Music Specials Class

My Little Pony from Valerie Ruckes on Vimeo.

We love going to our special class for music. We sing, we perform, and we learn to play instruments, too. We have music for and hour each week. Do you have special classes for music at your school?

Nursing Students Share Information

On Wednesday, the nursing students from Rochester College made a visit to our first grade classrooms.  They presented information on Allergic Reactions, Nutrition, and Hand Washing.  All of the presentations were engaging and informative.   Our first graders were introduced to the food pyramid and they found out how long to wash their hands.  How long?  As long as it takes to sing their ABC's.

Star of the Week - Brooke

This week our Star of the Week is Brooke.  Brooke shared her "About Me" poster.  She brought in her dinosaur to show the class, and her mom came in to read us a story.  We also used Brooke's name to make words and identify vowels and consonants.

Name Poster

Here are a few things about Brooke:
Brooke's favorite food is pizza.
Brooke's favorite color is pink.
If she could have one wish, it would be to fly.
A few more of Brooke's favorite things are:
Halloween
Unicorns
Swimming
Brooke's Family:  Mom, Dad, her sister, Annie, and Stan and Ned her two cats.

Brooke is hole her "About Me" poster.

Brooke's mom read us a Halloween story and we really enjoyed it.  It was very funny.

Brooke's mom is reading to our class.

We hope you enjoyed your Star Week, Brooke.  Next week's Star is Violet.

It's Fun Run Time!

We had a wonder Fun Run event on Friday.  The Fun Run is sponsored by our PTA.  Each student receives a Fun Run t-shirt (green, red, or yellow) for the event.  During their scheduled time, each classroom runs or walks around the bus loop for 15 minutes followed by a 5 minute cool down.   We run to music which makes it even more fun.  Each time a student runs a lap around the bus loop they receive a tally mark on the back of their t-shirt.  The tally marks are counted at the end of the event and family and friends make donations based on the number of laps we run.  It's our best fund raiser for the school year.  It really is A Fun Run!

Are You Ready?

Runner are running around the bus loop.

Stopping to get a tally!

Watch Us Cheer! Fun Run! Fun Run!

Fun Run Cheer from Valerie Ruckes on Vimeo.

Reading with Liz and Lucy

On Friday our classroom had a visit from two very special guests, Liz and Lucy.  Liz is a wonderful woman who enjoys sharing a book and her beautiful dog with the children at McGregor.  Lucy is a beautiful and huge dog called a Newfoundland.  Lucy is 9 years old and she is very gentle.  Lucy sits very quietly while Liz reads a book to the class.  Our class was very excited to have Liz and Lucy read with us.  Caleb even drew Lucy's Picture.

Our class prepares to hear the story.

Today we enjoyed, The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! by Mo Willems.  After the story each student had a chance to pet Lucy.  It was a wonderful day of reading with Lucy.  

Caleb drew a picture for Lucy.

Would you like to read a book to Lucy yourself?  You can read to Lucy on Wednesday nights at 6:30 at the Rochester Hills Public Library.  You must preregister by contacting Youth Services at 248-650-7140 or  www.rhpl.org.

Demetrius pats Lucy

Caleb S. and Caleb L. pat Lucy

Owen pats Lucy.

Erica pats Lucy

Gracie and Benito pat Lucy

Liz reading The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!

Thank you Liz and Lucy!

Star of the Week

We started our Star of the Week routine this week.  This week's Star is Brenna.  During their star week students share an "About Me" poster, they share news during our morning meeting, and they may invite a guest to read to the classroom.  The Star of the Week is also featured on our classroom blog.  

I spent time with Brenna during her star week and I asked her a few questions.  Our conversation appears below:

Mrs. Ruckes:  So Brenna, since you are the Star of the Week, I want to ask you a few questions.

Mrs Ruckes:  What is your favorite color?
Brenna:  Pink

Mrs. Ruckes:  What is your favorite food?
Brenna:  Pizza!  With mushrooms.

Mrs. Ruckes:  What is you favorite thing to do in school?
Brenna:  I like free choice time.  I like the computer, too.  I like PBS kids.

Mrs. Ruckes:  Do you like to read?
Brenna:  I love that Mouse Count book

Brenna's family includes her mom and dad, her twin brothers, and her dog Riley.

Global Read Aloud - Charlotte's Web (Day 2)

This is day 2 of the Global Read Aloud.  The book we are reading is Charlotte's Web.  We enjoyed reading chapter one yesterday and we were anticipating what would happen next.  First, we reviewed the characters from chapter one.  Next, we talked about the setting of the story.  The setting is where the story takes place.  Our responses were:

• The Farm
• Fern's house
• The kitchen
• The barn

Mrs. Ruckes shared a nonfiction book with us called On A Farm.  There is a pig on the cover of this book and we think it looks like Wilbur because it's white.

We made two predictions about what would happen next in the story.  Our predictions were:

I predict Wilbur is getting bigger.

I predict Wilbur will talk.

Mrs. Ruckes read chapters two and three as we worked on our Reading Response sheets.  We wanted to see more pictures but Mrs. Ruckes reminded us that we were reading a chapter book and they usually don't have a lot of pictures.  Sometimes chapter books don't have any pictures and we have to make our own mental pictures.

We thought the part where Fern is pushing Wilbur in a stroller with her doll was really funny.  Here are more of our favorite parts from chapters two and three.

Wilbur might grow!

The girl was right by Wilbur.  Wilbur was happy.

Fern is putting Wilbur in the box.

The girl was right by Wilbur.  Wilbur was happy.

Wilbur is sleeping in the barn.

Here is a hound.  He is trying to get his food.

She put the pig in the box.

I put Wilbur in the box.

Tomorrow we'll read chapter 4.  We really love this book!  What is your favorite part of the book so far?