A very happy ending!

And they lived happily ever after!

We finished our "Folk tale and Fairytale" theme this week and are jumping into our last theme of the year, "Poetry".  We took a break from our tic-tac-toe boards this week and were able to enjoy some fun literature-rich group activities.  Take a look at all the fun from this week!

Mrs. Waller read The Three Questions based on the story by Leo Tolstoy. In this amazing book, a little boy goes on a journey to find the answers to three very important questions (see below). This is a great book to add to your libraries at home!

Mrs. Ansie Marquette, a former St. Paul's teacher, visited us and read the folk tale, "Strega Nona".  In this story there is a magic pot and when the lid is lifted spaghetti noodles appear.  Once the story was over Mrs. Marquette had her own magic pot and when the class chanted the rhyme below she then made a flashing light appear. She carefully lifted the lid and the once empty pot contained 2 chocolate chip cookies!  Luckily, she had 38 other cookies she was able to share with everyone.  What a special treat to have her visit and do this fun activity with us!  

These 2 are making sure there's nothing in the pot or the lid.

Everyone loved hearing the story from our special visitor!

Here's the chant we said 3 times before the lid on the pot could be lifted!

Then, she made a very exciting flash of light inside the pot appear and...

TA-DA!!!! 2 chocolate chip cookies!!  AMAZING!

Everyone is glad she had some extra cookies so we all could have one!

Another activity we did was to collaborate and record all the things we remembered about our first grade year.  Once a good list was made, we created the cover of our very special memory books.  This book will come home at the end of the year and will have fun activities we've completed during the year.  We were all surprised at all that we've completed together!  Such great memories!!

Brainstorming ideas from our 1st grade year.  WOW!  Look at all we've studied!

Completed memory book cover pages!  BEAUTIFUL!

Eli captured a lot about 1st grade on his page!

In math this week we focused on 3-D shapes.  We started by learning a 3-D rap song.  This song helped us learn all the shapes and each of their characteristics.

Going on a 3-D scavenger hunt around the school.  So many different shapes!  We never knew there were so many right in front of us!

In social studies we had the opportunity to share our fantastic cooperative group story maps.  Each group divided up the presentation to make sure everyone had equal time to share.  Everyone did such an incredible job working together and learning from their classmates.

Sophia, Lily, John and Sofia sharing "The Three Little Pigs".

Elizabeth, Charlotte, DeLano and Oscar sharing "Little Red Riding Hood".

Holden, Maya Carter and Carmen sharing "The Three Bears".


Writing a memory from 1st grade to share with the kindergarteners.

We read two different Cinderella stories.  Then, we made a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast them.  We've learned that authors over time have created many different versions of fairytale and folk tales because they are so popular and have been around for so many years.

Venn Diagram

Take a look at these great looking folk tale and fairytale characters!

We worked on important comprehension skills this week after reading the folk tale, "Thank you Brother Bear".  
 
Getting ready for our lemonade stand!  Such great workers!

We worked on making singular words into plurals.  We learned that some words are irregular words and need an "es" to the end to make it a plural.

To celebrate the end of the fairytale and folk tale theme, we enjoyed watching "Frozen" and some delicious cookies thanks to Kate's mom.  They were so yummy!  The teachers loved listening to the class sing each song as we watched "Frozen". They all knew each and every word.  Some even knew the lines to the movie! 

Kindergarten visits 1st grade!
We had fun sharing all that we've done this year with the kindergarten.  We each got to stand and share one memory from the year.  Then, we gave them a tour around the classroom.  Kindergarten was wide-eyed as they took a peek at what their year will look like and our class were excellent hosts.  We're so proud at how far they've all come this year!  It just seems like yesterday that they were the ones getting the tour.  Whew, how time does fly!!

Sharing the infamous ladder!

Lily is sharing her jumbo journal.

Playing fun math games with dice.

HAPPY MAY DAY!!
We made May day baskets to share with our family, friends and neighbors.  We talked about when May Day began and who in the world celebrates this special day.

In hands-on-science we planted bean stalks in honor of the folk tale, "Jack and the Beanstalk".  We discussed the process of how a plant grows and what it needs in order to survive.  We shared that unfortunately, ours won't probably grow as tall as Jack's did but it would be just the right size for Thumbelina and Tom Thumb!

The stages of growth for a plant.

Lamar is drawing his prediction about what his plant will look like while Kate is planted her lima beans.

Sofia is using her pencil to push down the beans deep into the soil.  

GROW SEEDS GROW!!!


In computer lab we visited www.starfall.com and www.abcya.com to reinforce our study of geometry.
 

Spelling Words- Week #24 May 5-9,2014

Spelling rule: endings: ed and ing

1. worked

2. hurting

3. helped

4. growing

5. talked

6. singing

7. eating

8. going

9. walked

10.jumping

Challenge Words

11. lemonade

12. poetry

13. Haiti

14. May

“Surprise the Teacher Word”

15.???

Summer Reading Book Swap!

Next week students may bring in up to 5 gently used books to participate in the 3^rd annual book swap.  Students can turn their books into their teacher Monday-Friday.  On Friday afternoon each class will browse the book collection and students can refresh their reading stash before summer vacation begins!   Please send books that are on or above your child’s grade level to ensure that all students are happy with their new read.

We look forward to seeing you tonight at our lemonade stand!  Thank you so much for all your amazing support.  We couldn't do it without you!

Enjoy the beautiful weekend,

Sara and Carey