First Grade Updates!
We are working with the organization BEAM on a project that integrates science, literacy and art. Learn more about BEAM at beamcenter.org. We are creating our own shadow puppet shows. Students have begun by using what they have learned in science about shadows to create shadow animal puppets out of cardstock. By using different colored gels students can add colors to their puppets. Next students will work in small groups to create a story for their animal puppets. Stay tuned for when our puppet show performances will be.
Our social studies unit is called Families, Now and Long Ago. We started the unit by having students look at pictures from the past and make noticings/wonderings about what life was like and how things have changed. Students noticed that clothing was different, technology has changed and the way we communicate has also changed. We took at look at transportation. Students worked in groups to analyze photographs of different types of transportation and how it changed. We discussed how this impacted family life and how family life improved as transportation improved. They made timelines to show what they learned and used designed a mode of transportation that could exist in the future.
In math we have been working developing our addition and subtraction strategies. Here is a fun game you can play at home to practice addition. When we played at school we were able to make a total of more than 20. In the attached version the total cannot be more than 20. You can play either way.
hhttp://mathjourneys.com/documents/Close_to_20.pdfttp://mathjourneys.com/documents/Close_to_20.pdf
In writing students have been hard at work writing reviews. Students are reviewing restaurants, games, vacation destinations, toys and more. Students are learning to support their opinions with several reasons. Students are editing their writing to make sure capital letters are in the correct places, punctuation is used and words are spelled correctly.