Dr. Seuss

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday and Read Across America week, we have done some extra activities to foster students' love of books and reading.

On Monday, we were invited by Mr. Burns' 5th grade class to come to the library to listen to the 5th graders read Dr. Seuss books.  The students were put in groups of 2 or 3 and listened intently to the fun books they chose for their fifth grader to read.

Lots of comfy pillows of course.

Another view.

The whole group.

Sometimes you just have to have a quiet place to read.

Most of the group seemed to stay in one big space but a few of the groups found quiet spaces off by themselves.  It was fun to watch all the students engaged in the reading process.  I don't know who I enjoyed watching more; the first graders I currently have or the fifth graders who used to be my first graders!

On Wednesday morning, Mrs. Vielleux's fifth grade class came down to first grade with their class set of iPads.  The fifth graders taught the first grade students how to use the iPad by using an app about Dr. Seuss.  The students had to take a picture and then size and re-size the picture to get it to fit in the frame of the character they chose.

Here are some of the first graders getting their lesson on how to use the Dr. Seuss app. 

 It did not take them long to catch on!

 

Of course, once they got good at it, they had to have some pictures of the teachers too!

Mrs. Thorburn

Mrs. Pfeiffer

Mrs. Vielleux

The Penguin Lady

On Friday, The Penguin Lady came to first grade.  Dyan deNapoli, author of The Great Penguin Rescue, is an expert on penguins and came to share her knowledge with us.  Thank you DBS PTO for funding this incredible experience for us!

The Penguin Lady demonstrating how penguins use camouflage to survive.

All of the first grade classes came to the library where Dyan had a great quiz show set up for them to participate in.  She said more than once how impressed she was with the extent of their knowledge about penguins.  She was able to teach all of us a few new things though!

We found out that penguins do have knees (we had just read that they didn't before attending her presentation).  They just keep their legs bent all the time so that it looks like they don't have them.  This is why they waddle so much when they walk.  We also learned an interesting fact about how penguins keep their nests clean, despite spending so much time on them.  The answer relates to penguin guano and the students LOVED her picture that went along with this fact!  Be thankful you didn't have to see it!

Our penguin unit (sadly) is almost complete.  I enjoy this unit as much as the students do!  Please take some time this week to review your child's penguin folder.  They have learned so much and should be excited to share this with you!  (Penguin folders will be sent home some time this week).

Penguins

We have been learning all about penguins these past few weeks.  We have learned specifically about 6 of them; Rockhopper, Chinstrap, Gentoo, Emperor, Little Blue and King.  The students love this unit and have been so invested in their learning.  It is an exciting time to watch them grow.  They even play "penguins" at recess!  I wanted to share some links with you that we have enjoyed exploring so that you can continue the excitement over break.  Also, if you've never been to the Boston Aquarium, they have a fantastic penguin exhibit (which may be under some construction right now).  Your child could probably narrate the tour for you!    You should also check out the King Penguins on South Georgia Island...makes me want to go there now!  And the penguin webcam at SeaWorld.  Amazing creatures!!

100th Day

What would you do with $100?

That was one of the questions first graders had to answer today.  It is clear from their answers that many of them have little concept about how much $100 actually is!  However, they had a lot of fun answering the question and were so happy to see their parent's name on the wall!  Thanks to everyone who took the time to write your ideas down for us to see.

Click here to see the student responses.

Fire Safety

This year, Firefighter Morse has joined our class 4 times to teach the students about fire safety.  They have reviewed many things that are important for the students to know.  They have learned about calling 911; when it's important to call and what they will need to know when they call.  They have learned about crawling under smoke and how to stop, drop and roll if their clothes catch on fire.  They have practiced fire drills here at school and discussed the importance of having a meeting spot at home as well.  They enjoyed their time meeting with him and we thank him for coming to share these important lessons with our students.  He has shared 2 links, here and here, that he thought the students might like to explore.  Time does not allow us to do that at school, so I am sharing them with you in case you would like to use them with your child.

January Update

It's been awhile since my last post and we have been very busy.  I have tried to take some pictures as we were working and I would like to share those now.

The following pictures are of our measuring unit that we worked on during the first 2 weeks back from our holiday break.  Students were asked to use many non-standard units of measurement to help them develop their understanding of longer, shorter and the same as.  This kind of measurement also encourages students to understand the importance of starting and ending your measurement in the same spot as another person in order to get the same answer.

Estimating and checking the length of Mrs. Thorburn's scarf.

More scarf measuring.

Comparing the estimates of the scarf's length.  Using the words longer, shorter and same as.

Using unifix cubes to measure items around the classroom.

How many unifix cubes long is the chalk tray?

Another exciting event in January was the Biography Fair that the 5th graders held in the cafeteria.  Each fifth grade student chose someone to research.  They displayed their learning results in the cafeteria on Thursday and were all dressed in costume.  We attended with clipboards in hand to get some autographs of these famous people.  The first graders had a great time "meeting" the famous people and getting their autographs! Some pictures are below but my camera battery died before we left the fair! Boo!!!

Barack Obama

Michael Jordan

Helen Keller

Wilbur and Orville Wright

'Tis The Season!

Our hand and feet reindeer

Christmas tree crafts

Pom-pom wreaths and candy canes

Snack time!

Winter scene painting

A crooked Christmas tree.

Star Santa

Sanddollar art.

 What a cute elf!