"Snow" Much Fun!

South Carolina has officially been "shut down" this past week due to a major (to us) snow storm. Thus, we have been out of school for the past 7 days. I was very thankful for the unexpected break, but I am anxious to get back to my sweet firsties tomorrow. We still have so much to learn and are truly running low on time.

One of my favorite things is currently going on: The Olympics! I took this opportunity and definitely turned it into a "teachable moment." I've gotten my kids interested and they came in last week wanting to tell me all about the events they watched and what they saw. It is so much fun hearing their commentary! "Ya know, that long car without wheels that they jump into and go really fast..." 

We read a non-fiction text about the Olympics: Then and Now from Reading A to Z. This book taught us SO many great, cool facts. We compared and contrasted the Olympics of the past to the present-day Olympics. Also, we used some of our non-fiction text skills to practice questions and finding details in the text. 

Non-fiction Questioning

Click the link above to check out the worksheet we completed with our sweet non-fiction Olympics story. 

We also incorporated some fun Olympics stuff into our writing as well. This week I wanted the kids to really focus on using their imaginations and thinking outside the box. We pretended that we were going to be a part of the Winter Olympics. Each student chose what Winter sport they wanted to take part in. They divided up into groups and learned a little more about their sports. I wish I had a picture of this part. 

Throughout the week the children tool their writing through the entire writing process. On Friday, we made these cute little Olympic athletes that I found on Teachers Pay Teachers. They turned out super adorable, but were NOT easy to complete. 

I can't wait to hear the kids Olympic thoughts and recaps when we finally return back to school this week! We'll be having "FrEaKy FriDay" this week so I look forward to posting about our fun. 

100th Day of School!

What a crazy past week it has been! We had our first "snow" of the year, causing two short days and one full SNOW day! Needless to say, first grade was WILD this week. Tuesday we spent the morning celebrating our 100th day of school. I can't believe this year is flying by so fast.

I love to decorate the door. The children get so excited over something so simple. I just use regular bulletin board paper and cut it into strips.

When the kids arrived, they just stood outside the door! They weren't sure how exactly to come through. It was adorable! 

Our morning message was all about the 100th day, too! I'll eventually get around to doing a post all about my morning messages. :-) This is one of my favorite ways to start the day and it truly builds a sense of community in the classroom.

We spent the morning in 5 super fun centers all "centered" around the number 100! 

We made 100th day of school books. Each page had a different, brief writing prompt. 

The children wrote what they would buy with $100. There concept of money is so great! They think $100 will buy anything. I wish!

We write 100 sight words and wrote our numbers to 100. Our super cute crowns say," 100 Days Smarter!" As a group, we made a trail mix of 10 different groups of 10 food items.

The kids truly have learned so much over the past 100 days. It is so much fun being their teacher!

To round out our super exciting week, we took a field trip to the Ringling Brothers' Circus. My sweet firsties had the best time!! It was so cool seeing their little faces light up! I must admit, I loved every second of it!