Dancing Elves

We had a fun pajama/movie/hot chocolate party!

*Getting cozy


* We had two guest readers this week--Mr. Gerlicz and Mr. Brumsickle. They read us two great holiday stories!



Happy Holidays! To wrap up the year 2010 I made some silly elf dances for the class and their families to enjoy. We have some silly little elves in this class. Enjoy these silly dances at home and share with your families. They expire online in the middle of January.

Thanks for the wonderful gifts you have given me and Ms. Lucy. We are truely grateful to have your kids in our class. What a wonderful community 1J is. And a BIG thanks to all the families who helped with our 'Adopt a Family' project. We collected a variety of amazing gift for the family in need. They are extremely grateful!


Surfing Elves- Gustav, Guy, Malu, Olivia, Alisha

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/bbGn3OV8m8TA2rEVBHx1

Disco Elves- Jan, Dawid, Katia, Nina, Nienke

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/v7ExLbOOMmKB9QMQBBpw

Country Elves- Maks, Johan, Shamolie, Noa, Keahi

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/DIl4CDZbctyDTQT7MQy9

Snow Elves- Ksawy, Lucas, Sara, Basia, Lars

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/uGDggoXIIwOOrRsEf3Xy

80's Elves- Zosia, Ms. Johnson, Ms. Lucy, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Gamble

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/MGIzV3kukzuDFUlyKHxS

Student of the Week- Shamolie

Shamolie Panjwani

Country: India/England
Languages I speak: Hindi, English
Favorite food: Spaghetti
Favorite color: Red
Favorite travel spot: England
Favorite subject in school: Swimming
Interesting facts: I have 1 brother and I like to play with him. I play and tennis and I like to play soccer with my brother.

Student of the Week- Lucas

Lucas Faanes

Country: Sweden/Norway
Languages I speak: Swedish, English and a little Polish
Favorite food: Pizza
Favorite color: Red
Favorite travel spot:Skiing in the mountains
Favorite subject in school: Math
Interesting facts: I have 2 sisters and one new baby brother. I like to play soccer, basketball and tennis. I like to make things out of paper.

Student of the Week- Sara

Sara Fantini

Country: Slovenia
Languages I speak: Slovenian, English
Favorite food: Pasta
Favorite color: Purple
Favorite travel spot: the sea in Slovenia
Favorite subject in school: Swimming
Interesting facts: I have a younger sister, I can read Slovenian books, I love to play and I like to draw.

Writing Celebration

We had our first writing celebration on Tuesday afternoon. The first graders finished their first published piece. They are officially authors! We have been writing in our journals all year long. A few weeks ago the students chose a piece they wanted to publish. They then 'fancied it up' and added more details to the piece. Next, they went through the editing process with Ms. Lucy and Ms. Johnson. Then they were ready to write their final draft, illustrate a picture, and create a cover. Finally, it was time to celebrate!

We started off the celebration in a 'sharing circle.' We all sat in a circle and the students each read their favorite part of their story. Then the students got into small groups and they shared their whole story and picture. We ended the celebration with a toast and small treat. The students were very excited to toast and celebrate together. We are very proud of them!

*Sharing stories with a small group






*Our toast! Cheers to the 1J Authors!


Later in the year we will invite the families into the classroom for a writing celebration!

Adopt a Family

Dear 1J Families-

We have decided to help families in need this holiday season. ASW is supporting the Warsaw Volunteer Mission (www.wvm.org.pl) who helps families in need. We have been asked to provide Christmas gifts for the children. If you are interested in buying a gift for a child please contact Ms. Johnson and I will send home the name and age of a child from the family. We are really counting on everyone in 1J to help out! All gifts need to be in and wrapped by December 8th.

On top of providing Christmas gifts for these children, the entire 1st Grade has adopted a family in need. We are adopting the Chmielewska family--a single mother with 6 children ages 8, 10, 14, 16, 18, and an adult child.

The family needs:

Food
Clothing
Toys
Money for coal
Cleaning supplies
Hygiene supplies (toothpaste, etc.)

There will be a collection box outside of our classroom. Please help and donate anything you can. Clothes can be used, but should be clean and in good shape. Gloves, hats, and scarves would be appreciated in this cold weather.

We thank you in advance for helping with this important service project. This is a great project to help our students get involved in helping others. We will talk about this project with the students at school, but please also take the time to talk about why and what you are bringing in to support this family.

The deadline is December 8th. We know this is very soon and appreciate your quick response.

We appreciate your support and generosity,

Ms. Johnson
Ms. Lucy

Student of the Week- Maks

Maks Walter

Country: Poland
Languages I speak: English, Polish (can count in German and Spanish)
Favorite food: Corn
Favorite color: Light Blue
Favorite travel spot: Spain
Favorite subject in school: Swimming
Interesting facts: I like to go fishing, I have 1 older sister, I like to play soccer with my friends, and I like to watch the 1st Harry Potter movie.

Student of the Week- - Noa

Noa Klompe

Country: Netherlands/Poland
Languages I speak: Dutch, English, Polish
Favorite food: Cereal
Favorite color: Yellow
Favorite travel spot: Grand Canyon, USA
Favorite subject in school: PE when it's outside
Interesting facts: I like to jump around, I like to run by my garden, I have 2 sisters and 1 brother and I like to learn!

Voicethreads- Community Trip

Voicethreads are a collaborative, multimedia slide show that hold images, documents, and videos. We made our first voicethread in class last week. I uploaded a few pictures from our Community field trip and each student had to comment on two pictures. They each took turns coming to my computer and recording their comments. I have attached the voicethread below. Simply click the play button below and listen to the students voices. The slide show will automatically turn the pages for you. If you want to skip ahead to your child, click the arrow button on each slide and look for your childs picture. Then click on the picture to listen to their comment.

We hope you enjoy our voicethread and learn a little bit about our field trip to the Wilanow Community. Make sure your speakers are turned on!

New Student & PebbleGo

We would like to welcome Lars Specians and his family to ASW. Lars joined us from Washington D.C. on Tuesday. He is a great addition to our 1J community!


In library today we learned that PebbleGo has added some new Nonfiction books. PebbleGo is a great website for emmergent readers. The kids use it a lot at school during class and choice time. They still have the PebbleGo Animal section and now they have added a PebbleGo Earth and Space section. Check it out at home. Ask Ms. Johnson or refer to your ASW Library Databases sheet (found in the library)--if you forget the username and password.



There is also a link to PebbleGo under the 'Good Websites' section of the blog.

Community Field Trip

On Tuesday we took a wonderful field trip around the Wilanow community. It was a great day (we were lucky the sun was out and there was no rain!) We started with a bus ride into Wilanow--the kids had a great time on the bus and were each able to validate their own ticket. Once in Wilanow we saw the post office,a few local shops, and a church. Then we took a little walk to the Wilanow Palace where we played in the big piles of leaves out front. After some fun fall time we wandered around the beautiful Palace gardens and around the river. Each group had a digital camera to share and the students took many wonderful shots. After the Palace we went to the bank and breaked at McDonalds for lunch. After lunch we headed to the fire station where the fire fighters shared a lot of great tools with us. The kids got to try on helmets, the oxygen pack and each got a turn to go inside the fire truck. They even turned on the siren for us! The kids loved it! Finally we ended the day at the cemetery where families were preparing for All Saints Day.

It was a wonderful day and the kids were tired by the end of the day. A big thanks to Mrs. Broner, Mrs. Rekhani, Mrs. Cywinski, and Mrs. Dart who joined us as chaperones.

Here are some of the pictures the students took throughout the day...

Monster Mash Movies

Happy Halloween! We have enjoyed getting ready for Halloween all week in 1J. The students love listening to my Halloween CD and a class favorite is the Monster Mash. As a special surprise, I made 5 small movies for the kids. It's super cute and quite funny!

I was unable to connect the links directly, so to see the movies you must:

1. Highlight the internet address below (http://----)
2. Copy the link
3. Then paste it into a new internet browser window (address bar)


*Movie 1. Gustav, Alisha, Guy, Katia, Malu

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/13bS2zKyytYwecfb

*Movie 2. Jan, Dawid, Sara, Maks, Nina

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/mTBT2PYZ99wL6Dua

*Movie 3. Johan, Zosia, Keahi, Noa, Basia

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/1vbQ5sypfsDFBtlD

*Movie 4. Lucas, Shamolie, Nienke, Olivia, Ksawy

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/Tv6nPdxOjuxYcqee

*Movie 5. Ms. Johnson, Ms. Lucy, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Leishman, and Mr. Gamble

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/lQJWtJetuq0HxQvB

Here are some pictures from today's Halloween Celebration.











Have a wonderful vacation. See you in November!

UN Day Presentations

This week the students each presented their Country Poster to the class. What a wonderful experience! We learned so much about all the places we come from. The kids all did a wonderful job presenting and the posters they created were amazing. I was happy to see so much kid work go into the project. A big thanks to all the parents who were able to come in and listen.






















*Gustav was home sick this week, but we were happy to see him show up at the end of the day. We are excited to hear about his country next week.


More pictures from UN will be coming soon...