Animals Galore!
We have been head over heels in animal research and ALL things animals for the last few weeks. It has been an exciting endeavor as we have worked to complete a quite extensive animal research project. These firsties have worked daily to read about and gather information on their animal of choice, write their facts, draft and edit their animal research books and then create animal habitats to display at our Talking Zoo on Friday! These kids have learned SO much about their animals and are ecstatic for the opportunity to share their exciting facts with you in a couple of days!
Last week Thursday, our class joined Mrs. Powells' class for an exciting Sunset Safari with Safari Live. We joined other classes around the globe on an African Safari. During our virtual field trip, we were able to learn various interesting facts about the animals we were seeing as well as ask questions of our own.
Not all of our questions were answered, however many of them were posted on the screen with the student's (or teacher's) names next to them and the safari guide would answer the child directly, by name! It was SO much fun. Mrs. Powell and I have done this field trip in the past (not as a sunset safari) and this time we saw all new animals!
We were able to see a group of hippos, wild dogs, tree squirrels living in a ground burrow, a variety of birds including fish eagles, Egyptian geese, guinea fowl, hadeha birds and more. We were able to witness a first along with one of the tour guides in that we saw a fish eagle (known for hunting/eating fish) attack a stork in mid air! As the light began to fade and it became darker out, the guides began using spot lights and even inferred light to be able to see the animals on the tour. We were able to come across a baby elephant, a deka, water buck and even followed the call of a leopard!
When it was time for recess, most of the class went outside, however about 5 students stayed in for a couple more minutes to continue watching and that is when we were able to see the actual leopard itself!! It was SO fun to see! We were all extremely excited to actually see the leopard up close, it came up right next to and circled the vehicle that our tour guide was sitting in. Mr. Simons even had his question answered by the guide and we found out that a grown leopard averages about 160-170 pounds!
After getting to explore the African Savanah, our friends went outside to explore the habitat surrounding our school and looked for wildlife. Ky came back with a small salamander...I have to admit I got a little 'freaked out' when he showed me initially, but they are pretty cool. He enjoyed putting it in a cage and showing it off to others in the building that afternoon!
In addition to all of the animal research and exploration we have filled our time with other exciting opportunities as well....
Stevie was the winner of our first grade writing contest. She wrote the most compelling opinion story about why she would be the best principal for a day. As the winner, she was greeted by Mrs. Paulen in the morning and given her own badge, a set of STAR tickets to hand out as well as a clipboard to help with teacher evaluations. Stevie was able to visit all fo the classrooms and observe student engagement, teacher effectiveness, STAR behavior and SO much more. She had a blast. When she returned, she received a Principal for the Day certificate! Not only that, but the following Monday, Stevie and the winner from Mrs. Powell's class were able to help lead the school wide Monday Morning Meeting!
This past week Friday, we welcomed the beautiful, hot weather with a math lesson outside. As you know, we have been working hard on two-digit addition lately. As we wrapped up our last unit in math, we took to the sidewalk with scooters, clipboards, and task cards with a friendly round of Two Digit Addition Scoot.
Our friends got to scoot all around the sidewalk looking for two-digit addition task cards. When they found one, they had to solve the problem and put the total on the corresponding spot on their recording form. They had a blast scooting and doing math in a fun, engaging new way!
Finally, Friday afternoon was spent enjoying our 4th Annual Color Run/Jog-A-Thon! We had an absolute blast starting out on our Nature Trail, which opened right up to our color run track. After running for about 15 minutes, we spent some time enjoying snow cones (thank you Mr. and Mrs. Stange)!! After finishing our snow cones, we went back to the track for another round of exercise and trips through the color station!!
As you can see, there was no lack of fun on Friday!!!
We wrapped up the whole event with Pie in the Face! Six students won the opportunity to pie teaching/support staff members in the face from our Forest View Fun Night....This has been a LONG anticipated event and all were excited to witness the fun!
You can watch our pie in the face adventure below:
We teachers had a little fun ourselves and made sure to repay the favor ;)
Of course we needed to take some before and after photos of our crazy crew as well!
This day will be hard to live up to...however we have TONS of exciting things happening in the next week and a half (Talking Zoo, Field Day, and Center Lake)!!! We can't wait to continue learning and having fun as we wrap up our last few days in First Grade!!
