Week One is All Done!

Welcome to Mrs. Simmons' classroom blog - "Footprints of First".   I hope to write a blog post every couple of weeks that will show highlights and share tips and treasures from our classroom. Enjoy and share this blog with family near and far, and leave a comment for us to read!  Here is my wonderful group of sillies wanting a funny picture to begin our year!

WELCOME to the 2014/15 School Year!

I was so glad to meet so many new parents and students last night at Meet the Teacher Night!  I hope your son or daughter is excited about entering First Grade!  I know it is going to be a fun and rewarding year!

School Starts -   Monday, August 25th @ 7:45 a.m.   It is a FULL DAY, please send lunch or lunch $.

School Ends - Dismissal is promptly at 2:45 p.m.  PLEASE DO NOT BE LATE PICKING YOUR CHILD UP FROM SCHOOL!   They can get very upset and stressed when they are not picked up and it is extra time spent for teachers and staff to locate a parent or guardian to come pick up a child.  If you are running late for any reason at dismissal, please call the school right away so we can let your child know you will be late.

Orange Sign (That has your last name on it) -- Use this sign to pick up your child when you are in the drive-through lane.  First Graders are picked up in the front of the school building.

The first week of school is exceptionally hectic at dismissal time, and I do ask that when you see our class walk outside, please do not pull your child from the line!  Let us sit in our designated spot first, so students can learn the after school expectations.  We want to keep all of our students safe during this busy time at school!

Thank you so much for all that you have done to help your child transition from Kinder to First Grade! I am looking forward to a great school year with your son or daughter!  Please e-mail me if you have any questions or concerns!  WELCOME TO FIRST GRADE!

Hello June! Hello Summer!

Goodbye to First Grade! Time flies and here we are on the brink of closing another school year. It has been a fun, learning year for me and the kiddos. So very proud of all of the students growth and accomplishments. I know every teacher says this, but please have your child read over the summer! Make visiting the local library a regular event. They need this one simple skill to be encouraged by every adult in their lives! Reading is the one singular thing that will make or break their school success! So help your child make a reading goal this summer. Read 20 books? 30? Kids can read books online too. Go to the BCE library page for links to on line catalogs like Tumblebooks. Thanks for a really great year! Here are some snapshots from our final weeks:

 

Future computer scientists. Exploring computer coding apps like Kodable, Daisy the Dinosaur.

ABC Countdown !

Career Day!

 

 

 

Garden Fun!

 

Trying a "Google Hangout! With multiple classes.

Thank you for a great year! Over and out!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Goodbye April...

Time Flies when we have so many exciting things going on.  We cannot believe it is almost time for Ms. Musgrove (student teacher) to leave us!  Her last day is Friday May 2nd and we have really enjoyed having her for the last 2 months.  She will be missed and we wish her the best of luck!  She will be a great teacher!

Congratulations to recent Bear Brag Award winners!  The kids vote on who deserves this outstanding student, citizen of our classroom award!  I have to agree with the students - very good choices!

More EGGciting news!  As I am sure your child has told you --  4 out of 6 eggs hatched into baby chicks last week!  Students have learned all about the life cycle of a chicken and are now learning a lot about baby chicks and their needs!  They are growing very fast and we have found the perfect home for them too!  We will give them away to a wonderful person who will take really good care of them and continue to send us pictures on their growth!  Can you see the first crack below?  Then all the fun began!

Once they were all rested and dried off... we had some pretty cute chicks!  Here is the first born:

Here are all 4 chicks in their brooder!

In honor of our chick hatching we celebrated with "Chicks and Salsa" ...  I mean "Chips and Salsa"!  We made queso, salsa and danced the chicken dance with Ms. Gelles' class!   

Oh, and we also planted a Salsa Garden !!  Tomatoes, peppers, cilantro and onions!

Goodbye April!  We learned so much!

Spring Forward!

March was exciting with lots of family time over Spring Break, the coming of the season of Spring and our 1st Grade Field Trip to the Fort Worth Zoo.  Thank you to all the parent volunteers who helped to manage our kiddos at the Zoo!  We could not do this without you!

In Math we began learning about 2D and 3D figures. We began our study by using a web based site called "Today's Meet" where students used their iPads to type what they already knew about 2D and 3D shapes.  They knew a lot already!

We also are so fortunate to have an amazing Student Teaching Intern - Jenna Musgrove - with us for the next 4 weeks.  She will be taking over a lot of the teaching with me and on her own over the course of several weeks!  She has fit in really well with all the kids!  She comes from Dallas Baptist College and will graduate in May with her teaching degree!  Welcome to Bear Creek Ms. Musgrove!

And finally, we are hatching real chick eggs as part of animal life cycles.  We have 6 chick eggs in an incubator that, hopefully, will hatch into baby chicks in about 3 weeks!  Follow us on Twitter to keep posted!  

March Madness

Be sure to take a look at the iMovie below that I put together to showcase a few major events of the last few weeks.  I know many of you were not able to make it to Open House/Student Showcase - so be sure to watch the iMovie so you can see all the hard work our class did!  Highlights of the last few weeks (and the iMovie) include:
~Skyping with various classrooms to practice number concepts (Mystery Number Skype)
~Skyping with Ms. Smith's 1st Grade (Illinois) and learned how to do "MadLibs" - great for grammar and Language Arts practice (very challenging!)
~Skyping with children's book author Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen during Read Across America (part of our celebration of Dr. Seuss)
~Celebrating Dr. Seuss & Read Across America as we did a fun grade level rotation and read many of his crazy books, plus his biography.  We also created our own eatable "hat" in honor of The Cat in the Hat.
~Texas Animal PBL & Art Gallery - We spent many weeks involved in the process of a PBL (Project Based Learning) as students worked together to research a specific animal of Texas.  They also created a painting for the "Texas Animal Art Show" which was on display the week of Open House.  Students presented their creations to the class.  Students also accepted donations to help the Texas Wild! exhibit at the Fort Worth Zoo.  This was a very rewarding process for our 1st Graders!

Enjoy your Spring Break!  Enjoy the iMovie!

Winter, World Connections, Mysteries & LOVE!

First Graders have been learning so much about weather lately -- thanks to our wonderful winter we have been having!  We took advantage of these cold days and really put our weather tools to work.  We took temperatures outside and inside, we observed our windsock and even Skyped with our first grade friends in Chicago & Oregon to see how they were surviving the winter months. (They get to have outside recess if the temperature and wind chill are 10 degrees or above!!!)  Click on the few samples below of student's winter weather PixNTell slide shows:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/d91cemjcfo77yu0/Awinter%20Day.mp4

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a89ma5ebolw8l07/Snow%20Day.mp4

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mi0xha8lxecjv8y/Winter%20Ellie.mp4

We have also been busy working on comprehension connections as we read.  Recently students read a story about Cesar Chavez and immediately make a "text to world" connection comparing how he worked to better the lives of farm workers just like Martin Luther King, Jr. worked to make laws more fair for African Americans.  They are getting so smart!  Students created slide shows using PixNTell to explain their connections. 

 Click on the couple of links below to hear/see a  few of our connections:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e1omm1hajt7w3th/Text%20To%20Word%20Coneshin%20With%20Mlk%26cesh%20Caves.mp4

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zerz7y3yqn60x11/Good%20World%21.mp4


This past week we also began to do a few "Mystery Number" Skype sessions with our First Grade friends at Grapevine Elementary.  We used the iPad app called SchoolKit  Math (100's chart) as we  listened to clues to solve their mystery number.  Then we got to give clues and have our GES friends solve one from us!  Great practice for all of our number concepts and a great way to practice at home too!

Last, but not least... we ended the week on a LOVE note!  We had such a fun Valentine's Day Party.  Thank you to our homeroom Mom, Angela Hall and all the parent helpers who contributed to its success!  We LOVED it!