Australia "The Land Down Under"

As you know we are deep into "The Land Down Under" in the first grade. We are having a wonderful study. Thank you for all your help.

We didn't have centers on Monday due to the fact that we went on our field trip to the Folly Theatre. We thought we were just going to see "Duck For President" but instead we got to see that show plus four other book titles. The actors and actresses performed and did skits on the following books:
1) Duck For President
2) Leonardo the Terrible Monster
3) I Have to Go
4) Pirates don't change Diapers
5) Babymouse the Musical
Not only were the children laughing and enjoying the show the teachers were also laughing. It was so funny, cute, and entertaining. Although, the program was very silly it was all about meaningful life lessons that the children can take with them.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday during centers Miss Fate continued working on the in-class Australian Animal research project with the children and they are finished!!! You will be amazed at their drawings and findings. Mrs. Waller started a Guided Writing Story with the children using the story theme...."I am going on a Bear Hunt...." to help guide them on how to write a story using our Australian Animals. These stories are developing and are very creative. You will not believe how well their story writing has come along.



Independently, the children listened to a Kangaroo & Koala listening center and followed it up by writing in their sentence packets. The children also made cards for Delores Linn to help brighten up her day. Mrs. Waller and Miss Fate will take them to her this week. She loved them! The children started writing in their journal books for our Australian theme and are practicing their handwriting and penmanship along with learning about all the Australian landmarks. This week we did the Australia and Uluru icons. These will come home at the end of the year in their memory books.



We made Australian lizards and wrote Australia facts on them independently. Then we decorated them with Aborigine art symbols and paint. It was so cool and they are hanging up in the room now. Come in and see them!






Math this week...Miss Fate continued working on fractions. The children came up to the board to draw equal parts on different shapes and then told the fraction. We also worked in their fraction packet on cutting and pasting with wholes, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4. Then they did a follow up computer game called Pizza Party under the math tab page 2 on http://www.primarygames.com/.


Mrs. Waller did math centers with the children this week. One center was guided using Judy Clocks to manipulate the hands and time on the clocks. This center was used to reinforce and deepen the students' understanding of 15 minutes after, and 15 minutes til the hour. Another center was rolling tens & ones dice to make a math problem in the Greater Than Game. Independently, the students reinforced their understanding of greater than/less than, tally marks and place value. The next center was more difficult and was a time memory matching game where where students had to match the analog clock time with the digital time. This was tricky because it was to the minute (ie: 1:38). In the third math center the children had to stamp money stamps correctly on the back of a given price. So, if the card said 95 cents, they had to show that by using rubber money stamps and ink. In another center students got to play a computer game reinforcing time and money concepts at the National Library of Virtual Manipulative (NLVM) website. By providing different centers it allows us to differentiate our instruction. We place students at the centers that will most benefit them. This allows us to better meet the needs of all our learners!





Math with beach balls...catch it and see where your thumbs end up then solve the equation!! (candid shot!)


During Social Studies this week we introduced the Australian Dance to the entire first grade. We assigned parts and practiced our dance moves it in the commons. It was cool because we found out that there will be Settlers, Aborigines, Prisoners and Animals all dancing around in the Australian dance.

***A Note from Mrs. Abio about the International Festival – Thursday March 10th

The International Festival is quickly approaching and the children are gearing up for this extremely rich collaborative event that allows all ECC and Primary students to share with each other all that they have learned. Please note that the festival is for the students only. This event involves over 200 students; therefore we do not have space for all of our parents and special friends. It is often upsetting, not to mention unfair to the children when some parents attend and others are left to wonder why their parents could not attend. For this reason, we kindly ask that you focus your attention on experiencing this event through conversations with your children at home. We know they will have so much to tell you and we will be sure to post lots of pictures on our blog. We really appreciate your understanding.

TNT(Try New Things) this week we have been practicing our Australian Dance preparing it for the International Festival and to show you on 3/23!







Painting our Animals was so much fun!!! We can't thank our wonderful volunteers that helped with sketching and painting. Thanks to Mrs. Chu, Mrs. Kostner, Mrs. Repine, Mrs. Mathews, Mr. Kalmus, Mrs. McCarthy and Mrs. Bough for helping us paint. We could not have painted them without all of your help!! While we were waiting to paint we learned about the Australian flag and union jack and even made one of our own. The instructions for the stuffing and decorating your animal is coming home today with your child. Please read them carefully they are stapled onto your animal. If you have any questions send us an email.







Hands on Science: What Makes Day and Night? We explored this question on Friday morning to follow-up our solar system lesson from two weeks ago, and we had such a good time. Your children have a great understanding of the concept of day/night and what makes them occur. First, we used an actual person to act as Kansas City. This person stood in front of a lamp and rotated on their axis (counterclockwise) slowly as we discussed and were able to visually see sunrise, noon, sunset and midnight, ending up back at sunrise having completed one full rotation on their axis = 24 hours. We discussed the sun always rising in the east and setting in the west. We were able to fully understand this concept as we placed a globe in front of the lamp and were able to watch as North America completed one full rotation. We also explored Australia and its relation to the United States!




Computer Lab: We practiced our spelling words on http://www.spellingcity.com/. It was perfect practice since we got to spell them right before the test. This would be a great website for you to help your child type in their spelling words each week and have them practice them. You just have to click on blue number 10 at the bottom and add 1 word. Help your child type in the words so they can play under the free games: word searches with them, crossword puzzles, hangman, unscrambling letters to make words and all sorts of other games. Click on the green circle that says play a game. Try it!

Spelling: all, walk, talk, draw, claw, seesaw, pause, author, call, straw
Challenge Words: Sydney, rain forest, March, coral
Surprise the Teacher Word ???

Thank you Madeleine, Ella & Lucy for sharing some Australia Artifacts!!!




**************KEEPING UP WITH OUR BUSY CALENDAR********************

***We are not doing books in a bag for a couple weeks due to your Animal stuffing and decorating projects & because of Spring Break.



3/7--Please turn in your books in a bag if you forgot to turn them in today. We are missing 11 bags!

3/8--Animal Stuffing & Decorated Animals due back to school

3/10--International Festival (student/teacher only event)

3/11--Spelling Test & Spelling Packets are due

3/12--3/20 Spring Break

3/21--School Day now due to make up snow days

3/23--Come join us for the Australian Dance for the Parents @9:15am in the MPR (short 15 minute dance)

3/25--Literature Festival Field Trip @Rockhurst University

~Miss Fate & Mrs. Waller~