaa...look how good I got!"  He was so proud of himself, as he should be.  I couldn't help but smile.  He deserves a HUGE pat on the back!

And now for the kindness of children...Each child has a book box filled with just right books and maybe a dream book or two. These book boxes aren't the most durable of things.  Therefore, sometimes the book box "breaks."  This means, that ALL of the books spill out onto the floor.  Unfortunately, this happened to a student.  Now, this could put a damper on someone's day.  But, not when a classmate drops everything and offers to help pick up all the books.  The student with the broken book box showed appreciation by saying, "Thank You.  I love you and that you helped me."  I think some buckets were filled, including mine.

The students could hardly contain their excitement! Along with book fair and patriotic night, we also had our very first FIELD TRIP!! They had been anxiously awaiting this day! We went to the Jollyville Fire Station.  The students learned so much from the visit. They got to go through the fire station. They saw where the firemen eat, sleep, and even where they workout!  A fireman also put on all the gear for us!  The children learned to yell, run and tackle a fire fighter if they are ever in a fire.  This is important in case the child spots the fire fighter first.  The fireman crawled through the group of students to let them "practice" tackling.  Whew...80 first grade students going after 1 fireman!  I am sure you can imagine how much fun that was for the kids.  At the end of the visit we presented the firemen with our thank you letters. The firemen were going to read our letters while they ate their lunch.  Sounds like a fun time to me.  Lucky guys!  The firemen also said that the Jollyville first grade students were one of the best groups they've ever had!! WOW! What a compliment!! It made for some very proud first grade teachers. 

Here are a few pictures from our fun day at the fire station: 

 





After the fire station, we enjoyed our lunch and a little play time at the park!

There will never be another now- 
I'll make the most of today.
There will never be another me -
I'll make the most of myself. 
                                        -Helen Keller

I have 16 first grade students, who absolutely make the most of the themselves on a daily basis.  I cannot even begin to put into words how impressed I have been these last several weeks.  

Writing workshop is such a special time in our classroom.  Miss V. and I are lucky enough to get the opportunity to conference with these young writers. We are amazed with their ideas, their determination, and their use of sparkle words.  :)  More importantly their ability to take what they learned in the mini-lesson and apply it to their own writing.  When it is time to tuck their writing neatly in their folders, we hear moans and groans because writing workshop must come to an end.  We recently had a publishing party to celebrate the beautiful stories.  It was so much fun hearing them compliment each other!  

Now....to change the subject...Popsicles, Gummy Worms and Balloons!? Science? 

We have been learning about the properties of matter.  We decided to use some fun items such as popsicles, gummy worms, and balloons for the kids to explore properties. First we observed the properties of an un-frozen popsicle, gummy worm, and a deflated balloon. The first grade scientists described these items using words like

bumpy, rough, smooth, liquid, green, etc.  Then, we observed a frozen popsicle, a frozen gummy worm, and an inflated balloon.  Next, we compared them...How were they alike? How were they different?  The talk we heard from these scientists was impressive.  It was awesome! To say we had a blast, would definitely be an understatement.  

I wish I had some pictures of these recent fun times in room 100, but unfortunately the pictures are gone.  Last week I had my hands full leaving school.  As I was loading things into my car, my phone flew out of my hands...into the cup of water in my cup holder!! eek! I will be more careful next time!