The 'SWEET' Life of a First Grader

Last week was FULL of fun and these first graders had a SWEET time celebrating Valentine's Day! As you know, we tried going a different route than the traditional classroom party with candy and sweets and went for a much SWEETER experience with our HeART party! Students actually spent some time on Tuesday, preparing their Valentine's Day canvases for our party by painting them a solid color.

Then on Wednesday, they were greeted with a classroom art studio all set up and ready to go for our painting party!

We spent a good portion of our morning then painting and decorating our signs with other colors and designs - some went with a solid color, some went with stripes or dots and others color blocked their canvases! They LOVED the fun and creativity they could express throughout the activity!

Check out all of these excited faces! What a fun way to spend a special day!

Make sure to check out the back of those canvases too! Our friends spent time while they were waiting for their canvases to dry and wrote what they LOVE about first grade! I always enjoy reading and hearing about their joys and what they are excited about each day!

Students spread our around the room to find a comfy, cozy spot to write about first grade. Their canvases were drying and couldn't wait to get back to them to peel off the vinyl letters to see their masterpieces!

Next, our fun day consisted of decorating our hall, telling more things that we love about first grade and Forest View!

A lot of friends wrote about loving the fun activities they get to do! I am so glad these kiddos are enjoying all of the extra fun activities we are adding in this year that are different from what has traditionally been done! It is exciting to start new traditions and incorporate things they are learning in other areas such as P.E., Music and Art!

We definitely work very hard to make sure everyone is SAFE at school! That is the first component of being a STAR Forest View student too and our class works hard to show that each and every day!

We concluded our fun morning with a fun Valentine's Day treat that was both sweet and healthy from Amelia and even included a fun fortune for each friend to find! Then, our friends enjoyed passing out their individual cards to each of their classmates. They were able to then open and read all of their cards and even write about their favorite one! In the afternoon, they got to enjoy another sweet and healthy Valentine's Day treat brought in by Lemmy! Thank you SO much friends for helping make our Sweet day even sweeter!!!

I want to send all of our firstie families a HUGE thank you for helping to make this day possible. I know that it can some times be hard to stray from tradition and we definitely did that this year by avoiding the candy/big food party. However, not only was this day SUPER fun, but it was a success for ALL of our students. Because of allergies, we wanted to ensure that ALL of our firsties could fully enjoy a SWEET day without any worry....and who doesn't like trying a fun new art activity?! I loved hearing about the fun places our class had found to display their art at home! What a great connection! THANK YOU!!!!

And now on to other things......it has been a bit since our last update about what we have been learning so here you go......

Reading:

We have just wrapped up a unit in reading about Early American Civilizations - you have probably seen some of your child's Seesaw posts at home and there are tons more to come! Our class has spent the last few weeks learning about the Maya, Aztec and Inca civilizations. We have learned about where they lived, their farming, religious beliefs, leaders and more. We have even had the opportunity recently to become WORLD EXPLORERS and 'travel' to Mexico and Guatemala to visit the Maya ruins! We took at trip with Mrs. Powell's class and the GeoShow where our guide Mr. Brandon helped us tour various Maya ruins!

On our trip we went to one city called Tikal. We learned about the temples and how they had been discovered and some of them restored, as well as various things in the city and even native animals/insects that could be found there. We were even able to experience how loud the animals and insects are in that area - definitely more that can be found in just a book! The class was thrilled to experience the ruins up close!

During the 'field trip' some of our friends even had the chance to talk to Mr. Brandon and ask some great questions! Jaxxon asked why the temple was called Jaguar temple and learned that it was because of a piece of artwork found that depicted a Jaguar over the King. We learned that this is not the true name for the temple, as there are three in the city and they are traditionally called Temple 1, 2 and 3, however this one was given a special 'nickname.'

Lemmy asked how the Maya were able to control the water using the arches that they created.

We even saw an example of the Maya writing! They found the glyphs to be very similar to the style of writing used in Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt that we had learned about previously.

Blaire asked why people were not able to walk up to the top of Jaguar Temple and learned that it is not safe for people to walk up because of how steep it is. Additonally, our class learned about some of the contributions that the Maya made to the foods that we eat today. These include squash, chilies, avocados, maize, beans and even chocolate!

We will be moving on to a new unit in reading this week and will be making a connection to our lessons in Science as we will be learning more about the Solar System!

Math:

*We are currently working on solving story problems with unknown partners and totals. This can be somewhat tricky and are learning it is very important to read all of the information in our story problems to find what information is missing.

*Finding ten more and ten less than a number - another tricky skill that you can work on at home!

*Adding 3 whole numbers

*Adding a 2-digit number to a multiple of 10

*Subtracting a multiple of 10

Spelling and Phonics:

Our next spelling test will be on Monday, Feb 26. We will be focusing on past tense verbs. We have learned that past tense verbs receive an -ed ending and can have the sound /ed/, /d/ or /t/. There will also be a tricky word on our list! Make sure to practice from home! Our spelling list can be found on our website here!

Science:

Your first grader is currently working on the Solar System. They have been challenged by Mrs. Powell to learn the names of all of the planets in the order that they fall in the Solar System. There is an out of this world prize when they are able to do so! Make sure to practice at home and don't forget the fun memory trick: My Very Excited Mother Just Served Us Nachos! We are also excited about an upcoming day of "space station" learning so stay tuned!!!

Social Studies:

As you have seen, your child is learning about Economics. We are planning our Market Day for March 22nd. Thank you to all who have turned in our sign up sheets so far. We will send confirmation home soon so you can get started producing your goods!!! If you haven't turned in your form yet, please do so ASAP! You can find all of the information on our website here!

We are looking forward to the continued fun and learning we get to experience and can't wait to continue sharing it with you!