Happy Fall Everyone!

We have had a fun week writing about our favorite fall things and reading lots of fall books. Their favorite is There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Leaves. The children are ready for Halloween and have been picking out lots of spooky stories like The Haunted House that Jack Built andThe Skeleton and the Mummy.

This week we have continued our study of maps by adding a new term: key. We learned all about the map key and how to use it to find things that we needed. Then we practiced on a real map finding things like the restroom, gift shop, and restaurants at Sea World.

We have also continued our study of animals. This week we discussed several different animal habitats. Now that we know the needs of animals, we are learning about how places meet those needs. We watched a really neat video on discovery education that showed us a desert, rainforest, forest, and ocean habitat. We got to see all of the different animals and plants that live in each place and how each one survives in these very different conditions!

In math, we have been practicing our doubles facts. This is the first part of addition for us. We have been having addition problems in our classroom work as well as our homework and are learning how to write number sentences. We incorporated this into munchie math this week. The children had to group popcorn pieces into groups and then count to see how many they had all together and write the number sentence for each one.

Mapping Our World

Over the past few weeks we have been learning about maps. Each week we have a map packet that shows us a kind of map or a part of a map and has questions to go along with it. To go along with these maps, we have been looking at all different kinds of "real" maps as well. I brought out a big stack of maps from states, towns, tourist attractions, amusement parks, zoos, and aquariums. The children loved passing them around and looking at all the different things that they could find on these maps. They especially liked the kid-friendly ones that have lots of pictures.

Last week I gave them a challenge. I challenged each of them to find a map at home and bring it in to share. Several of them were up for the challenge and brought in some really cool maps of places they had visited and they had the opoprtunity to share these with the class. After the first day, several more brought them in and some even a week later because they all wanted to be a part of this.

While visiting our classroom last week, Dr. Frey heard about our map challenge and this week surprised us by bringing one of her own!

Dr. Frey brought in a very special kind of map that none of the children had seen before. They LOVED it! Dr. Frey explained that it was called a topographical map and then gave the children the chance to not only look at it, but feel the difference in this cool map! She even showed us where her cabin in the mountains is. While we were talking about the map, we came up with our own idea of what topographical means...the "top". The children pointed out that it showed the tops of the mountains and you could see which ones were taller. I was really impressed that they used their own ideas to come up with a first grade friendly way to think of this map.

Thanks, Dr. Frey!!

This week we learned about the different directions on the compass rose. To have a little hands on experience with this each child was able to have their own map of the zoo and we navigated them with matchbox cars. I chose a place and then each child was able to navigate to a place that was either North, South, East, or West of it. This was a great way for the children to be able to interact with the cardinal directions.

Recycle of the week!

I received our scholastic book order today and had broken the box down to take it to the trash. I went about sorting papers and when I turned around this is what I found! My box had turned into a hideaway! Way to use something that was going to go in the trash! In fact, two boys actually wanted to use it! They decided that one could use it now and the other would take it home to make a fort.

Way to recycle!!!

Gummy Worm Dividing

This week we started working on dividing/sharing in math. This is the beginning of what we grown ups know as fractions!

During the week we did an activity with m&m's where the children had to share them between them and a friend. Today I posed the question "How would we share if we only had one thing?" We did a few examples on the smart board where we drew some lines to divide apples into halves, thirds, and fourths.

Then we did some dividing of our own! First, we talked about the word "whole". We discussed that that means when something is all in one piece. Then the children took gummy worms and cut them into halves, thirds, and fourths. They love to use knives and this was the perfect time to do it! We talked about knife safety and how to use them appropriately and they did an excellent job!

I gave the students a scenario like "What would we need to do to share with one friend", "What would we need to do to share with two friends" and then they thought about ways we could divide.

They did a fantastic job and I am SURE they will remember halves, thirds, and fourths because we did it in such a tasty way!

Here are a few showing off some halves and fourths!

Way to Respect!

Today our class got to have pajama day as a reward for reaching our first 25 coin PBIS goal! Go River Keepers!!

What is PBIS you ask? This is our school's Positive Behavior Intervention System. We have spent the year thus far talking about "Respect Yourself", "Respect Others", and "Respect Your School". Each area of our school has different ways that we do this. Whenever you get caught doing a good job by another teacher you can earn a coin. For every 25 coins you earn a little reward!

At the beginning of the year we looked at each area of our school: hallways, bathrooms, classrooms, and the playground. We talked about how we respect ourselves, others, and our school in those areas.

Yesterday we earned our 25th coin. I am pretty impressed that our class earned 25 already and it is only day 22! We made a list of little fun things that the children would like to do for a reward. We voted and Pj day won! Who doesn't love a good Pj day? We saved our list so we will have some things to pick from for next time we earn one, which will hopefully be soon! We already have a new coin today :)

This system is a great way for our children to learn how to behave and follow rules and also to learn about respect. I find myself asking them daily "Is that respectful" or "How do we respect each other" and it is a great reminder of how we should be treating each other and our school!

Go Fly A Kite!

This week we spent some time learning about the Chinese Kite Festival, which is honored on September 9th. This festival remembers China's history in creating and flying kites and is very fun! We watched some videos on youtube of people celebrating the Kite Festival and we saw all different kinds of kites! There were mermaids, an octopus, dragons, and some that were just pretty designs. We also saw some kite competitions where the kites flew in choreographed routines. It was very cool!

On Thursday we made our very own kites using grocery bags and other craft supplies. We have talked a lot about recycling since our theme this year is "Go Green, Go Blue" and this was a fun way for us to put this into practice! The children had great ideas for their kites. Some of them used some of the ideas we had seen in the video. I know for certain we had an octopus and a monster truck kite! Many of them just decorated and made pretty kites!

On Friday, we had our own kite festival with Mrs. Reece's class. The children had a wonderful time in the cool weather flying their kites. The almost fall temperatures and breeze made it a perfect kite-flying day!

Career Day!

We have had such a fun day in first grade today! In honor of the Labor Day holiday coming up, we spent the past week talking about community helpers and other jobs that people do. Each day we watched a short video about a community helper, completed a bubble map together about their job, and then wrote in our journals about them. We learned about veterinarians, postal workers, firemen, and policemen throughout the week. After we talked about what the person does in their job, we talked about the requirements to become one of those people. Today was our own career day. The children each came to school dressed as what they think they might like to do when they grow up.

We had an undercover policeman, a K-9 officer, a racer, a hair stylist, a gymnast, a veterinarian, a teacher, a train engineer, a cake baker, an engineer for wind turbines, and a karate instructor! Wow! Each child was able to get up in front of the class and explain the different parts of their costume and how they would use them in their chosen career. They also talked about what they would have to do in order to achieve these goals. After we had our show and share time the children wrote about what they would like to become in their journals. This was a great way for the children to start thinking about what it takes to achieve their goals. The children learned about all of the different schools they may have to go to or the trainings they might have to have in order to do these jobs.

Friday always brings Munchie Math as well...one of my personal favorite things of the week! This week we were working on sorting and then placing items on a graph using fruit loops.

First we sorted the fruit loops by color.

Then we placed the fruit loops on our graphs.

After we had made our concrete graph, we took it to the semi-concrete level by drawing fruit loops on to our pictograph.

After we finished, each child had to circle which color the had the most of to review a math term, "most", that we have been working on this week.

What a fun and delicious way to learn sorting, graphing, one-to-one correspondence, and counting!!