'Twas the week before Christmas
12/19/2018
It has been a busy and snowy last week before the break. It seems I am having to shovel my driveway every other night. But at least we will have a White Christmas! The week before any break is a rush as we try to finish units of work and complete our tasks and this week was no exception. With all the recent snow and cold temperatures we conducted a small science experiment After researching and learning about the coldest place in the world and the freezing point of water we grabbed some balloons and headed to the kitchen. After putting a few drops of food coloring into the ball we filled it with water to create a colored water balloon. Luckily only one child dropped theirs! We then went outside and buried the water balloons in the snow to freeze. The plan being after a few days to come back to dig them up and hopefully have created a colored ice ball. However after burying the balloons it was immediately announced that someone had forgotten where they buried it. So far 4 have been recovered and have worked quite well while 2 remain MIA, and if not found at recess today will officially be declared lost to the void. In our writing we are pulling together all our knowledge of instructional texts and are creating our neat version instructional book on 'How to make Hot chocolate'. To be able to write instructions on how to make hot chocolate we actually need to know how to make hot chocolate. After a quick run to Fred Meyers to get what we needed we had a go making hot chocolate in class. All the while taking photos of what we were doing and the steps we were taking so we could write our instructional text, as well as thinking about the time connectives and bossy verbs we would have to use. Lucky for us after we had made our hot chocolate and taken all the pictures we needed we were able to have a short break an enjoy the fruits of our labour! On Wednesday this week we had a special and fun day with both a field trip and a parent lunch. As part of our study of animal adaptations and food chains we were lucky enough to end the unit with a field trip to the planetarium. We watched 2 shows while we were there. Habitat Earth which delved deeper into food chains and food webs. Then we watched a show on Space where the class was introduced to the wonders of planets and black holes and spaghettification. A big thank you to those who drove the class there and special thanks to Erin who hosted us. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures while we were there! It was a fun trip and the class enjoyed it though! It was our second parent lunch. Or rather a parent afternoon tea. Thank you to everyone who came, and thank you to those who brought in items to make it a great event. The class really enjoyed the tea party atmosphere and loved drinking from the china cups! They didn't quite get the importance of drinking with the pinky up though! We have a high energy class, and as part of our daily routine after specials in the afternoon we have a brain break using GoNoodle. This allows us to shake out our sillies, expend some energy and refocus ready for the afternoons lessons. With parents visiting the class it was a great opportunity to get them to join in with 2 of our favourite GoNoodle activities. Pop See Ko and Melting. After that the class showed off their knowledge and competed against their parents in a quiz game using Kahoot. Covering a wide range of topics from Continents and Oceans, Animal adaptations and food chains to word types of verbs, adjectives and pronouns. The class did very well and I am proud of what they have learned. I hope you all have a safe and wonderful Christmas and New Year enjoying a well deserved rest. See you in the new year!
Keep on Truckin'
12/14/2018
As 2018 is coming to a close we are continuing to work hard and push ourselves in 1st Grade, and luckily with the recent snowfall it looks like we might be having a white Christmas! Something I am very happy about. In writing we are continuing our work with instructional texts. After exploring many examples of instructional texts from profesional companies, lego instructions and recipes we have good knowledge on how to create and write our own sets of instructions. We put this into practise by creating and writing instructions on how to make a paper airplane. This turned into an extended writing piece with some children writing over 3 pages in their books as well as managing to keep good presentation and handwriting as hands became tired from writing so much! In math we are becoming very competent using and understanding place value in our work. Though we will continue to practise and use it almost everyday in our math lessons. Place value is an integral and important part of math and is almost like a gateway into the larger math world. Here is a short article that explains how important place value is: www.matific.com/us/en-us/blog/2016/04/11/why-place-value-is-so-important/ We also visited 2nd Grade who have been working on creating their own shops and stores. Each child was given a bag of money and allowed to go around visiting other stores and purchase items that 2nd Grade had created. The only rule...they had to spend all their money. 2nd Grade did a fantastic job hosting 1st Grade and helping guide 1st Grade in buying items. A great mini lesson and showcase of the practical use of money.
Show and Snow
12/7/2018
This week we were able to go the Performing Arts Center to see a show called 'Air Play'. We went as a phase of K, 1 and 2 and along with many other schools watched an amazing spectacle performed on the big stage. It was a lot of fun and some amazing feats and trickery involving balloons, sheets and wind were performed. Judging by the gasps and ohs and ahs from the class they were severely impressed. Several children asked when we would be back to see the next show! We finally had some snow and the class had a great time playing out in it and building snowmen! In our Life science work we have been studying animal adaptations. Investigating what habitats animals live in and how different animals have adapted to survive in those environments, exploring general and specific adaptations. In addition we discussed camouflage and how different animals use camouflage as prey or predator. We had a go designing our own camouflage on moths and placing them on trees in the hallway. See if you can spot them! In our writing time we have moved away from narratives and have dived into instructional texts. We literally cut open the features of instructional texts and discussed what is it about them that makes them instructions. How do we know they are instructions? What makes them an instruction? How do we know what to do when we read the instruction? We found the features of; A tittle, You will need box, Numbers, Pictures, Time connectives and bossy (imperative) verbs. Using this and by finding instructions in our everyday lives we are going to make our own instructional book that someone else could read and follow. Friday was also meant to be pajama day and movie day. However with the earthquake the school was closed and the day rescheduled. Upon returning to school we spoke about Earthquakes, their causes, our reactions and what we have to do in school in emergencies. We also sat as a group and spoke about the weekend following it and what our homes and experiences were like. It is important that the children get their own opportunities to share and discuss their own experiences with their peers and it aides and allows them to process information especially in trying or traumatic times.
|
Hali TuomiMs. Tuomi has over five years experience in ASD, where she taught first and fifth grade classrooms. An avid skier, Ms. Tuomi is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Alaska Pacific University’s Bachelor of Arts in K-8 Education. Archives
April 2021
Categories |