First Grade Slide Show

First Grade Play

Daegan's dad to the rescue! Thanks for filming and posting this video!

Field Trip

 On Monday, March 31, we were lucky enough to be invited to not just one great local place, but TWO! Dave's Pizza and Animal Tracks Veterinary Clinic are locally owned businesses and employers of Promise Center students, so we made the trip to Viroqua with some high school friends in tow.

At Dave's Pizza, we learned about some of the special equipment Dave uses to roll the dough and cook bread sticks and pizzas.

Then, the kids each got to help make their own mini-pizza! Here's Carrie helping a kindergartener pick out toppings.

Then, they got to eat the pizza that they made in Dave's dining room! It was awesome. 

We also got to visit Animal Tracks, where I wasn't able to catch as many photos. Dr. Kumlin taught us all about the important work they do to keep animals healthy. The kids got to examine X-rays, look into a microscope, visit the operating room, and learn about the kinds of things Dr. Kumlin and her co-workers do every day when they have animal check ups and surgeries. Animal Tracks gave each visitor a goodie-bag with a surgical mask and cap, fruit snacks, and other treats. 

Thank you, Animal Tracks and Dave's Pizza! We had a great time!

What We've Been Up To...

We've been busy so far this early spring!

Here are some pictures to show what we've been doing:

Learning about the commutative property of addition using paint and color-mixing! Just as yellow + red = orange and red + yellow = orange, we can know that 3+2 = 5 and 2+3 = 5!

We sadly said goodbye to our student teacher, Ms. Timmerman! We wish her luck in her next student teaching placement and beyond!

Before she left, she taught us a lot about maps. 

On St. Patrick's Day, we celebrated with a visit to our classroom by a leprechaun, and making rainbow fruit kebabs.

These first graders are reading up a storm!

The last of the snow finally melted...

... and so our Wildcat finally came home! Here are the kids talking to Ms. Gustafson's parents about their adventures with Wildcat over the winter. 

I'll try to be better about posting our adventures as they happen from now on!

PebbleGo

PebbleGo is an online research tool designed for young readers! There are four databases, one for animals, one for earth and space, one for social studies, and one for biographies. The first graders use this tool all the time when they're curious about something or someone, or when researching something specific as in their oviparous animal reports from last week. Each data base features expertly-leveled text and navigation specifically designed for beginning researchers. Enriched with spoken-word audio, text highlighting, and audio and video clips, PebbleGo builds a foundation of research skills for every learner! PebbleGo is available for you to use at home!
The username is wildcats2 and the password is learn. Enjoy!

Oviparous Animal Unit

 To kick off our unit on oviparous (egg-laying) animals, we had chicks in our classroom for about 7 days. They got big, too big, very quickly and were hopping out of their classroom "coop," so they retired to Ms. G.'s house. The kids sure had fun with them while they were here!

Measuring their height

Drawing and labeling their body parts

Teams of two took special care of a chick. They named them so creatively!

Weighing them with cubes

We'll continue our oviparous animal unit with a study of ladybugs and ants. 

While we're waiting for them to arrive (in the mail!), we researched oviparous animals. 

The kids each chose an oviparous animal they were interested in, and looked through resources taking notes on their animal's egg-laying habits, diet, physical adaptations, and other interesting facts.

Then they planned their writing project using a graphic organizer.

Next they typed their reports on the classroom computers. 

Last, they used Google Images to search for photograph of their animal to use as an illustration for their report. 

The first graders really knocked my socks off with this project! 

Stop by our classroom to check out our research!

Counting 100 Objects

The first graders have been working super hard on their  skip counting skills these past few weeks and they are doing awesome! Last week, we discussed the difference  between counting by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. On Tuesday, our math wizards  wanted to  know the fastest way to count a large quantity of objects.  After  brainstorming some ideas, each student decided counting by 10’s would be best ...so we tried it out! Each student was given a bag of around 100 small objects First, they predicted how many objects were in their bag. Then, everyone counted by grouping their objects into piles of 10.  The students were so excited to explore counting with household objects!  I even noticed some students working together and helping each other count, too! - Ms. Timmerman

Our First Poetry Reading

The students worked hard on their first Poem of the Week, even though we only had three school days this week!

This morning, we had a little Poetry Reading in our classroom, and the students learned how to snap their applause as in a "real" poetry reading!

Check back next week for news about our second Poetry Reading- hopefully we'll have a 5-day week!

Happy 100th Day!

We celebrated the 100th day of school with some special activities, stories, crafts, and games. Everybody wore 100 of something! Each child brought 100 small treats to add to our 100 trail mix. 

Thanks for your help toward making this day so fun, families!

Sledding Party

On Friday, January 24th, the kindergarten and first grade classes went sledding in the La Farge Village Park. We'd been trying to plan a sledding day for a little while, but the weather just wasn't cooperating! We got a nice day smack in the middle of some REALLY cold ones, and everyone had a great time. Thanks to everyone that sent in sleds to share!

100th Day Fun

We will be celebrating the 100^th day of school on Tuesday, February 4, 2014.  This is a special day because each first grader is 100 days smarter! J

The kindergarten and first grade classes will be celebrating together throughout the day. Two of our special projects need some help from families!

1.      100^th Day Wearable Art

On the 100^th day, each student is invited to come to school “Wearing 100.” Please work with your child to create a 100^th Day work of wearable art by making or decorating a hat, scarf, necklace, t-shirt, or other item of clothing with 100 things. Some ideas include buttons, safety pins, stickers, beads, and candies. Have fun, be creative, and send your child to school wearing their 100 on Tuesday, February 4^th!
Hint: Check this Pinterest board for some inspiration!

2.      100 Snack Mix
The celebration will include kindergarten and first grade getting together to make a trail mix for snack on this day. To make this trail mix we ask that your child count out and bring 100 pieces of something small and edible in a plastic bag to add to our trail mix on February 4^th.

Some ideas: (The list is endless, but here are a few!)

·         100 Cereal pieces (Cheerios, Chex, etc)

·         100 small candies (M&M’s, gummy bears, etc.)

·         100 peanuts, cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds

·         100 dried banana slices, raisins, or mixed dried fruit

·         100 small crackers (like Goldfish, Animal Crackers, or Cheez-Its)

We are proud of our students as we look forward to the 100^th day and we thank you for your help!

When Two Vowels Go Walking...

Check out this video for a fun song about the phonics rule the first graders are currently learning!