Saturday, December 22, 2012

Holiday Cheer

Spreading Holiday Cheer
     Riverside's first grade classes had the opportunity to spread holiday cheer across the city this week.  First we were invited to sing at Community Bank.  It was so exciting walking into the bank and seeing the welcoming faces of our parents and loved ones in attendance.  We looked our best and sang our best for all watching!





      When we were finished singing we had a special surprise.  Mrs. Claus came and read us a holiday story!


     The Community Bank took such good care of us.  They even gave us punch and cookies! We ate together by their beautiful front window and Christmas tree!


    
It gets even better... we set off from the bank and walked across the street to the center of Main St. where we sang again by the city's  beautifully decorated Christmas tree. 

     Just a short walk next door for some pizza at Ruffino's Pizzeria.  We had the whole place to ourselves! Wow, was that pizza good!



(Two, cute, happy, little reindeer Miss Novellano sat with on the way back to the school.)


Then to top it all off we made North Pole Peppermint Floats.  What a fun, exciting, happy, yummy day!




Saturday, December 15, 2012

A Holiday Snack

A Yummy Fun Friday:
     Miss Novellano's first grade and Mrs. Lewicki's kindergarten classes got together on Friday afternoon to spend some time creating a snack. After seeing so many beautiful trees on our field trip the day before we thought it would be fun to make some trees as a follow up activity.  The students used ice cream cones, icing and small candies to decorate this fun snack.  Thank you to Mrs. Lewicki and her great students for hosting us in their classroom.  It was wonderful meeting some new friends!













Our Field Trip to Roberson Museum

Roberson Museum
     Our field trip to the Roberson Museum was exciting! Upon our arrival we were taken directly to the planetarium.  Here we viewed several constellations, learned about nebulas and meteorites and watched a fun holiday song on the big dome overhead. 


     The Roberson mansion was next.  The children enjoyed going room by room of an extravagantly built home of Mr. Roberson and his wife.  The woodwork and glass detail was breathtaking....but the first graders seemed to be more interested in things like "Is this fruit real?" or "Why are the beds on white boxes?". We laughed, learned and explored the mansion with the help of our tour guide Liam (who happens to have the same name as Liam in our class....something else the kids just cracked up over).
                                                                       
                                                                     The Library:

 The Dining Room:

 The Staircase:


The Bedroom:

 (ARrielle is standing next to a beautifully carved fireplace in the Roberson's bedroom.)
   
     Lastly we went to see the international forest of holiday trees. Here we learned about different cultures, their traditions and how they decorate for the holiday season.  


The Ride Home:


 

Friday, December 7, 2012

A Holiday Kick-Off!

Paper Chains and Cookies

Today we kicked off the holiday season by creating decorations for our classroom and making our first treat of the season.   

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No Bake Cookies....Yum!

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Kids Just Gotta Have Fun!

Fun and Games
       After a long week of working hard the first graders enjoyed an afternoon of shaving cream, play dough and fun. Here are a few pictures from this exciting, creative and messy afternoon. 



       It was interesting watching them play in the shaving cream.  Some of the students wanted to draw in it.  Others simply liked squeezing it through their hands.  I really enjoyed their expression as I sprayed the cream onto the table.  They couldn't believe they were allowed to "be so messy"!
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       Play dough always brings out the creativity in children.  The first graders made pizza, hot dogs, snails, cakes, plates and shapes. They love the texture of the dough!
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      A game I found online.  The students blow the pom-pom on a line using a straw.  Simple, but a lot of fun! It was amazing watching the students develop their own different strategies for keeping the pom-pom on the line.