During our short two-day week, my language arts group was quite busy! We launched our penguin study and learned about fact and opinion. Let us show you some of the facts we identified in our recent Scholastic News Magazine. We worked in partners and used Educreations on the iPads to demonstrate our learning.
As always, we enjoy trying new things and reflecting on what worked well and how we can improve. Please know that these are not polished or professional works by any means. Mr. Hanes and I thought they turned out pretty well and were pleased with how well our first graders worked together!
First graders in my language arts group, what do you think worked well with this project? How do you think you can improve? If you're willing, please post a comment to share with all of us. We will talk about these questions on Monday.
Last week, we prepared for our final November Mystery Reader. Here were our clues:
I am the mother of two boys.
I work with people who are handicapped
I am the wife of a Preacher
"You are your mother's child!"
I have red hair
Do you know who THIS mystery reader was? Quentin was very quick to figure this one out and knew it was his mom, Mrs. S!
Mrs. S read The Little Engine That Could and shared information with us about Braille. It was a great visit and we learned a lot!
Thank you, Mrs. S!
Unfortunately, I wasn't at school that day so I couldn't take any pictures (sorry!).
First graders and families, when is a time you've had to be resilient like the Little Engine and keep trying and trying? Post a comment to share with all of us.
First grade celebrated our first PLUSS day by enjoying a day centered around the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds.
Our day began with a reading of the book by Mr. Hardy, one of the 5th grade teachers. First, third, fourth, and fifth grades gathered together in the assembly room. After hearing the story, which would be our theme for the day, we got together with Senorita Neyra to learn about dots otherwise known as "punto" in Spanish. The children counted the puntos on their dominos.
When we came back to the classroom, we did some dot to dot activities and then headed to lunch. Next we got together with our LS art teachers, Ms. Weiss and Ms. Shelley, to create a leaf picture using dots. The children traced leaf templates and then used dots to outline and, in some cases, fill in the leaves. Blotter markers were used to created a dotted border around the picture. Some friends got to extend their creativity with a free art drawing/painting.
We continued to be creative with dots by making pictures with them when we got back to our classroom. After recess we got together with Mrs. Rutstein's sixth graders to play some dot games. We used the iPads to play the apps Flow and Dots (both are free apps if you're interested in checking them out) and also played the familiar paper/pencil dot/boxes game.
Most of us agreed that our first PLUSS day was a lot of fun!
Here's an animation for the book The Dot:
At FSB we value creativity as a habit of mind, recognizing that when individuals are allowed to be creative, more meaningful learning can occur.
Parents & first graders, how have you sought to be creative in your learning?
Please comment below to share your response with all of us.
