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!!

Munchie Math

Something special that I like to do in first grade is munchie math. I love these activities because it helps us to learn lots of different skills! We not only study math concepts, but we also learn real world applications for these concepts. The children love to have a treat and they are learning at the same time! Can't beat that!

This week's munchie math activity was making numerals using twizzlers pull and peel. This activity went along with what we had been doing in class for the first week very nicely. While we learned all of our numbers in Kindergarten, we have been on a break so we wanted to make sure that we could still remember how to make them the correct way.

This activity was great for tactile-kinesthetic learners who learn best when they are making something. It was also great practice for our gross motor skills!

We practiced each number and then discussed what came next and made that number. I think the children's favorite part was getting to eat their numbers when they were done!

We will do some type of munchie activity each week. We may be sorting, graphing, counting, cooking... the possibilities are endless! I hope the children enjoy learning in such a tasty way!

First Day of School!

Welcome back everyone!
We had a great first day of school yesterday!

We began the day by reading First Day Jitters and talking about how we felt coming to school after such a long break! Some of us felt excited, some nervous, but we all were happy to be back and see our old friends! After we read the book, we made a little treat called First Day Jitters Fritters. We added Raisin Bran for the little bumps and flutters we feel in our tummies, corn syrup for the teachers smile, powdered sugar for fun and exciting things sprinkled all around, and soy butter for friends to stick with. The kids had a blast making and eating this fun treat.

We completed a journal entry about our first day of school and the most popular thing of the day was free centers! The children had a blast getting to play together, be creative, and just have fun!

We're looking forward to a great year in first grade!!

Look for updates weekly!

Another fun visitor!

This week we had another fun animal visitor. Kyle brought in his hamster, Lucy, for us to meet!

The children were very excited to get to meet her and also to learn about hamsters. Kyle passed her around and let everyone either hold her or pet her. The children noticed that her little feet felt prickly and we learned that that helps keep her safe if she needs to climb up onto things. Kyle also told us what he feeds her and we got to watch her hide away some sunflower seeds in her cheeks and eat a piece of corn. We also learned that if you have a hamster you have to clean out its cage every few days to keep it healthy and clean.

This visit went perfectly with what we were learning about this week. We read a book called An Egg Is Quiet and we learned about many of the different kinds of eggs that animals lay. We talked about where each animal lays their eggs and learned that this is called their habitat. We also learned about the ways that animals keep safe in their habitat. While Lucy wasn't hatched from an egg, she definitely has lots of things that keep her safe like her teeth and her little claws that let her hold on. She is also super fast so we made sure not to put her down.

We are having lots of fun learning about different animals and how they are similar and different.

Thanks Kyle for this fun experience!