Personal Space Camp

At the beginning of the year we had a hard time with sitting crisscross apple sauce on the rug wih out touching or bothering others so our class took a trip to "space camp" We read the book Personal Space Camp by Julia Cook. Personal Space Camp is about a boy, Louis, a proclaimed “space expert” who  really struggles with personal space issues. When he gets sent to the principal’s office to attend Personal Space Camp, he is convinced that he is going to Space Camp! Louis quickly learns the difference between personal space and outer space and he even becomes a “Double Space Expert!”

After reading the book we used hula hoops and tried to squeeze 4-5 kids in a hoop to demonstrate what it is like too have to many people in a small space. We also traced 4 people. We layed the traced bodies on the carpet to see what it looks like when people are laying on the rug and taking up too much space. 

The people tracings hung in our room for the first 2 weeks to remind the kids about what personal space is. 

BEEEE

Behavior theme for the year:

Bee
Be Safe
Be Responsible
Be Respectful

When reviewing school rules at the beginning of the year we made bumble bees as reminders of the 3 "Bees" Be Safe, Be Responsible, Be Respectful. We also brainstormed a list of rules for different places in the school.
eg-
hallways: use walking feet, tight to the right, no voices.
lunch room: eat your own food, wash your hands.
bus & pick-up: wait for the bus, stay out of the danger zone

Veteran's Day

My first grade class helped decorate the gym for the Veteran's Day program. Here are two photos of the flags we made. Each table made a flag. 5 kids at each table 10 fingers per kid 50 fingers total = 50 stars on the flag. The stripes weren't as accurate. Turned out cute none the less.
We also took time to write letters to veterans. The kids did a wonderful job writing from their hearts.

Making Words

Making Words-

Each week we have a new list of words from the word wall. I try to give my kiddos time to practice three to four times a week. Here is a list of the ways we practice writing our words. 

• Stamps- use letter stamps to make the words
• Lego spelling- make words with Legos
• Sand writing- write the words in a bucket of sand using your finger or a stick
• Pen, Pencil, Marker, Crayon- write the word 4 times using 4 different writing utensils
• Playdoh words- roll out the playdoh like a snake and shape it into letters
• Tile mix up- use letter tiles to spell the words
• Yarn writing- cut pieces of yarn to make the letters for each word, glue to paper
• Rainbow writing- using  cray pas write the words on black paper
• Water color writing- write words with white cray pas on white paper paint over with water colors (water color will not stick to the cray pas)
• Graffiti- on roll paper write the words big and in fun fonts
• Dot writing- use paint and q-tips to write the words with each letter made of dots
• Magna words- make the words out of magnetic sticks and balls