Vocabulary Practice

This week we worked on learning the meanings of our new vocabulary words!  

We had to write, illustrate and use the following words in a sentence! 

trip

parents

special

idea

place

visit

group

together

Everything is more fun when you can do it with a friend!

V.I.P. for this week....

Gowri Arvind!!!!!!

Gowri's favorite animal is a puppy!  

Her favorite food is cheese pizza.  

Gowri loves to play with her Polly Pockets.  

Her family loves to read books at home.  

Gowri loves to visit her cousins in Georgia.

Next week's V.I.P. will be....Amelia Watson!

Elise Fairbrother....Our V.I.P.!!

Elise was our V.I.P. today!!  Here are some pictures and her interview.  So much fun!!

Elise Fairbrother

Elise has a pet dog named Nate.  Elise loves to go to the park with her family.  Her favorite animal is a dolphin.  Spaghetti is her favorite food.  When she grows up, Elise wants to teach gymnastics!

Our V.I.P. for next Friday is....Gowri Arvind!!

Have a great weekend!!

Reading Stations

We have been working on building our "Reading Stamina"!  We are now able to find "just right" books on our own.  We are able to read for 15 minutes without taking a break!  Each day, I sit with 4-5 students individually and hold a reading conference to see where they are and give them some goals to work on.

Now....we are working on reading with a partner!  Ask your child what "EEKK" reading is!  If they need a reminder...

"Elbow to elbow, Knee to knee.

I read to you.  You read to me.  

Elbow to elbow.  Knee to knee.  

Book in the middle so we both can see!"

Here it is in action!!

V.I.P.

Today was our first V.I.P. day!  Each Friday one student in our class will be the V.I.P.  Today was MY turn!  The students gathered together by the rocking chair and interviewed me!  We then turned my answers into a paragraph.  We discussed spelling, punctuation and sentence structure as we wrote.  We read the entire paragraph together when finished.  THEN, I got to show some family pictures for my "Show and Tell".  I told the kids that they may choose to bring anything that is special to them for their "Show and Tell" (trophies, medals, a special book or toy, stuffed animal, pictures, etc.)

Here is my interview and a picture of the event!

                                       

                                       Mrs. McElwee
Mrs. McElwee's favorite thing to do at school is to read a chapter book to her students!  She loves to go to the beach for her vacations!  A dolphin is her favorite animal.  Mrs. McElwee loves seafood...all kinds of seafood!

.......AND our next V.I.P. will be Elise Fairbrother!

Our First Week!

Do you see why I love my job so much??

We have had a fantastic first week of first grade!

We are learning the routines and having so much fun becoming a team.  I love the beginning of the year for this reason.  Each day we become more and more of a cohesive, hard working, fun little team.  

As we worked this week, we tried to take "Brain Breaks" once a day.  These breaks just give us a chance to breathe and move a bit between activities.  Most of our "Brain Breaks' resemble yoga moves.  Here are some pictures of our first graders practicing the "Golden Horse" move!

So much fun!!!

Reminder:  

Meet the Teacher Night 

Wednesday, August 20

6:00-7:00 p.m.

Hope to see you then!!

Julie McElwee

My family and I have had an amazing summer!  We moved to a new house (from Fishers to Carmel).  We joined the Plum Creek swimteam and enjoyed learning the strokes and competing in swim meets.  We are preparing for one last break before the school year begins.  We will be spending a week in my home state, Gulf Shores, AL.  

Before we know it, the school year will begin!!  I look forward to meeting my new students at the ice cream social on August 11, 2014.

This will be a year full of new experiences, learning and fun!