Language Arts
In language arts we finished our summary of the firefighter story we read a few weeks ago. They also started to draw a self portrait that will serve as the artwork that goes along with their summaries. They used mirrors to be able to correctly draw their facial features. The portraits are looking so cute and were a test in following directions that they all passed with flying colors! I’m proud of how much effort they put into doing such quality work.
We also discussed using commas to separate a series of words to make their writing more easily understood, for example: We went to the market to buy apples, bananas and strawberries. We also discussed that a comma would not be used before the word and/y.
Phonics
In phonics we reviewed the diphthong -ua. They made for some very yummy diphthong/diptongo smoothies.
Math
This week in math we finished our unit on regrouping in addition and subtraction. We did more work on word problems. The kiddos had many opportunities to practice the word problems using bar models to help them to visualize and better understand addition and subtraction in the context of real world math. We also took the unit test and everyone did a great job!
History & Geography
This week we learned about George Washington and the important roles that he played in founding this country, as the commander and chief of the Continental Army, as the president of the Constitutional committee, and finally becoming the president of the the new United States of America. The class was sad to hear that after all his sacrifices to this country he only had two and a half years to enjoy Mt. Vernon after all this before he passed. We also learned how he created a permanent Army and Navy as well as establishing the capital of the United States. On Tuesday we finished making our flags and added to our class time line. We learned the song Yankee Doodle and sang it in our own musical parade. The class loved marching around with instruments and practicing singing our song.
Science
We began a new science domain this week called Our Home the Earth. The class learned about geology and what a geologist does. We read about the different layers of the Earth; the crust , the mantle , and the core. Everyone was surprised to hear that all living things only inhabit the crust, a small portion of the Earth. We learned that geologists look at time, not in the term of hours and days, but in thousands and millions of years. We read how heat, pressure, and time effects the changes to our planet.
On Friday the students got to fill the bears that they’ve been collecting for the Children’s Center of Vancouver, with rocks and then sew them up. They had to first take out some of the stuffing from their animal and then determine how much rock weight their stuffed animal could hold. Next they weighed out the rocks using one of the scales set up in the classroom. We then sewed the animals with the help of Miss Laura and Miss Jennie. Miss Laura will be delivering the animals to the center sometime in the next couple of weeks. The class was very excited to know that these stuffed animals were going to a wonderful cause.
English Spelling
We worked on our new sorts this week. Students did one activity of finding their words in books in the room. They also practiced their words by writing them down and underlining the vowel patterns with different colored markers. Our next spelling test will be Friday, April 22nd. In our journals this week we wrote about sewing up our bears and we also had free choice writing. For grammar review we looked at different ways that we make words plural .
Art
The first grade students learned how to draw a symmetrical butterfly this week, and then they used neon crayons to add patterns and color. The next step of this project involves wetting the butterfly, crumpling it up to create cracks in the crayon, and then adding watercolor. As the students finish their butterflies, I’ll hang them in the window of their classroom. These are turning out very beautiful!
Music
Today we explored music from the South American harp traditions, inspired by sounds and sights in nature. These included “Cascadas” (“Waterfalls,”); “El pájaro campana,” (“The Bell Bird,”); “Galopando,” (“Galloping,”); Melissa Morgan’s “Waltz of the Dolphins;” and Ecuadorean indigenous harper Taita Emilio Guandinango’s composition, “De la cosecha de maíz,” (“Of the Harvest of Corn.”)