Five Senses and Other News

We did a fun writing activity using Pop Rocks candy to explore the five senses. Check out the kids' faces when the candy started popping in their mouths!

You can see their writing displayed on our hallway bulletin boards.

In science, we used our senses of sight and touch to learn about clay. The students had previously separated sand and silt. Now, they know that clay is an earth material even smaller than silt!

We currently have vials of clay in water and open bowls of clay. On Monday, we'll find out what happens when clay is left wet or dry.

Finally, I was treated to a special performance this week! Mrs. Dillahunt, the music teacher, invited the Kindergarten students and me to watch the First Graders perform a spooky story with instruments. I was able to snap a few pictures of the class with their instruments.

Super Spellers

Great job to these students on their Spell-a-Thon spelling tests!
Everyone's spelling improved through their hard work!

Gourds

Each First Grader chose a gourd of their very own today! We are using the gourds to practice writing descriptions, especially using 5-senses words to describe what the gourd looks like and feels like. Then, all the gourds are placed in a pile in the middle of the carpet. One description is read aloud, and the First Graders use the clues in the description to pick out which gourd is being described. 

We also used the pan balances to find things that balance a gourd, and things that are heavier or lighter than a gourd. 

 

Weighing Station

As a combined science and math activity, we used balances to weigh rocks from our classroom rock collection. There was so much excitement when some of the rocks weighed more than 100 cubes!

What Time Is It?

It's time for crazy socks!

We are also learning to tell time to the hour.

Tuesday

Here are a few of the things we did today...

We saw a presentation by someone from the Mequon Nature Preserve. Spending time outdoors is a healthy choice!

We learned that the building was made in an environmentally-friendly way.

We met some new animal friends, including a small snake...

a toad...

and a salamander.

Later, we went for a noun hunt around the school. We wrote down lots of words naming the people, places, and things we saw. Our noun hunt even took us to a few places we don't usually  see, such as some other classrooms, Mr. Joynt's office, and the teachers' lounge!

Clipboards ready! Start looking for nouns!

Nouns are all around!

At the end of the day, in science, we used screens to separate river rocks by size: large pebbles, small pebbles, large gravel, small gravel, and sand.

In the Air and On the Ground

We had a special treat on Friday -- A Woodview Family brought their kites to demonstrate kite flying!

Two of the biggest kites we saw -- one stretched 19 feet across

Lots of excitement, especially when one kite made noise!

The tails were about 100 feet long

Later in the day, we turned our attention toward the ground. We collected rocks from the school yard. Then we began a display of our class rock collection.

As we sorted our rocks by properties, we realized that each rock could actually fit in many different categories

More Geology and Other Learning

We studied what happens when rocks get wet. Some dissolved a little or bubbled. Others changed colors.

Lots of scientific discussion as we shared our findings

In other First Grade News...

Here are some pictures from interactive reading time. We practice reading comprehension strategies (as well as speaking and listening behaviors) by listening to a book read aloud, then turning and talking to a partner about the book.

If you think we look "Ready to Learn", that's because we've been practicing the Woodview Way! Today there was an all-school assembly focused on being ready to learn.

This was a relay race in which students had to get the materials these teachers needed in order to be "Ready to Learn". That blur in the dress was our classroom representative -- she ran fast!

We Are Geologists

The First Graders are officially geologists, as we have begun our study of rocks! 

When rocks rub together, the weathering makes sand.

The sand looked different on white and black paper.