Happy Spring!

We were so thankful to have a whole week of school this week and boy, did we take advantage of it!  Check out all of the incredible learning going on in first grade!!

In intergrated learning we focused on sentence structure, phonics skills, "er" and "ar", writing our Australian animal reports, reviewing how authors write stories in patterns, and reader's theater.

Great sentence building Ella!

Ginger is working on Australian scrambled sentences

Noah is writing bubble words with our spelling words.

Andy is working on his Australian animal report.

 Hunter is reading "Surfer Girl" and working on phonics skills on Starfall.com.

Bella is working on her joey journal.

Eva learned about Dr. Suess with Scholastic News.

Alex is working on comprehension skills with " Australia is Our Home."

 Kate is reading aloud, "We're Going on a Lion Hunt" using her telephone and a highlighter.

Ms. L is reading, We're Going on a Bear Hunt".  This is one of our FAVORITE stories!
We're taking this story and making up our own Australian animal version of this repeating fun story.


This small group read "The Awongalema Tree" and then acted out the story using instruments for the class. 

In math we have continued working on fractions.  This week we reviewed 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 and introduced 1/3 and 1/6.  We also talked about equivalient fractions.  First graders LOVE using playdough to learn fractions!!

Addie divided up her round shape into 8 equal pieces.

 

To coorelate with our Australian theme Noah asked his mom if she would bring in his own Australian bearded dragon.  He and his mom shared some very interesting facts about "Crypto" such as what he eats, where he lives and what he needs to stay warm.  Thank you for sharing with us! 

 Noah tried to feed Crypto meal worms.  He wasn't very hungry.

 

 

 Ms. L brought in her Australian digeredoo.  Her playing skills could be improved but that may take another trip to the Outback for some lessons from the Aborigines themselves!

 

 

Look at all the beautiful Australian animals that have taken over the classroom!!  Thank you parents, once again, for all your support with this project.  Come in and take a look around when you have a minute. 

 Black swan

 

 Frill-necked lizard

 

 cockatoo, kukaburra, emu 

 

 saltwater crocodile

 

 tasmanian devil and koala

 

 blue-tongued skink and fur seal

 

 spotted cuscus

 

 echidna and duck-billed platypus

 

 thorny devil

bandicoot 

 

In hands on science we did an experiment to create a replica of the coral reef, similar to the Australian Great Barrier Reef.  For this experiment we used charcoal, salt, water, food coloring and bluing detergent.  We will find out after spring break what occurs when these elements mix together.

 

 

IMPORTANT INFO COMING HOME TODAY FROM Mr. N. 

 

Please look in backpacks today for inormation regarding the upcoming Literature Festival on April 5th.  You can also visit his blog at www.spedsnerstheimer.blogspot.com  for more information.

 

We will not have spelling words the week after we return from spring break.

 

Have a wonderful spring break with family and friends!

Kathleen and Carey