$ Money $

We had some guests from Port Washington State Bank come to teach the class about saving and spending. 

They read a story about a boy and his money.

We held up + or - to show whether the boy was saving money or spending money in that part of the story.

Each student was given a coin purse with some change to get a jump start on saving and spending in real life. Thank you, Port Washington State Bank!

3-D Shapes

We're learning about 3-D shapes in math class. We are working with cubes, spheres, cylinders, pyramids, cones, and boxes (also known as "rectangular prisms" for those who can pronounce it!).

We predicted whether structures would stand up or fall over and then tested them.

We built 3-D shapes out of straws and twist ties.

We made 3-D shapes out of clay.

We copied pictures of block towers by building them with real blocks.

Martial Arts

Mr. Darmody invited a martial arts instructor to phy. ed. on Thursday. I was able to visit the class and get a few photos of the First Graders in action.

Learning Life Lessons

In our reading workshop, we have been learning to compare and contrast books. We have also been learning life lessons from books. Today we tried to find books that had similar life lessons, and we sorted them into piles.

Life Lesson Piles: "Do not be jealous." "Share."

Some of the other life lessons First Graders found in our books include:

• It is better to give than to receive.
• Plan a way to get what you want.
• Good friends are always there for each other.
• Pay attention!
• Try new things.
• Do your best!

Making Time for Play

Our class set a goal to be recognized by other teachers for walking quietly in the hallway. When we met our goal, we earned a reward. Ms. Kennedy generously offered some playtime in the 4K room at the end of the day on Friday. The kids loved it! We're never too old to play.

working at the pizzeria

playing in the loft

the light table

the dollhouse

the Lego table

More Earth Materials

What earth material is smaller than sand AND smaller than silt? Clay particles!

Playing with clay in science class was a great way to end our day!

Adding Larger Numbers

We are learning to add 10, 20, or 30 to one- and two-digit numbers. We used paper dimes and pennies to figure out problems such as 46 cents + 20 cents.

Geology and Business Planning

We dove right back into learning during the week after Spring Break! In science, we used different methods to sort rocks by size, including screening and shaking on a paper plate. We separated them into large and small pebbles, large and small gravel, and sand. 

Then we experimented to find an earth material even smaller than sand -- silt! But is there an earth material smaller than silt? We'll be finding out soon!

In Junior Achievement, we learned about businesses in our community. We got to plot them on a map, deciding where would be a good place for each one. We talked about why a school might be located near homes or why a restaurant, a barbershop, and a bank might be located in the same area.