Miss Ahrens' Class: November 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

Back Row: (First Graders) Sirius, Jessica, Justin, Destiny, and Hunter
Front Row (Kindergarten) Anthony H., Angelina, Andrew, Megan, and Anthony I.

Happy Birthday, Jessica!

Jessica's birthday is on Friday, November 29th, but since the class will not be together at that time; we are celebrating today with cake, drinks, and Brag Tags!

Gobble. Gobble.

Students receive a special Thanksgiving Day Brag Tag for the last day of school before the holiday.

First Grade Writing

These are the first two attempts at writing a story. Jessica and Hunter did a great job!

100-Chart Dogs

Justin, Angelina, Hunter, Destiny, and Anthony H.

Anthony I., Sirius, Andrew, Megan, and Jessica

Thank You, ImageStuff!

ImageStuff is the company that manufacturers the Brag Tags that my students have been getting for the last 3 years.

I have been so happy with their products and I have been sharing the Brag Tags on this blog since I started using them as incentive in my classroom.

This weekend, I received lovely letter from Stacy, at ImageStuff, along with some personalized Brag Tags as a thank you for blogging about my students (your children) and showing off their terrific products.

/Cc/ is for Cat

Sirius, Anthony, and Jessica

Hunter, Angelina, and Destiny

Megan, Anthony H., and Justin

Tangrams

Tangrams are puzzles of a type known as dissections. One shape is cut into pieces, and the pieces are re-arranged to make another shape.

In a basic Tangram, a square is broken apart into 7 pieces.

Today, the students cut apart their own Tangrams and made different shapes from those 7 pieces. We put the pieces in a bag so your child can show you how to do it at home.

Justin's house with Chimney

Hunter's house with stairs

Megan's sitting teddy bear

Anthony H's bunny

Destiny's running dog

Anthony I's flying bird

Sirius' running man

Jessica's sailboat

Angelina's duck

Here are some shapes to try at home.

Raising a Reader!

Comic books are an excellent tool for instilling the love of reading.

I have been a comic book reader most of my life. I started as a kid reading the (mis)adventures of Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead. I loved going to the newsstand and lovingly pulling the newest issue off the rack. Comic books were my favourite Summer reading material.

As an adult, I have moved on to different themes and characters, but Wednesday is the day I look forward to every week because it is new comic book day!

I love to read and love teaching child to read and become better readers. I am beginning a new section in the classroom library in the next 2 weeks -- Comic Books!

The Comic Book Legal Defence Fund puts publishes a great brochure called Raising A Readers. It is available free on their web site and I have placed a direct link to the publication at the bottom of this post. (PLEASE NOTE: There are adult topics on the front page of the CBLDF site and it IS NOT for children.)

I encourage you to read with your child every night, just like my parents did, to raise a better and more enthusiastic reader.

Click to download: Raising A Reader

Skyscraper :-)

Jessica created this wonderful structure, from plastic containers, today during center time.

Begins with /C/

The students came up with 80 words for our poster today. They continued thinking of more and more words after we had completed it, so we probably have 120 words if we had continued :-)

Sharing the Letter /C/

Sirius and Justin were chosen to take the Letter of the Week containers home this week. They will fill the container with something special to share with the class on Friday. We can't wait to see what they bring :-)