Mrs. Rutman's First Grade Blog

for the 2nd 9 weeks are Christian and Jackson! Congratulations!

was wonderful! The play about George Washington Carver was entertaining and informative! The pizza lunch was also a hit! Our class was very well behaved and acted everyone acted like perfect ladies and gentlemen for the performance!

was such a fun day! We had "100" day pancakes...a whip cream "1" and 2 pancakes for the "00." We read great books about both holidays...passed out Valentines...did a 100 chart activity...a Valentine creative writing...and many other wonderful things!

were a huge success! We pretended that the rain was snow...which was a lot of fun! We loved wearing our comfy pajamas as well! We made predictions about whether or not the groundhog would see his shadow..it was reported that he actually did see it. We wrote a silly stories about groundhogs, made a winter scene with paint, played winter games on the computer, read books about the friendly groundhog, and even had an opportunity to play outside in the "snow." It was a super day!

We started our unit about Economics this week. To help the students better understand the concepts of "Needs & Wants," "Goods & Services," and "Save & Spend," we have opened up a school store and bank. The children are paid each day to come to their "job," which is school. They "deposit" the money into "The Rutman Bank of America." They have to pay me a dollar at the beginning of the week for using the different materials in the classroom. We talked about how when adults work at a job, they get paid and then they use that money to do things such as pay bills and buy food...these are needs. If there is enough money, toys and games (wants) can also be bought. At the end of the week, the children get to "withdraw" the money and shop in the store. The children then have to decide if they want to "save" or "spend" their money. This is a really fun unit and the children are doing a great job and learning a lot!

This week Mrs. Dixon, our school Counselor, taught the children a lesson about kindness. The children and I have decided to continue this wonderful lesson by creating a "Kindness Wall" in the classroom. Everytime someone does a kind act, it is written on a heart, read aloud to the class and then displayed on the wall. So far we have 45 acts of kindness! Our goal is to get 100 acts of kindness by the 100th day of school! I am really proud of all the kind things the children are doing and I eager to see how quickly we reach our goal of 100!

In November of 2009, my husband won an award for teaching excellence called the REB award! Rhett is a Physical Education teacher at Rivers Edge Elementary. My husband has always admired China's strong emphasis on physical fitness and healthy eating habits, at school and at home. With this award my husband and I had the opportunity to travel to China. We visited various schools throughout the country, as well as different important landmarks! It was truly a life-changing experience! In addition to this amazing trip, the REB award has made it possible for us to write a children's book and we are excited to announce that it is finally done! It is a fun and colorful picture book that emphasizes the importance of exercise, as well as focusing on numbers 1-10!

to start a Thursday morning!

Danielle, Christian, Kelsey and Kaylee were our Gator Award Winners for the first 9 weeks!

fun and delicious! We have been estimating, sorting, graphing, skip counting, adding, dividing and MOST importantly eating our candy this week!

YES...that is a giant tarantula! We also got to study a live hissing cockroach and a live millipede, 8 live mealworms and 100 live ladybugs! In addition, we listened to an i-pod program about a centipede. Our lesson from the Math and Science Center was amazing!

We had an amazing field trip...rain-free I am happy to say! We went on a tour of the Farmhouse Museum and learned about how the Sheppard family lived in the 1860's. We then went to the "warming kitchen" and received a lesson on hygiene. The Sheppard children only had to brush their teeth 3 times a week and take a bath 1 time a week...my goodness! Next we visited a smaller house and had the opoortunity to grind coffee, sleep in an 1860's style "feather bed" and learn how to cook with various objects, such as a "spider oven." Finally, got to see the pigs, turkey and hens, as well as actually getting to pet the sheep and horse! We learned so much about life in the past! Thank you to all of the chaperones and parents who met us at Meadow Farm...it was lovely to have you all with us!

We had an election for SCA Representatives this week...Jackson Bowles and Kaylee Garner were elected as the class representatives! Hooray...I know that will do a great job representing our wonderful class!

We have be blessed with the gift of technology in our classroom! I am so excited to incorporate i-pads into the curriculum! The children have had the opportunity to use the i-pads this week in Literacy Rotations, Science lessons and "Fun Friday" Rotations! The children have been so excited to use them and I am so impressed with how easily they are catching on to how to use them! Each week, I will continue to introduce them to new games/apps, as well as making this wonderful technology a part of our daily learning!

was a complete success! Today, the students had the opportunity to collect data about their favorite types of apples and then use that data to create a bar graph. They also got to explore the different settings on Pixie and create original artwork to depict different Fall ideas! If this wasn't exciting enough...ALL the students earned a "Gator Award!" This is a new incentive program at Greenwood to recognize outstanding behavior and achievement by an individual student and/or a group of students! They were well-behaved, attentive, and respectful for the entire lesson! I am so proud of them!

We have been learning about Patriotic Symbols this week.