Monday, June 25, 2018

End of the Year FUN!

Happy Last Day 1L!
2017-2018 has been an amazing year! Thank you for such great memories in life and learning! Being your teacher has been a blessing beyond words.

Reading Buddy "Last Day" playdate!


Comic Book Share with 4C!




Kickball with 3F B!



Gardening in the OLC! 
PLEASE, come back during the summer to water those beans! 
We want a big harvest this Fall.




Have a wonderful summer 1L families!
See you in the Fall!
Love,
Mrs. L

Friday, June 15, 2018

Helping the Herd and Owl Pellet Dissections!

Helping the Herd
With the help of some super parent volunteers students in 1L did some awesome science learning today! We discovered what it was like to be a part of a real animal herd! We went to different stations that described how animals survive. 
Thank you to those who helped us try this today!





Owl Pellet Dissection
Students in 1L went hunting for bones today! We dissected owl pellets using tools that real scientists use when making close observations of collected specimens. We drew diagrams of the bones we found and compared them to a animal bone chart. We learned about why Owls make pellets. Ask us about this adaptation and its importance to owl survival!





Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Plant Dissections and Life Science!

Class Pets!
Check out our class pets! We have mealworms, earthworms, pill bugs, woodland saplings, moss, goldfish and floating plants. We have been observing these live specimens over the past few weeks, learning all we can about how plants and animals live and survive in their woodland or water habitat. 





Plant Dissections!
Scientists observed plants up close by dissecting different plant parts. We used real dissection tools to cut (all by ourselves), magnifying glasses and saw that plants have similarities and differences. We  found out that we sometimes eat the stem, roots, leaves, fruit, flower or seed! It was fascinating.  






Tuesday, June 5, 2018

A look back at May!

The month of May was jam packed with learning and fun here in 1L! 
Take a look back on some things you may have missed!

3D Geometry

We stepped into the world of design, engineering, architecture and construction while learning about 3D shapes. Students drew, described, constructed and explored with 3D shapes all month. We even designed our own townhouses based on the zoning requirements provided by the town of "Numberland."


Constructing 3D shapes with edges and vertices using play dough!

 Guess My "Cube Thing"
You design and your partner must copy your "cube thing" exactly based on your plans!

Reader's Theater! 
We practiced reading fluency, team work and role playing during Reader's Workshop this month!








Fiction Writers!

We wrote and published amazing fiction stories this month. We celebrated by having our third grade reading buddies join us in reading, complimenting and providing constructive feedback on stickies "gallery style." AMAZING final products are on display now in the first grade hallway!



Love,
Mrs. L

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Ask us about animal adaptations!

Life Science Discoveries!

This month, scientists have been discovering the exciting world of animal adaptations. We have looked closely at animal parts and functions. We have seen the magic that nature has created in order to sustain animal survival. We have even seen how humans can copy nature to solve our own big problems. We call this bio-mimicry! Check out the learning and questioning we have done this May!

Super Animals
We made "super animals" that could survive in different environments because of their special parts and adaptations!






Bugworks!
We had a visit from Bugworks! We got to see and touch real insects and bugs! We could observe the animal adaptations in action!












Camouflage Experiment!
Can you tell how many moths are on the trees? We had a hard time too! Camouflage helps animals to hide from food, and also helps them blend in to catch food! Predators and prey use camouflage adaptations!



Why are bird beaks shaped differently?
Some birds have round beaks and some have small pointed beaks! They are different because they have adapted to eat and live in different places. A duck scoops its food from water and a wobbler picks tiny bugs out of rocky places. These animals need to survive in different environments, so their beaks look different. 




Scientists have been hard at work this May!
Love,
Mrs. L