Fantastic Learners
Have you heard about all of the Fair Tales we have been reading? We have been having a great time listening to and learning about all things Fairy Tales in knowledge the last few weeks! We have learned a lot about the various elements that are part of Fairy Tales and have enjoyed comparing and contrasting them as well! On Friday, we spent time doing a super fun STEM activity that went well with our story Jack and the Beanstalk. We worked with a partner to help Jack and the Giant work together. In the traditional story, Jack had to escape the Giant because he wanted to eat Jack. In our STEM activity, Jack devised a clever idea to work with the Giant so that he did did not get eaten; he decided to work with the Giant to sell his golden eggs so that they could split the money and both get what they needed/wanted. Check out our fun activity below!
We worked either individually or in pairs/groups of three to build a container for the giant to deliver the eggs to Jack from the sky to the ground. The goal of the project was to be able to drop the container from high off the ground and have the egg stay intact when it hit the ground (Jack wouldn't be able to sell the eggs if they were broken)!!
First, students were given a variety of materials to choose from (i.e. egg cartons, boxes, tape, glue sticks, yarn, newspaper, straws, bags, etc). Next, each group had to design two different ideas on what their egg container would look like and how it would protect an egg from breaking in a fall.
After plans were developed, groups had to decide on which option they wanted to build and then they set to work!
I loved watching and listening to all of the creative thoughts being developed during our project! Above, Aubrey is working on filling a tissue box full of pipe cleaners and other items to help soften the blow of the egg drop. Below, Taylor, Blake and Kaylee discuss how to create the best padding for their egg.
Stella is attaching pipe cleaners to her and Zooey's box to then attach a make-shift parachute to.
After completing all of their containers, it was time to test them out! We took a trip outside with Mrs. Heystek's friends, who also did the project in their room, and tested them to see if we could successfully drop each container from half-way up a latter and have the egg that was carefully placed inside the box come out unharmed!
Ricky and Aiden's container successfully protected their egg! It came out without a scratch!
Summer and Serenity were thrilled to test out their egg drop container!
Stella couldn't wait to check inside and see whether or not their egg had survived.
In the end of our experiment outside, we ended up with a little over half of the eggs uncracked! Some friends were super bummed that their eggs didn't make it and I know that if we had a little more time to work, they could have redesigned their containers and fix them up to make them successful....maybe you could extend the project at home and try again?!
During math this week, we have started learning how to tell time to the hour! This is always a super fun unit to work on as we learn how to tell time to the hour and half hour, as well as begin learning about measurement, fractions and shapes as well! This week we have been watching various videos like the one above that help set our time to work and practice telling time to the hour. The trickiest thing we have found is that when the minute hand is facing up we say o'clock (:00 on a digital clock) and we do not say twelve! We are getting the hang of it! Make sure to check out our work on seesaw as we are building in more opportunities to practice there for you to see!
This week's spelling words are pretty tricky as we work on very spellings for very similar sounds. This week we are focusing on the ch/tch/sh sounds. They really take some skill in deciphering when hearing words. It is important that you continue practicing spelling at home in addition to our practice at school. You can find the list of words here, as well as in your child's folder at the start of each week.
In writing, we have begun to see what it means to do a little research! One of our first grade goals is to participate in shared research and writing projects. We will do more of this later in the year with our final first grade project, however we began looking at what that goal means this month as well. We decided that since Easter is approaching, it would be fun to have some new artwork and writing samples in the hallway to display.
We decided a fun directed drawing of a bunny would be both cute and entertaining, as we put bows and ties and necklaces on our rabbits! After completing our artwork, we listened to a variety of nonfiction texts about rabbits and wrote down three facts that we heard/read about rabbits.
It was a fun project and had a ton of first grade skills all wrapped up into one little project. Throughout the work time, students continued to work on developing their skills as writers and focused on using CAPS, ends.?! and finger spaces, as well as spelling words phonetically while they wrote!
Lastly...Are you looking forward to Fun Night!!! This is always an exciting event and there will be so much to do and enjoy while you take a family fun night out! Come to school this Friday and enjoy dinner and games for the whole family! There will be tons of games to play (with prizes), dinner for the family as well as auction and silent raffle items to bid on! Each class is in charge of sponsoring a themed basket. Our first grade basket is sports themed. Thank you to all of the families who were able to donate some items to add to the basket! There are a variety of other baskets for both adults and kids to bid on as well as other items too! Don't forget the raffle table...there will be tons of items to put your tickets in for a chance to win as well! Not only are there the typical auction items to bid on but there are some super fun opportunities that staff members are putting up for bid as well! Many teachers are auctioning off a lunch or fun activity with them during the school day! Here is what is available from me:
