Geometry Fun!

Shapes, shapes and more shapes is what our math focus was in First Grade this week!  Students did a great job challenging themselves to construct polygons using straws and twist ties and we did our best to get creative and create unique polygons that followed the rules of straight lines that connected together at a point, with no intersecting or curving.  Last, we were introduced to 3-D shapes in our world!  What a blast it was to create 3-D shapes out of toothpicks and marshmallows!  Of course, after all of our hard work, we got rid of the evidence!:)

Meet Katalina Matalina

Over the course of our 1st grade year, we have had a blast singing about a beloved character named 'Katalina Matalina'.  This funny, special gal has some different characteristics that may have her looking a little different from us, but it is her 'gold heart' that truly stands out.  Her distinct outward features have provided great discussion in our classrooms about not falling into the trap of 'judging a book by it's cover'.  We also visited about what it means to have a heart of gold and how this extends into how we treat others.  Ask your child to sing this fun song to you!!

Guidance with Mrs. Kehoe

For the last month, we have seen a friendly and familiar face in our classrooms.  From January until mid-March, Nora Kehoe, our guidance counselor will be leading half-hour guidance lessons in the first grade classrooms. Topics covered will include: feelings, friendship, problem solving, and safety. Mrs. Kehoe also brought along her pal, Carmen the Cat, who is pictured above with Mrs. Kehoe. Guidance is a great opportunity for students to learn new strategies for solving problems peacefully and making healthy choices.   

Snowmen at Night

In the spirit of all of the snow, we enjoyed hearing the story, Snowman at Night by Caralyn Buehner.  This fun loving story has us wondering about the snowmen we build and what they do when it is dark and no one is looking?  We then came up with our own ideas finishing the sentence, 'If I were a snowman at night...'  Great conversation was shared as students discussed their ideas of what it would be like to be out and about sneaking around;) Last, we added a snowman face to compliment our writing!

"I would slide to the park and drink hot cocoa.  I would go home and grab my skates and go skating and eat pizza and ice cream.  We would play games and do our homework, then color and go home!"

"I would grab a pink sparkly sled and go sledding down a hill and I would have a crazy party with my friends."

"I would give food to the poor people then I would go sledding with my friends."

"I would go to the movies.  I would skip to the movies and the people would say, "It's freeeeezing in here.  Then the police came and I would have to go home.  So I walked home sadly."

"I would step into the snow and I would dance into the street and be excited.  Then a man screamed he saw a snowman!"

Day 100!

Well, we are officially 100 days smarter in first grade!  We had a blast celebrating this day with everything the 100 way on Wednesday!  It was awesome to see the 'young spirit' of the age 100 shine through in the awesome costumes.  We made sure we were fashionably dressed on this day, constructing headbands, badges, and glasses to wear.  Putting our counting skills to the test, we worked in small groups to count to 100 by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's.  We then challenged ourselves to have some fun with movement activities to 100 (not too challenging for our 100 age;)  and putting together a necklace of 100 Froot Loops.  Last, the students enjoyed the classic commercial of 'How Many Licks to the Center of the Tootsie Pop?'  Since we are an inquisitive bunch, we thought we would give it a try with at least 100 licks!  Ask your child how many licks it took for him/her!  We also enjoyed a 100 snack and received our certificates of achievement for our hard work in first grade so far to date!

The 1A Counting by 1's Group!

 1B Friends Counting by 1's!
  

 The 1A Counting by 10's Group!

1B Friends Counting by 10's!

The 1A Counting by 2's Group!

1B Friends Counting by 2's!

The 1A Counting by 5's Group! 

1B Friends Counting by 5's!

Here is 1A all adorned in their Day 100 homemade attire!

 

1B All Geared Up for 100 Fun!

Stringing 100 Froot Loops and not eating them, yet;)

 

 Oh my....100 can make us grumpy!

How many licks to the center of a Tootsie Pop?

 YIKES.....our teachers.....100 and counting!

Explorations with Balls

Our first grade scientists have recently begun exploring how different balls move when they are blown on, rolled, and bounced. Students were challenged to move or knock over different items using a straw paired with their own wind power and a variety of balls.

We will continue our learning with balls over the next several weeks, and expand our explorations to include ramp building! Students love this fun, hands on science unit and it provides great early encounters with physical science! 

We are One and the Same!

This week in Social Studies, we enjoyed learning more about the historical figure, Martin Luther King Jr.  Students were introduced to his life as a young boy and adult and how his courage to speak up helped changed many things for our country.  Some of the 'big' words that we discussed were segregation, racism and courage.  First Graders were very involved in our classroom discussions as we centered much of our great conversations on how there are differences amongst us, but more similarities between us.  Here are some of the great ideas of similarities that were brainstormed:

WE ALL:

-want to be loved

-need air

-can be a friend

-want to help

-have feelings

-are special

-have a heart

Students showcased their idea through a self-portrait of themselves, visually portraying our uniqueness, but how we are united.  Ask your child to share his/her idea with you!

Little Bird Tales

As we develop our writing skills in First Grade, students have been introduced a little more to Writer's Workshop and how to work as editors.  Students were challenged to add details to their stories and check for punctuation/capitalization errors, as well as focus on spelling the word wall words correctly.  With the help of our Literacy Design Coach, Mr. Slabaugh, students were able to publish their writings with an online program called Little Bird Tales.  This fun publishing tool allows students to type, illustrate and record them reading their stories to you!!  You will find these great writings under your child's blog in the 1A or 1B Kidblog Link above.  Please feel free to post a comment to your child and show off their hard work to family members or friends who may also want to leave some words of encouragement.  They love the feedback!!! 

Grinch Fun

Students enjoyed our thematic fun with activities from the story of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.  This is a great story that lent itself to lots of great conversation on many things that can be gifted without having to purchase it in a store to help warm someone's heart.  Some of the great examples students shared were spending time with someone, sharing a toy and making something special as a gift to give.  We challenged ourselves to exhibit random acts of kindness and also to recognize others showing kindness.  Last, in the classroom, we had fun brainstorming ways we could get the Grinch to grin as well!

 Here are some of the ways a First Grader could get the Grinch to grin:
*Make him a Christmas meal
*Sing him a song and act out a puppet show
*Give him a candy cane to eat
*Read him his favorite story
*Clean his house

 Grinch faces completed by First Graders!

Students worked hard to add a heart to the Grinch door as they noticed someone showing an act of kindness to another friend!

Herbert Hoover Field Trip

On Tuesday, December 10th, the first grade classes at Wellman Elementary traveled to West Branch to enjoy the Herbert Hoover museum's annual holiday display highlighting Christmas trees from the Heartland. Students enjoyed the wide variety of Iowa themed Christmas trees, but some of the favorites included a tree featuring the state universities, a Star Trek tree, and a tree featuring the Iowa State Fair. Our learners also enjoyed some winter stories featuring Laura Ingalls Wilder, a young pioneer girl.  Ask your first grader what tree he/she enjoyed the most!

 First Graders enjoying the story time!

 Christmas tree tour!

Having some fun in the Heartland!

 Thank you Herbert Hoover Museum for the experience 

of seeing beautifully decorated Christmas trees!

Healthy Eating in Science!

We have spent a little more than two weeks in science discussing healthy eating habits. Students have enjoyed learning about balanced eating from their friend Moby on Brainpop! Students were challenged to create their own healthy and balanced meals. Encourage your child to plan a meal or two this month and see how he/she can incorporate the different food groups! After discussing the food pyramid, students had an opportunity to work together to create their own posters displaying foods from all 6 food groups.