We've Been Busy!

Here is a photo summary of what we have been up to in first grade :)

Some of the A-MAZ-ING Valentine card boxes...

SO cute and creative! LOVED seeing them all lined up along the wall in the hallway!

We have learned a lot about dental hygiene! We did an experiment to see what can stain our teeth and how brushing them helps them get clean and healthy. We talked about what the tooth fairy might do with all of those teeth. We even had a special snack that looked like lips and teeth!



Did you notice George Toothington? ^ SUCH imagination!
I made the missing teeth worksheet and the How to Brush Your Teeth worksheet.

I've been a chart making fool! This is not even all of them!


I made a life sized Abraham Lincoln for us to measure up to. I had to cut him into several pieces to fit him in the laminating machine...sigh. And the crayon wax that I used to color him smeared a bit on his face and neck tie...sigh. BUT, I touched him up with a sharpie marker and he looks great again AND I can keep him forever :) YAY! I had the kiddos estimate where they might measure up to Abe and then we compared their actual height to their estimate...some of them were pretty close, but most of them had some wishful thinking and wanted to be the tallest kid in to class. But, of course!


This is a method I've been using to keep the kids from interrupting precious guided reading time. I get so little time with each group that EVERY SECOND is precious! If you have ANY sort of experience with kids, you know that their questions take A LIFETIME to get out of their mouths. SO, I had to put an end to any lengthy and unnecessary questioning during this time. It works like this...When the light is on: NO QUESTIONS! (unless, of course, it is an absolute emergency) They know to ask their friends if they need help during this time. When the light is off: feel free to ask. So far...aside from one child...it's working really well! WHOOP! WHOOP!


Last, but not least...
My cooperating teacher is retiring after this year and has been VERY generous to me by giving me things she will have no use for after she's gone. She won this bag and had never even gone through it to see what was in it, but asked me if I wanted to take it. ABSOLUTELY!!! I didn't even care what was in it, but when I got home and emptied it...I could have cried with happiness! LOVE HER!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Take a look at the Valentine's I made for my kiddos (plus a special UK one for a new little friend across the hall who shares my love for UK)! Everyone made a box to put their Valentine's cards in and I, of course, made one for myself as well. It was a CRAZY sugar filled day for us, but HEY!...tomorrow's a 1/2 day! Happy Valentine's Day to you! (Look for MANY more pictures this weekend...I have a TON from this week!) XOXO

Short, Yet Fabulous February!

It's short, yet fabulous February which means that it's time for peace, love, & dental hygiene!

Today was my first official full day of being the #1 teacher in the room! AH! Well, I must say that it went GREAT! I think the kiddos really enjoyed what I prepared for them and I'm excited to see what they think about what is yet to come...because I have some TERRIFIC ideas! I have planned a 2 week unit for them. The title of my unit is what I used to decorate our door. Although February is the shortest month of the year, it has A LOT of stuff packed into it! We will be learning about peace (President's Day--Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Betsy Ross/Our flag), love (Valentine's Day), and Dental Hygiene (it's dental health month!).

Our schedule for these 2 weeks looks like this:

Monday: GO Away Tooth Decay! (Dental Hygiene)-What is is? Why is it important? How can we keep our teeth healthy and clean?
(among other things!)

Tuesday: Lost a tooth? (Dental Hygiene)-What foods are good/bad for our teeth? What does the tooth fairy do with all of those
teeth? (We will be graphing how many teeth we have lost as a class)

Wednesday: Why Be My Valentine? (Valentine's Day)-Why do we celebrate it? Where did it come from?

Thursday: Be My Valentine! (Valentine's Day) PAR-TAY!-What is love? (We're making a class book and learning about poetry)

Friday: Why Celebrate President's Day? (President's Day)-We will discuss why we celebrate president's day and what qualities make a
good president. (We're reading Duck for President and My Teacher for President and then holding a class vote on whether
Duck or Teacher would make a better president)

Monday-Off for President's Day

Tuesday: Honest Abe-Can't Stop Thinkin' About Lincoln! (President's Day)-We will learn about our tallest president (born in my
home state-WOOP! WOOP!) and see how we measure up to him (I have made a life sized Abe for that purpose)

Wednesday: George Washington is #1! (President's Day)-We will learn about our first president and what made him special. (We
will make our own 3 corner hats!)

Thursday: Lincoln vs. Washington (President's Day)-We will compare and contrast these two influential presidents.

Friday: You're A Grand Old Flag! (President's Day)-We will learn about Betsy Ross and the significance of our American flag (it's stars, stripes, and colors). We will also make our own personal and unique flags that represent us, learn the words to "You're A Grand Old Flag" and march around the room with our flags!

That does not even BEGIN to describe all of the fun things I have planned, but here are a few pictures of some of the things we enjoyed today...

We used this "mouth" that I made with an egg carton to practice flossing.

This little guy helped us practice brushing...they colored him in with a dry erase marker to represent plaque and then brushed it off (in circular motions of course) with some dollar store toothbrushes!

I introduced something new today...the kids were to high five one of these hands on their way out of the room (to lunch, related arts, recess, the restroom) and read the spelling/vocabulary/sight word that appears on the hand they choose. I think they really enjoyed this new idea.

LAST, but NOT least...One of my precious little girls brought these to me on Friday (I nearly cried)! She said, "Happy Valentine's Day, Mrs. Hansen!" MADE MY DAY, WEEKEND, YEAR! Man oh man am I going to miss these kids!

Happy 100th Day of School!

Today we celebrated the 100th day of school by dressing as if we were 100 years old...

Me at 100.

My walking cane that I made from 4 pieces of PVC pipe. I colored it with Sharpie markers to match one of the rings I wore...it was also blue cheetah print.

My kiddos reading. Sorry you cannot see their faces and how seriously cute they were as old people, but that would be an invasion of their privacy. You'll just have to take my word for it. One of my boys had a grey mustache, eyebrows, and hair with a plaid shirt and hat to match. One of my girls came with grey hair up in a bun with curls down the sides and green velvet bows in her hair...complete with a broach on her outfit. Amazing!

The first grade team's student teachers. Aren't we something?

A full body pose.

ONE of the stations we had for our 100th day was to make a character using the number 100 in a creative way. This was my example.

A pup similar to mine, but super cute. MOST of the kiddos decided to copy my example...of course. "BUT Mrs. Hansen, I LIKE the puppy!" Is all I heard.

A snowman. Thanks for being creative on your own, Caitlyn!

All in all, the day was SO much fun...a COMPLETE success! The kids were great...I thought, maybe we should dress up as if we were 100 years old EVERY day! I had a blast, but I'm pretty sure that all the kids did too. The ones that didn't dress up regretted it for sure! They told me several times that they would be dressing up next year.
None of the actual first grade teachers dressed up. They said they used to do those things, but don't anymore. Funny, but I don't see myself EVER missing out on an opportunity to wear slippers and any sort of outfit that grabs my kids attention for the entire day no matter how many years I've been teaching. They eat it up and I DO TOO! FUN! FUN! FUN!

Happy 100th day! (Can't wait for next year!)