Back to School

I am looking forward to meeting my new students and parents!

Back to School Night is this Thursday, August 23rd from 5:00pm-6:00pm!

If you already have your child's supplies you may bring them to Back to School Night. You may access a supply list HERE. An additional supply "wish list" is included at the Important Links tab.

Connected Educator Map

If you are visiting this blog and you are an educator, then please consider adding yourself to the Connected Educator Map. You may find another connected classroom around the world that you and your students would like to collaborate with digitally in order to accomplish a goal or learn more about another culture. Happy collaborating!

View Connected Educator Map in a larger map

Summer Reading for 6-9 Year Olds

Are you in the mood for a great book? Click HERE to link to a book list that your child will love. Print out the list and take it with you when you go to the library.

I look forward to hearing about your favorite books! My blog is always open. Stop by anytime.

Have a great summer!

End of the Year Celebrations

First Grade News Flash

The end of the year is almost here! Let’s celebrate all we have learned and all the fun we have had!!!

Awards Day will be Thursday, May 31, 2012 from 12:30-1:00pm in the gymnasium. This Awards Day will be combined for ALL first grade classes.
Ms. Matthews will be announcing student award winners. You are welcome to join us.

The next day, we will enjoy our End-of-the-Year Celebration (Friday, June 1, 2012 from 2:00-2:45pm). We will be reviewing all of the fun we have had and sharing some of our outstanding work. Please visit our Google Group or contact me or Becky Cooper if you are interested in volunteering for this fun event!

Thank you for all of your help. We look forward to seeing you at our celebration!

                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                                        Mrs. Harrell

Thank you, Donors!

With a nudge from Andreya Gomez (Thank you!), I recently signed up with DonorsChoose.org to propose projects that promote the education of our youth. The project, "Read to Learn" was fully funded thanks to some faithful parents and kind strangers. Thank you for your support! We have received over 35 books, including books on CD for our listening center. So far we have read a lot about Earth Day and simple machines. The books cover many nonfiction and historical fiction topics. Thank you to all who contributed to this project and to all who promote the love of reading!


My next proposal will be to seek funding for a book display case to make it easier for, "young readers [to] find what they're looking for even if they don't yet know what it is (Atwell, 2007)."

What are you reading?

From parent to parent...

"You never know what will enhance a child's life. As parents, it's our job to introduce a child to things like music, books, theater, lacrosse, tennis, gardening, travel, karate, travel, camping, knitting, fishing, etc. We're like doctors doing those allergy scratch tests: Just expose the patient to everything you can think of and watch for inflammation" (April 2012, Carolina Parent, 72).

I love that quote. The image is great!

I just finished reading Carolina Parent magazine for April. I enjoyed reading several articles. I recommend, the news section on page 8 for the upcoming Reading Events and the Toolbox: Parenting Resource of the Month. You can grab a copy of the April Carolina Parent magazine in the lobby at Creekside.

Blog About Books

One of the best ways to find out about great books is from your friend's recommendations. For homework in April, your child will be asked to use the Blogging About Books tab to write about a book they have read. The blog post should include the title and author, a little bit about the book, and whether they liked the book or not. Your child may also choose to recommend it to someone. Please see Mrs. Haydon's Blog to see how her class is blogging about books.