A Skype Call with China

Our classmate Cindy took a trip to China just before winter break. We were very excited to get a call from Cindy all the way from China!!

Marbles Field Trip

We had a great day at Marbles! Here are a few pictures from our day.

Field Trip Tomorrow!

Poinsettia Painting

We painted poinsettias on Friday to go with our Mexico Holiday Traditions lesson. We got to use water colors and black crayons. The students were very excited, and their paintings turned out great!

Holidays Around the World

Our class has been very busy learning about holidays around the world. Last week we learned about the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. We read many books including this cute book:

We also had a chance to hear some traditional songs and play the dreidel game. 

This week we have learned about holidays in Italy and Mexico. Did you know in Italy there is a story of La Befana who delivers candy to well behaved children? In Mexico, they celebrate "Navidad"with fireworks and pinatas! We have also been reading books about Ramadan, Holi, Kwanzaa, and the Chinese New Year!

Tens and Ones

This week we are learning all about tens and ones. This is a very important concept because of our base 10 number system. Here are some pictures of the hands on activities we are using this week.

Family Share

We are looking for families and friends of our first graders to share their family traditions. We are in the process of learning about different holidays around the world and would love to hear how your family celebrates holidays. It can be any holiday from any time of the year. If you have any questions before you want to sign up, feel free to send me an e-mail. Thanks for all your help with this fun event!

Holiday Share Flyer

Balance Experts

We have become balance experts. This week we have learned the vocabulary words: counter weight and balance point. 

Students have practiced balancing different shapes on popsicle sticks and our fingers. Today we had an extra hard experiment, when we had to find a way to balance a pencil (sharp side down) on a popsicle stick!

Syllable Sort

We have been practicing sorting words by the number of syllables. This week we made an art project out of those pesky sales ads.

Thanksgiving Story Bracelet

We've been working hard to learn the story of the first Thanksgiving. We learned that Pilgrims didn't use forks and ate off wooden plates. We also learned that there were 140 people that ate Thanksgiving together. Did you know, that along with turkey, the pilgrims and Native Americans also ate deer, fish, and mussels?  Today we made bracelets to help us remember the order of the story. Ask your child to retell the story to you using their bracelet.

I hope everyone has a great and safe Thanksgiving. I am thankful for our awesome classroom and their families!