So Much Energy

 This week in Science we have been talking about Energy. We learned that different animals eat different things to get energy and that they use that energy to do work or play. As a lead in to our next unit on habitats, we discussed how animals have to find foods in the places that they live.

I wanted the children to understand that there were more kinds of energy than just food energy and more kinds of work than just the work we do each day as humans, so we did a little sort that would show several other types of energy.

We discussed that energy can make things move, warm things up, make noise, and light things up.
The children were asked to sort the different objects into which category they belonged.

Here is our finished chart! There was a great teachable moment while we were working and I was very impressed with how the children handled it! We got down to making light and the only card that we had left was the hot bowl. I asked the children if this made sense and they said no. Then I explained that sometimes the last card isn't always going to go in the last spot and we need to stop and make sure that the answer makes sense. We found that we had a few mistakes, but through talking it out, we were able to get them all where they should go. 

After our discussion, I wanted the children to take this one step farther and related it back to their own lives. I asked them to look at the different types of energy and then draw an item that would fit each category. 

Here are some of the things they came up with!!

Fun Friday

Today is what I like to call Fun Friday. Why you ask is it fun? We do a lot of different, fun activities on Fridays! We have our spelling test and have had a long week, so I like to wind down a little bit on Fridays. What do we do on Fun Friday? We do a graph of the week, Scholastic News Magazine, Munchie Math, Someone takes home Curious George, watch a movie at dismissal, and even have ice cream! How's that for a fun day??

We started out our day with our graph of the week. Each week, I pose a different question for the children to graph their answers. This week's question was "Which Character Do You Like Best?" and the choices were Clifford or Froggy. Before the students got to choose, we read a back to school book that included each of these characters. 

 Then, they all got to pick who they liked the best. 

After they made their choice, they had to explain to the class why they made their choice. Being able to explain "why" and make an argument is a huge part of the Common Core standards. The children had great answers! The ones who chose Clifford liked him because he's a dog, he's good, they have a dog, they like dogs. The children who chose Froggy liked him because he's silly, he is funny, and he goes to school in his underwear! Talk about great explanations!

After we completed our graph, we discussed what we learned from looking at this data. The students pointed out that we learned that more children in our class like Clifford than Froggy...4 more to be exact!

Later on in the morning, we did our first Munchie Math lesson. Munchie Math is a time for us to do a fun, yummy activity that reinforces a math concept we have been working on in class. This week's activity was called "Delicious Dominos". 

First, the students were given a bag of Fruit Loops and several index cards that were divided like dominos. They had to start by making their own dominos, using the items they were given. They had to choose numbers 5 or less to add to each side.

Then, the students had to make addition sentences that matched their dominos. 

 Here are some of the finished products!! Or perhaps I should say sums.....

I think the children had lots of fun doing this fun review activity...what do you think??

First Week of First Grade

We have now been in First Grade for a week! The time has really flown!

I have a few things from the first few days to post at home, but I wanted to go ahead and post what we have been doing this week in Science because it has been so much fun.

In Science this year, we will have a question to answer and learn about each week. This week's question was "Does A Rock Grow?". When we first started to look at this question, we weren't really sure. We have seen big rocks and small rocks, so maybe so...On the first day, the children were asked to draw something that grows. They had great responses! Several chose baby brothers or sisters and many chose pets and flowers. Great thinking!! Then I showed them pictures from their first day of school last year to prove that they grow and change as well!

As we spent more time learning about things that grow, we learned that living things need air, water, and food to survive. We decided that rocks don't need those things, and came to the conclusion that no, rocks are not alive.

We also had a little help deciding from Cookie Monster. The children loved this video and I promised I would share it so they could watch it at home!

After we decided that rocks do not grow, we began exploring the terms living and non living. Cookie Monster helped us learn that living things all breathe, grow, and eat. We decided to use that criteria to sort things into two groups : living and nonliving. 

Each child was given several cards and asked to decide and explain where each one should go in our sort. I challenged a few of them asking "Well a bike moves, so is it alive?" or "My TV really looks alive when I am watching a show, is it alive?" and the children responded that it doesn't grow, eat, or change so it must not be. 

Observation and living things are a big part of First Grade science, so we will be exploring this more as the year goes on. I hope this will be one of the children's favorite topics!!