Weather!

 We have just begun a weather unit due to some extra homeroom time! I thought this would be a fitting unit due to the 6th snow day we just recently had -- it has been a winter to remember!! (or to forget!)

We started by brainstorming about science, since this will be our first science unit of the year. We made science journals and talked about what science is and what a scientist does. As soon as the kiddos heard the word science their ears were listening and eyes were watching. This is a favorite subject of many because it is full of discovery and experimentation.

After discussing science, we jumped right into different types of weather. We brainstormed weather words, talked about the water cycle, sang a water cycle song and watched a short video before creating our own water cycle sentence strips.

To continue the excitement we talked about the "coolest" thing in weather which is the rainbow. We discussed how they form and who can see them. We also talked about if we could catch one, which we figured out you cannot because when you move, the rainbow also moves! WOW! Then we incorporated some similes into our writing and created a rainbow mosaic, which is being displayed proudly in our hallway.

Then we finally started the experiment that they were all waiting for. We started talking about cumulus clouds and how they form cumulonimbus clouds when they fill up with to much water. We took mason jars and filled them with water and I went around to each group and put shaving cream on the top of each jar to represent a cumulus cloud. They observed this cloud and predicted what would happen if they dropped some water (with food coloring) into this cloud to form a cumulonimbus cloud. When their predictions were done they rotated with their group members and put 2 drops of water mixed with food coloring into the clouds. In order for this experiment to work you must put the drops in the same place. Within a few drops I heard some groups exclaim, "It's RAINING…It's RAINING!" This was the most excited I have seen them in a LONG time! For other groups it took way more drops, which brought up a great discussion about a cloud's holding capacity and how some clouds are stronger than others and can hold more water before they let it go.  This was an experiment and a day these kids will never forget. To end the day we each grabbed a cup of water on our way out to the buses and since it was -30 windchill we formed clouds by throwing the water in the air. As expected, after this cloud forming there was a lot of filling up cups with snow to bring on the buses. Kids will be kids! Let's just say it has been  a "partly cloudy" week :-) 

100 Days! (I think??)

Happy 100th Day! Wait…is it really the 100th day? Who really knows…too many cold/snow days to remember when it is, but we got sick of waiting so we decided to celebrate! I decided to buy all of the kiddos white t-shirts this year and their job was to decorate them with 100 of anything! You can see that we have a pretty creative group of 1st graders. From thumbprints, to cotton balls, to paw prints, and beads…these were some well thought out ideas! 

We spent the afternoon discussing what we would do if we had 100 dollars, in which some of my favorite responses were, "I'm going to buy a MANSION!!!" or "I would get a car!"…barbie dream house mansion and Ken's convertible maybe?!? We also talked about if we would rather be stuck in a room with 100 butterflies or 100 ants, have to live with 100 snakes or 100 dinosaurs, and finally what we would do on our 100th birthday. Yes, yes…some of us do dream of pushing our wheel chair into Chuckie Cheese in 94 years..but others of kept it low key and just said they would sleep ;-) They must have great-grandparents as examples!

The other part of our afternoon was spent building structures with 100 toothpicks and 100 marshmallows. The kiddos had a blast with this activity. It challenged them to revise and redo to make things stronger/better which is very hard for first graders to do -- it challenged them to think outside of the box and it allowed my engineers in the classroom to get their time to shine.

The only problem that arose was when some groups came up and said, "Ok we need more toothpicks!! My response? "You only get 100!" Their response? "Awww….C'mon!!!" They struggled to then go back to their groups and use all of the materials. They learned how to work with friends who they don't usually interact with and to listen to all of the group members ideas. I was very impressed with their collaboration and their efforts. It was neat to see them in STEM situations!

\

Graphing with M&Ms

Well this was the last week before we start assessing and it is my FAVORITE unit: graphing! I absolutely LOVE graphing. I love planning graphing lessons for my kiddos because you can make it so fun and it is also a lot of fun to teach! To make it hands on for my students and to introduce them to graphing within small groups without filling out multiple worksheets we made picture graphs using tape, markers, and m&ms -- very simple, but oh so fun!

 The students couldn't wait to get to the table to sort their m&ms! By the time they came to me the third day they were writing comparing sentences using the words most, least, more, and fewer. We incorporated handwriting and phonics into this lesson, which is another reason I love graphing! This week we will be taking a (hopefully) small break from graphing so we can assess students before trimester 3 -- happy assessing!

February

More from February…in social studies this month we have been learning about black history heroes such as Martin Luther King, Harriet Tubman and the Underground RR, and now we have started learning about Ruby Bridges. We read a story about Ruby's life and then brainstormed characteristics of Ruby before watching some clips from her movie.

 Also, another view of our room around Valentine's Day. We created WE LOVE LEARNING signs with our hand prints and wrote what we love about learning on each heart. It was fun for our parents to see what we love! Only problem was once one person asked how to spell my name, many repeat offenders followed closely. I'm sure parents were wondering what I gave each kiddo who wrote that they loved Ms. Howard on their heart ;-)


We have been updating our Sochi medal chart -- however, the USA is not getting as many medals as I expected. For all the hard work and time it took to make this poster, we better pick it up here at the end of these Olympics!!

Lastly, my learning targets for this upcoming week are posted below. Have a great week!

Valentine's Day and more...

Wow! It's been a busy month! This past week we just finished up evening conferences on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday due to make-up days. Even though it was long, it was worth it to get to have great conversations with parents. Conferences are always one of my favorite times of the year because we get to share positive stories and really SHOW how much we care about students and their families beyond the classroom.

Anyways, we started this month off by kicking off I LOVE TO READ month by using the Winter Olympics as our theme. Many of the staff members dress up as Olympians and paraded in to an all school assembly. It is one of my highlights from this year! The kids were going crazy and probably confused their parents when they went home saying they "high-fived" Olympic athletes today! 

Another "lovely" memory from this year was this past Friday, February 14th. I honestly had as much, if not more, fun than the kids. The day ended with a bad headache and having my head almost collapse on my desk, but the fun numbed all the pain during the day. We started earlier in the week with graphing candy hearts and then waited until Friday to continue our Valentine's celebrations. Students brought in their boxes and bags, handed out Valentine's in the afternoon, created "Compliment Placemats" for their classmates (LOVED THIS) and had a mini-dance party while looking at each others colorful, sugar-covered tongues! I can't imagine I liked those sugar sticks (or whatever they are called) when I was a kiddo. YUCK! Hope no one has a dentist appt. soon :-)