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

Off to the Theater!

Hello Fabulous Families,

Here are some images from our trip to the theater in Balboa Park.  Thank you to all our drivers for making the day possible!  We looked at the photos the next day and the students were very interested in how the puppets were made.  The concepts of simple machines.  

What styles of puppets are out there?

What styles will best support the puppets to move as we do?

What strategies will make strong but movable connections for the pieces?

What materials will best work?

How can a puppet seem concrete and painted, 

but then throw and intricate shadow that displays even more detail?

The students plan to try to create some of their own.  If they work on answering some of these questions through trial and error at home, please ask them to bring in their creations!  I hope your child shared about the lovely field trip day with you.  Have a nice weekend, Jennifer

This Week's Highlights

Hello First Grade Families

Highlights From Our Week:

Skill Reinforcing Games- coin knowledge and skills, prediction, number patterns, addition, making words from letters rolled, writing stories together.

Avery and Risa's Sea Mammal presentation:

Friday we were lucky to have Avery and Risa come to visit and give us a presentation about sea mammals.  Risa even called a trainer and were able to talk with her and a sea lion named Jim Fin!  The students were facinated by the models of a sea lion and dolphin skull.  They had lots of great questions and we learned a lot.  I will include some facts here, but I am sure your child will tell you more!

Mammal features: (we summarized this ourselves first!) are warm blooded, feed their babies their own milk, have live births and hair or fur.

The National Marine Mammal Organization practices husbandry, which is caring for the animals and examining their health.  They do research and care for sea lions and dolphins and work closely with the Navy.

Sea Lions:
Can swim up to 1,000 feet deep.
Can stay under water up ti 5 minutes to fish before taking a breath.
Bark
Males: 1,000 lbs and 7'
Females 220lbs 6'
Have external ears
Can sit up leaning on their flippers
Have approximately the same amount of teeth as us.
Pups born in June/July


Seals:
Internal ears
Make a grunting sound
lay on the ground and wiggle, instead of up on their flippers.

Dolphins:
Moms swim fast and their babies, who cannot swim fast, get caught up in their stream to keep up.
Killer whales are actually dolphins
Can chose when to take a breath or not, instead of feeling like they ran out of breath and have to breath.
Have 88-112 teeth
The shape of their head (melon) is what allows them to use echo-location to sense things at 100 feet away.
Dolphins are born flukes first.

After watching the video of the trainer working with hand signals with Jim Fin, Silas said, "My dog would never do all that!".  The students were very impressed with how this sea lion responded to the hand signals.

Ammending the soil in our planters:

We used the worm casting, peat moss and micro-organisms to add to the soild we have and make it rich and ready for our plants next week.  The students were practicing lots of teamwork and communication to make sure all the jobs were done thoroughly.

Enjoy your weekend.  Remember, next Tuesday we are off to see the Chinese Theater!

Love, Jennifer