FIRST GRADE MON-STARS

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Crazy About Pumpkins

Crazy About Pumpkins

We have been enjoying FALL BREAK!

I don't know about you, but it couldn't of come any sooner! I did not travel anywhere, but opted for a nice relaxing week at home catching up on Netflix and house cleaning!

The students returned to school this Thursday!

Hmm... what shall we do with a 2 day school week?!

How about a PUMPKIN Unit and a FIELD TRIP!?

Sounded GREAT to me!

Here are the Pumpkin activities we participated in:

When the students entered the classroom I had a pumpkin sitting on their group tables! I had already "gutted" out the pumpkins, washed the seeds, and placed the seeds in a bag inside the pumpkin! (This way there would be no mess!) My own 2 children had a GRAND time doing this work for me over our Fall Break!

I gave each group this worksheet along with some very detail directions!

They had to find the height of their pumpkin, count their seeds by groups of tens, count the lines, predict and test whether their pumpkin would sink or float, and I also had them find the circumference of their pumpkin (even though it was not on this worksheet)!

WHEW...they had a lot of work to do!

(Above) The students are measuring the height of their pumpkins using cubes! This lead us the debate of "Should we measure to the top of the stem or just to the top of the pumpkin?"

It took us a LONG time to count all those seeds! I gave the groups some small plastic cups so they could make groups of 10! Then when all groups were sorted, they were not sure how to count that high by tens so we discussed how 10 groups of tens creates 1 group of 100. Then we counted by 100, then by tens, and then the ones! Place value lesson anybody! HA .... and the students didn't even know I was prepping them for things to come! LOVE IT!

My kiddos were SHOCKED when the pumpkin did not sink! This was their favorite part of the investigation! We even tested smaller pumpkins, white pumpkins, and a green pumpkin just to see if it changed the results. They ALL floated!? The students had to write an opinion piece later that day of WHY they think pumpkins float!

Now what do we do with these pumpkins?

I had my students vote on which pumpkin our class wanted to carve. We had 5 pumpkins to choose from! I gave each student a little sticker and asked them to go place the sticker in front of the pumpkin we wanted to carve. We discussed how many votes each pumpkin received, and announced our winning pumpkin!

Now .... how should we carve our new pumpkin friend?

We voted again for how we should carve

the eyes, the nose, and the mouth! Each student received a ballot. I collected the ballots and took them home. I carved the pumpkin at home and had our new friend in our classroom the next morning to greet my students!

MEET PUMPKIN JACK!

Now what do we do with all these seeds?

Let's create our own Pumpkin Patch!

The kiddos loved planted their own seeds!

We learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin while I allowed each student to go plant their own seed in our Pumpkin Patch!

Then we received our Science Logs! One side has us observing and noting changes in our pumpkin patch, the other side has us observing and noting changes to Pumpkin Jack! We will document on these logs up until Halloween (as long as Pumpkin Jack doesn't start to stink)!

Roasting Pumpkin Seeds

We still had a TON of pumpkin seeds left over .... so I took them home and roasted them! YUMMY!

I brought them back so that the students could try them and then we would record some data!

I was SOOOO happy that all but 1 of my students liked the pumpkin seeds! How neat .... kids actually liking a healthy snack!! Check out our data!

Field Trip Day

Don't you just LOVE field trip days! I love seeing the kiddos SO excited to go somewhere with all their friends! BUT GOODNESS .... it wears me out! I think I'm on the edge of my seat ALL day praying nothing goes wrong and everything turns out great and when it is ALL over ..... I CRASH! So glad this field trip fell on a Friday!

We visited Discovery Park of America which is a great resource we have close to home!

Visit their website here: http://www.discoveryparkofamerica.com/

We had a BLAST!

Here is a class picture of us at the end of the day!

(IMPOSSIBLE to get all 19 kiddos looking at the camera of course)

Make sure to follow my BLOG to keep up with all of our upcoming Halloween activities and 50's Day!

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Making a Mess with our Spelling Words!

We made a MESS this week...

with our Spelling Words!

I am always trying to find new ways to make spelling interesting! The other day when my students came back into the classroom from Special Classes, they found a small pile of shaving cream on their desk!

They were excited and full of curiosity!

I instructed them to make a square/rectangle on their desk with the shaving cream and imagine it was a sheet of paper.

I called out the spelling words and had them write the word in the shaving cream using their finger. I could easily walk around and see how had their words mastered, and who were still struggling!

Once I went through all the words, I instructed them to rub rub rub the shaving cream into their desks (like lotion).

Guess what .... it cleans the desks too!

THEY LOVED THE ACTIVITY!

Subtraction Bowling

We introduced Subtraction recently in the classroom, and what better way to practice than with a little bowling in the classroom!?

Our P.E. teacher has 2 GREAT bowling sets she allowed us to borrow! We played Boys vs. Girls. Each team had this worksheet and had to write a subtraction sentence for each turn. Then I added up the total number of pins knocked down for each team, and the winning team visited the classroom treasure box!

I have never seen kiddos having so much fun SUBTRACTING!

Sunday, September 28, 2014

BUILD Math Centers

B.U.I.L.D Math Centers

Here is what my B.U.I.L.D Math Centers looked like this week!

Buddy Games: The students took turns drawing a card from the middle of the table. These are 10 Frame playing cards. The 1st player to get number 1-10 first won. If they pulled a card they already had they had to place it back into the bottom of the pile!

Using Manipulatives: The students pull an addition flash card from the pile. Then they solve the problem by counting out the "rings" and building the addition sentence.

Independent Work: The student pulls out two 10 Frame playing cards. Then they write an addition sentence and solve. They place those cards in the bottom of the pile and pull two more cards. The game continues until center time is over.

Learning About Numbers: Students roll the dice to create addition problems on their 10 Frame. They use apples to represent the problem and write the addition sentence using a dry erase marker. When they solve they simply erase and roll the dice again to start a new problem!

Doing Math: Students pull an addition flash card and solve using a number line! They can use the long number line or use the Ziploc bag number line. They must write the completed addition sentence using dry erase markers before pulling a new card for the next problem!

Some Odds & Ends with APPLES .... Throwing in a Mix of Activities

Odds and Ends...

So I have fallen WAY behind on posts so here is a mix of things we have been up to!

Retelling Review

This week our Reading Skill was reviewing the skill of retelling. I read "The Three Little Pigs" to the class and we reviewed the "Give Me Five" retell strategy I taught the week prior. I then gave them puppets and instructed them to use the puppets to retell the story to their partners. THEY LOVED IT!

10 Frames and Apples

We have been learning different strategies we can use to add numbers. We introduced the concept of using a 10 Frame to help us add. Since we have also been learning about Johnny Appleseed, what better way to integrate our learning than by using apples in our 10 Frames!

The students rolled a dice and place that many apples on the 10 Frame. Then they roll the dice again and place that many apples on the 10 Frame. After adding the apples up they must use their dry erase markers to write an addition sentence for their 10 Frame.

Erase and repeat .... how easy!

Number Line Madness

After learning about 10 Frames, we literally JUMPED into number lines. I pulled out my BIG number line mat and AMAZED the kiddos!

Here you see a student representing an addition problem! I would call out a problem and then ask students to show me that problem by HOPPING on the number line and landing on the answer! I can easily say ALL of my student were engaged!

Then I pulled out more tricks .....

These are Ziploc bag Number lines that I had seen on Pinterest! OF COURSE I had to rush home and make them for my kiddos. You place a piece of plain paper inside the bag, use a permanent marker to draw on your number line, and PRESTO you have an interactive homemade number line! The students use the "zipper" to move on the number line! They can also write the addition sentence on the Ziploc bag using a dry erase marker!

Apple Bonds .... Number Bonds

We have been moving right along in Math! On top of mastering the 10 Frame and Number line, I also introduced the class to Number Bonds! I had to find a FUN way to teach this and since we were learning about Johnny Appleseed, why not make Apple Bonds!?

I started by modeling Number Bonds for the class and labeling the Whole and Parts. We did several examples together whole class.

Then we made our own Apple Bonds and used buttons to represent the numbers!

JOHNNY APPLESEED FUN

We wrapped up our week on Friday by completing some FUN Johnny Appleseed activities!

I brought in an Apple Peeler that peels and cores your apples in no time! The kiddos thought I was MAGIC! I even let some student try it out themselves (since it was impossible for them to get hurt)!
We put all the peeled apples in a Crock-Pot along with some other ingredients to make applesauce! YUMMY!