Making Butter

We have been reading the Little House series in our classroom, and discovering what life was like without electricity, grocery stores, and cars. One of the books discussed churning butter, and the kids were very surprised that you could actually make your own! Many of them are interested in this experiment to do at home. If you're willing, here is a short video with instructions! Have fun!

Our visit to the MSU Butterfly House was a success! Thank you to all of the parent chaperones who came along and led our groups through the gardens; the kids have been talking non-stop about our field trip! I have many pictures to share from this event, and will be sending them either in a private link, or on a CD at the end of the year. To ensure privacy of all students, I am not able to post them in the blog. Thank you for your understanding!

Thursday, we had Valentine's Day! We did lots of Valentine's projects and ativities! We had so much fun! We got candy and Valentine's cards, we watched Charlie Brown Valentine's Day, and we used candy hearts to sort, tally, and graph! We also made hand/heart decorations!

On Wednesday, we had our 100th day of school! It was so much fun! We did lots of projects, like wearing goofy glasses, showed our 100's day collections, did 100 specials exercises, and took many pictures!

We also collected and counted more than 100 cans of food to donate to the local food bank!



Our Holiday Spirit!

Check out the wonderful decorations that we have been working on during the last few weeks...our Holiday/Seasonal spirit is at it's MAX! 

Our Grinch Party Snacks! Green Goodness! 

Measurements!

This week in math we have been focused on measurement, mostly with our bodies. We explored inside and outside, and took notes on how many "arm spans", "foot lengths", and "paces" things were long/wide. These practice measurements are giving the students a good foundation of where to start measuring, how to count the measurements, and where to stop. Here is a great video from Sid the Science Kid to explore measurements in your own house!

Elfie's Getting Creative!

Now that Elfie has been in our classroom for a full week now, he's making himself comfortable! We caught him "fishing" for Goldfish crackers over our sink a few days ago! What a stinker! 

Our Mischievous Visitor!

We have a visitor in our classroom, and he's causing a lot of trouble! We have named him "Elfie", and so far he has gotten into our paper and made a paper chain, and this morning we found him fishing for goldfish from our flag pole! Oh my!

For those of you not familiar with Elf on the Shelf, they are sneaky creatures that come from the North Pole. They watch children to see who is on their best behavior, and then report backto Santa with the news! He's always watching!

Tune in frequently to see what kind of tricks he tries to get away with in our classroom!

Classroom Winter Wonderland!

This time of year is so much fun...who doesn't love snow! We are putting some seasonal spirit in our classroom....there are now lights hanging by the window, and today we made some really amazing snowflakes! These aren't your average paper snowflakes; they're very decorative! Many of the students left saying they wanted to make some at home, but they are a bit complicated. Here are the directions step-by-step in case your student needs a "refresher"!

1) Gather 6 pieces of regular printer paper, or construction paper. Cut them into same-size squares (Ours are 8.5x8.5). Fold corner to corner, twice, so that you end up with a triangle as shown (if you unfolded it, there would be 4 small triangle folds).

2) Draw lines that start at the side of the triangle that only has one fold (the side with just one crease that cannot open). Make your lines parallel to the longest side of the triangle, and leave 1/2 inch at the top. Cut on the lines, making sure you do not cut about 1/2 inch from the edge of the opposite sides.

3) After you finished cutting the 4 lines, open it up gently. There will be triangular cuts. start from the inside, matching the triangle points from each side and taping them. Flip the paper over, and choose the next two most inside triangles, and tape the ends together. Flip again. Repeat until your paper looks like the picture above.

4) When you have made 6 of the snowflake pieces, attach them by holding an edge of each together, and staple them. Then, staple the middles of the flakes together helping it keep its shape.

ENJOY THE WINTER DECORATIONS! 

Pennies, Nickels, and Dimes

An easy and fun coin counting game we have learned in our classroom today is how to add pennies, nickels, and dimes. You will need a variety of coins, and two dice. Here are the rules:

1) Mix all of the coins together in a pile
2) Roll the two dice, and add up all of the "dots"
3) However many dots there are, that's how many coins you pick (pick randomly)
4) Line up the coins from greatest value to least value
5) Count the coins from greatest value to least value

Have fun playing! You can also do this with a spinner from any board game to determine how many coins you will choose!

Your Hearts are Growing, Mr. Grinch!

We are getting more and more hearts on you, Mr. Grinch! We continue to do kind things for each other, and each time a person is caught being kind (on their own, without even being asked!) we will keep adding hearts! We have 3 more weeks to fill you up, then celebrate with a Grinch Party! Way to go, Crew Members!

"Sign" Me Up!

We have started to use Sign Language in our classroom! Let's face it...first graders need to get their wiggles out sometimes! Using sign language allows them to move while we are singing songs, walking down the hallway, or while they are trying to ask me questions. 

There are a few signs that we use regularly in our room. If you ask your child how to say "bathroom", "thirsty", "more", "please", "stop", "yes", "no", "wait", or "sit", they should be able to show you most or all of them. These really come in handy, especially when I am talking to the whole group, but need to communicate something briefly with a student who has an immediate need. For example, if I am teaching the whole group a lesson, but every 5 minutes a student has to use the bathroom, I would have to take 30 seconds of instruction time to let them ask the question and answer them. Trust me, the 30 second intervals will add up when you have 28 six and seven year olds! When using sign language, they can silently show me the sign for "bathroom" and I can sign to them "yes" or "wait" without stopping the lesson at all. 

They have really enjoyed learning our transition songs too! So far, we know the Silly Pizza Song, and The More We Get Together. They might be able to perform these for your families by now! 

The following video is a great resource to use with all children, even little ones who aren't speaking yet. Try some of these signs at home! 

Books, Books, and More Books!

Our class collected $118 for our classroom book fair! WOW! Here are the new books we have purchased to enjoy in class; there are books to grab everyone's interest! The students were all VERY excited to see these, and we are working on reading through all of them during story-time so that students who cannot read the words yet can either read the pictures, or re-tell the story. THANK YOU FAMILIES!

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch!

Dear Mr. Grinch,
You have a heart that's two sizes too small! We've decided to help you solve your problem! You have no hearts in our class right now, but in the next 5 weeks we plan on filling you up with hearts of kindness! Whenever I catch an act of kindness in our class, that student writes their name on a tiny heart and tapes it somewhere on your body. If you are filled with hearts of kindness by the middle of December, our class will have a party in your honor! We will watch The Grinch movie, have Grinch snacks, and be able to sing WhoVille songs! We hope you are filled up soon!

TumbleBooks!

Mason is now part of the TumbleBooks Library! You can access the website by clicking HERE, entering our username (remc13) and password (which can be found on the flyer that was sent home, or email me for the password), then you can explore the website! You will find storybooks, games, learning language resources, and read-alongs. The students have been practicing using this resource in class and in computer lab, and absolutely love it! It's an educational way to spend computer time!