Week 3

Hi!  We had an excellent third week.

class butterflies

Science lesson on growth. . .We'll see how much each student grows this year.

Student sharing time. . .one student brought in a microscope from home

Combined art/science/social studies lesson of decorating "cattails"

student decjorating cattails

student decorating cattails

Making shapes on geoboards for math

making shapes with geoboards for math

A parent volunteer teaching a lesson on not bullying.

Funny Sayings from Kids: As we observed our butterflies, one student noticed their interesting mouths and described it by saying, “Butterflies drink from their feet.”

One student noticed that I had added shallow water to the butterflies’ pavilion for them to drink from.   He thought it was the butterfly toilet, and that the butterfly had gone to the bathroom during the previous night.

When we practiced the word “hypothesis” one student began calling it a “hopomophis.”

Noticing the boat icons on our globe that indicate where currents are in the ocean, one student said, “Look, this map shows where the pirates are!”

I asked if anyone knows what language we speak, and one girl responded, “American!”

Students got a kick out of our snack when they thought I said we were eating “bears” instead of “pears.”

We practiced an intruder drill, and I explained the word “intruder” to students.  A little while later, students called me an intruder when I stumbled and knocked over a desk and shelf. 

We learned a bit about George Washington.  After explaining the term “Father of our Country” I asked, “So, is George Washington the real dad of all of us?”  One student blurted out, “No, that’s Jesus.”  Then another blurted back with, “No, that’s President Monson, the leader of my church.”. . .You just never know what will be said next in first grade.  

Special Activities: This week we had some great parent help!!  Also, our class butterflies that were brought in by a student hatched from their cocoons. 

Academics: This week in math we reviewed writing numbers, and we talked a lot about the attributes of shapes.  We also learned many math orientation words like first, second, third, last, middle, between, inside, outside.    In writing, we continued our talk about how a sentence frames our thoughts.  We continued practicing how a sentence must have certain things (a subject, a verb, a capital, and a period) to be complete.  In reading and spelling, we practiced short u words like bug.  Students particularly enjoyed science this week, as always.  One day, we measured them to see how much they grow this year.  The other day of science, social studies and science were combined.  I had students brainstorm how to make toys if they were lived before modern technology.  We talked about pioneer toys.   Then I gave them each a “cattail” plant, and they had to create a toy with it like the pioneers had to.  (This is practicing scientific problem solving skills.)  Then I told them how we used to color them with crayons as a family when I was a kid, and I gave them a chance to try that.