Scavenger Hunt

Students went on a Scavenger Hunt in Science this afternoon!  Their task was to find different objects that were made from the following materials:  paper, plastic, metal, cloth, wood and glass.  They discovered that some objects are made of more than one type of material!

Recording different objects on chart (sticks are made from wood, cup is made from glass).

Students hard at work looking for different types of materials.

Could Spring be here at last??

The temperature actually reached (almost) 10 degrees today!  To celebrate the late arrival of spring, we painted pussy willows.  We began by looking at photographs of pussy willows.  We noticed the shape of the buds, how the branches looked (like "y"s) and saw that the buds alternated on the branches.
We used pencil and brown crayons to draw the branches and painted the pussy willows using Q tips and tempera paint.  They look beautiful!

Using Q tips to paint the pussy willows

A few of the finished pictures



(Sorry about the orientation - I can't figure out how to turn pictures around on the blog!!)

We also began a new unit in Science this afternoon.  For the next several weeks, we will be studying Objects and Materials.  To introduce this hands-on unit, students were placed in groups and were asked to sort different kinds of materials (plastic spoon, metal spoon, fabric, ceramic mug, paper towel, piece of wood, transparency and plastic cup) into groups using their own sorting rules.

Sorting rule:  things that are plastic, things that are hard and things that come from plants.

Measuring Length by Comparing

Our current Math unit is all about measurement.  In Grade One, students are required to be able to use length to compare and order objects.  Today the boys and girls were given the task of finding objects around the classroom that were "shorter than", "longer than" and "about the same as" an unsharpened pencil.

Our task!

This basket contained things that were about as long as an unsharpened pencil.

This basket contained things that were shorter than the pencil.

This basket contained things that were longer than the pencil!

Bowling and Baby Lambs

Today was a very busy day!  This morning we walked (which included wading through a few mud puddles) to the Rec Plex to go  bowling!  The boys and girls really enjoyed the bowling experience - especially when the glow lights and disco ball lights were turned on!

Sitting patiently waiting for their turns!

Bowling buddies

This afternoon we had Buddy Reading with the Grade 5 class.  We were very fortunate to be there when one of the Grade 5 student's brought 3 baby lambs into the class to show.  They were very cute!

This afternoon we also had Music.  Students had the opportunity to play a variety of non-pitched percussion instruments (shakers, drums, wood blocks, etc.) to show they understood the difference between keeping a steady beat and playing the rhythm.

Have a great weekend!  Remember that we will continue to do book retellings for the next two weeks during Sharing time.

Here is a video of the class reciting two poems:  "Who" and "Spring Is".

Will Spring ever come??

Even though we still have snowbanks and chilly weather, we are hopeful that Spring was arrive soon!

Today we painted a wash over top of the beautiful flowers we coloured last week with oil pastels.  The pictures below show some of the artists at work and their work hanging in the "gallery" (AKA hallway outside our classroom!)  The yellow papers are the poems that the students wrote called "I Knew it was Spring".  (You may have seen a rough draft of the poem come home earlier this week.)

Painting a wash over the oil pastel flowers

Final product with poems

You can click on the picture to see a larger copy.

Inference Investigation and Race to 100

This morning students worked in groups to practice their inferencing skills.  Students listened to a story about a boy named Tim who didn't have to go to school because it was a Snow Day!  His Grandma was babysiting him, but when his Mom came home, the house was empty!  Groups of students were given different packages with pieces of evidence to help Mom figure out what Tim and Grandma did all day and where they were when she arrived at home.  Boys and girls inferred what they did by examining and discussing the evidence in their packages.

Tim and Grandma must have played a game ("Candyland") because Mom found some game pieces on the floor when she came home.

Looks like Grandma and Tim got to go to MacDonald's!  Mom found a French Fries box.
They also went to see a movie called Hotel Transylvania!

Mom found a note that showed that Grandma took Tim to play with Kate at the park.  She also found a cupcake wrapper.  The students inferred that they must have made some muffins - another group had a recipe in their envelope.

In Math this afternoon, we did more practice with tens and ones when we played a game called "Race to 100".  Students rolled a die to tell them how many "ones" to collect.  They put them on their place value chart and kept rolling until they had ten ones, which they traded for one ten!  Students worked with partners to see who could get to 100 first!

Students are bringing home their spelling words today on a blue sheet.  Please help your child practice their words at home.  Ask them what the special treat will be if everyone gets all their words correct on Friday!

Welcome Back!

We had a great day at school today! Students were ready to work hard and we had a very productive day.  Please read the notes that went home this afternoon regarding the different Sharing Routine (story retellings) that will be starting next Monday, April 15 and the class newsletter.  Your child's individualized spelling list  (blue sheet) also came home today in the Daily Folder.  Here are some fun ideas to help your child practice his/her spelling words:

• Type all of your spelling words on the computer using a different font.
• Look at your words.  Find a way to sort your words.  Put them into groups.  Make sure each word belongs to a group!  (You could sort by beginning or ending sounds, by what the words mean, by number of beats in the word, etc.)
• Write your words in a list.  Highlight the vowels in one colour.  Highlight the consonants in another colour.  Count and total.  How many vowels are there?  How many consonants are there?
• Rainbow Write:  choose markers or crayons to write your words.  Make sure to use several different colours to make it colourful!
• ABC Order - Put your words into ABC order.
• Write a sentence for each of your spelling words.  Make sure that you include uppercase, punctuation and the spelling word.  Also, make sure that your sentences makes sense!  Challenge yourself to make sentences that are longer than 6 words!
• Write your words using crazy letters!  You can use bubble letters, squiggly letters, swirly letters or more!  Have fun and make them as cool as possible.
• Write a story using as many of your spelling words as you can in your story.
• Search and Find:  Write a list of your spelling words.  Grab a book.  Search for your spelling words in the book.  Anytime you find a word, put a tally mark next to the word that you found!

(Ideas from Spelling Task Cards by Amy Lemons.

Students really enjoyed our Math activity today called Scoop and Sort.

First, each student scooped some objects into their cup.

Then they counted their objects into "10 cups" (little Dixie cups) and put them on the Tens side of their chart. 
Any extras went onto the Ones side.

Finally, students recorded their counting on their worksheet.  They wrote down how many tens, how many ones and what the total number was.

(Idea from Place Value Packet of Fun by Cara Carroll.)

The boys and girls are very excited about tomorrow.  Mr. Morrison is taking the class to the Rec Plex to use the gymnastics equipment.  They will be leaving right at 9:00.