Fifty Nifty, United States!

This week we had 2 opportunities to practice our program with the piano player, Mr. Lamar Simms.  It helps so much to have the live music playing as we sing!!  These first graders sound so good and are almost ready to show off their hard work to you!

Mrs. Waller taught the class in small groups how to do Mountain Language.  This is a nice way to review the many different language arts skills that have been taught so far this year. Next week they will be doing this activity independently.

  Carter is making a card for our friends at our sister school, Holy Cross, in Hati.

We listened to the story called "Sacajawea, Her True Story".

We also listened to a story about another important female American, Ruby Bridges. 

A fun poem to learn about the long "e" vowel.

Elizabeth is writing facts about the Great Seal in her jumbo journal.

Inside recess fun!

Inside recess allows for creative thinking!  Look at these amazing Lego creations!

We took a math assessment over all the skills from second quarter this week.  Here you see the class using their "spy caves" to help keep them focused and in their own areas during test time.

Emma practicing her money addition.

Naomi working on her number scroll in math.  Students add on another hundred chart as they complete each set of hundreds.

 In social studies we started sharing our research over each of our famous Americans.  We stand up one at a time and share facts we've researched such as when and where they were born, childhood and adulthood interesting facts, why they are famous and why we admire them.  Then, we share our famous American doll with the class.  We share things like who helped us and how we made it.  Before we shared with the class we took time to practice with a friend.

DeLano and Oscar practicing their reports with each other.

Holden is sharing important information with Lily before sharing with the class.

Kate is learning about Abe Lincoln from Eli.  Great practice sharing and listening!

Mrs. Waller read Flat Stanley to the class.  She uses this book to explore the concept of graphs.  After reading the book we made our own "flat self" to use to graph out different attributes of ourselves.

Sophia's flat self looks exactly like her!

Love that smile on Oscar's flat self!

 We also graphed out our predictions about whether or not the groundhog will see his shadow on Sunday. 

Our class prediction of Groundhog Day.  More of us want winter to end early.  How about you?

The following students were able to share their report on the famous American they were assigned.  Each did an amazing job presenting their first research report!

Oscar shared about Frank Lloyd Wright, Jackson shared Neil Armstrong, and Jake shared Henry Ford

 

John (George Washington), Carmen (Molly Brown) and Eli (Abe Lincoln) shared their research and their dolls!

Sophie shared Anne Sullivan and Emma shared Amelia Earhart.

Holden shared Babe Ruth, Carter shared Buck O'Neil, Sophia shared Elizabeth Blackwell and Elizabeth shared Wilma Rudolph. 

Eli had a wonderful opportunity to travel to New York City last Fall.  While there he was able to visit the Statue of Liberty.  We asked if he would gather information during his visit and then share what he learned with the class during our "Hooray for the USA" theme.  So, he did just that and WOW'd us with his knowledge and presentation.  We are thinking he'll have to come back every year and share this with the 1st grade classes when it is time to learn about this important American monument!

Eli is holding the Statue of Liberty as he shares his power point.

Thank you to Carter's mom for helping us out with our many projects.  
Also...

Thank you to John's mom for coming in to help us in the classroom!

We LOVE doughnuts!

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILY!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKSON!

Yummy cupcakes!!

In hands on science we did a Borax snowflake experiment.  We used pipe cleaners, hot water, a jar, pencil and Borax.  The idea was to study chemistry and the study of matter.  We looked at a chemical reaction and found out in this experiment we could make some beautiful snowflakes!  Just like the ones that were falling outside!

Stirring the chemicals together.  Waiting for a reaction.

Still waiting...in science you have to be patient!

Tying the string to a pencil helps us remove our experiment after it's finished.

Adding food coloring makes it even more beautiful!

 In computer lab we used our famous American dolls and practiced reciting our speeches with an app called "Puppet Pals".  This was great practice and they all had fun taking pictures of their dolls and creating neat backgrounds to go along with their American.

Kate is cutting out her doll after taking a picture of it.  She will attach it to her background and then record herself giving her speech.

Eli got creative and used a picture of Oscar's Lego White House as a background with Abe Lincoln in front.

Spelling Words- Week #14  February 3-7, 2014

Phonics Skills: long vowels “ai” and “oa”

1.       saint

2.       paid

3.       trail

4.       chain

5.       brain

6.       coast

7.       soap

8.       throat

9.       load

10.    float

Challenge Words

11. Kansas

12. program

13. symbol

14. groundhog

“Surprise the Teacher Word”

15. ???

REMINDERS:

WEEK OF FEBRUARY 10TH....YOU CAN START BRINGING IN YOUR VALENTINE'S DAY BOXES (NOTE CAME HOME TODAY)

HOORAY FOR THE U.S.A. Program: Thursday, February 6th @ 9:15am--Come to our room after the program to see your child's Famous American Research Report & all of the Paper Dolls.

***Please continue to help your child practice their speeches (& their extra parts if they have one) for the big day! We appreciate it. If you need another copy of it just email us.

VALENTINE'S DAY PARTY: Friday, February 14th from 2:00-3:00 in the first grade classrooms.

Stay safe and warm this weekend!
Sara and Carey