Science Review

Today we reviewed our Science chapter on animals.  We did some "foldables" for our review!  Ask your favorite first grader if he/she can name the 6 groups of animals (mammals, amphibians, insects, birds, fish and reptiles), what they all need (food, water, shelter, air), and what they all do (grow, change and move).

Goodbye :(

Goodbye little miss Mackenzie...we will miss you soooo much!!  Good luck at your new school and remember to write to us on our Kidblog. 
Maybe we can even Skype with you sometime...

I am thankful for...

Today the first graders made turkey books and wrote about what they are thankful for.  They did an excellent job writing sentences with beginning capital letters and ending punctuation.  They all had really nice handwriting, too!! Tomorrow we will make our turkeys talk!! :)

Good Readers, Authors and Illustrators!

21st Century Learning

I often wonder how many people (parents especially!) are reading this blog.  When I first began this blog last year I tried posting every day.  I had several regular readers and found it to be a nice way to update them on what was happening in our classroom as well as give others that may happen upon it some ideas for use in their classrooms.  Anyway, for those who read this blog, thank you for taking the time to check it out!  I hope you find it helpful.

Not only do we have "webpals" (that's our newly made up 21st century compound word!!) from Canada, but now we also have Blogging Buddies from Pennsylvania.  The first graders are very excited about their new friends and have already begun typing messages back and forth to them using their Kidblog. Giving the first graders real-life experience writing and reading makes so much more sense than all of those old-fashioned worksheets.  In addition, the children are learning about another state in our country and another country, too.  We have been regularly checking the weather in Pennsylvania and Canada and comparing it to our weather.  We practice our math skills by figuring out the differences in temperatures.  The Morning Sun First Graders were soooo jealous today when they saw that it was snowing in Medicine Hat, Alberta today! :)

Medicine Hat and Money

This morning we were able to use Skype to talk with our webpals in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.  We read our short Readers' Theater for them and several of the Grade One students there read their journal entries to us.  We had more questions for them and they had more for us, too!  We found out that they already celebrated their Thanksgiving last month and that they eat turkey just like we do! :)

We have begun our daily practice of counting money.  Here is a picture of several First Graders counting money on the Promethean board during Centers time this morning.  One student uses the wireless keyboard to type a money amount on the board and the other students take turns putting coins on the board that equal that amount.  I think we may have some future bankers in our class!! :)

What Animals Need

As we continued our Science unit on animals today we reviewed what all animals need.  The First Graders helped by writing on the markerboard (the new, old-fashioned way...with dry-erase markers!)

They were all shocked and amazed to discover that they are animals too!!  We will continue our unit by talking about the different animal groups, the similarities and differences between the groups and how to classify animals into groups.  Next up: looking at how water rolls right off a ducks feathers...and figuring out why!! :)

Super Smart First Graders

Yesterday we went to the computer lab and I taught the First Graders how to use Wordle.  The kids had to type in the -est word family words and then they were able to choose the font, layout and color to make their "wordles".  It was a great way for them to practice spelling the words.  

Here is Dakota's wordle:

We have also discovered a really fun (and educational!!) game on ABCYa! that we have been using when we've had a spare minute or two.  The "100 Number Grid" game shows a blank 100 grid and the player has to find certain numbers on the grid.  We've talked about strategies to use and number patterns to help us figure out the number's location.  These First Graders' brains are working hard! :)