"Hey I found a connection! The sunshine and these oranges are both warm and juicy...JUST LIKE OUR EARTH!"

I think I'm still trying to figure out exactly what that quote means, but this kiddo was so excited that she made a connection to all of the facts we learned about earth, I had to chuckle. Today we had oranges for snack, but we are still getting new fruits and vegetables. We had sweet potatoes last week and I was so proud that every kiddo tried at least one! (Not many ate more than that, but it's the trying that counts!)

We have been learning about our earth in order to properly celebrate Earth Day. After reading books we learned many facts:

  From space Earth looks green and blue. 

  Earth is mostly water but has land too!

  Trees give us shade and air to breathe.

 Earth is a planet in outer space. 

 Earth has many things that we need to live. 

After learning about earth, we read the book The Lorax and then brainstormed ideas about how we could help our earth. After writing our own lists of what we are going to do, we used paint to create our earth. Then, I took a picture of the "Room F Loraxes". Check out our hard work, and enjoy us with our mustaches!

Look at how diligently all of these kids are working!

Wesley actually looks like the Lorax!

 We have also been studying There Was An Old Lady Who... books. We have had a blast reading them, and singing them (did you know there was a tune?!) and comparing them. We have noticed that all of the books have an old lady, rhyme, and use animals. But not all of the books have the same animals, all have different illustrations and rhyming words. Once we read all of the books, the students had a chance to make their own rhyme. We had a blast imagining what it would be like if an old lady really swallowed all of the things we thought of!

How can you not laugh when you see these?!

We have two more surprises that we are celebrating! First, many of our mealworms have changed into pupas and some have even turned into Darkling Beetles! They are squirmy, and red, and creepy (as the students say) and we are completely enthralled. Second, look who surprised us yesterday after lunch...

WE MISS YOU KAYDEN!

There were literally tears of joy streaming
from these kiddos' faces.

Seriously, we were excited!

Ahh, life is good in first grade!

"One love means that everyone uses peace and takes care of each other"

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I've posted! You must be wondering what we've been up to. Well, let me tell you, as spring progresses and the end of the year approaches things get a bit crazier everyday! Here's what we've been working on:

We have been trying many new fruits and vegetables during snack. It seems like a minuscule detail, however there are many of these healthy, delicious foods we have never tried before. We have eaten honeydew, green beans, grapefruit (I wish you could have seen the faces after we tried these!) broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and watermelon.



We have been working very hard to use our C.A.R.E.S. values throughout our day. (Our values are cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self control) When I see students using these important values I add a fuzzy to our Warm Fuzzy Jar. When it is full, we reward ourselves for our hard work by having free play. This not only gives us a chance to celebrate each other, but also allows us time to develop problem solving skills as well as communication skills, and of course fun!



Corresponding with our Warm Fuzzy Jar we completed a very special project last week that required a whole lot of cooperation. Each student chose a color paint they wanted to use. I mixed paint so that each student would have their own unique color. Then, we worked together to use our paint and thumbprints to make a piece of artwork together. Here it is!



This project really helped us see that when we all work together not only do we create beautiful things, but also that every person is important in our classroom family. The students noticed that even though each person had their own color, you could still see where everyone worked. One student said, "Wow, I never could have done that alone!" Once again, like always, I couldn't have said it better myself. You may notice that there is a Bob Marley quote on our poster and that's because we read a book called "One Love" by Cedella Marley (Bob Marley's daughter). It is based on the song One Love and focuses on the importance to loving each other, working together, and using peace. Once we finished reading the book we each had the opportunity to write about what "one love" means to us. Then we decorated it with our very own paint color. Here we are painting.

Of course, we have been working hard to continue to learn about reading, math, and writing. We just started Unit 6 and are working very hard on mastering our addition facts. We are learning about Fact Families as well as how to measure in centimeters. We will continue to work hard for the next 36 days. (Yes, that's it! Only  36 days of school left, but let's keep that a secret for a few more days...)

"Mealworms. Oh mealworms. You are the best. You are the coolest. You are my favorite and I love you."

This is the song that was circulating our classroom by Abby today. She may have been vocalizing her excitement but I know everyone else was equally as excited as she was. Today was a big day for us because everyone got two mealworms to take care of! Not only is this a great lesson about responsibility, but the empowerment these kiddos feel is nothing short of amazing. Before we each could get our mealworms we learned that in order to thrive they need four things: air, water, space, and food. (You should have seen how large some eyes got when they realized that humans need these things too.) Once that we knew what they need and how we need to take care of them, we each got two mealworms to keep in a vial. The kiddos named their mealworms and spent a great amount of time observing them. (Some names: Anakin, Indiana Jones, Ms. Carlberg, Babby) I only captured a few awestruck kiddos because I was passing out the mealworms, but they are precious none-the-less.

I am so proud of these girls! They started off very squeamish
but decided they'd at least try holding the mealworm. It turns
out, they loved it! Way to use your gumption!

Along with mealworms, we had a couple of our friends perform a play for us. (They learned this while they were with Mrs. Felling during I-Time.) We had the opportunity to watch and laugh along. The play was called, "The Emporer's New Wig". The story is just like "The Emporer's New Clothes" but with wigs. Watching the excitement in the performers eyes as they proudly said their lines brought tears to my own eyes. It was also heartwarming to hear other students share with their performers what their favorite part was. It really meant a lot to the performers that their classmates came to watch and enjoyed their play. (I like when we build community so seamlessly!)

 

We are going to continue exploring mealworms, encouraging each other, and laughing our way through tomorrow. Then, we are all going to enjoy a nice long four day weekend. I have one more picture to share, because it's simply too cute not to. 

Charlene