So Much Joy in Learning

Hello First Grade Families!

Happy Friday! This week was full of concentrated work times, laughing discussions, inquisitive research and experiencing our sensory garden and all who come to enjoy it.

Two interesting investigations have been ongoing this week. The sensory garden has brought about such an opportunity to watch bees in action. The students can sit quietly and watch how these insects go about their work. They have been able to form many theories about how they pollinate. The students have also been able to see the parts of bees bodies to help them understand this process further. A group of friends has formed to write and draw their bee ideas.

Bridget also brought in some creatures that have been multiplying in her fish tank. The students have been investigating these as well and writing theories and questions. These two topics have reminded us of the scientific process. We recently had a brainstorm of important steps to take during scientific inquiry.  The students referenced their ideas in the days to come to help organize their work.

Today we had another safety drill which brought up ideas about how to be safe in an earthquake or fire. I was suggesting to the students to have these same type of discussions as a family so that you may know what to do in these emergency situations at home. Here are some questions we thought about:

What should you do in the case of a fire? An earthquake?

How are the above answers different?

Where do you meet as a safe place in case of an emergency?

Our search for patterns in words continues.  We notice this everywhere- in the spelling words we chose, in our songs and poems, in the books we read- everywhere!  The friends have been keeping lists of teams of words.  Jenna and Bryana began a 'wh' list this week and Silas and Parker worked on an 'ea' list.  Many of the list keepers have also begun using Bridget's new strategy of perusing the dictionary.  They have been enjoying the hunt and the excitement when another word we use often is found to have a special feature we have been talking about.  Even here in this paragraph, I notice some as I write!

We also spent some time working together in teams to act out a familiar story.  The class is sharpening their team skills and ability to effectively communicate in a group.  Each time we do an activity like this, the students discuss their collaborative skills and make goals for the next time.  To add to this reflective process, we also journaled about acting tips.  Practice, discussion with co-actors, agreeing beforehand about how to act out and use the stage and continuing to face the audience while moving around were popular tips.

To commemorate the fact that Leap day won't come around again for four years, we went to the park to leap!  The students looked again at a yard stick to see how much an inch, a foot and a yard is, then made predictions about how far they thought they could jump.  One of the elements to the long jump is getting your preceding footsteps just right so that all of your leap is counted on the other end.   Many of the students jumped much farther than they thought they could.  Our farthest jump was 83"!  We all felt that with practice, they could better their preliminary tries.

I wish you a weekend full of great leaps!  Love, Jennifer