Johnny Appleseed

Each year, Concrete Primary has a very special visitor...Mr. Johnny Appleseed himself! The kids just adore him, and really LOVE listening to him tell the story of his life.  Mr. Appleseed introduced us to so many different types of apples and explained why each and every apple is unique and special. He even had time for a little magic trick at the end of our visit! The kids had so much fun learning about his life! Here are a few pictures from his visit...

Mr. Johnny Appleseed himself...

(no shoes and all)   :)

Learning about all the different types of apples

Check out those great listeners!

Mr. Appleseed telling the story of a little worm who couldn't find his home :( He asked all of these animals to help him find his house, but no one could find it. He described his house as red, with a brown chimney (the stem), and a beautiful star on the inside. Finally after searching high and low...Ta-dah!!!!

 He found it...right in the middle of the apple :)

And finally here are my sweet "little shorties" with their new friend Johnny Appleseed :)

Grits for Grans

This morning was a VERY special day for the first graders at Concrete Primary...Grits for Grans!! It was so exciting for me to watch as my little friends led their grandparents around our school and showed them all of the different things that they have learned so far this year. It brings so much joy to my heart to see my little friends take such pride in their work and learning experiences! They had so much fun this morning, and I am so glad that the grandparents of my sweet little kiddos got to sneak a little peak into the "life of a first grader" at Concrete Primary! :) I tried really hard to take as many pictures as I could of my kiddos and their grandparents while they ate breakfast, but I was also serving the breakfast :) Here are a few of the moments I did capture!

First Grade Teachers hard at work...

Would you like grits with that??

Here are some of the families that got a chance to visit...

Alexia's Family

Tristan's family

Devon's family

Gabbie's family

Emily's family

Steven's family

"Anna Banana's" family

Nate's family

Brook's Family

If I missed getting your family photo today, I am so sorry! :(

 I was trying my very BEST to be a multi-tasker :) I had such a wonderful time meeting all of the grandparents that had a chance to visit our classroom. Please feel free to come back and visit any time!!!!



Remembering September 11th

This past Sunday was the 10 year anniversary of the September 11th attacks on our country. As a part of our Social Studies lessons this week, we remembered that day in history and talked about what an anniversary is (a date marked on the same day every year celebrating or commemorating an event that happened on that date in the past) and why September 11th marks a sadder type of anniversary for our country. We also talked about the hero's that gave Americans hope, courage, and helped them feel safe again in such a scary time in their lives. We decided to make a classroom memorial for all of the people that lost their lives that day. I am one lucky teacher, because I have the sweetest, smartest, most kind-hearted group of students in my class this year! They were so thoughtful and took this assignment very seriously! Our memorial posters turned out GREAT! Here are a few pictures of our posters...

And here are the finished products!

(We are still waiting on the green group to finish...they have a few more details they want to add,

so I will add it to the blog when they finish)

The Pink Group

The Yellow Group

(this creative little group added 4 triangles to the corners of

 their memorial poster to make it look like a picture frame)

The Red Group

The Teal Group

And...the Blue Group

(2 of their group members went home early today)

Green Group...coming soon! :)

Readers and Writers Galore...Oh My!

Over the past few weeks we have really been working hard on developing good reading and writing habits. Here are a few things we have been practicing in writing workshop over the past few weeks: where writers get their ideas, how writers can let their ideas flow, how good writers ssssttttrrreeetttccchhh out their words to hear all of the sounds, and how good writers "chop" words up when writing. Here are a few pictures from our writing workshops...

Victoria was a REALLY good "word chopper" today! She spelled the word weekend ALL by herself!

Eli was thinking hard about his story idea! He decided on writing a story

about becoming a Texas Ranger when he grows up!

Kaylie Grace has a really detailed picture! I can already tell this is going to be a GREAT story!

Look at the awesome Authors in the teal group!

This pink group is also hard at work!

The ideas are "flowin" in the blue group!

The green group is doing a GREAT job of getting their ideas on paper!

Lookin' good yellow group!

Look at the red group sstttrreeettcchhh out those words!

Now on to reading workshop! I am telling you that I have some AMAZING readers on my hands! We have been learning all kinds of mind blowing things during reading workshop! We started out learning how to handle and treat our books. We have also been focusing on good reading habits and practices that good readers do...like making connections, reading with the pictures, tracking the words, etc. This week, we are learning how to determine if a book is too easy, too hard, or just right! Here are a few pictures from our reading workshop!

Cooper is really taking in everything this Clifford book has to offer!

Look at Miss Katie tracking her words like good readers do!

Kristos is really into this story and LOVES how funny it is!

Alexia has found a "comfy" way to read I'm Grumpy!

She made some really good connections with this book!

Caleb has really good reading stamina! He could read forever!!

Nate is really good at reading Arthur books!

A Few Reminders:

**Grits for Grans is Wednesday

**Picture day is also Wednesday

**Fundraiser forms are due tomorrow

**Johnny Appleseed comes to visit Friday

Thanks for "popping" in!

Tuesday was Open House at Concrete, and boy oh boy was it fun! My little friends were so excited to share ALL the things that they have learned so far in first grade with their families! They were the BEST tour guides that a teacher could ask for :) At each child's seat was a bag of popcorn, a special book made by all of our friends in our class, and a classroom scavenger hunt. It was so much fun to watch them "guide" their parents around our classroom. Here are a few pictures from Open House!

This is what each child's seat looked like :)

Thanks for "popping" in to Open House

Devon's Special Book

Classroom Scavenger Hunt

Nate's finished "All About Me" T-Shirt

Anna's finished product!

Kinsley and her mom reading her book from her friends

Cannon and his mom checking out the book his friends made for him

Here are a few of the families that visited our classroom...

Breanna and her family

Tristan and his family

Katie and her sweet family

Brooks and his family

Zari and her family

Here are a few more fun moments I was able to capture...

This is Kate's sweet sister. She really enjoyed looking at Kate's book and eating some popcorn :)

And last but certainly NOT least...

Here is where I found Mr. Kristos...teacher for the day?? I think he would be excellent, don't you??

Thank you to everyone who came to Open House! It was a huge success! I had so much fun, and I hope that you did too! See you soon!