Writing to Mr. Blarney

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner on March 17.  I have a mail box set up in my classroom that magically appeared this week.  I left a letter in the mail box for the students.  They had so many questions, that I said we had better write to Mr. Blarney to get some answers.  I have included a picture of the mail box and a sample to two letters that were written by my students. 

Dear Grade One’s

My name is Mr. Blarney.  Did you know that St.Patrick’s Day is just around the corner?  Yep, on March 17^th you can try and catch me if you can, but I have never been captured yet!  I know you will be building your traps at home and bringing them to school, good luck with those.  I’m sure you have lots of questions you would like to ask me, so go ahead and ask your teacher if you can write to me.  Put your letter in my mail box and I’ll get right back to you.  My mailbox will only be available for one week and then it will disappear! 

Mr. Blarney

Leprechaun Mail Box

100th Day / 100 Chart

100th Day and Valentine's Day fall within a day of each other, and some years on the same day.  I was given this idea from a colleague and the students have fun with this.  I recruit older students to tape or sticky tack the numbered hearts up around the school.  When we are ready to do the activity, I tell them they must go out of the room and find the numbers and once all the numbers are in place there is a hidden number to find.  They are only allowed to bring ONE numbered heart, at a time, back to the room and find the correct spot on the 100s chart. This is a great way to assess which kids know their numbers to 100 and their location on the 100s chart.  Once all the numbers are collected, you can see the 1 0 0 embeded in the 100s chart.  Enjoy!   

100th Day & Valentine Celebration

Estimation Jars

Estimation Jars

Here's a good idea that a received from my grade one cohort team. The "Estimation Jar". I saved two plastic jars and have included the message below, inside the jar. Each student has a turn taking home one of the jars and we estimate what comes back. We have received cotton balls, rather large nails, and a variety of items to eat! My students write their guess down on a piece of paper and then side it under their spot at our Estimation Station. Once we have counted the items, by 2's, 5's, and 10's, we flip all the answers over to see how good our estimating skills have become.

Dear Parents,

Your son/daughter has brought home the estimation jar. This jar is to be filled with anything that will fit and then returned to school the next day. Please be as creative at you like. (If your child is bringing something edible and will be sharing with the class, please put the food in a baggie inside the jar as the jar has been used for rocks and such.) Only the person who put the items in the jar will know beforehand the correct number. This number should also be written on the inside of the lid. If the “secret” is let out before we do the estimation activity, we will simply not count any of the guesses and give the jar to the next student to take home. Please emphasize to your child to keep this a secret. I would expect that the jar will make it home twice before the end of the year. The jar does not need to be filled. (Max. 100 items)
Thanks!

Through the Seasons of Grade One on PhotoPeach



These photos go along with my presentation called "Through the Seasons of Grade One". This is to assist those who have seen the presentation who would like to go back and revisit some of the ideas I presented.