Sharing With Next Years 1st Graders

I cannot believe that in just 2 more school days our school year wraps up. This school year has been a fantastic one. 

Just 11 months ago I decided to start a class blog not knowing how it would go this year. I wondered if I would be able to keep up with it, if the students would like it, if the parents would look at it and so much more. This blog has been a wonderful experience for all involved. I have had fun showing off my students and their creativity and hard work. The students have learned a lot and have enjoyed sharing it. I love when they say, "Take pictures so we can put this on the blog!" Parents have enjoyed seeing snapshots of what happens in our class each week and have enjoyed sharing it with family and friends near and far. I will definitely continue the blog next year with my next group of students. 

I asked the students to think about what they would like to share with next years group of 1st graders. They had some wonderful ideas, some of which they chose to share and others which were only shared verbally. They created the video below, which I will share with next years group of students. As a teacher of course I wish they would share things like, "math is fun!" "I love reading groups!" "You will learn a lot." Etc. 

However, this is their work and their video. These were the things they wanted to share about and will probably be loved and cherished by next years students more than what I could've said. Enjoy this precious video!

Walking Field Trip

On Thursday as a culmination to our map unit, we took a walking field trip around our town. We highlighted our route on our maps before leaving so we could follow along as we walked. We stopped by the fire station, library, post office, city hall, our gazebo and the museum. At the fire station the wonderful firefighters had their water hoses out in a fun maze for us to walk through. At the library we heard a story acted out with puppets by the librarian called the Spider and The Fly. At the post office we mailed letters we had written to our friends in the envelopes we had addressed. At city hall we met the city manager, took a tour and received a sweet little goody bag. At the gazebo we enjoyed our sack lunches. At the museum we enjoyed a popsicle treat, walked through several parts of the museum and asked questions. The students were so well behaved and had a wonderful time!

Wallaby Visit

This past week a teacher from our middle school brought over her wallaby for a visit. The kids were very excited and enjoyed seeing an unfamiliar animal. Check out the cute pictures!

Insects!

This week we had the privilege of working together with all of our first grade friends! To meet our new CCSS writing and technology standards we had students create a video presentation about insects. This project has been one of my top favorite integrated projects we've done this year. This included science, reading, speaking, listening, writing, teamwork and technology all into one fun project! Students created a written plan, took photos, chose speakers and recorded this presentation. We used a free, easy to use app called 30 Hands.  We hope you enjoy our presentation titled, Things About Insects.

Jog-A-Thon

The jog-a-thon has got to be the event the kids look forward to most each year. They can hardly contain their excitement until they've ran and ran and ran and then they can barely stay awake all afternoon! Since we ran with all our other first grade friends I couldn't get as many pictures of just our class, but here are a few to share!

Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!

Last week we began a 5-week unit on insects. Students have learned that ALL insects have 3 main body parts: head, thorax and abdomen. They also have 6 legs, antennae and some have wings. We looked at how Eric Carle creates illustrations. He cuts apart pieces of painted-on tissue paper to make each pages illustration. We cut out different shapes to make our insects. Then we wrote a poem about bugs using adjectives and nouns. Take a look at their art below!:

Grass Seed Day!

If you didn't know, we live in the Grass Seed Capital of the world. Last Thursday we had the privilege of local grass seed farmer Nick Bowers from Tydan Farms visiting our first grade classrooms. The students enjoyed a presentation where they learned how grass effects their lives. We learned that Farmer Nick makes grass, cows eat grass, cows make milk, which makes cheese, ice cream and so much more! He did a fabulous job showing our young students why grass is important and it connects to them.

After that we rotated through three areas. In one room we planted grass seed. In another we read a story about a boy who found out where each vegetable in his soup was grown and enjoyed a cheese stick snack. This story, Who Grew My Soup by Tom Darbyshire was given to us through Oregon's AITC, Ag In The Classroom. Outside we got to look at 2 huge combines and a disc. The students loved seeing the farm equipment! Take a look at some pictures below from our day!

Local news station, KEZI 9 came to watch and aired this clip from our day. Click below to see the movie:

Students Learn About Grass Farming

Here is what our grass looks like just 1 week later! Our hair is getting wild!

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