Field Day 2011

Last Friday we had our annual Field Day. Thank you to Coach Bentley and the other specialists for organizing such a fun day for the students. The students participated in the ball hug race, the scooter race, the egg and spoon race, freethrows, the bean bag toss, jump roping, tug-of-war, the shoe fling, the softball throw, and the 40 yard dash. Thank you to all of the parents who came out to enjoy the day with us.

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Spring Egg Hunt

Last Thursday we had our grade level Spring Egg Hunt. Due to the weather, we improvised and had our egg hunt in the cafeteria. The students seemed to love it! Following the egg hunt, the students snacked on popcorn and juice. Thank you to the parents for donating the eggs and candy. Click below to enjoy a quick slideshow of their egg hunting.

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Earth Day Book Swap

We held our second annual Earth Day Book Swap last Thursday. We held it a day early due to Field Day. Students in each grade brought books to trade with other students as a way to reuse what they already had. Thank you to the parents who volunteered their time to help the students find and trade books.

Animal Life Cycles

Last week we continued our study of life cycles by comparing the life cycles of bunnies, butterflies, earthworms, silkworms, and chicks. After learning about them, the students were divided into groups and assigned one of the animal life cycles. The students then became "experts" on their animal and created a diagram of the life cycle. They then presented their diagram and any information they learned about their animal to their classmates.

 

Earth Day Book Swap This Thursday

Don't forget! The Earth Day Book Swap is this Thursday from 8:00AM-12:00PM in the first grade common area. Students may bring in as many gently used books as they want. They will be given a book swap ticket for each book brought in which they can then use to redeem for another gently used book brought in by another student. This is a great way to teach the students to reuse what they already have.

KidBlog Update!

The students have been blogging away! They have written over 250 posts so far. Their latest blog entries are about additive patterns. When they wrote about additive patterns, they first created patterns in Kidspiration which then then exported to our class' shared folder. They then had to import the photo into their blog. Although the steps to export and import seemed tricky at first, the students were up the challenge and were very successful. They have also been using our writing strategies from Write From the Beginning to write personal narratives. They have also been practicing writing sentences using word wall and phonics words as well as using adverbs from our grammar lessons. When you get a few minutes, read their great posts at their KidBlog.

Area of a Foot

Today the students traced their shoe on one inch graphing paper. They then counted how much area in squares their shoes covered. Because their shoes did not always cover complete squares at the edges we had a mini-lesson on fractions by talking about putting two or three parts of a smaller square together to make a whole. After counting, the students wrote the area of their shoe on a t-chart on the whiteboard. As a group the students then ordered the areas from greatest to least on the board. To check their work, the students then ordered the shoe tracings on the floor in the order that they had written them on the board to see if it was truly from greatest to least. (Sorry there are not more pictures - we needed all hands today to count the squares!)

Additive Pattern Art

Last week as we learned about additive patterns, we talked about how there are patterns everywhere in life. We talked about how patterns can add beauty to objects and can look like art. So, the students used three and four step cards to build various additive patterns. They first built the patterns with color tiles and then recreated the pattern, step-by-step, using paper color tiles which they glued on to black construction paper. They then shared at least one thing they learned about additive patterns.

Earthworms!

Last week and this week we have been learning about the garden habitat and life cycles. As a part of our study, we have had an earthworm habitat in our classroom. We have been having fun observing them and learning interesting facts about them. To reflect on the learning, the students each created their own earthworm which we then added to our garden bulletin board. They then shared one thing that they learned about earthworms and shared it with their friends.

Plant Brace Maps

Using the Brace Map we created in class, the students created their own Brace Maps about the parts of a plant and their functions on the computer using the program Kidspiration. We then worked on learning to export the pictures and then insert them into Microsoft Word. We also are working on cropping and resizing pictures. The kids think it is "magic!"

Habitats: Where Animals Live

Last week we read "Habitats: Where Animals Live" to talk about the different needs of living creatures. After reading, the students worked in teams to list the animals from each habitat region on a Tree Map. After listing the animals, each student illustrated one animal for each habitat region on a six-part chart.

Fraction Caterpillars

To review parts of a set, the students made fraction caterpillars. Thank you to Mrs. Carroll from The First Grade Parade  for inspriing this wonderful idea! The students used three different colors of dot paint to create a caterpillar. They then told what part of the set each color was on their caterpillar. The students then added them to their hallway garden display.

Money

This week we have been reviewing money. One of the ways we have been reviewing money is by making small brace maps for the value of each coin on a large poster. The students sorted and added coin cards to make the larger coin's amount. For example, they said that 25 pennies is the same as 1 quarter. You can help your child with this at home by having them show you the different ways to make $0.05, $0.10, $0.25, and $0.50 with real coins.

A Cub Grows Up

Last week the students did a shared reading of the short story "A Cub Grows Up." The story is from our state textbook series. After reading, they discussed with a partner the different stages of a bear's life and what they can do in each stage. They then wrote Flow Maps individually to retell the story in their own words. After they were finished, they created their own bear cub.

Parts of a Plant

This week we have been learning about the parts of a plant and their functions. We used this great website to aid us in our learning. To assess what the students learned, they placed defintions of each plant part on a brace map. They then used the brace map definitions to create their own diagrams. The diagrams were placed on our class garden display. We will be adding more to our class garden display as we study life cycles of earthworms and frogs.

Line Measurement

Last week in computer lab we reviewed measurement using Kidspiration software. The students drew three lines of varying length and then measured them using color tiles. They then labeled the measurements and discussed with partners which was the longest and shortest. After measuring, the students blogged about their what they learned from this lesson. They also began learning how to insert pictures into their blog entries by saving and then inserting their Kidspiration measurement picture. You can read their thoughts about measurement and see their Kidspiration measurement pictures at their KidBlog.

The National Zoo

This week we have been reading and writing about various animals. Yesterday we read "Zoo Baby Boom" about ways The National Zoo helps protect animals from endangerment. After reading, the students wrote and illustrated ways zookeepers and conservationalists help the animals. As a way to elevate the interest in the lesson, the students viewed the live webcams from The National Zoo. This is a great opportunity for students to see all types of species, including those that are endangered.

Parts of a Set

To practice parts of a set, each student filled a cup with a random number of two-color counters. They then shook the cup and let the counters land on a random color. This is similar to the game "Shake Those Beans." After spilling the counters, the students counted how many total counters they had. They then counted what part was red and what part was yellow. They then created a four-part foldable to illustrate their findings. After illustrating, they labeled the pictures with statements such as "4 out of 7 are red." and "3 out of 7 are yellow." We talked about the total number staying the same and the first two numbers, the parts, adding up to equal the total amount.

Parts of a Plant: Kelp Forest

As a part of our ocean unit, the students studied ocean plants. The main plant that we focused on was the Kelp Plant. The students created Tree Maps to determine the parts of the plant, how animals and people use Kelp, and what can be made from the plant. They then created a diagram of the parts of the plant and discussed each specific part's job.