Tye-Dye Shirts

Check out how awesome our shirts turned out! 

Great work, First Graders!! :)

Fun at the Park!

What a Fun Day!

On Friday, we walked from MP-East to the Kalona City Park for a jam-packed day of fun. Our classroom was paired up with Mrs. Klaver's Second Grade and Mrs. Simon's Second Grade. We competed in Tug-of-War against the Second Graders, but for the rest of the day we worked together with them. One of my favorite quotes of the day was, "It is alright that we lost, because we did our best!". Our First Graders are so kind to cheer up those who were feeling down yesterday. I also definitely lost my voice a little bit while shouting words of encouragement during Tug-of-War. :)

It was a long walk for the kiddos, both to the park and especially back once we were all very tired and very warm! I took pictures throughout the day, but I did miss taking photos of Kickball, the Obstacle Course and Tye-dyeing :(. However, I did get many pictures of Tug-of-War, the Hula-Hoop Line, Parachute and the end result of Tye-Dye. Enjoy!

Tug-of-War: We competed against two Second Grade teams for Tug-of-War. The entire class was SO encouraging to one another during this event. It was so great to see!

The boys while competing against one of the Second Grade classes. Mrs. Hussey was giving them some encouraging words!

The girls getting ready to compete. Check out the boys cheering them on in the background. I just loved hearing and seeing the encouraging words exchanged during this event!

We received some reinforcements from the Second Graders. Our girls did a great job!

The entire first grade team vs. one of the other second grade classes.

Hula Hoop Line: Mr. Bender guided our kiddos in this team-building activity. The students had to hold hands and work together to get the hula hoop to the end of the line. As you look at these pictures, check out how concentrated our students are. In some, you can see them giving advice to one another. These kids are AWESOME!

Parachute: Our class along with 2K and 2S worked together to maneuver the parachute. Mrs. Hershberger, Mrs. Beachy, and Mrs. Hovey made this event SO MUCH FUN for us! Thank you to them!! We played games and got to sit inside the parachute as it stayed tented!

Tye-Dye: I'm so sad that I didn't get a chance to take photos as the kiddos were Tye-Dyeing. They did such a great job during this! Here are a couple photos of the end result. I can't wait to see how they turn out!

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend. For those of you who are Hawkeyes fans, Happy Game Day and GO HAWKS! :)

Important Class Updates

For those of you who don't know, PBIS is our school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports system. Students earn pink tickets for displaying the 3 pillars of Golden Hawk character: Responsibility, Respectfulness and Safety. They earn tickets in the classroom, in the hallways, in the lunchroom, and at recess. The best part of this program? Students can be recognized by ANY teacher or staff member and THEY EARN PRIZES!! Every Friday, I pull two tickets out of our classroom basket and those students earn prizes that they can cash in for the whole class, such as 5-minutes of extra recess, or themselves, like Lunch with the Principal and a friend. This program is such a great motivator to stay focused academically and respond appropriately to social situations. On September 26th, I will be out of the building to learn more about this important program. So with a little bit of background, let me now introduce our .....

PBIS Celebration!

On September 22nd, we will be having a school-wide PBIS celebration at the Kalona City Park. We will be walking down to the Park and participating in the activities listed in this post. I was so proud of all of our kiddos when I got the sub report on Wednesday and even more proud with how hard they worked on Thursday and Friday. They, and all of the other students at MP-East, deserve this fun day of play!

Here is What We Need From You:

September 18th - Every child needs a PLAIN, WHITE t-shirt BY MONDAY (9/18)! We will be tye-dying our t-shirts on the playground and we will wear them multiple times throughout the year to show school pride. If you remember, please write your child's name in the collar of their shirt. I will also have Sharpies to do this at school if you forget. Please e-mail me with any questions or concerns. :)

September 19th - I need to turn in the Sack Lunch count for our celebration by Tuesday (9/19). Please send me an e-mail (kvanfossen@mphawks.org) on whether your child will bring a sack lunch or will need a hot lunch that day. 

September 22nd - On Friday, please send your child in clothes AND shoes that you don't mind getting dirty/stained. Your child will participate in the following activities:

Tug of War / Sack Race

Obstacle Course

Kickball

Parachute

Playground / Tye-dye

We are going to have A LOT of fun. And chances are, we are going to get a little dirty. :) 

Color Run!

Here is one event I am SUPER excited for! Thank you for participating in our Mid-Prairie Student Boosters Color Run Fundraiser Event!  Save the date for Saturday, October 21.

MP-East is asking that you assist your student in raising donations to meet our school’s goal of raising $25,000.  All money raised will go to the students of Mid-Prairie in PreK-Grade 8 to support special projects in the classroom, field trips, and innovative ways of teaching and learning.  For every level a student reaches, they will be rewarded.  The first donation level of $30 will get them a Golden Hawks Color Run t-shirt!  An envelope and two fliers have already been sent home with your student.  I have also attached them to this post! We appreciate any donations you can raise for this important fundraiser.

This donation drive will end with a Color Run event on Saturday, October 21 at Mid-Prairie Middle School in Kalona. It will be a BLAST for the students and for all members of your family!

See you at the 2017 Golden Hawk Color Run!

Week of September 4-8

Wow! We were busy on this short week!

On Tuesday, we kicked off our first Science Unit: Plants and Animals by spending time with Ms. Pam! Ms. Pam took our classroom outdoors and taught us about the plants at our school! We learned that a seed needs sunlight, water and soil to grow and survive. We also learned that things like fire and animals can sometimes stop a seed from growing. After we talked about seeds, we used magnifying glasses to take a closer look at leaves, flowers, roots and berries from the trees on MP-East school grounds. The kiddos were SO excited to go outside and learn about plants! 

Thanks Ms. Pam!

We found a bug in this picture. haha!

On Wednesday, we began work with our iPads. In our classroom, we are 1-1 with iPads. That means each student in 1V has their own iPad! There are times in our classroom where students can play games as a team, so we practiced what sharing the iPads looked like, sounded like and felt like. I snapped these photos underneath just to show how amazing our first graders are at sharing and including everyone. Look at these ROCKSTARS!

I was able to take a few photos of our morning work time on Thursday. Each morning while students are trickling in from buses, drop offs, morning recess, etc, they come in to the room to read the morning message. On Thursday, the morning message asked students to write or draw some of the plants that they know. We got some great responses! After students responded to the morning message, they moved on to their morning tubs. Each color group receives a different tub every week. It has been so amazing to see the friendships forming in our classroom. Morning tubs have provided our kiddos with the opportunity to improve social skills and life skills such as sharing, problem-solving and perseverance. 

Finally, Friday! I am the most PROUD about what happened this morning in our classroom. We launched Writer's Workshop and our friends LOVED IT!!! We talked about how some writers feel comfortable writing in a desk, while others would rather write on the floor. Our friends spread out around the room and got straight to work. I was so excited by what I saw that I wanted to share it with you all. We definitely earned class reward points for working hard and staying on task. 

Check out these writers!

Please check out the Important Dates tab on the side of this page. Next week is Homecoming week and we have dress up days! Have a fantastic weekend, I can't wait to see everyone on Monday!!!

Welcome to First Grade!

HELLO FAMILIES! 

I hope everyone had a fantastic long weekend! I am so excited to finally share our classroom blog with you! It is still a work in progress, but this blog will keep you in the loop with our classroom. Here you will find photos and descriptions of the awesome, hands-on learning activities we do throughout the day. You will also find our classroom schedule and important MP-East dates on the right hand side. I will try my best to update this page once or twice a week. You can follow our blog by entering your e-mail into the "subscribe" section on the lower right hand side of the page. We have some pretty great things coming up, so stay tuned!

THINGS TO REMEMBER:

1. Here is a reminder that FRIDAY (9/8) is picture day here at MP-East. Remember to send your kiddos with their picture money if you decide you would like pictures! Let me know if you need another form. I do have a few extra.
2. We are taking donations of pre-packed snacks for a class of 22. These snacks are put into our class snack bin and used when a snack is accidentally left at home. Please remember we are a peanut and tree nut free classroom!
3. We do take box top donations. If you have box tops to send, give them to your kiddos so they can add them to our donation jar. 
4. We are on the 9th day of school tomorrow! CELEBRATE! This year is going to be an amazing one and I am so glad to be sharing it with you and your kids!

To end our first post, please enjoy these "First Week of First Grade" photos. You can tell they were just as excited as I was to start First Grade! :)