Terrariums

All of the first grade teachers taught a combined lesson on how to build a terrarium. The lesson was a part of our study on the interdependence of plants and animals. Each class built a terrarium out of a 2 liter coke bottle. Student volunteers filled the container with soil, followed by the flower plant, followed by more soil, and then water. Last the teachers assisted the students in placing the top on the terrariums. The terrariums are being kept in the sunshine of our science lab. The students created foldables to draw and write about the steps they took to create the terrariums.

Plant Diagrams

The students created flower diagrams to show the parts of a plant and their functions. Their flowers were added to our hallway garden display.

Planting Potatoes and Onions

The students recently visited the school garden to plant potatoes and onions. The students took turns digging the holes, planting the potato pieces or onion bulbs, and then covering them. They have been watering them every two weeks. Upon our return to class, they wrote a How To paper on the steps to take in planting potatoes. The How To writing is a part of our writing program, Write From the Beginning.

Human and Physical Characteristics

In Social Studies the students have been learning to differentiate between physical and human characteristics. To assess their understanding, we took our lesson outside to the school garden. The students drew the school garden and then identified at least two physical characteristics and two human characteristics from the garden.

Fraction Caterpillars

To review parts of a set, the students created Fraction Caterpillars that were inspired by a lesson I read about on The First Grade Parade. On Mrs. Carroll's lesson, the students used pom pom balls to create the fraction caterpillars but we used Do-A-Dot paint. The students chose three different colors to create their caterpillar and then recorded the parts of a set on the recording sheet. They then cut out their caterpillars and glued them to the top of the recording sheet.

Garden Research Visual Displays

After spending a few weeks researching the garden habitat, the students created visual displays to share facts that they learned. Because this was this first time to create a visual display to share their research, I taught the students how to fold the paper to plan out how to space the drawings and writing on their displays. In the center of each flower, the students wrote a "Did you know?" fact based on their research findings. We also talked about what quality work looks like - neat, accurate, etc. Because of this, their displays are very similar, as you can see in the pictures below.

Terrariums

My teammate, Mrs. Timms, who plans science for our team, taught all of first grade how to make a terrarium. Using soda bottles cut in half, the students first added soil to the bottom half of the container. As they took turns, we discussed what is in soil and how soil is used. They then added a plant to the soil followed by more soil. Next they added water. We discussed that plants need soil, water, and air. The teachers then placed the top of the soda bottle on top of the bottom piece. Once back in class, the students created a four flap foldable to indicate the steps taken to create the terrarium. On the top, they drew the pictures with labels and under the flaps they wrote sentences using transition words. By the end of the day the students were already able to see how the water was evaporating to the top of the container which lead into a discussion of the water cycle.

Fact Family Flowers

My teammate, Ms. Branch, shared an engaging math lesson on fact families that went perfectly with our garden theme. Each student traced a flower outline with four petals. They then created a stem and leaf. I gave each student a triangle fact family card. They wrote the three numbers from their fact family on the leaf. On the petals, they wrote the four corresponding fact family sentences. We then added them to our garden display.

Little Researchers

I've already written several posts about how we conduct research in our class but I wanted to share some pictures of my little researchers in action. It is so nice to see them excited about research and to see how independent they are in finding their own answers to questions!

Research: Garden Expert

As a part of our research over the garden habitat, one of the grandparents from our school who just happens to be a garden expert, visited with all of first grade to share infomation about plants and bring in examples. Mrs. Flowers (yes, that is really her name!) owns Pat's Plants in Grand Prairie. She explained the various functions of plants and their various needs. The students were able to ask questions they had come up with during their research. In class, they added information that she shared to their research plan handout. Mrs. Flowers was amazing! She even brought seeds, soil, and cups for each student to be able to plant their own flowers! We are saving our seeds to plant on Earth Day!

Apples!

As a part of our writing program, the students wrote to describe an apple. They first thought of questions they had about apples such as: "What do they look like? What do they taste like? What parts do they have? How can they be used?" They then wrote Tree Maps to answer those questions. They used the Tree Map to help them write sentences. After writing their first draft, the students met with me to edit and revise their writing. While I worked with students one-on-one, the other students created construction paper apples to add to our class apple tree along with their final drafts.