How To...

Dear First Graders,

    I was impressed with how many of you tried to follow the steps in How to Make a Drum to create your very own drum. Each was unique and wonderful! I am so excited for you to start writing How To's and teaching others all the great things you know how to do so well! Some of you have brought back your green idea page. If you have not, try to bring that back by Thursday. If you need another copy, it is attached on the right side of the blog. This will help us come up with ideas when we start writing next week!

  We also learned about how important it is to give clear directions when writing our How To's! We used an example from a past class of Miss Maurantonio's to make "Valentine" hearts. It was tough for some of us to be persistent and resilient while doing this activity. 

   In math, we played double bump to practice our doubles to 10.  We love this double rap song.

  0 + 0 = 0 Ohhh!                                                    1 + 1 = 2 Boo!                                                        2 + 2 = 4 More                                                        3 + 3 = 6 kicks                                                      4 + 4 = 8 Spider Weight                                                                  5 + 5 = 10 AGAIN!

Bear Hugs,

Scientists Have Good Habits Too!

Dear First Graders,

       I had fun learning all about how scientists use the scientific method to investigate questions that they have.

Step 1: Ask a Question

Does an apple sink or float? 

Step 2: Make a Hypothesis

Some of us thought it would sink since it is heavy, and others thought it would float.

Step 3: Conduct our Experiment!

Step 4: Collect your Data

Step 5: Share... 

Did you tell someone at home what happened?

We then began using those great habits that scientists have and started asking questions about other objects and if that object would sink or float... Boy did we have fun! We were also very surprised by some of the objects. 

Bear Hugs,

Happy Halloween

Dear Trick-or-Treaters,

Happy Halloween!

   Did I scare the Tuna Salad out of you with our Mystery Bags? It was a fun way to practice both our investigation of textures, as well as using great adjectives to describe items. ** Parents, are you wondering what all this talk is about Tuna Salad... it came from a book by one of our favorite authors! We used this story to talk about our new growth mindset word... EMPATHY!

 ewwww!  Is that eyeballs? 

We had fun practicing using our scissors with a fun Halloween Ghost craft. Remember, elbows down, thumb up! Our scissor hand has the important job to "open, shut them.. open, shut them." Our other hand, steers the paper.

Big tip... "If you want to cut on the lines, you have to look! LOOK at the LINES!"
(sung in a sing-song pattern)





Boy, did we draw a FANTASTIC crowd for our publishing party! I hope you enjoyed the students personal narratives as much as I did! 

Some Halloween Action shots...

Bear Hugs,

Dear First Graders,

     Abracadabra!  Did you tell your parents about the magician that came to visit us? He did some really neat tricks and taught about the values of respect for self and others, honesty, and responsibility.

    On Wednesday, we enjoyed a great book read by a mystery reader! Did you know Norman Bridwell wrote a series before his Clifford books about the Witch Next Door!

   Speaking of authors, we are getting ready for our writing celebration by working in pairs to edit our stories. We can't wait to share our final pieces with you on Tuesday, October 31st at 12:30.  

 Bear Hugs,

Growing Our Minds

Dear First Graders,

    It was really interesting to learn about some of the holidays friends in our classroom celebrate.  Shuli's mom shared some of the traditions and taught us a bit about some of the Jewish holidays that happen this time of the year.

   Is their a tradition or holiday that your family celebrates and would like to share with our class?
We LOVE to learn! 

   Looking ahead to mystery readers, we have Wednesday November 1st, 22nd, and 29th from 8:30-8:45 open if anyone would like to book a spot!

Bear Hugs,

Hogwart's Mania

Dear Friends,
   
      The excitement is building for our Hogwart's Night at Rosendale! As we earn points for our team in P.E., we are also working on how to respond to the announcements each morning saying where our team stands. We have been talking about being optimistic when our team is down and remember this is about having FUN!

    We have had a busy week celebrating a friends birthday!

    We also had a mystery reader share a book about friendship. We talked about how it is so important to have many friends and to give others a chance. This makes school fun and exciting, even when one of our friends is absent!

    Our reading bags are continuing to come home most weekdays! I started a new way of tracking with the log inside the bag. Please keep the log in the bag that way I know if your child read the story and is ready for a new book or not. I know how busy nights can get and it is OKAY if there is a day when we need to resend.  Keep up the great work at home!

Bear Hugs!

Thinking Thursday!

Dear First Graders,

    We are doing a fantastic job as thinkers within our classroom! This may have been a short week, but we have learned a ton.  The fire department came on Tuesday to talk to us about how important it is to practice our fire drills at home and have 2 ways out!

    We are also becoming fantastic authors! We have been writing stories from our lives.  Keep those ideas flowing!

   

We enjoyed a great story read by our mystery reader!



   I have been having fun using our movement breaks to keep our engines running just right!








Here is a snap shot of some gorgeous fall flowers we created in art!

Bear Hugs,