We Love Our Dads!

Pumpkin Fun

The month of October has been a great opportunity to have fun with pumpkins.  We had a wonderful Mystery Reader, Jamison's mom, who engaged us in the reading of "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything."  We have used candy corn and pumpkins to practice addition strategies in math, and we predicted how many seeds in a pumpkin and counted them by tens to find the answer.  In science we explored the inside of a pumpkin and experimented with baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring on the inside of a pumpkin.  The kids were fantastic learners and were so well behaved despite the excitement going on especially on Halloween day!  With October being SO busy, I got behind on posting. I have added some other pictures at the bottom of what has been happening in our class the past month.

 

                 Thanks Mrs. Clark for coming to read with our class and for the adorable fall treats!!

    

Thanks Mrs. Pruett for the cupcakes and Mrs. Greeff for making the pumpkin bread :)

Boosterthon Day:

Community Helper Visitor:

Beth's Dad as a Mystery Reader:

Busy in First Grade

We are well into our first grade year and are as busy as ever!!  It seems like something special is going on at school each day.  Here are a few things that have been happening:

 

Charley's family shared this picture with me of Charley doing her spelling homework at home. I'm glad to see she is enjoying learning by using her creative choice spelling homework options :)

We also had our first Mystery Reader of the year!  I LOVE having Mystery Readers visit our classroom!  I started this program 4 or 5 years ago when I was inspired by reading another teacher's web page at a school I have never even heard of :).  Family or community members can volunteer to come in and read a story to our class.  They can also bring somehing for the class that goes along with the theme of the story.  The Mystery Reader turns in 3 clues, and I share them with the class right before the reader walks in.  The kids love this time and it is a great way to involve families and community members in our classroom. If you would like to sign up to be a Mystery Reader one Friday this school year please let me know.

Victoria's mom was the Mystery Reader!

She read the book "Courage" to us.  It was a wonderful book that gave examples of what courage is on each page.  Then she told the class that she had a test for them to see if they really had courage.  She told them she had brought in a special treat for them to eat - dirt and worms!  The look on their faces was priceless.  I think some of them did not want to have courage.  Then one student yelled out - I know it's that pudding stuff and gummy worms.  I am sure each student in the class now knows the definition of courage because of this engaging activity.

Thank you Mrs. Rhodes for this adorable activity and for sharing your time with our class!

We also had the great opportunity to learn about fire safety last week! 

The students were reminded to check their smoke detectors for homework that night.  If you do not have working smoke detectors in your home, the Boiling Springs Fire Department has them available for free!  We want all of our students and their families to be safe and prepared in the event of a fire. 

Apple Tasting Day

We had lots of apple treats to sample last Thursday during our apple tasting.  Throughout our apple theme, we compared fiction vs. nonfiction texts by reading various apple books.  We also have been learning how scientists use their senses to investigate, so we used our sense of taste during our apple party and graphed each child's favorite apple treat.  Thanks to all of the parents who sent in a yummy apple dish or drink for this fun day :)

Sink or Float

During science today we conducted a "sink or float" experiment.  The students learned about the scientific process of asking a question, forming a hypothesis, following a procedure, collecting data, and coming to a conclusion. We tested a penny, straw, marble, and plastic cup.  Most of the students' predictions were correct until we came to the cup. Some cups sank and some were floating.  The students noticed that the cups with no water inside were floating and the cups that were filled with water were sinking. We concluded that mass affects whether an object will sink or float.  So if your child asks to take several items to the bathtub tonight you now know what they are up to :)