More Turkey Bowling Pics

TJ was our class representative at the Turkey Bowling assembly. You can see him here. Mrs. Schmalzer also got a chance to knock down some pins! Doesn't Mr. Modaff look great in his costume? Fun times.

Insect Reporting is Complete

As a final project to finish off our study of insects in science, the students presented their insect reports to their classmates. We worked at projecting our voices, sharing key aspects of insect life, including: body features, diet, habitat, life cycle and fun facts. Very informative, colorful, and entertaining.

Shinny with Mr. Modaff

A great morning recess with Mr. Modaff, playing Shinny.

Our Extra Recess With Mr. Modaff (11/30/12)

Winning the Penny War (to support those communities ravaged by Hurricane Sandy) meant that we won an extra recess with Mr. Modaff. We went to the gym for some Shinny, a Native American game played by many different tribes across our lands for hundreds of years. The McWayne version looked more like floor hockey, but we were just as competitive! Loads of fun, and a special chance for the children to bond with their new principal.

Turkey Bowling a Hit!

The PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) Team hosted a school-wide assembly on Friday, and we had two special participants. Both KC (pinsetter) and TJ (bowler) were able to take part. The K-2 Team scored 59 points, but it was the teachers who took the top honors for the day. In the 7th frame, we all sang "Take Me Out to the BOWL Game." By the end, Mr. Modaff used his DJ equipment to help us have a Cosmic Bowling experience. Lots of fun!

1C Wins the Penny War!

Our class won the penny war with terrific participation from all families, and a little bit of strategy. When we found out who was leading the Penny War each day, we decided to add silver coins and dollar bills to classrooms who were NOT in the Top 3. We spread out our "negative points" to all the classrooms equally, and in the end, we won by $20.65 over Mrs. Kilburg's class. Thank you so much for helping our class win a date with Mr. Modaff for a special recess. More importantly, we thank you for helping our school raise more than $4,600 in just 5 days of collecting. What's most amazing is that about $4,000 of that money was COINS! Can you imagine?? This magnificent amount (I'm pretty sure) will be sent to an initiative called, "Restore the Shore." More information on that will follow from the principal. Way to go, 1C! (This picture was of Ms. Hubbard's bowl on the last day when her class was in the lead. All those bills and coins are negative points toward her total.)

Halloween Fun

A special thank you to our families for helping make our Halloween a special event at school. We enjoyed the parade outdoors, before coming in to a party filled with tables of food, crafts and fun. We loved our parrrrrrty!

Class Claw Winners!

The class was chosen by Mr. Modaff to be the Class Claw winners for last week. We earned it by impressing him with our awesome hallway behavior, being super quiet in the hallway during our 10 minutes prior to the start of the school day. Let's keep up that great behavior, showing the rest of McWayne that we are respectful, responsible and really safe!

Bug Hats are Beautiful! 10/12/12

Special thanks to our volunteers who came in to assist the class in developing insect hats that the students will wear when presenting their insect reports later in the month. It was organized chaos, but very fun to see all the creativity in action.

Health and Wellness Fair - 10/5/12

The children had a facinating and fun Friday, learning about all kinds of health and wellness topics. We started the day by watching a Life Flight helicopter come land right in our field. Children visited with the Batavia Fire Department, seeing the shiny red, rolling toolbox with lights and sirens. We got a close up look at the helicopter, learned about nutrition, participated in a zumba class, talked about bullying and stranger danger, met some seeing "eye" dogs, found out you can break plenty of bones by playing dangerously on the playground, learned a few tai kwon do moves from Master Lee, found out we don't do a good job of washing our hands (ewww) and learned about good dental health from Dr. Lavrisa, here in this photo. An AMAZING day of learning and fun! Thank you Grace McWayne Families for hosting such a great day.

Our Fat Larva Friends

This is just one of 4 tobacco hornworm larva that we are studying and raising on your donated tomato plants and fruits. Hoping this week, they might change to their pupa stage so we can see them as moths. Thanks for your donations from home!

Peck Farm Fun

More Pics from Peck!

Our Trip to Peck Farm - 9/18/12

We took our first trip of the year to go visit the butterflies at Peck Farm. Our insect discoveries included beetles, ants, grasshoppers and more. We enjoyed catching our own insects for observation, touring the silo painted with murals that charted the history of the area, from prehistoric times to today. Inside the Peck Farm house, we played with animal puppets and held bones, pelts and pieces of nature. Our last stop in the butterfly garden was a highlight, getting to see so many chrysalides and new adult butterflies. Very colorful! (pictures forthcoming... technical difficulties)

Working with Our 5F Buddies

We started our first round of Fifth Grade Buddies this week. Initially, we spent some time getting to know our new buddies. Soon, we will begin to show our older friends how we use our new Reading Buddies (strategies we learned, to help when we find a work that we don't know in the text). Our buddies from Mrs. Foster's class are going to help us practice using those strategies when we find books that are "just right." We will also find other fun things to do with our 5F buddies, but for now, we're going to use their expertise in reading to help us be stronger readers!

Number Stories Are Fun!

Remember when we used to struggle with learning how to pick just the right strategy for solving "story problems?" Well we're already on our way to thinking and working on Number Stories in 1C. We teamed up this week, to create number stories in pairs, and solve them in our own ways. Great thinkers!

Grace McWayne Spirit Week

We celebrate Homecoming Week by spreading a little school spirit. Your child can participate by wearing the following on each day (Sept. 10-14). Monday: Go Grizzlies! Wear Grace McWayne Grizzly colors of blue and yellow. Tuesday: Favorite Team Tuesday: Wear your favorite team shirt (Go White Sox!) Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday: Funky hair styles, mismatched clothes, inside out, polka dots and stripes, bright colors... have fun! Thursday: PJ Day. Wear your favorite pajamas to school. Friday: Go Bulldogs! Wear Batavia Bulldog red and gold, or your favorite sports team apparel. Note that students can bring 50 cents for a donut at lunch.

Math Explorations

We have been learning rules and routines for how to work in small groups, large groups, and in this Math Exploration activity. Students need to have experiences with different math tools, through exploration, in order to better prepare for learning with those tools. Here, we see students using stencils, pattern blocks, base 10 blocks, geoboards, a scale, calculators, and attribute blocks. They are doing a fine job of working to maintain their volume level, as well as working appropriately with the tools.

Our Olympic Medalists

The first grade students of McWayne had the chance to participate in our own Olympic Games. All children took turns at showcasing their speed, strength, and agility in events like shot put, Olympic Rings (hula hoops), running long jump, 100 meter dash (was only 66 meters) and discus (ok, it was a frisbee). All our athletes earned a gold, silver or bronze medal, according to their standings at the completion of the events. We ended with an Olympic parade and ceremony out by the flagpole, including the playing of our national anthem.

Welcome to 1C!

Congratulations on finding our blogsite on the world wide web. I'm anxious to get started with the new students, and teaching new skills in all our subject areas. Among the many differences between kindergarten and first grade, we will see a greater concentration of specific skill development in reading, writing, handwriting, social studies, science, and math. We will work at a pretty moderate pace, and I look forward to building routines within the framework of the day so that everyone can feel comfortable with the increased pace. Check back in with the blog, so that you can see highlights, news, lists, photos, and fun from first grade.