Week of April 19 - 23, 2010

This week we celebrated Earth Week each day. We measured our trash; talked about ways so save energy in the classroom and make an Earth Day book. Most importantly we were able to get in our garden in the courtyard and prepare the soil for planting. In Writer's Workshop we are writing from prompts, such as a picture of something that encourages students to make up a story about that includes a beginning, middle and end. We will use these stories as a means to work on editing and sentence structure. We are also focusing on the beginning, middle and end of stories we are reading during Reader's Workshop. In math we had fun with subtraction and learned how to check our answers. We kicked off our plant study in science this week and are looking forward to getting our seedlings and marigolds in the ground next week!

Digging for Weeds and Worms

First graders prepared the beds in our courtyard garden for planting this week. Everyone had a chance to dig up weeds and look for worms. We also found grubs, trash, broken pots and lots of rocks! We were happy to see so many worms and not so many weeds. We owe a special big thanks to Wilson Soliz who built another raised bed for us and put down walking boards so we can access our plants more easily!

Origami Swami

A highlight of our week was visiting the Origami Swami in the Library. She is a wonderful storyteller and kept us captivated for over an hour. As she told stories, she folded paper to go along with them.

Scientists at Work

Much of the focus in the first grade science curriculum requires that students observe and record what they see. This is easier said than done! Many of us want to draw what we think we see or what we assume is there. For example, we looked at marigold plants that we uprooted from their pots. Some of us drew a flower with grass, sky and trees. We were in our classroom sitting at tables and none of those things were there! We also had an opportunity to choose a place in the courtyard where all the classroom gardens are and record how it changes over time which is another aspect of the science curriculum.

Week of April 12 - 16, 2010

In Writer's Workshop we concentrated on getting our "All-About" books ready for our Publishing Party on Friday. We have also been working on writing sentences correctly with a focus on capital letters at the beginning of sentences and periods at the end. Identifying nouns (also called naming words) was also part of our grammar work. In Reader's Workshop we have been working on retelling stories we hear or read by icluding as many specific details as possible as we tell what happens at the beginning, middle and end of stories. While listening to Evangeline Mudd and the Golden-Haired Apes of the Ikkinasti Jungle, we have been drawing mental images of the setting and characters in the story. In Math Workshop we are working on fact fluency by playing games that help us practice our math facts up to ten.

Some highlights of the week included the Black History Assembly (postponed by the February blizzards). Del Walters, an investigative reporter for ABC News and a well known author, issued us a challenge to raise one dollar a piece to help people in a Haitian village that were hit hard by the earthquake there in January. We will keep you posted on how we decide to raise that money. Also, we had fun celebrating my birthday on Tuesday. I so appreciate all the cards, the song, cupcakes, balloon and other treats that I received throughout the day. It was a fun day and I am so thankful that I could celebrate it with such wonderful children and their parents!

5th Grade Buddies

It's always a fun and happy occasion to see our 5th Grade buddies! Ms. Lombardi read our new "Community through Books" selection called Horace and Morris but Mostly Delores by James Howe. After we heard the story, we talked about how important is is to find ways to include everyone who wants to play or be a member of a club. Then, we designed more forts that Horace, Morris and Delores could play in. Our fort designs are on the bulletin board adjacent to Ms. Runkle's room.

Publising Party

On Friday we had a Publishing Party for our "All-About" books. Each first grader became experts on their subject. Parents and teachers who visited us learned all about dinosaurs, kittens, baseball, hockey, fishing, composers, video games, dogs, the army, snakes, lizards, school, peace, making friends, golf and Chinese school. We appreciate all who came to our party and listened to our stories.

Week of April 5-9, 2010

It was great to be back together after Spring Break and we had a very busy week! In Writer's Workshop we are polishing our All-About books to get ready for our publishing party next Friday. In Reader's Workshop, we are enjoying reading just-right books for us as well as poetry since April is National Poetry Month. We are also using poems to practice our comprehension skills. In math, we counted our money we raised from our Classroom Store and we played games to hone our math-counting skills. Career Day was our culminating event for our Economics Unit and we started a new science unit this week by planting seeds for our garden in the courtyard.

Spring is Here!

We had lots of fun this week playing outside during recess. We also got to draw some signs of spring during art this week and had a little extra time outside to enjoy a few much-deserved beautiful spring days together.

Science Day

After a very informative assembly about electricity with some teachers from the Virginia Science Museum , we went to the multi-purpose room for some hands-on science experiments. We learned about body temperature, balance, optical illusions, sound waves and tested our sense of smell, among other fun and engaging activities. We love science!

Career Day

On Thursday, we had many professionals visit our classroom - from football players to ballet dancers, and teachers to investigative reporters - we were informed about a variety of jobs that our first graders are considering for their careers. After we shared about our jobs and whether they provided good, services, or both, we met with the rest of the first graders in the other classes to find out about their jobs, too.

Classroom Store

Getting ready for our Classroom Store was the main event of our week before Spring Break. We used our reading and writing skills in making posters and signs for our selling booths. We used our creativity and imagination to make hats, belts and fans for our customers. We used our knowledge about wants and needs, supply and demand, and producers and consumers in planning our store. Finally, on the day of the store we used our math skills in collecting money for our goods and making change as necessary. We sold out of everything we made! We really appreciate all of the help from ur parents that assisted us. All of the money we made from our Classroom Store will go to a local charity.