Today I went with the entire first grade to the local zoo. We had a great time, saw some wonderful animals, and the weather was gorgeous!! Jonathan asked his dad if he could wear his red cowboy hat. Richard said yes! I must admit that I was a bit upset about the hat because it looks so funny, but it ended up being a good mistake.........not only did it completely cover his whole head and neck from the sun, but it also was VERY easy to spot in the sea of lime green shirts! And while we're on the shirts...........what's up with lime green! We thought for sure that lime green would be a great color and that students would be easy to spot............and they were........except when we ran into two other field trips with the SAME COLOR SHIRTS! It must have been lime green day at the zoo. On the way home, the emergency alarm went off on the bus, and after I checked each emergency exit 3 times, it was still going off. We finally pulled over, and a driver from another bus told us that a bolt was loose on the alarm located on the back door - no one was in danger, but that darn thing kept going off! It only took five minutes to figure it out and fix it, but it was a bit frustrating. At any rate, we had a good time, we didn't lose anybody, ONLY one kid puked on the bus, and so far no parent complaints. Now that's a good day!!! :-)
As part of the Black Stallion Literacy Project, our First Grade classes received a visit from the horses (characters) in two books, read both books about Little Black, and then visited a horse farm. They learned about the horses (care, feeding, tack, etc.), read books to them, and had lunch. The project covers all the reading skills kids need - comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, etc. It's a great program. We stopped at a park on the way there to let the kids play and enjoy the beautiful cool morning (and to get some of their wiggles out!). All in all, we had a great day.
