Our Animals! book is finally finished! Check out this digital version of our book!

| Design your own photo book with Mixbook's easy online editor.

DINOVEMBER!

It's Dinovember! The dinosaurs have been busy in our classroom this month making messes, getting into trouble, and creating a ton of excitement. The Kids of Room 9 come flying into the room every morning to see what those crazy dinosaurs have been up to every night (and they don't even mind cleaning up after them!). Here are some pictures of what they have done so far:

If you don't know about Dinovember, or have some unexplainable messes in your house or classroom, you might want to visit this Facebook page or check out @dinovember or #dinovember on Instagram or Twitter! They also have a couple of books available here.


*A note from Ms. Clarke:
First of all, Grade 1 is awesome. It's the best. Seriously. And the kids in my class this year are awesome too, and a little bit dino-crazy. Dinovember isn't just a thing that I'm doing in my classroom (although I would love to take credit for this great idea, I can't), it's a project started in 2012 by Refe and Susan Tuma, a couple of parents in Kansas City, to keep the magic and to inspire creativity and imagination. You can read more about it here. They documented their dinoadventures on social media (Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook) and now parents, teachers and other child care providers in over 50 countries have participated. Amazing! 

The Kids of Room 9 hurry in each day to see what those dinosaurs have done, and not once have they suggested that someone other than the dinosaurs themselves (ie. Me) have created the messes. They have totally bought into this idea and it's magic. They have incredible (and hilarious) conversations about what the dinos might do next, have incorporated some of that into their play during choice time, have shared stories about the dinosaurs with other kids, and have even corrected some of their spelling mistakes in their notes to us :) I can't wait to see what the dinos have in store for us for the rest of the month!

Peace Is...

This year we had our Remembrance Day assembly a few days early. The Kids of Room 9 were asked to prepare a short presentation about what PEACE means to them. We read some books about peace, talked and wrote about it, and then the children in our class created this stop motion video to share their thinking at the assembly. It's beautiful and thoughtful and amazing. Enjoy! -Ms. Clarke



Peace Is from Erin Clarke on Vimeo.

We LOVE GoNoodle!

GoNoodle is fun for kids. We have been doing lots of GoNoodle. We like to do it. -Grayson
GoNoodle is exercise. -Colin
GoNoodle has lots of fun things on it. The MooseTube is my favourite. -Katya
We have been doing GoNoodle and we are doing GoNoodle lots of times. -Cara
McPufferson is our mascot or a character. Whenever our tube gets all purple, McPufferson gets stronger. When we get 10/10 he gets stronger and stronger until he gets as strong as he can get. Then we don't know what to do, but maybe we just start over. -Sophie
Some GoNoodles they are fun like Maximo. He says, "'Tis I. Maximo!" when we start. -Cav
We do GoNoodle when we are really tired or when we are too excited like after recess. Today we did a relaxing one. GoNoodle is awesome! -Jaelyn
One of the games of GoNoodle is Cookie, Cookie and it is fun. Sometimes we do other games but our class likes Cookie, Cookie. -Chelsea

These are all of the games. -Megan

This is Maximo. -Cara










This is McPufferson. -Sophie

A VERY Busy Day!

We went to Ms. Coppen's class and fire fighter Nick talked about safety. -Ella
We saw the ladder go up. -Cara
Today when we went outside we saw the fire truck that Nick drove and we talked about safety. When we did a walk through the fire truck. -Jaelyn
Today we went to go in the fire truck. -Grayson

Here are some of the fire safety tips that Nick told us:
When there is smoke, you have to go on the ground and be like a snake. -Chelsea
If you have fire on you, you have to STOP, DROP, and ROLL. -Colin
If there is an alarm, and if the door feels hot, they you can't go out, you have to call for help and open up the window. -Ella
We have to make a meeting place with Mom or Dad. -Cav
Check the fire alarms in your house for batteries. -Grayson

This morning the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra were playing on the things they had to play. Some of them were violins, and they were playing some beautiful music that they played in our gym at the school. -Jaelyn

They were playing beautiful songs. They played Super Mario 10. -Colin

They played The Simpson's song. -Eli

They played Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. -Katya

Busy Hands and Happy Hearts

Today we had an amazing Choice Time! I've introduced a few different materials and possible activities, and the children are becoming more familiar and comfortable with all of the things that we have in our space.
After watching kids building, sharing, working together, trying new things, creating, and experimenting, I left school with a very happy heart. Here is just a little bit of what I saw:

View on Flipagram

Grade 1 Outdoors!

This year we are taking our learning outdoors! About once a week (weather permitting) we're heading outside to explore our community, observe the changes that happen throughout the year, and connect with nature. The fall and winter are a bit of a training camp for something BIG coming in the spring... a whole week of learning outside! If you'd like to see what kinds of things we are doing outside, just take a look at the page tab labelled "GRADE 1 OUTDOORS" above!

All About Me Bags!

This post is a little bit late, but worth the wait! The Kids of Room 9 did a wonderful job of their first home project this year, All About Me bags! They shared their bags with each other and talked about themselves, their families, and some of the things they love. Here is a quick peek inside their bags. ~Ms. Clarke

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last week The Kids of Room 9 worked together to create a shadow show to represent Raffi's song, Thanks A Lot. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!


Thanks A Lot from Erin Clarke on Vimeo.

The 4 Seasons

In IBL we were learning about the 4 seasons. -Cara
We learned about fall, winter, spring and summer. -Chelsea
We went in groups and we had to write what we were going to do. We had to practice. We did a dress rehearsal before we did it.-Jaelyn
We had to get all of our stuff like costumes and props and we put them on for the movie.-Katya
We brought lots of things from home. -Ella
We had a green screen and we stood in front of it because then there was pictures behind us so we could pick the background. -Grayson
We picked the background on the computers. -Nia
We liked dressing up! -Chelsea
We made 4 movies. -Cav
Today we watched the movies, The 4 Seasons. -Colin

Here are our movies!


We Love Fall! from Erin Clarke on Vimeo.

We Love Winter! from Erin Clarke on Vimeo.

We Love Summer! from Erin Clarke on Vimeo.

We Love Spring! from Erin Clarke on Vimeo.

Choice Time in Room 9

In Room 9, sometimes we get to have Choice Time! Choice Time is a favourite thing for many of the kids in our class. Here are some of the things we like about Choice Time:

We like to make crafts. -Grayson
We build up in Choice Time with the blocks and all of the other stuff. It is fun. -Cav
We make beautiful art and we have fun with building and we really like toys so we don't want to break stuff. -Jaelyn
I like all of the choices. -Colin
We like drawing on paper and building with blocks and Bananagrams. -Chelsea
We like to play with all of the toys. -Katya
We like to read books. -Ella
We like playing with the toys. We let each other play. -Megan
We have to share the toys. -Tristin
We include people at choice time. -Henning
If people are playing on the ground, watch out for them. -Jaelyn
You have to listen to the rules when you play. You have to clean up your mess when you're mess when you're done. -Chelsea
I like playing with paper. -Maggie
My favourite are the blocks. -Colin
Be nice at choice time. -Katya
We take care of the toys. -Nia
If somebody asks you if they want a book, give them one. -Ella
You have to be kind to the other kids when you play. -Eben
Be gentle with the toys. -Cav

During choice time I see kids playing together, cooperating, designing, building, making things, problem solving, using their imaginations, inventing stories, and having a whole pile of fun! It's a time when kids have choice in the materials they want to use, the activity they want to do, and how they want to do it.

This year my goal is to transform our Choice Time activities and choices into a "Makerspace" time. The "Maker Movement" is something that many educators are bringing into their classrooms and library spaces as it embraces a child's natural curiosity and supports the notion of learning by doing. Play is an essential component. Technology also plays a role in Makerspaces. Children become producers of digital products rather than consumers of products created by others. This year we will explore coding as one element of our Makerspace time. This type of hands-on learning/playing incorporates so many STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) outcomes while kids create, cooperate and learn together. -Ms. Clarke

Today we read the book "Stick and Stone". It is all about being a good friend. The kids of Room 9 did some thinking and talking about what makes a good friend. Here are their ideas:

Good friends are kind and they share the toys. ~Colin
Making new friends is good. ~Henning
Good friends are nice. If somebody didn't know how to read, you could help them. ~Ella
Good friends are respectful. ~Katya
Be thankful for your friends. ~Tristin
Be helpful to people. Don't fight with your friends. Friends stand up for each other. Be good to one another. ~Jaelyn
Listen to what your friends are saying. ~Megan
Don't hit your friends. ~Cavanaugh
Share books with each other. Help people when they get hurt. Friends go to the park together. You can teach someone to pump on the swings.~Chelsea
Friends play together. ~Maggie
Share everything. ~Grayson
Friends play tag. ~Eli
Friends make things for each other. ~Cara
Friends play nicely together. ~Nia
Friends have playdates. ~Masen
Friends play. ~Sophie
Friends are caring. ~Eben

This is our very first class blog post of the school year! The kids of Room 9 are not totally sure about what blogging is, but everyone was excited to share their ideas and see their name on the big screen :)

The Kids of Room 9 are terrific friends and show kindness, play together, help each other and get along so well in and out of our classroom. I feel so lucky to be a part of this group this year. Stay tuned... ~Ms. Clarke

Here we go!

I can't believe that it's been over a year since I've posted here... and what a year it has been! I am just returning to work after a year of maternity leave. My son, Bennett, will be 1 in October. This year has absolutely flown by!

All of the same feelings of nervous exitement, uncertainty, and hope have coming flooding back as I set up my classroom for another year, perhaps more than ever before. I can't wait to meet my kids and see what big things we can do together!

This year we will be posting here regularly to share all of the things we do in Grade 1. Check back often to see what we're up to!

One of my favourite things about being a teacher is that every September brings with it a new beginning... and in Grade 1 the beginning is magic. I can't wait to see what kind of magic we make this year.

-Ms. Clarke