Today we kicked off a wonderful year of writing with a heart map.  Writing is hard work and sometimes we get stuck not knowing what to write about.  We created heart maps that we can go back to and get inspiration from.  We all have some unique interests, but turns out we all love family, friends, and our beautiful Colorado mountains!

Can you believe the first week of first grade is over already?  I can't!  Today was action packed and full of fun.  First we learned to shop for books in the library.  We practiced building our "read to self" stamina and selected books to keep in our own browsing boxes.

Then we explored our math manipulatives.  We were doing math without even realizing it.  What looked like playing was really sorting, categorizing, counting, and pattern building.  We also practiced writing our numbers.  This year we're working with numbers all the way up to 120.

We had another fun filled day in first grade today.  We started off with some name art.  We used our fine motor skills to create torn paper names.  We all picked two colors and made an ABAB pattern.  It's so much harder than it looks!

Sometimes we need brain breaks--especially after long spelling test!  Today we rested our brains while dancing to new vocabulary words.  Each word has a motion that goes along with it to help us remember.  Can you guess which is:

Look at this first grade team work!  We have a wonderful classroom community.

We had a simply fabulous first day in first grade.  We got to know our classmates, looked around the classroom, played with friends at recess, and figured out what first grade is going to be like. Here are a few pictures of us on our first day.  We can't wait to come back tomorrow!

Here are our super excited first grade faces!

Here are our serious first grade working faces!

Welcome back!  I hope you summer was as fun, sunny, and adventure-filled as mine.  I can't wait to meet you all in a few days and get to know you and learn with you.  In the mean time here are a few pictures of what kept me busy.  I can't wait to hear all about what you did!