Fifty sure is Nifty!

Last week we celebrated the 50th day of school!  The kiddos had a blast celebrating 50 days of 1st grade.  They got to wear  socks all day in the classroom and chew bubble gum.  Our whole day was geared around the number 50!  Students were challenged to write and read 50 words that they know, they counted and wrote numbers to 50 by 1,2,5, and 10's. They made beaded number lines to 50 to help us with counting and adding numbers.  We ended the day by having root beer floats and having a sock hop in the hallway with our friends! It was a great way to celebrate the number 50!

Agghh.....Spiders!

 

What is it about spiders that kids love SO much?!  When I busted out our graph to start our unit of study on arachnids, the kids went CRAZY.  

 

 We started our week with the question, "Do you think spiders are COOL or CREEPY??"  I really dislike spiders and think they are creepy ...but the kiddos did not feel the same way.  We read lots of nonfiction and fiction books to learn about spiders.  Did you know that spiders live everywhere BUT Antarctica, have 8 eyes, and can be as big as a plate???

 All of our math and literacy stations were spider themed and the kids LOVED them. One of our favorite books that we read was The Diary of a Spider.   In math we worked on parts of 8 by playing Spider Drop and Spider Fill.  In writing we worked with Thinking Maps.  We gathered facts on our tree map all about what spiders are/can/have and then did a little non fiction writing.  I like to ease the kiddos into the writing the process by providing writing prompts at the beginning so they can be successful with this while learning what I expect to see when they write.  Plus, it helps to organize their thinking.  After students completed their writing, I painted their hands to make handprint spiders.  They turned out SO cute!

 

 

 

 

We ended our spider week by making our own spider webs, watching Charlotte's Web and making a fun spider snazzy snack. 

 

 

   

 

                     

  Can you guess what our spider web is made of?

 

 

Batty in 1st Grade!

I absolutely LOVE teaching my students about bats. The students just get so excited and can’t wait to learn more.  This year after learning  about bats all week, I decided to transform my classroom into a Bat Cave on Friday. They were so unbelievably excited.  I wish I would have videotaped their reactions when they came into the room.  When the students walked down the hall, my door was open with black plastic hanging over it and the lights were off.  I had pulled down the blinds and covered the desks and tables with black tablecloths.  There was a sign on the door that said "Keep Out" and "Bat Cave".  I had purple lights hanging on the walls and plastic bats all over the room. 

I also had bat noises playing and kept this playing ALL day.  It added so much to the feel of the “cave.  The students got out their flashlights and came into the room.  I had a glow stick bracelet, bat headband, and bat ring on everyone’s desk along with a bat dot-to-dot activity.  The students loved using their flashlights to work.  The purple lights and flashlights added such a wonderful glow to the room.  

We spent a lot of time this week reading several nonfiction and fiction books about bats and completing writing activites to go with each. 

 

 We also paired up with Mrs. Leonard's class and pretened to be bats.  We used our sense of smell to find other bat friends in our colony. 

 

 

 The students must have told me a hundred times today that this was the best day ever.....and I have to agree!

Ahoy Matey!

Ahoy Matey!  We have been learning about maps.....pirate style. We started off our map week by learning directional words while reading the story, Rosie Walks.  We practiced what over, under, around, through, etc. meant by acting out the words.   Next, we learned all about the parts of a map, including our favorite....the compass rose. We learned a neat way to remember the cardinal directions-Never, Eat, Soggy, Waffles.  Then we practiced reading a map using the compass rose.  On Friday, we put on our eye patches and we were off to find the hidden treasure somewhere in the school.  We followed clues all over the school going north, south, east and west.  Sometimes the clues even led us in circles!  We searched all over the place until finally the last clue led us back to our classroom.  Once we got back inside the treasure was still nowhere to be seen!  The last clue told us to walk 10 paces south.  We all walked, counting our steps until finally we saw it.......hidden inside our red bench......the hidden treasure!  We quickly grabbed it to see what was inside.....gold coins and glow stick necklaces!  ARRGHH!!

 

 

Me On the Map

Last week we began our community unit and we combined it with our mapping standards.  We read County Mouse/City Mouse and discussed the difference between the country and city.  This lead us into a discussion about King George and if we lived in the city or country. 

Next, we brainstormed all the places, people, and things that make up a community.  Students came up with a lot of great places and things.  

We then read the book,  Me on the Map.  

This book is a great tool when teaching about maps.  We made our own Me on the Map book.  Each student makes their own and is the star of the book.  We talk about what planet, continent, country, state, town, street, etc that we live on.  Our Me on the Map books are hanging in the classroom if you want to stop by and take a peek at them. 

We ended our unit on communities by designing our own map of King George.  Students picked a place in King George and created it out of construction paper.  We then designed a map with roads and glued down the buildings and houses.  The kids had a blast and it turned out really cute! 

This week we will continue our unit on map and become pirates!!!   We will learn the parts of a map, how to read a map, and we will even create our own map.   On Friday, we will use our new map skills to find the hidden treasure somewhere in the school!  ARRGH! 

We are CURIOUS!

This week we were CURIOUS about so many things.  On Monday, there was a red bag on the front table when the students came in.  They were curious to see what was inside....but they had to wait until the end of the day.  The kiddos made some good predictions about what could be inside.......candy, toys, books, class pet, straws, paper, crayons where just some of the guesses.  After being curious about the bag ALL DAY LONG, at dismissal they kiddos finally got to see what was inside.......lollipops!

Our weekly story was Curious George.   We read several stories about Curious George and learned how is curiosity got him into some trouble. We then wrote about a time that we were curious.

On Friday when the kiddos came into the room, they noticed a big bowl, lots of glue, shaving cream, food coloring, and some liquid eye drops.  They were all very curious about what we were going to make.  During science, I told them we were going to mix all those ingredients together and make .....

Squishy, Fluffy  Slime!  I told them I was curious to see what this slime would feel like, smell like, sound like?   Are you curious about this slime?  If so, you can make this fluffy slime at home.

Below you can find the recipe:

Supplies:

bowl, spoon, 1 bottle of glue, shaving cream, foaming body wash or soap, contact solution or eye drops, baking soda,

Directions:

1. Pour 1 bottle of glue into a bowl

2.  add 1/2 t  of baking soda and mix with glue

*if you want to make your slime a color, this is when you would add a few drops of food coloring

3.  add 1-2 squirts of foaming soap and mix

4.  add 1/4 C of shaving cream and mix

(the mixture should now look like cake batter)

5.  add 3-4 drops of contact solution slowly and stir until it becomes fluffy.  You can add a few more squirts of foaming soap if you want at this point.
6. When it is no longer sticky, you can take the slime out and continue to blend the mixture with your fingers.  (if the mixture is still sticky, add a couple more drops of contact solution)

7.  ENJOY!