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!

Maps, Maps, Maps!

The students have had an amazing week with Miss Sheehan!  They have been so busy working on learning their addresses, exploring maps and observing various art pieces.  I'm afraid they don't want me back!  Here are a few photos of one part of the class map project.

Love the floating heads!

The whole class

Bunch of Turkeys!!

Today we made turkey headbands.  I gave them bits of different colored paper and a large piece of oaktag for the headband.  Check out the results!

One turkey!

Turkeys in progress.

A turkey with earmuffs!

Another turkey!

A bunch of turkeys!!!