Reminders and Updates

Thank you for the great response about electronically sending the weekly newsletter. Hopefully this will help with our paper shortage and save some trees along the way! I will be sending the first electronic email this week.

Some important reminders: (1) Next Monday the entire first grade will be dressing up as their favorite Dr. Seuss character or their favorite book character. I can't wait- of course! (Secretly I really decided to become a teacher just so I could dress up like I am still 4 years old! It ROCKS!) (2) Tuesday, March 4th is the 3rd quarter writing test. Get lots of sleep and eat a super energy-packed breakfast. Also, over the next few days you may want to do some finger lifts to strengthen those finger muscles. :) (3) Thursday, March 6th the Dream Team will be leaving the campus and attending the Charlotte's Web play. Remember to send your packed lunch. (4) Do to our different schedule next week we will not have a reading selection. Instead we will be doing the quarterly reading tests- DRAs.

Thank you for all you do!

3rd Quarter Writing Test

The 3rd Quarter writing test will be next Tuesday, March 4th, instead of March 11th. The county has changed the date to coincide with the 4th grade state writing test. So, we have been in full gear preparing! We have even started writing detective teams to help us. The Dream Team looks hysterical in their detective gear. They are such little actors! Who says writing cannot be fun?! If you have any questions please let me know. The first grade writing rubric is available on our class website under "writing" if you have misplaced your copy. I can email you the link if you need it. Thank you for all you do! :)

Read Across America

Please remember to send in your picture showing the "wackiest" place to read your favorite Dr. Seuss book by Tuesday, February 26th. Also, in celebration of Read Across America Day & Dr. Seuss's birthday the entire first grade will be dressing up as their favorite book character on Monday, March 3rd. Thank you for all of your support!

P.S. Last week the Dream Team did an amazing job working on their entry for the Super Power Writing Contest. I will be posting some of the writing samples on our WebPage. They did an incredible job. Our big PDSA goal in writing is sentence fluency- capital letters, punctuation, details, etc. The teams determination is so inspiring!

Mrs. Cotton- Our Substitute on the 100th day!

Mrs. Tucker, our wonderful room mom, was nice enough to send in a picture of Mrs. COTTON-the Dream Team's substitute teacher from the 100th day. I know the Dream Team have missed her and will be thrilled to see her picture. :) Thank you Mrs. Tucker!

The Polar Adventure Comes to and End

Wow! What a great adventure we have had exploring the North and South Poles. We have learned so much about survival, adaptation, migration, hibernation, and animals from these polar regions. The projects students created were incredible. After we finish presenting the projects the players will bring them home. If you need to pick up a project please do so by Friday. Once again, thank you for your help and all of your creativity. YOU are amazing parents and an oustanding team to work with! :)

Check out the team as they are using their survival gear to handle the harsh conditions of the Antarctic chill. As we took down the polar cruise ship... the team set up "camp" by rolling out sleeping bags, pulling out flashlights, and eating their survival snacks- I love how some of the players chose to survive on fruit roll ups, listen to music on their cell phones, and of course read some of their favorite chapter books!!! Reading while surviving... now you know they are die hards!!! You just have to love first graders! :)

Mystery Reader

Mrs. Goodman, thank you for reading to our class on Friday! We loved the story and look forward to the spring. The team loved the Girl Scout cookies too. You are too sweet! :)

Love Bugs on the Loose!!

Happy Valentine's Day! The dream team dressed up as love bugs, passed out valentines and made tasty love bug snacks. Check out the cutie pies! This group is just TOO much fun. Gosh, I just LOVE this job!!! :)

100th Day of School

Hooray! It's the 100th day! To celebrate the first grade dressed up as if they were 100 year olds and donated over 100 bags of sugar to the Mooresville Soup Kitchen. "It's Sweet to Share" The first grade took a group picture outside of their favorite elementary school- Lakeshore!

Throughout the day the team completed 10 different activities associated with the number 100. They made 100th day necklaces and trail mix. In teams they answered 100 math facts, made 100 pattern block puzzles, wrote 100 words they have learned, and wrote about what their life would be like when they are 100. The day ended with a "BANG" when the team jumped around the room popping the 100 balloons that were donated to our class! Thank you so much for everyone's help with this memorable day! P.S. The class loved their 100 year old sub- Mrs. COTTON. She promises to come back and visit soon. :) Don't forget to practice the funky grandma dance she taught you!

Hibernation Day

On February 2nd, the Dream Team's polar cruise ship landed in the Arctic to explore the world of the polar bears. The creative team decided to camouflage themselves as polar bears so they could get right in there and live the life! The little cubs spent their day fishing for goldfish and graphing their results, making and eating groundhog cupcakes, creating eskimos out of mittens, and participating in the ultimate blubber experiment! (The dream team's favorite event of the day.) Garrett still holds the class record of 5 minutes! Their action packed day ended with reading in their bear caves and the team igloo. What a great day! Thank you dream team fans that helped to make this day so much fun! A special thank you to Mrs. Tucker and Mr & Mrs. Arnold for helping at the different stations. :)