First Grade Newsletter - April 17, 2013 Unit of Inquiry Updates Over the last three weeks in our families unit, students graphed their families. They interviewed each other to find out how many aunts, uncles, brother, sisters, and other family members each child has and used a bar graph format to display this information. Students wrote poems about a member of their family inspired by some descriptive poems about people that we read. Each student made a family crest that showed four key things that are important to their family and illustrated with beautiful watercolor paintings. Students learned about homes that children live in in different parts of the world. Then they broke up into groups and each picked a type of home that we had learned about. They used materials they found outside such as rocks, mud, sticks, etc. to build a miniature model of the home. We discussed how many styles of homes are influenced by the resources that are available in that area as well as by the geography of the area. Then students had a chance to use their creativity and critical thinking skills when Mad Scientist Melinda May came in to our class and asked for their help to design a home for a family that was going to be living underwater. Students carefully designed a home that met the needs of this family and tried to incorporate as many resources available in that geography as possible. They took into consideration things like how the family would be able to breathe, how they would be protected from dangers, and how they could enter and exit the home into the air as well as into the water. Many students made connections to our NASA scientist Steve Chappell that came in during our explorers unit and designed underwater habitats for astronauts to practice skills in. Students also learned about chores that children do in different parts of the world and used drama to act out various chores in groups. We learned about education around the world and had a rich discussion about whether or not education for every child should be a right. After learning about schooling in different parts of the world, it was great to begin reading Greg Mortensen’s book “Three Cups Of Tea” (the young reader’s edition), a true story about a man who helped bring schools to rural areas in Pakistan. Students were immediately touched when they heard about children in Pakistan that did not have a school building and wrote in the dirt with sticks and only had a teacher for two days a week. The other days, the students in Pakistan practiced what they had learned on their own. Students researched children in other parts of the world by reading about them and learning how to highlight important information. Then they worked in pairs to put key information they found in a poster format to teach their classmates about the child they studied. Students also drew artistic portraits of themselves with me after studying the skills they needed to draw a self portrait in art class.
Quote of the Week: When working on our underwater home designs Oliver told me that he was going to use a lot of glass so his family could look out. When I asked him to think about using available resources in the area, he said, “Well Miss Bolch, I put a super heated furnace in my house and glass is made from melted sand and sand is like the MOST available resource on the bottom of the ocean!”
Math Minds at Work Miss Miller’s Math Group Miss Miller's math group has spent the last two weeks studying geometric solids. They have learned about the properties of cubes, spheres, rectangular prisms, and cylinders. Students have observed where they can be found in the world, how they move, and how they can be measured. Have your child take a look around your home and ask how many geometric solids they can find! Miss Bolch’s Math Group Miss Bolch's math class has been working on three dimensional shapes. Students have been learning how to identify them as well as find faces, edges, and vertices on them. Students have also been working on using these 3D shapes creatively for example building 3D shapes and building cities out of 3D shapes
Unit of Inquiry Science In science, we learned some basics about DNA and genetics. Students invented monsters based on contributing traits from a mother and father monster (coin flipping decided if the mother and father had the dominant or recessive gene) and students figured out the phenotype and genotype of each trait on their monster before drawing a picture of baby monster.
Other Fun Stuff Our class began working with the kindergarten class on our play The Ugly Duckling. This play connects our families unit with our upcoming bird unit. First graders really demonstrated their abilities to be role models and leaders as they helped the kindergarteners practice for the play.
Upcoming Dates April 19- Half Day, Professional development, early dismissal May 1- School showing of K/1 play May 2- Parent’s showing of K/1 play May 7- Bird Banding Field Trip at the Audubon Society
Photos Front Page (top to bottom): Auden and Miss Bolch hanging out on the playground, acting out chores children do in other parts of the world such as picking vegetables, and washing clothes in a bucket, visiting mad scientist Melinda May asking for children’s help in designing an underwater home Back Page (top to bottom): Students showing their love for one of our 4/5 book buddies, building homes from other parts of the world such as this one which is inspired by a home in the Amazon on the river, Colt writing a poem about his mom outside when we were working on descriptive poems about our family members