Holiday Wreaths

All the students made holiday decorations to give their parents.  The wreath is made from handprints and the berries are thumbprints.  Students copied the poem in their best handwriting to make a wonderful keepsake from first grade.  

And then I forgot to hand them out at the end of the party.  So have a look at this lovely photo this year and they can decorate your houses next year...  So sorry.

Holiday Ornaments

This year our school charity project is to sell holiday ornaments to raise money for Habitat for Humanity.  Since they are about building houses, every grade level's ornaments have a house theme.  First graders brainstormed winter and holiday words, as part of our science discussion about seasons, and then chose words to type while we learned some things about using a word processing program.  Then we printed the words on our house templates and engineered some wintry houses.  Ornaments are on sale tonight during the choir performances and will be available while supplies last!  Suggested donations are $2, but give what you want to contribute!  Here are some cute 1st graders with their ornaments:

What is technology?

Today we started our first big engineering unit of the year by talking about exactly what an engineer is (hint:  they don't just drive trains!) and what technology is.  We learned that engineers use science, math, and creativity to design solutions to problems and to improve things so they work better.  Then we looked at some examples of technology I brought from my house and they worked with a partner to decide what problem this technology solves and what materials it is made of.  Here are some hard-working scholars with their technology.

Reading and Retelling

Today we practiced retelling a story by putting some of the pictures in order and then using them to help get details from the story in order.  We used a Frog and Toad story called "Cookies" since the first song the choir is learning this year is from the Frog and Toad musical.  Here are the kids working with their partners.

Magnets!

Today students used magnets to move a paper rabbit and squirrel along a path they had designed.  Many partners first tried blowing the papers, since the challenge was to move them along the path without touching the paper, but it turned out to be hard to get them to move just right...  Then some students realized that we had been working with magnets earlier in the week and since we had used a paper clip to hold the parts together that might work!  Students learned that they could pull the paper clip with the magnet and also that a magnet could push or pull another magnet.  Here they are demonstrating their magnetic force!

Building in the Engineering Lab!

We tried various building sets and activities in the lab today!

Building the Number Chart to 50

Today students worked to put together a number chart from 1 to 100.  Each student had about 3 numbers to put in place.  The tricky part was that we didn't start with 1 this time!  I put the number 28 down as a starting point and the kids had to use what they know about number patterns to get the other numbers into place!  Here is what that looked like:

Right now in math we are working on number concepts to 50.  (We will go higher later in the year.)  Students are reading and writing numbers, counting, building numbers, working on patterns, finding combinations that make a number and building their understanding of numbers.  At home you can have your child help count out things (spoons, game pieces, socks, books, etc.) and practice reading numbers that come up in your day.  Some kids can count quite high by rote, but don't match each number to each object when they say it.  They need to practice pointing to each object as they count and moving the objects as they count them.  We are also laying some groundwork for solving problems later in the year, by making combinations. For example, students can use objects to find out that 4 and 2 make 6, and 3 and 3 make 6.  You can easily practice this at home by making up your own "math stories" about things you do.  Just talk about things you are doing:  We are getting 2 carrots and 3 tomatoes.  That is 5 vegetables in all. Or: We had 6 yogurts.  Then we ate 2 at breakfast.  Now there are 4 yogurts left.  Or:  There are 4 red cars and 3 blue cars.  There is 1 more red car than blue.  Or: We have 2 blue socks and 2 red socks and 2 white socks.  That makes 6 socks in all.  We are not asking the questions yet...  Just talking about numbers when we combine things or separate things or compare how much more or less.
 

Objects in the sky...

In science we have begun to learn about objects in the sky.  Not things like birds and planes, but natural objects like the sun, moon, stars, and clouds.  Today we talked about what they already know, which is a lot, and began talking about patterns we will be learning about.  Then each student took a set of 4 cards showing different views of the moon and tried to make an sequence they thought would be reasonable.  Then they combined with a partner and then with their whole table group to put the cards into a pattern that repeated over and over.  Here is one group that made a pattern that repeated 4 times:

Tomorrow we will learn more about the phases of the moon.  We will compare their ideas to the actual sequence of changes we see when observing the moon.  Since we often cannot observe the moon during the school day, it would be great if you could look for the moon in the sky each evening and talk about what stays the same and what changes you see.  Also keep an eye out for it as you come to school each morning!

Student bloggers!

Today we got started with our student blogs.  The students were very excited about their first posts.  Check them out here: 
http://msdianenorwood.weebly.com/index.html

It will be great to watch how they develop their skills as writers.  We'd love to have encouraging feedback!

Class Poem

Today our class finished writing a poem about summer (since we are studying about seasons and weather).  Earlier we had brainstormed words and phrases about summer - after a very hot day at recess.  Today we added new ideas and then rearranged them to make a "found poem".  We put ideas together that sounded good and made sense.  We also used our strategy to reread and see if it made sense, looked right, and sounded right.  Here is the final version the class came up with:

Summer

by Ms. Norwood's class

summer

hot weather

yellow sun

red faces

hot enough to burn the playground

hot enough to melt the playground

100 degrees

feels like 1,000 degrees

hot

super-duper hot

melts ice

could melt the whole world

hot enough to grill you

could melt you

wet hair

hot, sweaty hair

sweaty foreheads

fire

hot slide that burns you

have to jump around if you don't have shoes on

bare feet get burned

solar energy

hot enough to toast a marshmallow

hot enough to make you catch on fire

summer

Math Spirit Stick

Today on KCAN they announced the first Math STEM Challenge:

There are 2 ducks in front of a duck.  There are 2 ducks behind a duck.  There is 1 duck in the middle.  How many ducks are there?

Students in our class figured out the answer and I called the phone number to KCAN live while they were on the air.  We were not the first class to call in, but we were the first class to answer correctly so our class was recognized on air and we get to bring the Math Spirit Stick to the Friday Assembly tomorrow and have our class recognized!  Good thinking Ms. Norwood's class!

And this might help you understand the answer:

Shared Class Writing

Today our class wrote together:

Using Our iPads

By Ms.Norwood's Class

This year we get our own iPads. We will charge our iPads at night. We will be taking the iPads home. Then we will bring them back to use at school. We can work on our iPads to make us smarter. We love using the iPads. They are awesome!

Windsock Tests

As part of our study of weather, our class has been working on our first engineering design project.  Students worked in pairs to plan and build a windsock. Part of the planning was to stay within their budget of 20 cents. After an indoor test (using the class fan), they tried to improve their design.  Today we took our windsocks outside for a test with a real breeze!

  

  

Welcome!

Welcome to our class blog!  This will be the space I use to share examples of what we are doing in class and information about what we are learning and how we are learning.  For grade level and school reminders, dates, announcements, etc. check out the First Grade News blog on the school website.