Additive Artwork

A few weeks ago we reviewed patterns by creating additive pattern artwork. The students first built their additive patterns out of color tiles and then recreated those patterns on black paper using one inch paper squares. Enjoy a quick slideshow of the students at work.

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Earth Day Book Swap

Earth Day Book Swap
April 22, 2010

Do you have old books lying around the house
that you’ve already read but no longer need?
Instead of letting them go to waste, recycle them!

The Moseley Green Team is hosting an Earth Day Book Swap!
Beginning Monday, April 19th, and ending Wednesday, April 21st,
you may bring in gently used books to your classroom.
When you bring in a book, your teacher will give you a Book Swap Ticket.

On Earth Day, Thursday, April 22nd, you may visit the First Grade Common Area to use your ticket to trade for a different gently used book that a fellow classmate has brought.

You may bring in as many books as you would like to trade.

The Earth Day Book Swap is a great way to get

new reading material for your home library for free!

Egg Hunt and Spring Party

Last Thursday the kids had a great time celebrating Spring. We started our day by creating "bunny bags" which they later used to collect eggs at the annual egg hunt. Following the egg hunt, the kids enjoyed a snack while relaxing with their buddies. Below are a few pictures of the egg hunt and Spring party. There aren't many of the actual egg hunting because the kids were so fast!

Casa Manana Field Trip

As a conclusion to our Language Arts lessons on comparing versions of Cinderella, our class visited Casa Manana in Fort Worth to watch their new production of Cinderella. The students seemed to really enjoy the play. Following the play we went to a local park to have a picnic and play for a few minutes. Enjoy the quick pictures from the field trip.

Baby Beluga: Pride Rally Share

A few weeks ago the students had the opportunity to share at Pride Rally what they have been learning. After researching the Beluga Whale as a class, each student wrote one learned fact on a Beluga Whale shaped piece of notebook paper. The whales were then assembled into a Bubble Map. At Pride Rally the students read their facts. At the conclusion of their share time, students sang "Baby Beluga." Below are a few pictures from Pride Rally.

Open House: Ocean Adventures

This is a little late coming, but thank you to all of the families who came to Open House. We had a great time. Over this last six weeks the students explored the Ocean Habitat in cross-curricular lessons. The students began by researching about a specific ocean animal in the library with Ms. Tricoli. They then used their research notes to write, edit, and revise research papers. Using their research papers, the students created slides on the computer about their animals. After creating their slides, the students typed and recorded themselves reading one fact about their ocean animal. The slides were compiled into an ocean video. (The video will be posted at a later time after modifications are made.) The students also read numerous books about the ocean, created math word problems with fish, and reviewed the parts of a plant with a study of Kelp. Students were able to experiment with the ocean habitat by making an "ocean in a bottle." Below is a quick video of the students' hard work.

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Phonics and Reading Help

If your child is struggling with their reading or seem to have lost interest, check out the BBC's Words and Pictures website. This website has great games and printables for all of the various stages of reading learning. You can use this site to target your child's reading progress at home. For example, if you notice that your child does not consistently read the long vowels correctly, you can visit their Long Vowel Sounds page. If they are struggling with their common sight words, you can visit their High Frequency Page.

Weekly Reminders

This week is a very busy week in first grade!

• As a reminder, we have a field trip this Wednesday morning to Casa Manana in Fort Worth. We will be watching "Cinderella" and then having a picnic lunch. Please remember that your child needs a sack lunch for this field trip.
• On Thursday afternoon we will be having our Spring Party at 2:45PM in the grassy area behind the library. The students will be hunting candy-filled eggs. Each child needs to bring one dozen candy-filled eggs by Thursday morning. Please do not put chocolate in the eggs as it quickly melts.
• Lastly, as a reminder, there is no school this Friday. Enjoy the long weekend with your family!

Check back in with the blog often to see some pictures from these fun events!

"Eggs"perimenting with Teeth

Yesterday we made predictions about what we thought would stain teeth by soaking eggs in three liquids: water, grape juice, and soda. The students journaled about their predictions and today in the science lab we tested our predictions. We found that the soda and grape juice stain the eggshell but the water did not. The students concluded that the water was the best thing for their teeth. In the lab today the students also explored several different tooth-related stations. At one station they were able to see what would clean a grape-juice stained tile the best: store-bought toothpaste or homemade baking soda toothpaste. The students got to make their own toothpaste as a class. At another station they practiced flossing properly with an egg carton and yarn. To practice the correct brushing motion, the students colored cavities on laminated teeth and then used an eraser to "brush" away the cavity. At another station, they explored the pressure teeth has on food by using pliers and scissors on pretzels. At another station, they drew themselves with healthy smiles and wrote sentences explaining how to keep them healthy. They also had a chance to read all about teeth. Enjoy a slideshow of their explorations and experiments.

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All Sorts of Graphing

Yesterday we explored and created three kinds of graphs: real-object, picture, and bar-type graphs. First the students voted on which type of cracker was their favorite: Teddy Grahams, Goldfish, or Animal Crackers. Goldfish crackers won by a landslide. After completing a bar-type graph together with this data, the students each got a cup full of the three crackers. Each student chose eight of the crackers at random to place on their real-object graph. The students loved comparing their graphs to one another. After completing their real-object graphs, the students replicated it using pictures. The students then went around reporting how much of each cracker they had in their cup to compare least, greatest, or equal to. Below a slideshow below of the students graphing:

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How I Grow and Change

This six weeks we are learning about how we grow and change, how organisms depend upon one another and their habitat. This week we focused on human growth with an emphasis on slow and fast changes. To help the students visualize how much they have grown and changed, we played a guessing game to see if students could recognize their classmates' baby pictures. The students were rolling in the floor laughing as the student in the picture would walk up to the picture and reveal themselves.

Rainbow Lessons: Character Education

Over the last six weeks we have had been having Rainbow Lessons in our class led by a fabulous teacher, Ms. K., each Friday morning following Pride Rally. Rainbow lessons are curriculum based character lessons to help children learn how to cope in difficult situations such as peer pressure. To learn more about their program, you can visit their website.

Revisiting Patterns

During math tubbing we have been revisiting patterns quite a bit. It is one of the students' favorite things. A few weeks ago we practiced with Skittles candy and also by drawing patterns on the dry-erase board. A student had an excellent way to practice patterns at home! She said that they could use Lego's blocks to create patterns. What a creative and fun way!

What's a Name Worth?

To practice comparing and ordering larger numbers, the students used Base Ten Blocks to create the first letter of their name and later the first letter of their last name. After creating their name's letter, they counted how much it was worth. We recorded the answers as a class and found which letter was worth the most and which was worth the least.

More Measuring

Over the last few weeks we have been exploring measurement with non-standard objects. The students started by measuring large objects but then moved into measuring smaller objects. Students are expected to use logical reasoning to know that if you use a larger object to measure, you would need less of that object. If you use a smaller object, you would need more of that object.

Snow Observations

An oldie but a goodie!

A few weeks back when the weather was a little bit chillier, the students had the opportunity to observe snow as it began to fall. Whenever there is a major visible change in weather we take the opportuntiy to write in our science journals about what we see. The students made great observations about the speed and volume of the snowfall as well as what they think causes the change in weather. A great way to build critical thinking in your child is to ask them why they think something is happening. Its even better if you have them write about it!