We traveled to the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, Maine. We participated in a guided tour where we learned more about native Maine wildlife up close. We saw beavers, moose, black bears, porcupines, bobcats, fisher cats, skunks, deer, raccoons, woodchucks, foxes, lynx, cougars and the coyotes were hiding from the heat. We had a blast and kept cool. Enjoy our pictures!
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Today was Greening Day. We participated in a variety of learning activities and helped with lots of gardening work. First grade focused on:
We were able to learn about the following topics: 1. Camping Fun: Creating a place to sit in the great outdoors with a camp counselor 2. Building with nature: Designing outdoor spaces with an architect 3. Relaxing with nature stories: Fun stories read by professional readers 4. Listening to the trees: Exploring our beautiful trees with an environmentalist 5. Celebrate Earth Day: Recycling fun with a scientist 6. Learning about Maine wildlife animals: Exploring animals with a zoologist Ask your child which center they went to and what they did. Everyone had lots of fun and we definitely made Kaler more BEAUTIFUL! Check out all our fun! The 100th day of school is one of my top favorite days. We read many stories regarding the 100th day. We also wrote what we would be like at 100. In Math, we did LOTS of 100 counting activities. We rotated through four centers: 1. 100 cup stack challenge 2. Race to 100-we rolled a dice and counted on until we got to 100 or our partner finished first. 3. Made a 100 piece pattern block picture 4. Used the number 100 to draw a picture that used 100 in a creative way. Everyone LOVED the 100 cup stack challenge. Another favorite was race to 100 with dice. I have sent the game board home so you all can join in on our math fun. Everyone also enjoyed using the die cuts of the number 100 and drawing beautiful pictures that incorporated the number 100. I will send those home Friday so you can enjoy them. We had pictures that used the number 100 like a butterfly to a monster truck! They were so creative. We had such a blast! Here are the pictures from the day. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did. Our first graders just returned from traveling all around the world. We have traveled to the Netherlands to learn about Sinterklaus and how the children celebrate on Dec 6. They leave their clogs filled with carrots and hay hoping for treats and gifts. We then flew to Israel to learn about Hanukkah. We learned that they light a menorah for eight days and we played a traditional game called dreidel. Next we flew to Germany to learn about gingerbread and how they celebrate Christmas. They light an advent wreath, decorate with Christmas trees and also make gingerbread men and houses. They have been making gingerbread for over 600 years. China was by far our favorite. They celebrate the lunar New Year and they light red lanterns which is a symbol of good luck. They have a big parade with a dancing dragon. We visited Mexico and learned about Las Posadas. In Mexico the children and adults celebrate for 9 nights. They enjoy parties, dancing and pinatas. They then celebrate January 6th when Santa leaves them gifts. We compared these countries to America and how they were similar and different. One amazing fact that they discovered was that America celebrates all of these traditions in their own way. America is a country of many other countries' traditions. Everyone enjoyed learning and exploring the different traditions. Take a look at our fun! ,This week was first time in the year that we practiced and performed a Reader's Theater. Reader's Theater is an entertaining and engaging way for readers to improve fluency and enhance comprehension. Every three weeks we will be doing a Reader's Theater in our class. We read an adaptation to of the Nursery Rhyme, Old McDonald. Each day this week we read over the story, talked about pace, voice level and phrasing in the story. In Technology, we continued to practice this story and learned a new app called, Book Making. This is where we recorded our voices telling the story and took pictures to match our words. We wanted to share with you the final product. Everyone was very excited and enjoyed doing it! Enjoy the performance! This past week we continued learning about Growth Mindset and what happens if you make a mistake. We learned that mistakes are one of the best ways to stretch our brains. We read a book that was FULL of mistakes. The author and artist, Barney Saltzberg, created a book from these mistakes. We discussed that it could have been very easy for Barney to throw away all of his mistakes and to get frustrated. However, instead, he used a growth mindset to turn his mistakes into something beautiful. After the story, we learned what we could do in our classroom if you do make a mistake. They each got a piece of paper that had a mistake on it and changed it into something beautiful. Check out all of their creations! They definitely grew their brains! In first grade will be do lots of learning about how to be kind, what kindness looks like, what should we do if someone is unkind and how to respond. We started our kindness learning off by reading one of my favorite books, Kindness is cooler, Mrs. Ruler by Margery Cuyler. Here is the book we read aloud via another teacher reader :) After we read the story we brainstormed how we can be kind in the classroom and at school. We came up with a variety of ways they show kindness everyday while at school. After brainstorming, we wrote how we can be kind on a heart, since kindness comes from the heart. We all shared and found out that we all can be kind by doing little things each day to help make someone else’s day better. I hope you enjoy their writing! Also enjoy all the fun we have had so far this year! Happy First week of First Grade! Here in first grade, we have been very busy learning about the expectations for the playground, cafeteria, hallway, bathroom, and in our classroom. We are going to have a ROCKING year! This week as a class we developed the way First Grade can ROCK our socks off. We decided on what the expectations would be together and we all signed and agreed to them. Below is what they are. We also started our math centers. We explored pattern blocks, geo blocks, polygons, and connecting cubes. We started choice time, where we used legos, Lincoln logs, marble maze, writing center, and playdough. We even painted with water colors.Oh and we read so many books. YAY for FIRST GRADE!
I am thrilled for the year and can not wait until next week. Enjoy your weekend and I can't wait to share pictures of the class soon! Hi First Grade Families,
I am so glad you found the blog! This will be where I post pictures throughout the year of your child learning and growing. Please make sure you return the photography permission slip. If you decide you do not want the school to use your child's photos, he or she, will NOT be on this blog. This year we will be putting all of our classroom supplies together. Your child will be supplied what he or she needs in the classroom daily. Anything that you would wish to donate will be helpful when our original supplies used. Things that our classroom could use to run smoothly are:
Enjoy the last few weeks of summer and see you on August 30th, Meet the Teacher Night. Thanks for your help and I can not wait for the year to start! I can NOT believe this year is done. It has been so much fun teaching your child. Here many pictures from fun with math centers, Field Day, end of the year celebrations, to our see you laters. Enjoy the summer and sunshine! Stop by next fall to say HI! :) |
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