Just As Long As My Hand

Today, we searched for items in the room just as long as our hands.

Dazzling Vocabulary

Last week, we read aloud, How Many Stars in the Sky?, by Lenny Hort.

This week, we are exploring new vocabulary words discovered in the story.

Lunch Bunch

Our favorite part of the week... Lunch Bunch! I get to invite all who worked really hard to be responsible, respectful and on-task first graders to have lunch with me in the classroom. What does it take? No clips (equivilent to card flip). Turn in homework. Turn in completed log for Book-In-A-Bag.

Following the Drinking Gourd

Last week, we wrapped up our unit on stars. We also discussed constellations like Orion and the Big Dipper. Today, our music resource teacher, Mrs. Tamburrino, tied constellations with music and taught our class a little bit of American history with the story of Peg-Leg Joe.

They learned an American folksong Following the Drinking Gourd. Here's a snipet of their actions:

How exciting! In music class, they discussed American history, science and folktale. Yee-Haw!

Morning Warm Up - Math

Solving Missing Numbers...

Explaining Math Strategy

Bob had 11 library books at home.
He returned 7 of them to the library.
How many library books does he still have at home?

Explaining to the class her math strategy used to solve a subtration story problem.

What strategy would you use to solve the story problem?

Fueling Up to Play

Today was a special day, thanks to the Dairy Council, our coaches at Chets Creek (Coach Bailey and Coach Robinson), and Fuel Up to Play 60, we had a special guest... Mr. Maurice Jones-Drew!

It's our chance to make a commitment to healthy eating and 60 minutes of physical activity every day. Our school has made a commitment to make a difference.

What do you do to fuel up? How often do you play?

Basic Needs of Pets

Today, we discussed the basic needs of pets.

What does your pet need to survive?

Exploring Astronauts

Sleepover Under the Stars

Today, was finally our day of pajamas, flashlights, and galactical adventures. We had a blast!

What was your favorite part of the day?

Far Out!

This week, during Reader’s Workshop, we discussed the nonfiction convention of labels. Today, students were asked to decorate their placemats for tomorrow morning’s Sleepover Breakfast. The only instruction given was that it had to be related to our focus of the week: solar system. Check out what some farmtastic first graders did with their ‘fun’ project…

LABELS!

Don’t you just love it when skills and knowledge transfer into a new arena?

"We Got Mail!"

We had a guest reader today. Yay! She read to us a letter sent to us by CJ Acres Animal Rescue Farm. This was the organization we chose as our Season of Giving Project in December. One of their residents, Angel, sent us a thank you letter.

Angel also sent us a signed photograph of herself.

Yee-Haw!

Our Stars and Planets

First graders journaling in their Science Journals about what they learned thus far about the stars and planets in our solar system...



What have your learned about our stars and planets?

Starry Starry Night

Tonight was a fantastic night of viewing the night sky and movie watching. Hearing first graders respond with "Cool!" and "Awesome!" was well worth standing outside in this very, very, cold night.

Thanks to some phenomenal volunteers, their extraordinary telescopes and their love of astronomy, we observed the craters on Earth's moon, as well as Jupiter and its Galilean moons. How cool is that?

Constellations in the Wallace Galaxy

Creating our own constellations in the Wallace Galaxy.

What constellations have you seen in the night sky?

Nonfiction Conventions - Labels

Finding examples of labels in nonfiction books...

The Wallace Galaxy

Check out the new galaxy discovered down on the farm...

Can you find your shining star?

Space Centers

Scientific Frontier

Sleepover: First graders scientific frontier. It's two week mission: to explore strange new worlds, stars, planets, near and far, to seek out new knowledge in science, nonfiction conventions, report writing and to boldly go where only first grade creekers have gone before... a Sleepover under the Stars.

Today, our invitation to Sleepover under the Stars and the Constellation Ball has been delivered. Fascinating!

We love centers!

Money Matters

First graders are expected to recognize US currency coins and their values. Knowing the value of each coin is a must in order to complete this task. This morning, we practiced during Calendar Math. What is the value of these coins?

Listen to this first grader explain her answer:

At home, please help your child practice this important life skill.

What is the value of these coins?

What strategies do you use to calculate the coins' value?

Observing the Night Sky

Yesterday, the teacher asked, "What do you know about stars?" Next, we created a K-W-L chart about stars. Then, we went home to observe the night sky and recorded our observations in our science journals.

Today, we read aloud Our Stars written and illustrated by Anne Rockwell. We liked this non-fiction book a lot!

What do you see when you look up in the sky at night?