Monday Update

Today we looked at Pablo Picasso's painting, Mains aux Fleurs (Hands with Flowers)

and created our own hands with flowers.

On Mondays, students write in their writing journals.  Today we were inspired by some of the great books we read and tried some of the techniques real authors use in their writing.

Students are working hard on their nonfiction writing about arctic animals.   Their dioramas look beautiful.

You may also be interested in the following program about arctic seasons and animals:
Frozen Planet : Discovery Channel

dsc.discovery.com/tv/frozen-planet/Cached

Continuing Sundays at 8PM e/p, Frozen Planet, a Discovery Channel/BBC co-production from the makers of Planet Earth, provides the ultimate portrait of our Arctic seasons and animals that live there.

More Leprechaun Traps

 

Here are some more of our wonderful leprechaun traps that were left out on Thursday in hopes of catching some goodies (or maybe even a leprechaun or two)

 

The following picture is a little blurry.... maybe the leprechaun didn't want to be seen?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Monday News

Hi Parents,
Today we created artwork based on our last math unit (geometry) and learned about the artist Wayne Thiebaud. 

Wayne Thiebaud is famous for his paintings of desserts, especially cakes.

 We noticed that cakes are cylinders and learned how to draw some big delicious cylinders (some with slices cut out!).

This art project finishes our unit on geometry and today we started our unit on doubling numbers by playing several math games.   Games are such a terrific way to reinforce skills.   A great family game to play to work with numbers is yahtzee.  If you are looking for more fun ways to add math into your day, check out this website  

The Leprechaun Traps have started to arrive!   We read a little bit about Ireland today and some stories that are told about leprechauns.   Remember to bring your traps in so we can try to catch the little guys on Thursday.

Next Monday, I will be at 5th grade outdoor education with my son and Mrs. Morissey will be teaching all week.

Monday Update

Today we learned about the artist, Vincent Van Gogh and his beautiful sunflowers.   We created our own sunflowers by mixing colors and using short think brush-strokes with our paintbrushes.

I want to mention again how happy we are to WELCOME our new student, J.D., to the class. He has been such a great addition to our classroom and has made many new friends already!    He is also our class Busy Bee this week!

Math:  Today, your child has taken home a practice test.   They are to work on this tonight so that they can be ready for the assessment Mrs. Morissey will be giving them on Tuesday.

 Read Across America
We have been having lots of fun celebrating Dr. Seuss' Birthday. Building wide, we do a Stop Drop and Read and then participate in a building wide bingo game with book titles.  We also get a chance to guess what story Ms Caddock reads aloud on the intercom.

In class, we have a reading goal of 10 Dr. Seuss books per child this week which will equal 200 books read in our class in one week! We made some very cute "thing 1 and thing 2" characters which will display our favorite book read. 

Science:   We are learning all about matter.  Ask your child to tell you about what they know about solids, liquids, and gasses.

Update on Jacob:  We think about our classmate Jacob all the time and hope for his speedy return to class. Here is the link you can visit to leave comments and let Jacob's family know you are thinking of them.   http://www.jacobschaub.com/

This week, Mrs. Morissey will get a chance to visit another classroom in the district to see how they run their reading program.   Mrs. Morissey and I are excited to get even more ideas to help all our first grade readers grow in their reading skills and in their love of reading.  While Mrs. Morissey is visiting that classroom on Thursay, the 8th, I will be teaching our class.