Lawrence Hall of Science Field Trip

Hopefully you’ve already heard by now about our exciting field trip to the Lawrence Hall of Science.  We had the opportunity to tour the museum and take a class about birds.  The children did some role-playing in which they pretended to be birds with lice.  They preened (or cleaned) their feathers by ruffling them up and then smoothing them back out again.  They also had the  opportunity to examine bird feathers, nests, eggs, and skeletons, and preserved bird specimens.  They were able to examine parrot, ostrich, chicken, barn owl, peacock, hen, and bald eagle feathers.  They observed a variety of eggs, and got to hold an ostrich and emu egg.  They also looked closely at different nests and noticed the types of building materials that were used (mud, grass, small sticks, hair, cotton, string, and seeds).  They wore plastic gloves when they examined some preserved specimens.  The children had a great time exploring all of these aspects of a bird’s life, but the most exciting experience of the day was when they got to pet a ring-necked dove!

Bird Journals

We just  started our new science unit on birds.  I’ve sent home a bird (science) journal for your child to work on over the next couple of weeks as homework.  These journals are for the children to expand the study of what we’re doing in the classroom.  The journals are open-ended so feel free to interpret this assignment in whichever way works best for you and your child.   I would like for there to be at least one observation of a live bird.  (What was it doing?  What does it look like?  Where was it?, etc.)  Other ideas include, but are not limited to:  doing some research on a bird and recording information learned about it, writing a summary of a science show they watched that had bird information in it, making scientific illustrations of a bird from a book or one seen in the backyard.  As a class, we’ll spend a part of each day sharing entries from the journals, so this should help create additional ideas.  The possibilities are endless.  Entries may simply be pictures with a few words or longer, more elaborate descriptions.  Please, no computer print-outs.  My goal is heightened awareness and interest.  Journals will be due the last day before vacation starts, December 18th.

Thanksgiving

We’ve had a busy two days this week with all of our Thanksgiving activities.   We began with reading about the life of two pilgrim children, Samuel Eaton and Sarah Morton.  We wrote about how their life was different from ours today.  We read about how hard life was on the Mayflower voyage and what the first thanksgiving was like.  We also made our own books about the story of Thanksgiving.

On Tuesday, we looked at what life was like for the Wampanoag People and the English Colonists at Plimoth Plantation through a visual presentation at www.plimoth.org.  We also read a story called Thankful for Thanksgiving, and made a list of things we’re thankful for.  I was so happy to see that no one had any trouble thinking of things to put on the list.  We harvested the lettuce from our garden and had a salad to go with our lunch. At the end of the day we had a feast with Maggie’s class.  In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we shared 1/2 of our baked goods with Maggie’s class, and they shared 1/2 of theirs with us.  We even made butter to go with the cornbread!  Thanks to all families who brought in items for our feast (Harel, Jada, Zoe W., Lael, Reuben, and Gil).

A partial list of the things the children were thankful for included:  family, moms, dads, grandpas, grandmas, sisters, brothers, cousins, pets, food, friends, teachers, birthdays, water, books, movies, legos, Hanukkah, peanut butter, football, flowers, houses, beds, toys, the sun, holidays, and school!

What Will The Weather Be?

This past week has been full of fun activity.  On Monday, we met with our 8^th grade buddies for the first time.  They began with an interview and learned interesting things about each other.  Then they had a chance to read books, color pictures,  and play games together. 

Tuesday’s pajama day was a lot of fun.  The children read with their stuffed animals, and we had an extra special recess with Maggie’s class.  The day ended with a licorice stick and singing sleepy bedtime songs with Maggie’s class.

We also studied different types of weather this week.  We learned how weather can be observed, measured, and described.  We learned about different types of weather measuring devices, like rain gauges, wind socks, thermometers, and wind vanes.  We made paper thermometers and practiced reading them.  We set up a rain guage and wind vane in our garden.  We even made our own wind socks.  During this unit we also looked at the water cycle and focused on the differences between seasons.

Writing Centers

Each Friday we have writing centers.  Activities can change from week to week, but here are some pictures of this past Friday’s centers….

At this center the first graders are making a class book based on a story we read in class about cloud shapes.  They wrote about an idea for a cloud shape and then ripped white paper to create the shape of their cloud image.

At this center the first graders drew pictures and wrote short stories about them.  There were a variety of picture prompts, including monkeys, camels, robots, trucks, astronauts, and sharks!

This center had ’sentence starters’ that use many of our spelling words.  The first graders copied the beginning of the sentence and completed them with their own ideas.  For example, one sentence starter may have, “I like to_______.” or “Can you see the ________?”

At this station, the first graders practice their spelling words by stamping them out with alphabet stamps and ink.

Math Facts

In math, we’ve started working on memorizing our addition facts to 10.  You’ll find some timed addition practice in your child’s purple folder this week.  We’ll be doing these daily for the next few months.  We’ve started with sums to 4.  Next week, will review sums to 4 but also include sums to 5.  We’ll follow this pattern over the next few months eventually building up to sums of 10.  Next semester we’ll begin working on subtraction facts.  We also do a lot of review with the math facts through games and coloring activities.  Although we work on this every day, research (and my previous experience) shows that most children will need extra help at home to fully complete the math facts to memory.  A good way to practice the facts with your child is through flash cards.  You can either make them or purchase them through an educational supply store.  I would recommend spending about 5 minutes per night running through them with your child.  It will be important for your child’s success in math to memorize all the addition and subtraction facts with sums up to 10 this year.  Our math program will use this skill later in the year to aid in the addition and subtraction of higher, two-digits numbers.

Edible Botany

During these past few weeks, we’ve been doing a science unit on plants. We’ve been focusing on what I call “Edible Botany”. We’re learning about the function of each plant part, and have taken a closer look at the ones that can be eaten. We began last week with seeds. We looked at the diversity of seeds, observing their similarities and differences, sorted them, and made scientific illustrations. We also learned about seed dispersal, as well as the steps a seed goes through to become a plant. Tomorrow we’ll write stories about what it would be like to be a seed. It’ll be interesting to see how each child decides to travel from the plant, where he/she will land, the challenges they’ll encounter and whether or not he/she will end up growing into a plant! During this edible botany unit, we learn about making close observations with a loupe, and recording the information though scientific illustrations. This skill involves drawing what one actually sees, taking measurements, and labeling the various parts. We’ve examined edible seeds (sunflower seeds) and roots (radishes) so far. Next week, we’ll look at stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits. Oh, and of course we get to eat them when we’re done!

Lindsey Wildlife Museum

We’ve just completed our first field trip of the year!  We went to the Lindsey Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek.  This museum offers close encounters with many live, non-releasable wild animals.  They have an on-site wildlife hospital that treats thousands of native California animals every year.  We were fortunate enough to take a class called Animal Characteristics, which tied in with our study of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.  Our volunteer docent, Ann, led us around the museum and we were able to see many animals.  In the discovery room, we searched for common backyard wildlife.  In their theater, we were able to see a living raptor up close and learned about why they are such great hunters.  We experienced what it’s talons would feel like on our hand, listened to (or tried to hear) the silent flapping of an owl wing in flight, and observed how it moves its head around to see since its eyes are fixed in its socket.  We also had the opportunity to feel the scales of a slithering snake and stand next to a grizzly bear.  After our class, we had lunch in the park and then went back to the museum to explore some more.  We also viewed other living animals like a rattlesnake, pond turtle, lizard, and bobcat. There were also many raptors, including a bald eagle!  

feeling a turtle shell

holding a snake skin molt

“petting” a snake and feeling its scales

sitting next to a grizzly bear

searching for backyard critters

In September I remember….

During a writing project this morning, we reflected back on the first month of school and some of the things we’ve done so far in first grade.  I gave the students this sentence starter:  “In September I remember…….”   I thought I would share with you some of their sentences:

In September I remember having teddy bear week.

In September I remember studying mammals.

In September I remember reading a funny story.

In September I remember painting teddy bears.

In September I remember tossing the bears in the parachute.

In September I remember drawing a story in creative arts.

In September I remember playing basketball.

In September I remember doing science.

In September I remember studying reptiles.

In September I remember doing some math.

In September I remember the game “pop up”.

In September I remember going to creative arts.

In September I remember painting tiles.

In September I remember being the helper of the day.

In September I remember seeing all the bears.

In September I remember reading the mammal books.

In September I remember playing tag in PE.

In September I remember wearing the earphones.

In September I remember hot lunch.

In September I remember the Bears, Bears, Bears, Bears, Bears books.

In September I remember my new table.

In September I remember seeing my new classroom.

In September I remember meeting my new teacher.

Buttons and Spelling Words

We began our week with the wonderful story of Frog and Toad; two best friends who have a lot of adventures together.  We used a story in which Toad loses a button from his coat as a jump start for all sorts of button-related activities.  We began by sorting buttons based on various attributes like size, color, shape, texture, etc.  After examining a variety of buttons, we then designed our own on paper templates and used these to create graphs (based on number of holes and shape).  Last Thursday, the children each chose one special button and sewed it onto a felt coat.  On Tuesday, we used that sewing project to write descriptive sentences about the buttons.  (A special thank you to all of the parent sewing volunteers who came to help!)

We’ve also started working on weekly spelling words.  Almost every week we’ll be learning 5 new spelling words.  Usually, they will be high-frequency sight words.  We’ll work with these words in class each day.  We spell, chant, and write the words.  We also search for the words in literature and play games with them.  For example, today we spelled the words using our bodies.  The children came up with all sorts of interesting ways to make the letter shapes with their arms and legs.  All of these activities help the children learn to read and write them from memory.  Each week, I’ll post the words on the “Spelling Words” page of this blog.  I’ve also created a page entitled “How to Help At Home With Spelling Words.” Please refer to it, as I talk about several ways you can help support your child’s learning process at home.