"Let it Snow, Let it Snow.... It's to hot to Snow!"

The weather outside is frightful (-ly warm), but the learning is so delightful, so since there's only a few days to go, our learning will grow, it will grow, it will grow!

I can't believe how quickly the 2010 school year has flown by. It seems like it was only yesterday that I was greeting everyone on "Meet the Teacher Night" and now I'm sitting here in amazement wondering how 76 school days and over 16 weeks went by so fast? Fortunately, 2011 will bring with it fascinating units, exciting author studies, a field trip, video conferences and more for us to look forward to. It will be weird not being here for all of the fun while on maternity leave, but I am looking forward to touching base and checking in during that time.

So what have we been up to this week you ask? Well, our learners enjoyed exploring holidays around the world as they traveled to different classrooms and discovered different traditions. In the Ramadan station, students test-tasted a date (most for the first time). I was happily surprised to learn when we graphed our results, 13 students liked the taste of the date, 6 did not like the date, and only 2 students were just a little to leery to try it this time. Here is one picture of the "date test-taste".





In the Kwanzaa station, our travelers weaved place mats using the colors red, green, and black while they learned more about the principles and traditions of Kwanzaa.

In science this week we revisited that heat can change an object as we explored seasonal changes. Snowmen gave us a starting ground and we used paper from our recycling bin to create these snowmen in small groups. Afterwards, we used our science journals to create comparison sketches of what the snowman would really look like made out of snow and what he would look like if he melted. Mckenna even shared with us an amazing popup book "Snowflakes: A Pop- Up Book by: Jennifer Preston Chushcoff", with fanciful snowflakes on each page and information on how Wilson A. Bentley was the first person to photograph a snowflake.

Hopefully we will have a chance to see real snow again this year, but until then, we can imagine. I know we are looking forward to the Snowball on Friday and I will try to take pictures to post of all of the fun.

Twas the week before Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Thanksgiving Week! I know I have really enjoyed seeing my family and eating turkey! Well, turkey, potatoes, deviled eggs, fruit salad, pecan pie, etc, etc, etc.... As we gear up for an exciting three weeks before Winter break, here is a little glimpse of some of the things we were up to the week before Thanksgiving break.

Math- We were busy reviewing concepts taught during the third cluster. We took a CBA (curriculum based assessment) to help me determine what skills were mastered, which ones we should revisit, and where to extend. One area where we are continuing to focus is on comparing two groups of objects to determine how many more or how many fewer one set has than the other. This is a great skill to practice at home with snacks, toys, and everyday objects. Assist your child in comparing two sets and analyzing how many more one set has than the other.


Reader's Workshop- Turkey based literature assisted us with making predictions and learning how to make inferences based on what we know and read. We used our "Reader's Response Journals" to keep track of our predictions and then compare with what actually occurred.



Writer's Workshop- We are busy working through the writing process and learning how to revise with a partner.

Science- We finished up our look at seasons this week by creating awesome tree quadramas. We used a pyramid shape to create four sections to make a tree and background to represent each season. They turned out great and helped us to compare each season. We then switched our focus to the moon and learned why the moon really seems to "shine". Our super scientists ended the week by making paintings to represent the different appearances of the moon. the week by making paintings to represent the different apperances of the moon.

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SPECIAL EVENTS...

- This week we enjoyed visiting the awesome book fair and had a great time celebrating our passbook sales with a popcorn party! Yeah!!!

Can You Hear Me Know Slide Show!

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"Can You Hear Me Now?"

Can you believe it's almost the middle of November? It seems like the month is going by so fast, but then when I think of all we have done and accomplished it just seems that time truly does fly when you are having learning fun. So what have we been up to? Let's get a quick subject run down...



Math- Our learners have been exploring number patterns, stretching their number sense, and problem solving! We looked at how to use doubles and doubles plus one to assist with quickly computing numbers. Practice skip counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's with your child.










Reader's Workshop/Social Studies Integration- Our reader's are learning how to dig deeper to expand their comprehension of texts by comparing texts, making connections, and inferring. When we infer we ask ourselves what the story told us and what schema and background knowledge do we have to help us make sense of the story. During the first week of November we used these skills with Kevin Henkes books and this week we used the theme of Thanks as we looked at nonfiction accounts of the first North American Thanksgiving, read about Thanksgiving traditions, and explored Veteran's day.

Writer's Workshop- Not only are we reading good literature, but we are writing it too! Your writers have been hard at work revising and editing their pieces, then turning them into published stories. Our published pieces are quickly becoming some of the most loved books in the classroom.

Science- "Can You Hear Me Now" Last week in science we learned about sound. As we discovered how we react differently to various sounds, we integrated our learning with Social Studies and learned about the scientist Alexander Graham Bell. After learning about his many inventions and his job as a teacher to students who were deaf, we tried our own hand at inventing and created paper cup phones.



















SPECIAL EVENTS...
Annika Solomon's Dad came to join us as a Watch D.O.G.S. for the day on November 5th. We really enjoyed having him in the room to help us make the paper cup phones. Thank you Mr. Solomon!










Mckenna Godsey's mom has been helping us publish student writing. I can't wait for everyone to get their first story typed and bound. As soon as that happens I will let everyone know so we can have a writer's celebration! Thank you Mrs. Godsey!














Stafford Middle School presented four rewritten fairy tales for us today. We loved seeing the differences in their productions of "The Lizard of Oz", "Sloan White", "Hansel, Gretel, and Little Red", and "How Captain Hook and The Pirates Came to Neverland". The theater students did an amazing job of engaging and entertaining their young audience.



Mrs. Hendrix came to talk to us about being Cool Kids and we played a fun trivia game as a class where we looked at how to Stay Cool and Give Respect in different situations.

Glows!- During our Celebration of Learning two students were honored for "Getting the Job Done". Congratulations Jacob H. and Mckenna.

Changes in Matter

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Balloon Farm

As we explored different literary genres, we enjoyed reading "Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm" by Jerdine Nolen. We discovered that this story is an example of fantasy fiction. Using this text as an example, we created our own fantasy fiction farms for a class book. We are looking forward to using this class book for writing inspiration in the future. Check out our Farms!

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Marvelous Magnets

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1's and 10's

We have been talking place value this week and wanted to share some of the games and activities that you can play and try at home. One game we played involved putting two different colored cubes in a bag, drawing out cubes and then put the same colored cubes in groups of tens and a pile of left over ones. Then, we counted the groups of tens and the extra ones to determine the numbers of each set. Finally, we compared the two different colors to determine which group had more and which had less. You can recreate this game at home by having your child group objects at home into groups of tens and ones. This could be objects in your pantry, closet, etc... We also learned a dice game where students roll two dice and make the largest 2 digit number they can using the digits from the dice. Then their partner does the same thing trying to make a larger number by rolling two dice and using the digits to make the largest number possible. The person with the larger number wins!

Here are a few pictures of some of our 10's and 1's activities.

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"What did you do at school today?

"So, what did you do at school today?" I'm sure you have probably asked that question to your child and hopefully you have gotten more of an answer than "stuff" or "centers". However, if you have been getting a generic answer, here is a little scrapbook of some of the things we have been up to lately to hopefully jog their memory :) The featured photos show activities conducted during our science unit on sorting objects into groups (thanks again for the fruit!), pictures from a guidance lesson with Mrs. Hendrix on College Week, a science unit on locations of objects, and pictures from a mini lesson in writing on ways to get generate writing ideas! Just look at all the awesome learning activities in first grade!

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Bus Evacuation!

Today we practiced what to do in case of a bus emergency. We learned how to safely exit the bus from various locations. Check out our scrapbook from our adventure today.

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Super Second Week!

Wow, this week has gone by so fast! It is amazing how quickly we are coming together as a classroom community after only knowing each other for nine short days! What have we been up to? Well how about some of the highlights from this week...

~Library! We had a great time checking out books in the library. I loved seeing their faces light up when they learned they could check out two books! As we check out new books each week, I am encouraging diversity in book selection with genre and selecting books that they can read as well as books that can be read aloud to them. Our standing library time will be Mondays at 2:00. However, when holidays arise (like this coming Monday) we will have to select another day. I will let them know as soon as possible the alternate library day.

~We explored different genres in reader's workshop! Students were presented with various genres to explore. As they read, I got a chance to conference with some about what they selected and why. Here are a few of the things they said...
Madison C. was "reading facts about dogs from a magazine."
Mckenna was "reading a book about weather that is true".
Madison M. was "reading a magazine about food. It can help you learn to cook."
Conner was reading "a big dictionary, something that helps you learn things." He was reading the page about bugs.
Ethan U. was reading about Pocahontas. Real information about her life!
Jacob C. was reading "The Magic School Bus about the water. It is a made up book with real information."
Ethan I. was "reading a book of silly poems called Giant Children."

~Science Experiments! We enjoyed rotating through station activities that gave us a hands-on opportunity to explore science tools such as; pipettes, balance scales, goggles, and hand lens. They also enjoyed playing a guessing game where we tried to give clues to get one person to guess the science tool being projected on the screen behind them.

~"The Napping House" was a fabulous read aloud book that gave us an opportunity to connect Social Studies to literature as we used our schema of our house and related to the story. Students made connections with the rain, animals sleeping in the house, and especially the rainbow at the end of the book (so many saw the beautiful double rainbow Wednesday night!)

~Greater than, less than, and equal too! I feel like I have to keep telling them that they are actually learning during the math block beacuse they are enjoying the games and activities for ordering and comparing numbers so much!

That is just a small taste of the great week we have had! Check out the short slideshow below to see the students in action! I hope everyone has a fabulous Friday and a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

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Super Second Day

Today we had a superb second day of school! We are doing a great job of learning our daily routines! Our day began by exploring the role of a scientist during our morning message. In math, we took a deeper look at the "plan" step of UPS check. Our reading workshop mini lesson gave us an opportunity to analyze "what good readers do" as we read aloud "First Grade Jitters". We then put some of these strategies into practice during reader's workshop by self selected literature in various genres. We learned today how to prewrite and draft in writer's workshop by sketching, labeling, and then writing about our sketch. What talented writers we have! Our day ended by seeing ourselves as scientists as we began our first science journal entry. At the end of the day, I asked students if they learned anything additional today and here is what they said...
Nia- We learned lunch and recess rules.
Dillian- When our parents come for lunch, we sit at the special tables.

Looking forward to a wonderful Wednesday!

The First Day of School = Success!

We had a wonderfully successful first day of school today! The day was full of learning new routines and procedures, new faces, and even new material. I can already tell that we are going to grow into an amazing community of learners. At the end of the day, we reflected on some of the things we learned. Here is what a few of our learners had to say...
We listened, but sometimes we got mixed up. (Dallas)
We learned to be nice to our friends. (Mckenna)
We made new friends. (Madison C.)
We learned to not save chairs. (Nia)
We learned about calendar. (Olivia)
We learned from our computer class. (Ian)
We started a new UPS check. (Jacob C.)
We learned how to clean our tables. (Jacob H.)
I’m looking forward to another fantastic day tomorrow!

Welcome 1st Graders!

Welcome to our class blog! I love using technology as a way to share our classroom happenings with my students and their parents. We will be using our classroom blog to post pictures, videos, and class created text entries to chronicle all of the fun classroom activities and events that we will be engaging in this year. In addition to our class blog, the first grade teachers have created a wiki space where you can find the weekly newsletter and additional documents. You can find our first grade wiki space at http://boalsfirstgrade.wikispaces.com/ Plus, I have created a Twitter account for our classroom that will be used for quick updates such as “remember to bring your library books today”, “ask your child what they learned today about oceans”, or “join us for curriculum night tonight”. I’m hoping that you will find these quick updates helpful! I am really looking forward to a wonderful 2010-2011 school year!!!

The Poe"tree" House!

Once there was a class who talked about poetry,
And it was extraordinary!
Poems come in different styles,
We have stored them in our mental files!

Narrative, acrostic, humorous galore,
limerick, lyrical, and so many more!
Even though reading poems are fun,
however now this poem is done!

Written By: Mrs. Dominy's Class

I hope you enjoyed this little poem written by our class. For more awesome poetry, check out these sites below!

http://www.poetry4kids.com/
http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/poetry/what.html
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/

Measurment and Experimentation!

We may be winding down the end of the year, but the learning fun is going strong! Check out these exciting hands on activities in math and science! Do try this at home!

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Fun Reviews!

Who says getting ready for the TAKS test is boring? Here are a few pictures of a fun review activity and a great visit from KIDPROV before the TAKS test and then you can see the way we made sure to put that butcher paper on the walls to good use after the TAKS test was completed!

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Problem Solving, Space, and Charlotte

What's been going on in third grade...Well, lots! We have been mixing it up in math as we review the concepts we have learned this year in new and individualized ways. We played a problem solving round robin game where we passed around word problems and each solved a component. The teamwork was amazing! It was a great way for peers to assist each other and clarify misconceptions (sometimes it makes more sense coming from a peer). We are "traveling" through the galaxy learning about each planet. As we explore each planet, students have created a minibook for each planet. The minibooks are then being put together in a long butcher paper model. Can't wait to show them to you when we are done! We are currently in the middle of "Charlotte's Web" and are enjoying seeing great examples of word choice, sentence fluency, and character development. Below are a few pictures of the learning fun of "Round Robin Problem Solving".

Book Buddies

It may just look like we are having fun hanging out with our book buddies, but our weekly meetings are so much more! They provide us with the opportunity to practice fluency as the third graders have to take in account phrasing, pacing, expression, and focus on how to engage their audience in the literature. Check out a few pictures of our time with our first grade buddies!

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Super Snow Day!

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! Well, when life gives us snow, we make snow ice cream! We took advantage of the unexpected, record breaking snowfall to correlate the TEKS with teachable moments! Out in the snow, problem solving filled the air as students explored ways to create snowmen by rolling the snow into balls and then marveled at the actual weight of the accumulated snow. Thanks to the recent temperature changes, we all now know that 32'F and 0'C are the temperatures in which water freezes. In the classroom, we utilized measurement, equivalent fractions, and scientific principles as we created snow ice cream. This all went along perfectly with our current science unit of study, Animal Adaptations and Arctic Animals. We had already been exploring the special adaptations of a polar bear that equips him to inhabit such frigid temperatures. Well with weather as our muse, we donned a blubber bag mitten to compare temperature with and without a cozy layer of fat. Even though our snow day, eventually meant the cancelation of school, we were excited to come back on Tuesday to Valentine's Party fun! Included are some super Valentine Photos! Thank you to all the amazing volunteers and Mrs. Jackson for coordinating all the excitement!

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