Week of Sept. 25-28

We continued to learn about different cultures this week.

One student brought in items from India.

Another student brought in a dress from Spain.

In science, our brassica plants have flowered. Each day, someone does the job of a bee. That student "bumps" all the flowers with a cotton swab to pollinate them.

We also began our science unit on Pebbles, Sand, and Silt. We found out what happens when rocks rub together -- it makes sand!

In math, we began working with doubles. We used a mirror to help add numbers when we didn't have enough fingers, such as 7+7.

In writing, we acted out our small moment stories with partners. This helped us see if we needed to add any details.

Week of September 18-22

We have really increased our reading stamina both alone and with a partner! We are working on dropping any bad reading habits (such as mumbling unknown words, freezing and doing nothing, or saying a nonsense word) and picking up good habits (such as checking the picture, looking at the beginning, middle, and end of the word, and getting a running start from the beginning of the sentence.)

In writing, we set up a museum of our best small moment stories. We walked around, reading each other's writing and leaving compliments on a note. 

 Social studies was the highlight of the week! We learned about how cultures are alike and different. 

We tried eating with chopsticks.

We saw some real items from China, including traditional clothing... 

... Chinese newspapers ...

... and a lion mask!

We tried our hand at painting Chinese characters.

This Barbie is dressed in traditional Polish clothing.

We danced the Mexican Hat Dance around a sombrero.

We made papel picado, a traditional Mexican paper craft. 

We hit a pinata!

We also celebrated one student's Name Day, as part of her Greek heritage. What a wonderful world full of culture! 

  

Week of Sept. 11-15

In math, we learned how to collect data and graph the results. The students wrote questions that could be answered with YES or NO. They asked at least 10 friends and then graphed how many people chose each answer. 

When asked, "Do you like ice cream?" every person said YES!

collecting data

You might wonder why these 1st graders are reading with spoons...
They are "scooping words in phrases" to make their reading sound smooth! No more sounding like robots and reading one -- word -- at -- a -- time!

Week of September 5-8

During our second week of school, we have started to get into a nice routine. Here are some things we did this week.

This math game was a popular one! We played this to practice identifying numbers to 20, to practice building graphs, and to talk a little about the probability of landing on a particular number. This will lead into next week's learning about finding the difference between two numbers on a graph.

We planted brassica seeds. Most of our Insects and Plants science unit will be taught in the Spring, but we're doing this part early because we share materials with the other class -- and because we had the perfect afternoon for planting!

Watering the seeds

The losing of teeth has begun! We have some adorable first grade smiles! When the students lose a tooth, they get a special sticker to mark the occasion, and we add a tooth to our graph on the wall.

Reading and Math

We have been working on building our reading stamina for reading alone and reading with a partner. Here are some photos from our first try at partner reading today. 

In math, we created a graph to show the most popular number between 1 and 6. The number 6 was the most popular by far! We started to learn about how to find the difference between two choices on a graph.

1st Day of 1st Grade 2017-2018

We had a great first day of school together!

Concentrating while decorating a leaf

Exploring math materials

The rain even let up enough that we got to play outside!