Johnny Appleseed Pancakes

I send this home with the kids, but just in case you don't get it, here is the recipe for the apple pancakes that we made today.  Boy were they delicious!!!

2 cups finely chopped apples or 1 cup applesauce
2 cups pancake mix
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 c. brown sugar

Mix all ingredients.  Heat skillet to 325 degrees.  Coat with oil or cooking spray.  Drop two table spoons of batter for each pancake.  Cook two minutes on each side.  Best when eaten warm.  Enjoy!

It has been a FUN but CRAZY week!  I have to tell a story that happened today.  So we were in line at the lunch room ready to get our lunches and SURPRISE...the fire alarm goes off!  I thought..."REALLY?  During lunch?"  The other teachers thought that too.  So we looked at each other, sighed, and tried to get our classes together to hurry outside.  Oh my goodness was it a mad house in the cafeteria or what!  Luckily I had a parent that was there for lunch, so that was actually a HUGE help!!!  But I was so surprised at how amazingly well my class handled it.  They were so quiet when we were in the field waiting to go back inside, and they were patient and weren't complaining.  A little scared because it was such a surprise, but still the quietest class.  I was so impressed!  Then one of my students said to me, "Mrs.Jackman, I think that was a practice just in case there is a fire during lunch.  Now I know to leave my food on the table, go to the field and find you, and then I can come back and eat when it is safe to go inside.  That's right, huh Mrs.Jackman?"  Way to think positive!  That is exactly what was going on.  It wasn't a Kindergartener pulling the alarm on accident.  Just practice.  :)  Anyway, that made the day a little crazy, but it was still a great day!

So on to other things.  Parents, if you see these in your child's backpack, just know that I would love to get the folders back.  :)  When a student is absent, I just put this folder on their desk and put papers in the folder as the day goes along.  The class knows that if this is on their desk when they get to school one morning, they need to put it in their backpacks and finish the work that is in the folder.  This is so they don't miss anything that we learned while they were gone.  I don't need EVERYTHING back right away.  Just in a timely manner.  Instructions are on the front of the folder as well.  The most important things to remember and get back to me are math and reading minutes.

 

This week in reading and language arts, we have been reading and blending short /a/ words.

This was an art project that had to do with colors and short /a/.  They had to fill in the blanks on the paper under the cat.  All of the blanks were supposed to be an /a/, and they figured that out pretty quickly.

 

The note on the cat says, "I am a cat.  I have on a hat.  The hat is _____________."

They got to choose whatever color they wanted to for the blank.  We even had a rainbow hat!  I loved it!  Each cat was so unique.  I love to see what is going on in the kids minds through their art.

During centers, we made Pam the Lamb to help us with our /a/ sound.

They finally got to use their liquid Elmers Glue for this project.  

The excitement on their face when they found out what kind of glue they were using was priceless.

It is so cute to see what 6 year olds get excited about.  

I wish I would get excited about things like that!

 

Finally, JOHNNY APPLESEED DAY!!!!  Today was Johnny Appleseed Day, and it was a BLAST!  I had such a fun time.  We made Apple Pancakes.  Everyone got a chance to put something in the bowl for the ingredients.  I was really nervous that everyone wasn't going to get a chance...but it worked out just fine!  And everyone got to stir it 5 times each.

We learned how to crack eggs today through trial and error.  We were all giggling through this process and I had a hard time holding it in...so we all laughed about how silly it was.

 

We even did Johnny Appleseed centers today!  For the apple book I was supposed to bring an apple seed...but I forgot.  Oops.  But they still turned out cute and we learned about the life cycle of an apple!  I think everyone really enjoyed making a Johnny Appleseed puppet.

 

These are the books that we read today.  I am now very grateful that I purchased the Johnny Appleseed book.  It was such a good book to introduce Johnny to the class.

 

It was a really fun day and I just smile thinking about how much fun everyone had learning!

I love being a teacher!

I hope everyone had fun at the school carnival tonight!

Thanks for all you do, parents!

First Full Week!

We made it through our first FULL week of school!  It was a long week full of learning and fun.  

This week, we finished reading our big book about story land!  It is like the last big book we read (with the monster and alphabet island) but it is about 3 kids going to story land.  The kids LOVED reading these books, and I am sad that there are no more books.  So in the big book we just finished, there was a character named "know-it-all".  He knew everything about writing and putting words together to make sentences.  His name was perfect for him.  The students got to draw a picture of know-it-all and the 3 kids that that story was about.  These are some GREAT pictures and I smile every time I look at them!  I have said this before, but our class is full of wonderful artists!

 Since the first day of school, we have been counting the days to 100.  Each day, the "bumblebee of the week" puts a bee on the doors and we count the bees every day, and we will until we get to 100.  The kids have fun with it and like to turn around and watch as the student of the week puts the bee on the doors.  I can't help but smile every day because they get so excited about it!

Each morning when the students come into class, they take out their homework folder and their "punch a bunch" (picture below).  I come around with a hole punch and if they did their reading/skills sheet and math the night before (sometimes just reading/skills sheet) then they get a bee punched out.

When all of the bees have been punched out, they get a "Homework Pass".  They can use this homework pass whenever they want to, but I can't replace it if they loose it.  This can be used for one nights of homework (both math and reading).  Maybe they have something going on a night (football practice, dance, piano, etc.) and they go right to bed.  This is the time to use the homework pass!  But it is all up to you, the parent, and your child.  They may use it whenever they want to!  They have deserved it!

Here are our first 6 that got a homework pass!  Congrats!
Side note: see the three pencil sharpeners on the shelf?  Yeah...none of them work.

There were six more that got one today, but I forgot to take a picture.  Congrats to those six as well!

Next week we will be celebrating Johnny Appleseed day, and don't forget about the carnival on the 23rd!  I am excited for next week and there will be lots of pictures to post.  :)  Thanks again parents for being such a big help!  I couldn't ask for a better class with such wonderful parents!!!

We had a fun week of learning and reviewing!  

This week we were still reviewing letters and numbers from Kindergarten, and I am ready to get to the first grade stuff, and so is the rest of the class. 

Parents, thank you for helping every night with homework!  

We finally get to go to the library on Monday, and we are all excited to check out books!  

We had our first fire drill today, and it went surprisingly well!  

I was so happy with the way it went.  It has been a very smooth first couple weeks of school!  

I am one lucky teacher to have such a wonderful class.

Here is a little look at what we have been doing in the classroom!

Every day, we have been listening to this book about letters.  The kids have LOVED it, and so have I!  It is about animals from Animal Island that wanted to learn about letters that were floating onto their island from Letter Island, so they traveled there, learned their letters, and met a monster.  Ask your kids about it and they will be happy to tell you about the whole story.  They were very interested in the story.

 

 While reviewing our letters, we were able to do a little art project here and there.

 After they are done with whatever they are working on, they work in their workbook (thank you Starfall!) until it is time to do something else and move on.  It keeps them working hard and they aren't bored!

 In math, we learned about making Pictographs.  

It was a contest between the kids that ride the bus and the kids that get picked up/dropped off.  

It would have been a tie if I didn't put up a car for me.  :)

  

 We also got to make calendars for math this week.  

We will make a calendar for every month with a picture to draw for every month.

Here are a few examples, unfinished.

Thanks again parents for all that you do!

Week one is done!

The first week is over. Pat yourself on the back, we made it! What a wonderful week! I could not have asked for a better class. I am so happy with how smoothly this week went. We have been going over the rules and routines constantly EVERY day. It has been tiring (for everyone) but so much fun. It really is going to be a great year. Lets take a look at what we did this week!

We have really been focusing on our rules, or our five bees promise. Every day, twice a day, we stand up and recite our rules together as a class.






Everybody drew on their own honeycomb, and we put them all together. I love how everyone has a flag because I drew the Texas flag. :) I think they all look SO good! We sure have some artists in this class!!!



We made get to know you books. Welcome to first grade! I loved getting to know everyone through these cute books.
This is definitely my favorite picture of all time. I am going to have a hard time saying good bye to these guys at the end of the year....but the year has just begun! Look at this fun group!



Such a fun week full of get to know you activities. Parents, thank you for everything you do!

The Desk Fairy!

The desk fairy came to visit us this week! She really likes clean and organized desks and comes about twice a month. But you never know when she might visit! She leaves a trail of her glitter, this post it note, and some candy for five of the most organized students. A student saw me open my desk drawer and saw the desk fairy notes in there, so the desk fairy took them back because she decided that 6 and 7 year olds are just too snoopy. I was holding on to them for her so she wouldn't need to carry them around. She is a very little fairy, after all. :) Thank you desk fairy, for helping us stay neat and clean!

All about me!

Hello, Parents!
For those of you who came to Back to School night, it was wonderful meeting all of you! If you didn't come, I can't wait to meet you! It is going to be SUCH a fun year and I can't wait for it to start! I can tell that it is going to be a great class. Ready or not, here it comes! First grade is a BLAST! Parents, if you ever have any questions or concerns, please feel free to give me a call or send me an e-mail.
Since I didn't really get a chance to introduce myself to all of you tonight, I am going to take a minute to tell you about your child's new teacher! My name is Summer Jackman, and I am originally from Plano, Texas. I went to school at BYU-Idaho and student taught in Blackfoot in the first grade. Right after student teaching, I got a job teaching first grade in St. Anthony and I knew that first grade was where I was supposed to be! Now I am teaching first grade at Hillview and I love the staff, school, and students. I hope to stay here teaching for a long time. I have known that I wanted to be a teacher since I was 11, and I love what I do! I honestly can not wait for this year to begin.
I have an AMAZING husband, Mark. He is from Concord, California. We met playing volleyball at college, and the rest is pretty much history!
Well that's all about me, and I can't wait to get to know your kids!
Here we go!
-Mrs. Jackman
P.S. I am planning on posting on the blog every Friday about our week. So if you are ever wondering what we did that week, come on over!