Apples, Apples, Apples!

Over this past week, the first graders have been enjoying several nonfiction books regarding apples and the life cycle of an apple tree.  Student have also discussed the many uses of apples and how they are harvested to provide many yummy foods for us.  Our trip to Wilson's Apple Orchard on Thursday was definitely a highlight of this unit!  Students enjoyed a tractor ride through the orchard thanks to 'Bessie' the tractor and sampling different varieties of apples. Last, we enjoyed 'cooking' up a tasty apple treat in the classroom with our apples from the apple orchard.  Our 1st grade chefs cooked up apple sandwiches using peanut butter, granola, chocolate chips and apples.  What a yummy end to our apple fun!

Pam's Visit with the Water Cycle

The first graders truly look forward to our visits from Washington County Conservationist, Pam Holz.  Pam does a great job of not only sharing her enthusiasm for our natural environments, but helping our students learn about our beautiful world.  This past week, students were introduced to our Earth's water cycle and the unending cyclic process it goes through.  Students visited different stations that represented landforms/clouds and built a bracelet the represented all of the areas the water traveled to through the cycle.  We are looking forward to Pam visiting with us more during the school year!

Thanks Pam for all that you do!!

Pies in the Face!!

As we continue to recognize students displaying the three qualities of a person of character; respectfulness, responsibility and being safe, we are celebrating each Friday with a short assembly!  During these assemblies, students from each grade level are being honored for demonstrating these characteristics.  Mr. Poock has definitely motivated students to work hard at being aware of their Golden Hawk character by being willing to have pies thrown in his face!  Today he received 3 pies in his face!  Ask your 1st grader about this fun observation of Mr. Poock!!

Clifford-The Big Red Dog

We have thoroughly enjoyed a week of activities centered around the famous character of Clifford.  Clifford is truly a lovable favorite as he always is carrying out good deeds and is a great friend to others.  We helped Clifford celebrate his birthday, which was September 5th, by making 'doggy party hats' and chewing up some sugary 'dog bones'!  Ask your child what his/her favorite Clifford story was for the week! 

Zero the Hero

During our first 100 days of school, we will be counting each zero day until we reach 100!  In First Grade, we have a special helper named Zero the Hero who shows up for each of our school days that end in a zero.  The students enjoy reading a special letter from him and enjoying a tasty 'zero' treat.  We have already been working and learning for 12 days together!  We are looking forward to the continued fun ahead!

He always has a special note to share with us! 

Magnificent Firsties!

We have enjoyed many read alouds during this first full week of school! One of our favorites was The One, The Only Magnificent Me! written by Dan Haseltine. The small boy in this story discovers the importance of being true to himself. After reading this story, our firsties had a short discussion about our unique qualities and the value in these differences. Lastly, we put our fine motor and listening skills to the test and put together large paper people resembling ourselves! If you happen to visit the building over the next few weeks be sure to check out these awesome creations displayed in the hallway. 

Official First Graders!!

Wow...what a fun first three days we have had together already!  We are getting to know one another more and will continue to do so in the weeks ahead!  We also have discussed how we demonstrate that we are a person of character and how this looks and sounds at Wellman Elementary!  As we also enjoyed a 'Friendship Salad' which included yummy ingredients that reminded us of being a respectful, responsible and safe first grader.  The first graders did great 'cooking' up this salad and then we enjoyed eating together!

Swimming Fun!

First grade has experienced a whirlwind of a week! We started with a school trip to the Kalona pool. Although we started the morning with a cloudy sky, a great time was had by all and the sun decided to peek out mid swim!

Fossil Gorge Field Trip

The first graders have been busy, busy this past week!  We kicked off the beginning of the week with our field trip to the Fossil Gorge on Monday.  The students enjoyed walking through the exhibit center, examining fossils at the Fossil Gorge, enjoying a picnic/playtime, and making a surprise stop for ice cream in North Liberty.  It was definitely a fun day!

Track and Field Day!

It has been many years since WE has hosted a Track and Field Day!  There was a large interest amongst staff to host a 2014 Track and Field Day and it definitely was a huge success!!  1st Graders had the opportunity to work through a gunny sack race station, sponge bucket filling station and a 'move it' station filled with hula hoops, jump rumps and frisbees.  We then had an 'A' versus 'B' grade level tug-a-war!!!  Ask your first grader if 1A or 1B was the winner!  The staff also challenged each other in a 3-legged gunny sack race.

Trip to Australia

The First and Second Graders headed to Australia on Friday afternoon and had a ripper (great) of a time on this trip!!  We had a bonzar (terrific) time as we played games, heard music from a didgeridoo, created our own aboriginal artwork  and had some yummy tucker (food) from this beautiful continent/country.  Ask your little traveler what his/her favorite part of the Australian tour was!  A big thank you to the many hands that helped prepare for this special day!  This day would not be possible without all of the help from parents!

 On the way to Australia receiving instructions from our flight attendant.

An aboriginal story from Australia being shared.

Enjoying some 'damper' from Australia.  

 Creating stories with our own aboriginal inspired artwork!

Moving and Grooving to the tunes of the didgeridoo!

An Australian game being enjoyed!!