Reindeer Job Applications

The students completed a reindeer job application to write about why they would make a great reindeer for Santa. They then traced their handprints to place as antlers on a black and white photo of themselves.

 

Polar Express Day 2012

Our annual Polar Express Day began with a school-wide sing-along. The students had fun shaking their jingle bells (a gift from the teachers to the students) along with the music. Then all of first grade joined us in our class to watch The Polar Express. After lunch, the students were read The Polar Express in a Reader's Theater style thanks to our admin staff and specials staff. They were also treated to hot chocolate. We then went back to the room to read the book. Each student received a keepsake photo on a black train to help them remember the special day. And, yes, we did it all in our pajamas!

 

 

Prayers

Elf Descriptive Writing

The students created their own elf out of scrapbook paper using Deanna Jump's elf pattern from her Polar Express unit. Then using a Circle Map and Tree Map to prewrite, they wrote sentences to describe their elves. The elves and the writing turned out so cute!

Santa Study

Our Instructional Media Specialist, Ms. Hollingsworth, created an amazing lesson for the first graders about the role of Santa Claus around the world. The students got to "hear" Santa speak to them from Germany, France, Mexico, and The United States. They heard what his name was, what he wears, when he visits, how he travels, and where he leaves gifts. The students are currently using this research to write about the role of Santa Claus from one country of their choice.

Coins: Santa's Toy Shop

The students were busy being little elves for Santa last week. They each created a toy shelf out of construction paper. They then sorted various pictures of toys onto the shelves acccording to their price. They had to match the price of the toys to the coin with the same value. This helped the students learn the value of coins in an engaging way.

To Make the Grinch Smile

We recently read How the Grinch Stole Christmas to discuss how the main character changed over time. The students used the pattern from Deanna Jump's Grinch Unit to create their own Christmas Grinch. They then wrote about one way they would make the Grinch smile.

Coin Tree Map

The students have been learning to identify the names of coins and their value. They are also learning to identify how many pennies are equivalent to that coin's value. To help them with this concept, we created a large class Tree Map with examples of the coins, their values, and other ways to make the same value.