Pumpkin Pumpkin!

We love to read poems to practice our fluency.  Each week we add a new poem to our Poetry Notebooks.  We also enjoy adding hand motions.  We hope you enjoy the poem below.  It's called Pumpkin Pumpkin!  It is sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.  Enjoy!



Pumpkin Pumpkin from Valerie Ruckes on Vimeo.

Four Read Apples - Fluency Poem

Each week we focus on a new fluency poem.  This week's poem is called Four Red Apples.  We read or sing the poem during our Morning Meeting time each day.  On Friday's we illustrate the poem and place a copy into our Poetry Notebooks.  Our Poetry Notebooks go home on Fridays so we can continue to read the poems to our families and practice our fluency at the same time.  Take a look at our video and illustrations below.  How do you practice fluency in your classroom?


https://www.dropbox.com/sc/8jinbvkrplj87r8/AACqT71JKYpI1QoXXc3PTmfpa

Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King

This year, we learned a lot about Dr. Martin Luther King. We read books about his life and we watched videos to learn about all the important things that he did to help our world become a better place. In the United States we celebrate his birthday on January 20th, which is Martin Luther King Day. One of the things we did to celebrate the day was to share our dreams for the future. Here are some of the dreams we shared: I can Dream Like Dr. king. My dream is... "No more smoking because it is not healthy." "To have no hungry children any where." "No more drunk drivers."

This is a song we sang all week about Dr. Martin Luther King. We sang it every morning during our morning meeting.

MLK song from Valerie Ruckes on Vimeo.

We learned a lot about Dr. Martin Luther king. Happy Birthday Dr. King! What did your class do to celebrate Dr. King's dream? We would love to know. Please leave us a comment.

Family Read Along

Last week, we held our annual Family Read Along for all four first grade classrooms.  Yes, 80 first graders and their families.  It's always a huge event and a huge surprise.  It's a time to celebrate our reading lives with our family and friends.  The theme is based on the book, The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant.  In the story, the relatives visit and there is lots of hugging, kissing, and eating.

Everyone in our class was extremely surprised when their family members appeared at our classroom door. There were moms and dads, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, and volunteers!  They brought along lots of book to read, snacks to share, and blankets to sit on.  It was the best reading time ever!  What does your class do to celebrate reading?

It's 12-12-12

Today is a very special day on the calendar.   It's December 12, 2012 or 12-12-12.   To celebrate this occurrence we are focusing on the number 12 today.  Since our class loves to read, we thought we would start our morning by listing 12 of our favorite books that Mrs. Ruckes read aloud this year.  Here is our list:



1.  We Are in a Book!  By Mo Willems














2.  David Goes to School By David Shannon




3.  If You Take A Mouse To School By Laura Numeroff




4.  No, David! By David Shannon






5. David Get in Trouble by David Shannon




6.  Pip & Squeak by Ian Schoenherr

















7.  Ten Timid Ghosts  By Jennifer O'Connell








8.  Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus  By Mo Willems



















9.  Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!








10.  The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!  By Mo Willems





11.  The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!  By Mo Willems















12.  It's Christmas, David!  By David Shannon

We're sure we'll fall in love with a lot more books this school year.  We still have 2013 to add more favorites to our list.  Have you read some of our favorites?  Please leave us a comment and share some of your favorite classroom read alouds.

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!

Global Read Aloud

This year we are participating in the 2012 Global Read Aloud.  During the month of October, classrooms from around the world will be participating in this event.  The book chosen for the Global Read Aloud is Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.  Parents, you may want to pick up a copy of the book and read it along with your child.  The chapters are being read according to the schedule below:

Week 1 Ch. 1-6

Week 2 Ch. 7-11

Week 3 Ch. 12-17

Week 4 Ch. 18-22

We are hoping to connect with other classrooms from around the world who are also taking part in this event.  Our first connection is with Mrs. Nemecek's class in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.  They will begin the event by responding to a question on their Kidblog.  We will stop by their blog and leave some comments for them on Monday.  We are planning to use our classroom Twitter account to tweet our responses to the book and we'll share our responses and information here, on our class blog.   We are very excited to participate in this event which starts on Monday, October 1, 2012.

Happy Reading!

Flashlight Friday Makes Building Stamina a Breeze

Our classroom is working on building our reading stamina.  We are doing read to self for 12 minutes.  Our goal is to reach 30 minutes.  At each 10 minute interval we have a small classroom celebration, like extra recess, a treat, or playing a game in the gym with our teacher.  However, when we reach our 30 minute goal, we are planning to celebrate with a Read-In (bring blankets, wear P.J.'s, enjoy a treat, and READ).

Today was the kickoff of our Flashlight Fridays routine.  During flashlight Friday, Mrs. Ruckes turns out the lights and we read with our flashlights.  It's a lot of fun and it makes building stamina a breeze.  As S.G. exclaimed, "I just love Flashlight Friday."

Some students are reading by flashlight on the rug.

Some students like to read under tables with their flashlights.

Others like to stretch-out as they read.

Some students read at the small table and the writing center with their flashlights.

These students enjoy reading at their tables with their flashlights.

J.M. reads at the small table.

O.G. uses his flashlight to read near the book return area.

G.S. gets up close and personal with her flashlight and book.

What fun things do you do at reading time in your classroom?  Leave a comment, we would love to know!