Raft Engineers

In a recent science unit, 1st graders were learning about water sources like lakes, rivers, and oceans and about how water moves.  We are now in the middle of a related engineering project - building model rafts!  We investigated some possible materials to see how well (or if) they floated and students are now working to design rafts that meet our size requirements, can float, can carry weight (5 washers), and can stay afloat during rainfall.  Most students have tested their first design and started working to improve it.  

The next part of this project will be some investigation into sails and, again, some materials testing.  Then students will be designing a sail at home that they think will really catch the wind.  When everyone comes to school for our Family STEM Night (5:30 - 7:30 on Thursday, November 19) students will build the sail they designed at home and then test the sail by having boat races!  It will be a fun night for your family to experience the design process together.  All the cardboard creations will be on display that night in the Cardboard Museum, the book fair will be going in the library, and their will be a special TAME Truck out front you can visit for hands-on activities!  Mark the date on your calendars! We hope to see everyone there!

You've Heard of Bedtime Stories, Now Try Bedtime Math!

Students have a new app on their iPads called Bedtime Math.  Every day there is a short article and picture about a topic kids are interested in (animals, weird things, cool things someone made, sports, and more!). You just read the paragraph with your kids and then click a button for a math question.  There are 3 levels of questions and after you talk with your child and they try to solve it, just click the answer button.

Here's an article about prairie dogs.

This is a question at the middle level from a different article.

This is not something you need to do every night (but you could since there is a new article every day!) But if you are looking for a way to talk about math at home, this is a nice tool.  I hope you find it useful, educational, and fun!

Cardboard Creations!

On Friday students across Cannon showed what they can do with a bunch of cardboard boxes.  In our class we had Ryan's robot, Jovan's racetrack, Ava Grace's cash register, Yelysey's elephant book shelf, Carson's weight lifting equipment, and Landon's rocket!  We went on a gallery walk around the school and saw many other cool creations by students in other classes.  It is always great to see how many very different ideas the kids can come up with!  Thanks to all of those who participated!  Your creations will be on display in November in the Cardboard Museum at our Family STEM Night.  (Then you can take them home.)

Introducing: Ms. Norwood's Dragonflies

Since we know we have new visitors to our blogs, I talked to the class today about what we would want our new blog friends to know about us.  They gave me LOTS of ideas to share!

Here is our class outside reading this morning in our new school garden!  We are very excited about this project.  You can see what nice weather we are having here in Texas!  Our high temperature today was 90°F (about 32°C).  

This is part of our room - the library - and some of the places to sit to work.

This part of the room is where we all gather for lessons and meetings.  Our projector shines in that empty space on the board.  We have iPads that students use in class and can also take home to work on learning there - like reading books on RAZ-Kids.

We are a STEM school so we do a lot of Science Technology Engineering and Math.  These pictures show some building challenges we worked on this year.  We also learn about coding and will learn about robotics this year.  Sometimes we do engineering challenges that are part of our science or other subjects.  We have just started a project to build a wall that could keep Peter Rabbit our of Mr. McGregor's garden.  I'm sure you will see more about that on the student blogs soon!

We still do all the regular 1st grade subjects like reading, writing, math, music, art, P.E., and more.  We like to read with our friends and solve problems in math.  We write stories about things we do and we also write on our blogs about what we are learning and doing.  Some of our class stays after school every week to practice with the 1st and 2nd grade choir, called Ositos.  That means little bear in Spanish because our school mascot is a cub. We like to take dance breaks between subjects sometimes.  

You can see a little of our playground here.  Our class likes to do lots of fun activities at recess after lunch:  roll down the hill, play on the playground equipment, play ball games like football, soccer, and catch, and try to catch ladybugs or dragonflies.

The town where we live is Grapevine.  Grapevine has a lake called Grapevine Lake and got its name from the grapes people grow here.  There is even a big city festival called Grapefest every year.  It is in between the big cities of Dallas and Fort Worth.  Dallas has the State Fair of Texas right now which is even bigger than Grapefest.  

This is everything our class thought of today to introduce ourselves.  We want to read all about your classes, too, and see what your schools are like!  Do you have more questions for us about where we live and learn?

New Garden

Our REAL School Garden installation was last Friday and so today we went out to see the sights!  The whole class was excited to see what had been done by all our fabulous volunteers!  This is a wonderful outdoor learning area that we will use in many ways!

This picture shows part of the rainbow sidewalk and a seating area made from logs and rocks.  There is a whiteboard for outdoor lessons and a table area to work at on the other side.  Near the building you can see some of the fruit trees that were planted as the beginning of an orchard.  On the other side of the area where the class is sitting, there is a raised area of planting beds for each grade level to use.

This area has plants chosen to attract monarch butterflies.

This rain barrel will collect water that runs off the roof so that it can run into the waterfall area or be used to water plants.  Nearby is a large sandbox for outdoor earth science experiments and demonstrations.

Our garden also includes a sundial and a weather station and lots of creative flower art designed by other grade levels.  Here is our class sitting and enjoying some quiet reading time in the sun on a lovely September morning!

Thank you to all of the sponsors and volunteers who made this project a reality for us!  We will love learning here!

Primary Blogging Community

This week I am excited for our class to begin a project called the Primary Blogging Community.  I signed us up and we have been partnered with 1st grade classes in Seattle, Washington; Rochester, Michigan; and Hong Kong, China!  This project lasts for 5 weeks and will give us the chance to connect with other 1st graders across the US and across the globe.  The first week we will learn about our new partners by reading some of their class (teacher) blog posts and learn how to write good comments.  Then for each of the next 4 weeks, everyone focuses on 1 of the classes and reads their student blogs.  The kids will be able to leave comments for each other about things we post about our schools, our learning, and where we live.  I think this will be a fantastic chance to make some connections around the world!  

iPads are for Learning!

We have been using our iPads in class for a few weeks now and have done many different kinds of activities with them!  

We have ebooks to read in RAZ-Kids.  Students can listen to a story, then read it on their own, and then take a short quiz.  They will learn soon how to make a recording of themselves reading and turn it in to me!  We will meet with Mrs. Beruman soon to learn how to use Mackin Via for more reading books.  Students can always use these ebooks to read at home, too!

We have reading lessons in iStation and take a monthly quiz to monitor their progress.  This year iStation has math lessons, too.

Students work on Zondle in our class mostly for math practice and assessment.  Because I have created sets of questions that are specifically about our math topics that get gradually harder, students can review an easier level or move up to a more advanced level as they are ready.  There are games on Zondle they can play the questions with at home, but we often just use the "quick quiz" feature in class so they are doing the math without the games.

We have used Spelling City to practice spelling words.  We have also just written spelling words using a drawing app during group activities.

Students use the camera all the time to record something they have built or created and take pictures of work to share electronically.

We have used several different math apps to model numbers.  Right now we are working on numbers up to 50.  We have built our numbers using Number Pieces, Number Frames, Number Racks, and Number Line.  See if your child can make a number like 42 or 29 in many different ways.  Later this week we will put together a number project using all those apps in another app called Pic Kids.  Pic Kids is a great app for combining photos and text for a project.  Look for an example soon on your child's blog!

Which brings us to blogging! We have started our student blog pages using an app called Weebly.  We will use the blog to share examples of work we do, things we build, and what we have learned.  You will have a record throughout the year as your child's writing skills increase!  We will learn lessons about being good digital citizens through our writing on our blog and through reading and commenting on other student blogs.

We are also connecting to other classes through Twitter on a weekly project called Math Talk for Grade 1 (#mtgr1 on Twitter).  Each week we will respond to the math photo of the week and see what other classes come up with.  If you are not on Twitter, you can still follow our account by texting "follow Norwood1st" to 40404.  To follow the parent Twitter account, text "follow NorwoodCAN" to 40404.  You should get text messages of our class or parent Tweets.

Currently we have used to coding apps, Kodable and Lego Fix the Factory, to begin some coding skills.  We will add an online coding class from code.org soon to continue building the skills in planning, sequencing, and problem solving that coding develops.

Of course we do have some apps that are more game-like to practice skills also.  Many of these are great apps to spend some extra time on at home.  Kids can use Sight Words to practice electronic flash cards.  They can practice spelling words on Rocket Speller.  They can practice combinations the make 10 on 10 Frame Fill or Make 10 Plus and putting numbers in order with Line 'Em Up.  These apps can make practicing skills like this a little more fun and engaging and keep the kids working at it longer, but they are really not the things we spend much time doing in class.

As you can see, we do a lot of learning and showing what we are learning with our iPads, but that is not all we do in class!  We read good old paper books and write most of the stories and compositions on paper.  We play math games and solve problems with hands-on manipulatives and pencil and paper, too.  We practice handwriting on paper and take spelling tests on paper.  In our big engineering projects, we may make a plan on paper, build with real objects, and then record our results by taking photos and reflecting on our learning on the blogs.

We are all grateful to have these wonderful tools for learning every day!

RAZ-Kids Reading!

I want to let everyone know about a tool students have on their iPads which can be used for reading at home and at school!  RAZ-Kids is an app our school has purchased that provides students with a large variety of books at their "just right" reading level.  I have entered all the kids and we have used the app in class a few times now so they should know their way around.  

Students can choose a book to read.  If they want or need extra support they can listen to it first and read along.  Then they should read it on their own.  After that, there is a short, 5 question quiz about the book.  When they take the quiz, they can have the computer read the questions and answer choices and they can go back to the book to reread.  There is also a way for students to record themselves reading and turn the recording in to me.  We will use this feature in class soon!  All this information is available to me so I know how students are using the app and how they are doing on their reading on their own.

This app provides all kind of books for students:  fiction, folk tales, and information books on many topics.  There is truly something for everyone here!  RAZ-Kids is always an option for kids when they are reading at home. 

Summer Learning on the iPad!

Here is the information I sent home with students about learning activities on the iPad they can use this summer!  I hope you find it useful.  Don't hesitate to send me an email this summer if you have questions or need iPad help.  I will be checking my email and keeping up with the kids on our class blog!

Summer Learning with iPads

Let's have a great summer of learning!

Hard Hat Fairy Tales - Our Donors Choose Project!

Parents and families, please share this information with anyone that might want to help with this fundraising project!  Our Cannon Elementary 1st grade team is looking for new materials for STEM and engineering connections in all areas.  So I've created a classroom project request at DonorsChoose.org, an award-winning charity.

We're asking for donations of any size to help our kids. If you know anyone who is passionate about education, please pass this along. Your donation will brighten our students' school year, and you'll get photos and thank yous from our class.

Here's my classroom request:

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/hard-hat-fairy-tales/1540271/?rf=email-system-2015-04-teacher_promo_expiring-teacher_2897224&challengeid=20574422/

To have your donation matched dollar for dollar, enter the promo code SPARK on the payment screen. This awesome match offer lasts through April 16.

My students and I greatly appreciate your support.

Geometry + Coding = Fun Learning

Friday afternoon, during our Create Time, we had a short introduction to the coding app Hopscotch.  This app uses a "drag and drop" format for kids to create their own projects.  We made our cartoon character draw a square together and then I challenged the kids to make another program to draw a different geometric shape.  I gave them some examples of the number of degrees to use for different angles since we don't study that in 1st grade.  The kids had to think about how many sides their shape has so they could program the repeat command to draw that many sides.  They also experimented with different lengths of sides and some fun extras for their character at the end of the shape.  Everyone had a complete project to share at the end of our work time!  Students can share their creations with you on their iPads.  In addition to applying what we are learning about shapes and their attributes, coding gives students practice in logical thinking, sequencing commands, and the STEM design process of testing and improving.

In our 2 dimensional geometry, we have learned several shapes and their most important attributes.  You can help your child practice this vocabulary at home.  Look for examples of these shapes in everyday objects!

Triangles have 3 sides and 3 corners (vertices).  

Rectangles are 4 sided shapes with all square corners.  (We have talked about the terms right angles and 90° angles, but students don't need to know those yet.  We have compared a square corner to the corner on a normal piece of paper.)  Notice that squares belong in the group rectangles because they have 4 square corners.  All squares are rectangles.  And some rectangles are also squares...

A rhombus is a 4 sided shape with 4 equal sides.  Notice that squares are also rhombuses because their sides are the same length.  All squares are rhombuses.  And some rhombuses are also squares...  (We have also talked about the word quadrilateral for any shape with 4 sides and 4 corners, but it isn't something 1st graders have to know yet.)

Students don't need to know that a pentagon is a 5 sided shape yet, but they do need to know that hexagons are shapes with 6 sides and 6 corners.

It is really important that students know the most specific name for a shape, but they also need to know that many shapes can be called more than one name - just like your dog might also be a beagle and it is also your pet and a mammal and an animal...  So a square is also a rectangle and a rhombus and a quadrilateral and 2 dimensional and a closed shape...

Other important vocabulary for 2D geometry in 1st grade includes circle, straight sides, curves, and open or closed shapes.  All the shapes drawn above are closed shapes.  Circles, ovals, and the letter D are also closed.  Open shapes have lines that don't go all the way around like C, L, or S.  You couldn't color in an open shape because you wouldn't know where to stop coloring.

Next week we will also learn about 3D shapes!  

Nest Challenge

Our current science/engineering project is about nests.  Students have gotten to examine some real birds' nests and look at photos showing many different styles of nests.  We talked about what materials the birds used, how the materials kept the eggs warm and protected, and where the nests were located.  We even looked at some books about nests and found out birds aren't the only creatures that build nests for their eggs.  As we talked about how the birds used the materials in their nests and how they connected the parts, the idea of weaving came up.  So we did some paper weaving next.  Students had the options of cutting straight lines or making more unusual shapes and choosing to use 1 or 2 colors.  They created this great artwork:

Then we tried a little mini-challenge.  Students worked with a partner.  They had a cup, some paper strips, and an empty plastic egg.  The task was to use the paper strips to create a structure that would keep the nest from falling into the cup.  When they were successful at that task, we made it a little harder.  Since eggs aren't really hollow, I put some rocks inside the eggs to make them heavier.  Students had to be more strategic about how they arranged the strips of paper to hold up the heavier weight.  Then as the final part of the challenge, they tried to weave the strips together so that they would not need as many.  Here are several photos of the hard-working teams!  (Our next steps will be to examine the materials for the big challenge and to construct a nest that can hold several eggs and keep them from falling out even on a windy day!)

First Grade Excitement

We have had an exciting couple of days in 1st grade! On Thursday we  got a betta fish for our class.  We reviewed the needs of living things and how we would provide for those needs as we got his aquarium set up.  We did a bit of research to learn more about betta fish.  Many names were suggested, and after a vote the winning name was Penny.  Penny is currently enjoying his new home in our class.  He will be one of our references as we learn more about living things in science.

Friday morning in math students enjoyed a math treasure hunt.  They used their iPads to scan QR codes, solved math problems, and found that answer to scan the next QR code.  When they had solved all their math problems, the last QR code led to a fun music video as a reward.  In our next math units we will be learning about geometry and fractions!  More math fun lies ahead.

Then Friday afternoon during our Create Time, we went to the media lab for our first robotics lesson.  Students worked in pairs to follow the directions on the laptops and build a Lego lion.  Then they practiced some coding skills to program it to stand up and lie down.  This was a very popular activity and we will definitely go back for more robotics!  Here is a short video of how it moved and some more photos of hard working engineers: