2014-15 Class in Action!

Welcome to my Student Teacher, Miss Lauren Brown.  We are so happy to have you with us!  Absecon is a great district in which to learn the teaching craft.

Miss Brown and I would like to thank you for coming to Back to School Night and visiting with us.  We look forward to being a part of the teacher team with you.

The children are all settled in and the learning has begun!  This year's Firsties are WONDERFUL.  We started the year off learning the classroom rules according to Whole Brain Teaching and it has been smooth sailing.  Where has WBT been all my career?  Any teacher not using it, is missing out.  I highly suggest checking it out.  There are so many teaching videos to watch on Youtube as well as on the WBT site.  Parents may benefit from WBT too.

We are so cool just like Pete The Cat!

I actually sent the Kindergarten teachers a THANK YOU email for getting this group so ready for first grade.  I am not exaggerating when I say they are WONDERFUL!  Wow! The writing is blowing me away.  This group loves to write.  They add detail and the illustrating is second to none.  It's going to be an exciting year. 

Our literacy centers are up and running which means we are getting to read with the teacher at the reading table.  This is the most important part of the first grade year.  Each student gets to read at their level with the teacher and work on skills in centers that reinforce the language arts lessons they have learned.  CHECK US OUT!

poetry center

writing center

word wall center

spelling center

working on words center

listening center

art center

read the room center

buddy reading center

Summer Reading is good idea!

I was reading some professional blogs today and I want to share this information with whomever might be looking at my tiny blog.  Summer reading IS a good idea no matter what you might be thinking.
“Children who do not read over the summer will lose more than two months of reading achievement. Summer reading loss is cumulative. By the end of 6th grade children who lose reading skills over the summer will be 2 years behind their classmates.”

 http://www.rif.org/us/literacy-resources/articles/primer-on-summer-reading-loss.htm

 

So if any of my incoming Firsties are checking out my blog, get reading little ones!  I don't care if you are reading books, magazines, video game directions, box labels or what....just READ something every day. 

 

I can't wait to meet all of you in September.....OK, I can wait because I love summertime, but I am looking forward to meeting you when the time  comes.  There that's the real truth!  I swear!

 

 

It's the last day AND my birthday all in one! Time for fun!

It's a bitter sweet ending to a fabulous year with this group of  firsties.  This particular group of children have become such good friends and a big piece of my heart has been filled.  Today is our last day together  even though I always say, "Once a Cialini, always a Cialini".  I am so very proud of their accomplishments.  They have not only learned a great deal, they have become better little people who care about others.  They know the meaning of respecting themselves and other. So often children of this age don't know how to verbalize what respect means, but when you see them showing it each day you know they get it!  These firsties get it!

So the morning started with a great birthday surprise from a sweetheart and her family so I had to put it on....by the way it's my birthday too.

And then we HAD to have a dance party.  It was disco of course, but then I had a request from Cole to play Michael Jackson.  No one believed me when I said I knew the moves to the Beat It video....

The rest of the day was a blurr...we were so busy.  At the Marsh Awards Assembly, Samantha and Joey M. got awards for their Fire Prevention posters and Cole and Ava got Mileage Club awards for walking over 100 miles this year.  WOW!  Nothing like seeing pride on a seven year old's face.  I will miss these beauties, but at the same time I will enjoy the summer break.  Thank you to all the supportive parents this year.  I can't do my job well without you!  Absecon is the best!!!!!!

Friendly Neighborhood Helpers Unit

Spring is the time of year to get out and enjoy the community around you and that is just what we did this year.  Our Friendly Neighborhood Helpers unit includes a play about the people in our community that help us when we need it.  Absecon is an awesome town where people are friendly and outgoing.  It is small enough to have a "downtown", that lucky for us, is close to the school.  This means a community walk is part of this unit as well.  Here are some photos of both the show and walk.

We played the DENTISTS and the GARBAGE COLLECTOR'S which in this play it is politically correct to say.  Our local ACUA donated our shirts which was so cool. 

 

The whole first grade participated.  We had songs about grocers, plumbers, fire fighters, crossing guards, librarians, vets and chefs!  The firsties worked very hard learning all the words and the crown loved the performance. We even invited many community members to come see the show especially if their profession was featured.

 

 

Our community walk was another fun feature to this unit.  We left our school and walked all over town visiting places and getting tours to learn about how these places and workers help us.  Check this out.

Heritage Park

 

While we were on our way to the police station, we saw the ACUA guys collecting the recyclables so we sang our Garbage Truck song form our play to them.  This was one of those perfect moments that you could never have planned.  The ACUA guys were dancing and clapping for us!  So cool!

 

Absecon Police Department Tour

 

Absecon Shop Rite Tour

 

 

 

We learned about the meat grinder.......

 

the bakery,

 

the seafood department and much more.  I think everyone loved the freezer the most, NOT!  They were so good to us.  We got cookies, and cheese from the deli, and then a goody bag when we left.  Everyone went out of their way to show us around, especially Mr. Cella.  He taught us some great jokes too.  This lucky lobster actually fell to the floor, but his escape was unsuccessful.

 

As we were walking from Shop Rite to the firehouse, we went by Dr. Keating's office where the windows were open.  He is a dentist, so guess what we sang to him.......you got it....out Dentist song from the play.  He was thrilled to say the least and wanted to get a copy of the words.  Like I said, I could never have planned that awesome moment!

 

 

At the firehouse, we got a tour from Mr. Marrone and Mr. Green.  The firsties were amazed at the equipment and how much a fire fighter needs to know. 

 

 

 

Off to Burger King for lunch!

 

 

 

And DQ for ice cream!

 

We even got a tour of the inside of DQ.

 

Lastly, we walked back to Heritage Park to play for a bit before walking back to school.  All the firsties agreed that they would like to go on walking trips more often.  We did have a beautiful day!  Absecon is a great community!!!!!!!

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



 

We are writers!

It's the time of year when we learn to write informative pieces.  These little Firsties are writing How To's and non-fiction articles about topics we love.  Since learning happens best when students are actively engaged and participating in the lesson, we got to chew gum in school and try to blow bubbles.  How else would we be able to write a How To Blow Bubbles piece....we HAD to have gum, right?  Check us out!

Some of us were super successful!

 

And some of us not so much........

 

 

After we tried to blow bubbles, we were ready to write the steps of how to do it.  Ta Da!

 

 

Our second attempt at being informative writers was writing All About pieces.  We wrote all about what we learned in science about the sun.  We had an opening sentence, followed by 4 facts and then a closing sentence.  These turned out to be nice paragraphs.

 

Our third attempt was How To Make a P.B.and J.  We used colored rectangles as our ingredients this time.  Our imaginations were busy helping us make P.B. and J. sandwiches.    By this time the Firsties are quite good at writing informatively.  Check us out!

 

 

After we wrote our pieces, we read it to a partner who had to act out the steps we wrote.  If our partner had trouble then we knew we needed to edit and add more specific words.  Tomorrow will be publishing day.

 

SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!