So... here are some way after the fact pictures from the school year... just to help me remember my year with these fun little people. (There were so fun. Really, really loved this little group! And it was the littlest group I've ever had! That was fun, too!)
Military Child Assembly (April)...
It ended with some awesome songs from the military rock band and a huge K-12 dance party. I only got a few pictures of some early dancers before things got a little crazy and I put my camera down in order to keep an eye on everyone. It was fun but a tiny bit stressful for us primary teachers.
Loved, loved, LOVED this little activity. We made these paper plate bunnies one day with our counselor. I hung them on the side of their desks and we filled them up with little "Some-bunny loves you notes." I just had lots of little colored pieces of paper (and actually had to cut more, because they were loving this so much!).
I had all the kids come draw a name, then they went back to their desks and wrote a little note to that person. Something they like about them, a compliment, something sweet. Things like "I like to play with you at recess... You do good cartwheels... You have a pretty smile... You are always nice to me..."
It was so fun to see their reactions when they read their notes. So sweet. It was one of my favorite activities we did all year.
All-school "Read Out"...
I've taught about ladybugs for 15 years now, but this was probably the most exciting year ever. We actually got to watch this little guy come out of his pupa! (Kind of like a little cocoon.) The others had all come out during the night and we had 2 left. We had been watching this one all day! (He was moving around in there and we knew he was getting close!) I was so afraid we were going to miss it and this was literally the last 10 minutes of the school day!
There *may* have been a bit of hysteria coming from my room and there *may* have been a little girl that I sent to find a para that *might* have caused a bit of panic in some teachers as she went running into their rooms, frantically trying to find Mrs. O'Neal and then yelling, "Come to Mrs. Jones' room! Now!!" Just maybe. =)
It was crazy exciting, though. (Did you know ladybugs are yellow when they first come out of their pupa? They don't have any spots, either. Their wings start to dry and then turn darker and they get their spots. Such fun little creatures.)
After school was out, I was able to get this picture for them. You could see his spots starting to come in and he (or she... who knows!) had their transparent wings out, drying them.
The last one came out the next morning and my kids totally invaded Mrs. Book's personal space trying to watch. She decided she could never teach 1st grade. All these little people touching her all at once.
Remember this? It's still so true.
A class book we made after studying clocks and telling time...
{We did every hour of the day and everyone got a page.}
{11:00 am = Recess}
{that's me on the right. Looking lovely, aren't I? I love that you can only see the backs of the kids heads} =)
{that's an 8. 8:00 pm, not 6:00}
Technology time... (we were in Pages, practicing typing words off the word wall, changing the font, making columns, etc.)
End of the year field trip to the zoo...
{See them inside that little box? They had to crawl through a tunnel to get there.}
Checking out the 4th and 5th grade Science Fair projects...
{That's Sophie!}
So many happy memories with this group of little people. I hope they left 1st grade with happy memories, too. =)
