We're Scientists!

Today we did what scientists do. We used our five senses to observe and describe things. It was a blast! We teamed up with Mrs. Edelmon's class to see, smell, feel, hear and of course taste popcorn! Then we wrote words to describe the popcorn with each sense. We finished up by reading "The Popcorn Book" by Tomie dePaola. We learned so much!

Neat Stuff for the Weekend

This weekend's activity comes from Mama Jenn... mother of 5! This weekend, start a "Mama and Me" or a "Daddy and Me" journal. This is an interactive journal you will share with your child. Now, Mama Jenn uses this journal with her daughter, but personally, I think first grade boys would love this too. You take turns writing to each other in the journal. How neat to have all of your messages documented?! And to be able to pull that out when they graduate from high school, on their wedding day or when they have a child of their own? How fun!

Newsletter-Week 5

Neat Stuff for the Weekend

For this weekend's activity, I found this fun, easy addition to any movie night. This comes from http://blondieandbrownies.wordpress.com. What a fun idea...candy/snack necklaces! Before you start the movie, have your kids make their own necklaces using foods and sweet treats they love! I see some yummy ideas in this picture-fruit looks, yogurt covered pretzels, regular pretzels. You could even use live savers or cheerios! Get creative... I'd love to know if you come up with anything else!

Neat Stuff for the Weekend

So I don't have kids yet, but hopefully someday I will :) I thought it might be fun to do a weekly post of fun things that I would do with my kiddos if I had any. And since I don't, I can live vicariously through yours!

Not only can you provide a fun experience for your kids with the activities in my posts, but it will link to their success in school as well. Since we write about true events (things that are close to our hearts), the more experiences they have to pull from, the more stories they have access to to write about! Also, making connections to reading is a huge skill all readers should have. When they have experiences to connect to, they may have an easier time making connections while reading. They also may be creating, problem solving, designing, thinking and using creativity with these activities. These are just a few examples of how doing these activities can connect to academic performance, and plus... they are just plain fun!

So, if you must know I am addicted to Pinterest, so I find most of the activities on that site! Warning... if you are not on/have never heard of Pinterest until now, set aside some time and beware of addiction!

I'll start off with something that will look like a blast to any 6 or 7 year old. This was a photo on chive.com and it looks like it only takes a duvet cover and a fan. How fun to read or play inside this "tent!"

Happy camping!

Letter Vests!

Today we played letter vests for the first time and it was a blast! I've never had a class catch on so quickly. Today we were practicing short a and short i words. They were all fully engaged and paying attention when it was their turn. This activity serves as a fun way to engage all types of learners (auditory, visual and those who learn best through movement). This is one we will play again, and again and again!

 We love letter vests!

Our last word was kind of gross, but we could still spell it!

Week 3 Newsletter

Summer FUN!

The last few days of school were great! We designed insect habitats, had "movie day" and cleaned the classroom (which was surprisingly the kids' favorite activity). On the last day, the kids got back a lot of the writing they have done over the year, poetry and math journals and of course, their memory book. They worked on the memory book all year and it is very special. I hope you will see it as a keepsake and read it years and years from now!

Its only been a few days, but I hope you got summer started with a bang! I just finished compiling a list of things to do to keep your child reading/writing/practicing math. I hope that you will consider these ideas so that your little one will be ready for second grade!

1. Please look in your child's BEE folder for the summer reading log. If you have any questions, please let me know. Send it back in August for a special treat from me!


2. Fun web sites for the summer:


http://pbskids.org/read/

http://www.starfall.com/

http://www.funbrain.com/


http://www.professorgarfield.com/pgf_home.html


http://www.abcya.com/


http://www.spellingcity.com/


http://www.seussville.com/

3. Fun, educational apps for your ipod! http://www.smartappsforkids.com/

4. Here are some local events you might consider:


http://www.bcslibrary.org/?page_id=6620


http://www.cstx.gov/index.aspx?page=3083&returnURL=%2findex.aspx


Had to put this one on :) Its still a work in progress... http://www.athletesprime.com

5. If you haven't discovered www.pinterest.com you need to! You can search for anything, and I mean anything. There are lots of fun ideas for summer fun, and everything else you enjoy!


6. I told all the kids that they are free to e-mail me anytime this summer. Some of them even said they have their own e-mail address-very cool! I will check my e-mail maybe once or twice a week in the summer. I would love to hear from them.

Anything to add to the list? Feel free to comment or e-mail me!

Have a fun and safe summer and see you in August!

Estimation Olympics

We had been discussing time duration, like what is a second, minute, hour, day or year feel like? To conclude our study, we had the Second Annual Estimation Olympics! Each team estimated the number of seconds it would take to complete several different activities, then we timed ourselves to find out the actual amount of time it took. This was a blast! 

 Walk to the door and back with a paper on your head!

 Looking at the timer to get the right time

 Arm windmills

Science Outdoors!

We had been discussing living, non-living and once living all week. As a final fun day, we went outside and observed things in nature. The kids really loved this one!

Economics 101... What a Lesson We Learned!

I want to start out by thanking all of you who sent things for our economics project. This was a week long project that the kids participated in and I think they learned a very valuable lesson.

The week before the project, we discussed good vs. service and need vs. want. We sorted pictures and had discussions that were really great!

The first day of the project, the kids got to earn classroom fake money to buy things in the store later on in the week. They earned money for doing their classroom job (like line leader, library helper, teaching assistant, etc.) They also earned money for doing the right thing in the classroom, like completing work correctly, working quietly or walking in the hallway safely. Finally they could earn money for doing random acts of kindness that were genuine, not just doing them because they wanted money, but because it was the right thing to do.

On the following day, the kids got to choose a good to make and sell. All the goods were considered wants-necklaces, bookmarks, pom pom creatures and more! The kids bought supplies needed from the "warehouse" and then proceeded to create their good to sell. They had to come up with a reasonable price and an advertisement that was sure to get them some good customers. 

The final day was our selling day! The kids set up their shops around the room and got to buy from each other. They also got to buy from my store. My store had all the needs for student survival-crayons, scissors, glue, erasers... even a chair!!!! I explained to the students that we would be doing an important activity immediately after the store that involved cutting, gluing and coloring. I was shocked to see how most of them ignored my store! Many kids continued to only buy wants, even after several times of reminding them to get what they NEED! 

After the stores closed we passed out the activity and lots of kids struggled because they had forgotten to buy their needs! The few that had taken the time to purchase their needs did not have difficulty at all. This brought up some great discussion! We concluded that we are thankful that our parents provide for all of our needs first, and save the extra money for wants!

I felt like the learning during this project was so meaningful and so deep. It incorporated so many subjects-economics, money and a life long lesson!

 Ready to sell!

 Mrs. Stagg's kids helped run the "needs" store

 Trying the advertise the needs!

 Loves his pom pom creature!

 And now for the cut/glue/color activity...

 No scissors? Problem solve!

 No glue? Be a thinker!

 Coloring with colored Popsicle sticks...