*All photo credits go to https://www.penguinscience.com/
We began studying penguins this week and were pleased to know that our class flag flew in ANTARCTICA with the Adelie penguins! Adelie penguins live in a very harsh environment on a continent that is 98% covered in ice, so we are sure they enjoyed seeing our flag! *All photo credits go to https://www.penguinscience.com/ Look in the distance - those are all Adelie penguins! The students enjoyed seeing their friends at school again. They shared a story about what they did over the break. We wrapped up our study of 3-dimensional shapes by doing a "shape walk" with our iPads. They found some great examples in the real world! We also looked for examples of 3-D shapes in magazines. In Science, we have been learning all about weather. They made some "cloud" pictures. They enjoyed a matching activity after we read The Jacket I Wear in the Snow.
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We worked hard over the last 2 weeks to learn about holidays around the world. This is one of our activities. One of our fun holiday activities was making little replica gingerbread houses! After reading this cute book, we did some measuring activities with candy canes. We also did a science experiment to see which liquid would dissolve the candy canes first. In math, we've been studying 3-dimensional shapes. We made some of our own! After reading this book, we did a science STEM activity with building Elf Traps! It's always so fun to take a walk and see what each group came up with. Pajama Day! We relaxed by playing games and watching the Polar Express movie! Winter Party! Thank you to our wonderful PTO volunteers for arranging our holiday party. They loved the game and cupcakes! See you in 2020!
Happy Holidays! We wrote some "elf applications" and had some fun with that. We've been studying holidays around the world. They enjoyed wearing some authentic wooden shoes from Holland. We have learned about all sorts of holidays around the world, including Christmas, Diwali, Kwanzaa, Dia de Los Muertos, and Hanukkah. We had a blast playing the Dreidel game and singing the song! We had a wonderful presentation on Hanukkah by one of our students! She even made a book for every student! We read this precious book to wrap up our nocturnal animal unit, then made puppet stages to make up our own stories about these owl babies! We love days when we can explore and learn on the iPads!
We've enjoyed some cute books about nighttime this week. We loved reading Russell the Sheep and found ways to put him to sleep. In math, we've been learning about fractions. The students made either pizzas or cookies to show their knowledge of equal parts. Have you ever seen an owl pellet? Owls "cough" up a pellet with whatever they cannot digest. We observed the contents of the pellet and even examined a piece under the microscope. Another fun book was Goodnight, Moon (a classic!). They made necklaces with their own version of what they say goodnight to. We worked all week on some cool nocturnal animal fact books. We read a lot of non-fiction books and they recorded the facts they felt were important. The students worked so hard on their 3D animals and research reports on nocturnal animals! They were shocked to walk into the hallway and see the display. We even convinced Principal Dow to come see it, too (but she had to hide her eyes for the surprise!). Thank you to everyone that participated in the Spring Creek BBQ spirit night a few weeks ago!
We learned about landforms and they used playdoh to make their favorites. We finished our little books about our families and they enjoyed sharing them. We had a fun STEM activity last week. The students had to build a hideout to hide a turkey! One of our wonderful kindergarten teachers shared her collection of Native American artifacts with us. ROCKS ROCKS ROCKS We enjoyed my personal rock collection, and those from our Science lab. So interesting! Some of the students brought in their personal collections to share! Thanksgiving Feast The students made headbands and we decorated for the feast! The students got into circles and shook the cream to make "butter." Some Dulles High School seniors joined us to present their program by Junior Achievement. One of our presenters was a former 1st grade student of mine! She looked through her phone and found a photo of her in 1st grade with Scottie!
It's beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving! Check out these creative turkeys in disguise! In Science, we've been studying force and motion. We tried to move our bodies in different ways outside to see which way was fastest and slowest. In Math, we've been learning how to do fact families. We made some fact family houses that are on display in the hallway. We rolled cars in the hallway to explore the concept of motion and friction. Then the students worked in teams to develop ramps. We finished our tree poem books and did some leaf rubbings. Our study of soil began with investigating and predicting what we think we'd find. We did further investigations in the Science Lab. The teachers provided a wonderful fall feast to thank our school custodians and cafeteria workers. Our class made cards for them and it was heartwarming to deliver them!
We worked on pronouns all week. We did a guessing game each day. We made storytelling puppets after reading There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly Each day we had a visit and a little exercise and lesson with our Apex Fundraiser crew. The students enjoyed my map collection. They recognized features on these maps after working on our map lessons. We had a blast at the Apex GLOW dance party! Thank you to all of those able to make it out for Math & Science Night! Our Veterans Day program is always very meaningful. We especially enjoyed a visit from our former Librarian, Mrs. Sanchez, who was our guest speaker.
We enjoyed learning about trees this week. We did some informational writing, and also an imaginative story about a magic leaf. Red Ribbon Week allowed a lot of activities with dressing up each day. This was hat day! The 50th day of school! Pajama Day! Storybook Characters! We enjoyed the parade and seeing all of the cool outfits. We read a funny story about ghosts, then did a STEM activity to decorate our ghosts. Learning is a Journey! Look at our explorers and adventurers! We've had daily visits from the Apex fundraiser crew. If you haven't registered yet, head over to the website. We explored outside with compasses this week.
Happy Pumpkin Week! We enjoyed all of the fun activities! We completed our small moment stories about a time we got hurt. The students loved sharing their books! We practiced with tens and ones by creating numbers for our partners to build. In Science, we studied magnets and explored magnetic powers with lots of materials. Look at these cute creative pumpkins! Pumpkin Day! We estimated, measured and observed pumpkins. We decorated pumpkins and even played Candy Corn Pumpkin Bingo!
Spider Week, astronaut visit, math practice, Firefighter visit, a cool experiment and snow cones!10/19/2019 Spiders everywhere! We had fun writing spider facts, and then making creative spiders of our own. The 5th graders were fortunate to have a visit from a real NASA astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut. While were not participating in the presentation, the students were excited that they were in the building. We've been working on problem solving in Math. Practice makes us better! We were so excited to visit with some Sugar Land firefighters! We send a big shout out to some parents (former Science teachers) that happily did a fun experiment with us in the Science lab! Thank you to all of the parents that joined the PTO this year! First Grade won the membership drive and we enjoyed snowcones on an awesome Friday afternoon!
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AuthorI am a retired First Grade teacher in Texas. I have two children, two daughters-in-law, a grandson and granddaughter. Our beloved pup, Rocco, went to heaven this year. He was 15 years old. I've been married 37 years. I would love to hear from any former students! Archives
January 2021
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