Thanksgiving Activities

Wow! We had such a great "week" before Thanksgiving! Instead of flexibly grouping for reading, we decided to keep our homeroom classes so they could participate in some fun Thanksgiving activities. Here are a few things we did:

1. Learned about the meaning of Thanksgiving!

We watched a brainpop video and read some Thanksgiving books to learn the true meaning of the holiday.  We also created "The First Thanksgiving" diorama where students showed how the pilgrims and Native Americans ate the first harvest feast. We also wrote the meaning of Thanksgiving on the back of the diorama so they could share it with their relatives over the holiday. My students were so excited to share their dioramas with their family members!

If you look really close, you will notice with "corn field" in front of the house. So creative and thoughtful!

2. Run, Turkey, Run!!

We read a story called, "Run, Turkey, Run!" where the story of Thanksgiving was told through the perspective of the turkey. My students pretended that they were turkeys and had to persuade people not to eat them for Thanksgiving. They wrote reasons that they should not be eaten (i.e. "I taste bad", "I am disguised as another animal", "I might claw your belly after you eat me"). They were very creative and didn't even realize they were writing a persuasive piece! So fun!!

3. Wrote "I'm Thankful For Letters"

Part of the goal for Thanksgiving is to teach students to be thankful.  As a class, we generated a list of things they are thankful for and wrote them down on paper. They are helping and encouraging each other to come up with all sorts of things to be thankful for. Then, we wrote letters to each other/family members telling them what they were thankful for. It is amazing to see how grateful they were for all of their "blessings"!

4. Pumpkin Pie!!

To end our Thanksgiving unit, we concluded the day with pumpkin pie in a bag. We read the directions on the recipe and made the pumpkin pie in groups of four. Each group was given a Ziploc bag with vanilla pudding mix. We added milk, pumpkin pie filling, and some spices to make our treat. Each student got a turn squeezing the bag to mix all of the ingredients together. Then, each student was given a cup with crushed graham crackers. Each student was squeezed some pumpkin pie in their cup and topped it off with whipped cream. So yummy!!!! The kids loved it so much that they asked for seconds! I printed the recipe and sent it home with the kids to make at home! :)

Thank you to all of the parents who donated items for our pumpkin pie treat! I am so thankful for such amazing parents who are willing to donate time/resources to make special memories for my students. I appreciate you very much!

I love the look on their faces! It was definitely a little squishy!!!

So yummy! :)

I think Cameran and Logan enjoyed their treat!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Owl Pellets!!!

After learning about many types of habitats and life cycles of animals, our class focused on food chains last week. They learned about how energy transfers and how animals need each other and plants to survive. They even briefly learned fancy terms like herbivore and carnivore (these terms aren't perfected yet though!). On Thursday, the kids made their own food chains where they started with either the sun or a plant and finished with a larger animal. On Friday, they learned how life cycles really work with a hands-on experiment. We actually dissected owl pellets!! For those of you that do not know about owl pellets...here is brief description:
1. The owl eats an animal whole (mouse, snake, etc.).
2. After 3-6 hours, all of the "meat" from the animal has been digested.
3. The owl "coughs up" a small pellet of fur and bones.

Groups of three or four were given an owl pellet and some popsicle sticks to use for the dissection process. They separated the bones from the fur, and made predictions about what type of animal they think the bones came from. It was an awesome experiment because they actually got to see many different types of animal bones! Check out our pictures!

Look how engaged they are with dissecting! So much fun!

This group separated all of the bones and fur.

Here is an up close and personal shot of the dissection process!



THANK YOU to Mr. Lynn and Mrs. Mendez for volunteering to help me for the dissection.  The kids did a wonderful job, but I definitely couldn't have done it without volunteers!

Character Day!!

Wow!! We had an AWESOME day!! We started our day off with a Halloween inspired read aloud, and then the kids enjoyed sharing their "character costumes" with the whole school. Each primary class took turns walking in the hallways for other students to see their book and character outfit. We really enjoyed all of the creative costumes! At the end of the day, each child in my class shared their favorite book and explained their costume. We had some very imaginative costumes!! They also shared the plot of their book and some character traits (of course we had to sneak some language arts in there too!!). Here are a few pictures....

We stared the day with a "Halloween" read aloud. The character in the story was a 50 foot teacher! Yikes!!

Look how sweet these girls are!! Of course they are dressed as princesses and Junie B.!

Aren't they so cute?

We had a REAL mummy in our class today!!!

"I Love You Stinky Face", "Three Musketeers", "Spiderman", and "Ladybug Girl".

These are two of my favorites! Logan even looks like Waldo! So cute!

We ended the day with a class picture. And, yes, I dressed up too (I was the grouchy ladybug)!! We had so much fun!

Math: Shapes and Patterns

This week we have been working on plane shapes (2D) and solid shapes (3D). My students have learned the names of many plane and solid shapes. We have been identifying plane and solid shapes in our classroom and world around us. For example, our clock is a cirlce and our pencil sharpener is a rectangular prism. Quiz your child to see what plane and solid shapes they can find in your house!!!

 

They even made models with solid figures! Look at this creative castle!

We played a review game yesterday called, "Hullabaloo". I put many types of plane shapes and solid figures on the floor. The kids walked in a line around the shapes while the music was playing. When the music stopped, I gave them a direction and they had to find the shape with those characteristics.

Example: Find a shape with no corners or edges...They stood on a circle or sphere. We had a blast!

         

"Find a shape with four sides and four corners."

Our test on shapes and patterns is tomorrow!!! :)







Parent Teacher Conferences

Please do not forget to sign up for Parent/Teacher Conferences. I am using a new website to schedule conferences this year. You can view all of the available times and sign up for an appointment. I am very excited to meet with all of you and discuss your child's progress!

http://www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/9723456347209980125

**If these times do not work for you, please email me and I will try to accommodate your schedule. Thanks!

Boyd Orchard Field Trip!!

We had a great time on our field trip to Boyd Orchard!! Here are some of the things that we did on the field trip: listened to an educational speech about apples, visited the petting zoo, had a hayride, ate doughnuts and cider, picked apples, and played on the playground. I was so proud of their behavior and respectfulness to other students and staff members at the orchard. Although our day was very busy, everyone seemed to have a great time! Thank you to those of you who took time out of your busy day to be a chaperone on our field trip. Your help was greatly appreciated! See below for some pictures of our trip.

Hayride! We rode around the farm and saw all of the plants grown there while enjoying a hayride.

Andrew climbing the "mountain" on the playground. It looks really challenging!

Brady is picking an apple in the orchard. The kids learned how to pick their own apples (push up on them first, then pull down).

Henry with the apples he picked in the orchard.

The kids loved to climb on the hay barrels!

Kharis is sliding down the 90 foot slide! I wish we had a closer picture to see the expression on her face!

Our Weekly Learning!

                                                                                Reading

We started flexibly grouping for reading last week. So far, it has gone really well and the kids seem to be benefiting from it. Thank you so much for your patience with homework last week. We were in a "groove" prior to our switch, and now we are trying to figure out how we will assign and keep track of homework. Thank you so much for your patience!! Every student will have a reading log and spelling to complete each week. I know that the way you have practiced reading and spelling may look differently now, but I appreciate your willingness to adapt to the changes. All homework will be assigned on Monday's, and be collected the following Monday.  Also, all of first grade will be going to the library/media center on Monday's with their flexible reading group teacher. Please be sure to send your library book back Monday morning!

                                                                                    Math

We just finished our unit on subtraction!! This was a very challenging unit for most students. We took the test last Thursday, and overall everyone did really well. I am so proud of them! We played a review game of addition memory match and subtraction bingo. They had a great time playing with their friends! We will begin Chapter 5: Shapes and Patterns today. This will be a really interactive unit where the kids will be able build and create new shapes and patterns.

                                                                              Social Studies

We just finished our unit called, "Me and My Family" in social studies. They will be bringing home books they created about themselves and their families this week. They are very precious and would be a great "keepsake" item! They wrote things they like to do with their family, their wants/needs, and what they will do to help their families. We will start our new unit in science tomorrow. We will be learning about habitats!

What we've been working on.....

Reading

We will begin flexibly grouping tomorrow (beginning of a new unit).  Look for more information soon! :)

I will not be posting information about reading after this week. Your child's "flexible reading teacher" will have their own blog for you to follow for reading updates.
Math

We have been working on subtraction. This is a very difficult concept for many kids! So, we practiced subtraction number bonds with Smarties! The kids really enjoyed this, and I think it helped them with subtraction number bonds. Many students are getting addition and subtraction number bonds confused, so please help them with this at home. Remind them that the whole is the largest number and is the first number in the subtraction sentence.

                                   Look how fun!! He is making a number bond with Smarties!

Science

We are finally finished our month long unit in science this week. We worked on the life cycle of a plant, and also learned the parts of a plant. Students made a model of the parts of a plant with "fuzzy sticks" (pipe cleaners). They had a great time making their models. Quiz them on the parts to see how much they have learned! The parts they should know are: roots, stem, leaves, and flowers. They should also know the function of each part.

Flexible Grouping

After reviewing the MAP test scores, the first grade team has decided to "flexibly group" for reading. Our goal is to reach all students on their instructional level. Through flexible grouping, we will be able to teach all students at their point of need. Please keep in mind that these groups are "flexible". This means that the groups are very fluid and will change with student need.  Please remember that with any change, there will be kinks that we will need to address. Look for more information in your child's folder from their "flexible group teacher".

Life Cycle of the Butterfly!

Since we have been learning about life cycles in science this week, we made a model of the life cycle of a butterfly out of pasta!  Challenge your students to tell you all four stages (egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly). They had a great time making the model and they are adorable! :)

We have also been practicing a reading comprehension strategy called "asking questions". We have been thinking about questions we want to ask ourselves/others while we read to help us understand. While we were reading a book about the butterfly life cycle today, your kids came up with some great "I wonder" questions.

I wonder...

1. Why do butterflies have antennae's instead of a nose?
2. Why don't they hatch from an egg looking like a butterfly?
3. Why do they have to get into a chrysalis to become a butterfly?

These are all questions the kids came up with themselves!! You may want to discuss them this weekend as a review.

Look what we grew!

We have been learning about the needs of living things in class. So, we did a little experiment to see what living things need. Check out what your child grew (grass)!!

Welcome to Our Classroom Blog!

I am so excited to begin our classroom blog! I will keep you informed on all of the exciting things we do in first grade through our blog. I will update the blog weekly so you will know the new and interesting things we are learning! This is a very informal blog, so please be sure to add yourself as a follower!


Upcoming Events!

Field Trip--We are taking a trip to Boyd Orchard on October 10. We have been learning about life cycles in science (animal and plant). We are going to learn about the life cycle of the apple tree before our field trip. While we are there, students will participate in an educational presentation, hayride, pick apples, petting zoo, and playground. We are going to have a great time! We would love to have chaperones, so please let me know if you are interested. :)

MAP testing--- We take a standarized test called "MAP" three times per year. It compares our children with other students throughout the country. We have taken both the reading and math portion. As soon as the scores are posted, I will let you know how your child did on the test. I was very proud of the effort they put forth! This is a very challenging "test", and they all gave great effort.

Read Aloud-- We will start our read aloud rotation schedule next week. We will have a parent/guardian volunteer to read aloud to our class once a week. I am so excited to begin this new opportunity! The kids are going to enjoy sharing books!

All for now!
Ms. Poer