Learning, Laughter and Collaboration: So Much To Share!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

So Much To Share!

Hello First Grade Families!

I'm sandwiching this post with two images from my weekend walks. Nature is so beautiful and inspiring, it's hard not to share the moments. The last photo is of some bananas growing in my neighborhood- cool way they grow, eh? Also at the end, I will post two links of little videos that we watched this week about Hawaii and volcanoes!

This week has started off with a lot of fun. If you haven't stopped into our room lately, please try to come and check it out. We have some new things going up. The posters are becoming masterpieces of personality and special information. I can't wait to see them all up. Friends' choices of what they include in their poster to share about themselves has been lovely. Here's a sneak peek into a few. The first image is work in progress of part of Henry's poster. He is including his new baby brother and using the birth announcement we have up in our room as a reference. Lovely!

This week we've also begun measuring how long and tall the animals are that the students have chosen to investigate. We are using yarn to depict the sizes we are measuring. The students were amazed to see how big some of these animals are. It is great to see this in context with normal things in our lives. We will continue to add to this work. The photos don't do justice, you may have to come in to see it yourself! :)

Thank you for the homework that has been coming in. It was a beautiful moment when Ocean asked Rainli what inspired her coin homework and Rainli said that it was Joey's homework the previous day. Ideas beget ideas. Inspiration comes from all places. These students love to share their ideas and creativity. Each offering has helped others to think new thoughts. Keep the ideas flowing from home to school and back again! Here are some examples of homework:

This week we received another presidential report from Silas on Bill Clinton. Here's a look at our time line so far. A few friends have their eye on doing another. It's been quite interesting hearing about the presidents and see what info the students chose to share. Which president will go up on the wall next?

And finally, last Friday we were invited to the fifth grade for a special presentation about natural desasters and preparedness. The students put together different styles of presentations and our class circulated listening to all of these. It was neat to see their creativity and the way they put information together. There will be a raffle for a well-stocked emergency kit that this group of students put together- Check it out!