Saying Goodbye to Miss Hartman

Today was a happy and sad day in our classroom!  We said goodbye to Miss Hartman.  Last week they made cards for Miss Hartman that were precious!  They wrote things like, "I'll never forget you" and "You mean so much to me."  I bought her a teacher bag with her name on it, but we all signed it so we'll go with her to any job she has as a teacher.  Then we had ice cream sandwiches while she read each and every card.  She loved all of the books inside that she can read to her own students one day! Thank you for sending in books to share!  At the end, she gave each child a goody bag filled with fun toys.  We will all miss her terribly!!!

Hour of Code

This week children all over the world are celebrating Computer Science Education Week.  Today our technology educator, Miss Wilson, visited our classroom with a class set of iPads.  Before she arrived I explained to the class that humans create and write the games they like to play on computers and phones.  I shared that they use a special language, like a code, to tell the computers what to do.  Then I told them we were expecting a guest to help us learn to write this code for computers.  When Miss Wilson arrived, she taught the class a little bit about coding and then introduced the app, Kodable.  It's a fun program for children ages 4-10 and we used the free version.  If you're interested, there is a parent version.  You can click here to go to the site.  Several, if not all, children completed the free levels.  It's quite engaging and I enjoyed playing, too.  Ask your child if he/she liked Kodable and you can try out the free version.  Take a look at these future programmers:

Sinterklaas Arrives!

Today was a very exciting day in first grade!  In our study of customs and traditions elsewhere in the world, we learned about how the children in the Netherlands put out their shoes in hopes that Sinterklaas will bring treats.  Although this is not a class of Dutch children, we put out (paper) shoes last night in the hopes that Sinterklaas would bring treats!  And he did!  Here are some of the shoes that children designed:

They each received a few treats from Sinterklaas.  I reminded them that since they aren't in the Netherlands, Sinterklaas will not be arriving this time next year to bring them treats!  Miss Hartman and I got treats, too!  We all love Sinterklaas!