Missing: Lots of Teeth

The class has lost 27 teeth in the first 60 days of school! I think they are trying to set a record!

Nouns

A while ago, the class worked in small groups to create collages of nouns, using the Pic Collage app on the iPads. Here are a few of the noun collages they made. (Technical difficulties prevented me from sharing them earlier!) If you ask your child, he or she should be able to tell you that a noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Playing a Thanksgiving game 

During some choice time, many students used math materials to create their own Thanksgiving dinner!

Woodview Gives

During our "Woodview Gives" Day, the First Graders made ornaments and colored pictures to brighten the day of some people in our community. They did a great job! We talked about how giving to someone else makes the receiving person feel good, and it makes the giving person feel good, too!

Is the Glass Half-Full?

In math class, we began to explore capacity! The students used dry rice, measuring cups, and containers in their exploration.

The idea of "half full" was the most challenging because you need exactly the same amount of space full as the amount of space empty. This exploration and discussion is also helping to build the foundation for the fraction "one-half," which we will be studying later in the school year.

Digging in the Dirt

We have been investigating soil in science class.

We took soil samples from different places around the playground.

We separated the soil by using some of the same techniques we learned with rocks -- shaking on a paper plate, screening, and shaking in a vial with water.

Then, we used some of our soil samples and other materials to create a worm farm. This how-to book helped us learn how! We are beginning to write How-To books in writing class, so it was a perfect connection across our school day!

Two worms have found a new home in here!

Reading Tips

Here are a few tips for reading at home with your First Grader:

* Most students should be "reading with their eyes" rather than using a pointing finger. If they come to a hard part, the finger can come out, but as soon as it is easy again, the finger can be put away. This helps their eyes learn to track print, and improves their fluency in the long run.

* If your child makes a mistake, let her finish the sentence. Give your child a chance to notice and fix the mistake on her own. If she doesn't stop to fix the mistake, you can say, "You read __________, but does that make sense/sound right/look right?"  If something doesn't make sense, sound right, or look right, we re-read to fix it! Encourage your child to notice and fix her own reading mistakes.

* Mrs. Piaro shared this with me, and I thought it was worth passing on:
 This article  talks about the long-term effects of children doing their reading homework. It's important to do some reading each night at home.  Click HERE to read the article that references the graphic below. Happy reading!

Field Trip to Lannon Stone Products Jackon Quarry

Our field trip to the quarry was a big hit! Our tour guide did an amazing job of connecting the work they do there to our science learning about rocks. 

We saw lots of machinery, and learned how they use dynamite to break rocks into smaller pieces. They shake rocks through screens (lower right) to separate rocks by size, similar to what we did in class.

The highlights of the tour were exploring in search of rocks to keep and climbing on two loaders!

deciding where to begin

in search of rocks with fossils or crystals

Kids could take two rocks the size of their own hand or one the size of a grown-up's hand!

crevices in the rocks held some of the best treasures

Boulders were too big to lift!

one of the biggest loaders we have ever seen

HUGE tires

sitting in the driver's seat

"hanging out"

sharing our rock picks on the bus ride home

Thank you to Lannon Stone Products and our parent volunteers for making this a great trip!