Our pumpkins are Measuring Up!

We are learning about measurement in math. We have been doing a pumpkin investigation and today we read a story called "The Biggest Pumpkin". We wanted to find out which pumpkin was the biggest in our room so we decided to measure how tall the pumpkins were. First, we estimated using a reference of 5 blocks, and used our imagination to make a thinking guess.

Then we recorded our estimate. After that we made a tower as tall as our pumpkin and recorded how many blocks we needed to make our tower the same height as our pumpkin. Finally we compared the towers to see who had a taller tower and who had a shorter tower. We noticed that no one had a taller tower than Oliver and Ruby so that meant they had the tallest pumpkin! 

Our reading tool kit

Here is a glimpse at the reading strategies that we have been using in our room.  The students are very familiar with the language used on this board and they are working to employ these strategies independently when reading on their own and during small group guided reading.  Please take some time to have your child tell you about each one so that you can use the same language at home as you read with your child....notice that there is not one that says "sound it out". We have many easier and more useful ways to solve words. Please do not encourage your child to "sound it out" letter by letter. That was a strategy used in the past we do not use it anymore. 

We will be updating and adding to our strategy board so stay tuned....

Which Witch is Which?

Yesterday we learned how to do some problem solving using logical reasoning.  First we added details to our witches, then we wrote clues to describe the details.  When we were all done we read the clues to the class and using logical reasoning they tried to find out which witch was which!  

Word work has begun (and its fun)

We have begun grade one spelling. It is called word work. During word work we work on learning words that we need to know to become good writers. Everyone needs different words because we are all different people. We will work on the words until we can spell them on our own then we decide on new words to work on. Word work is called work but really it is a lot if fun! 

A special guest??

Today we had a special guest teacher read us a story about Animals in the fall. He was a great reader and we all were so engaged and actively listening that I think he might have to come back soon!  Can you guess who it was? (He is actually a very brave and talented member of room 14... Thanks KH for being a great teacher!)

Lines if all kinds

We learned about lines in art. We brainstormed a bunch of different words to describe lines then we moved around the room making those kinds of lines with our bodies. Next we created long and smooth lines with pencil and practiced long and smooth brush strokes as we painted the lines to make them bold. But just wait....we aren't done yet. Stay posted for the next steps in the days to come!!! 

A Haiku Deck for You: Plants In The Fall

Here is a slide show the kids created after doing group research.  Enjoy! 

Twas the Night before Thanksgiving...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Can you spy the turkeys in this picture?

 We read the story 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving' today. The kids in the story saved their turkey friends by taking home some turkey stuffin!  We made turkeys with patterned tails and we got to take them home for Thanksgiving too! 

Bus ridership

Today Bus driver Bob came to teach us about bus safety.  He told us there are 4 safety rules for outside of the bus and 4 for the inside of the bus.  Can you think of what the safety rules are? 

We Are Thankful

We made a little video with our warm thoughts for Thanksgiving.  It is amazing to see how empathetic and caring the students in Room 14 are becoming.  I am thankful that I am a Grade One teacher! It brings me so much joy.

More than meets the eye....

 Today we talked about fun ways to be active in the fall. We had a lot of great ways to enjoy the fabulous fall we have been having: go to the corn maze, rake the leaves, jump in them, go hiking, play at the park, go on the swings, run in the tall brown grass, pick pumpkins and more. We came up with an idea to make posters for the school so that everyone could use our ideas of how to be active in the fall.  We found out, as we were working in our groups, that talking, planning, sharing and cooperating are all just as important as staying on task. The groups who worked at all of these things were very proud of their final project. 

Clothes for the Season

Today we had a lot of fun learning about the right CLOTHES for the season,  FALL.  We read a poem that got us thinking about how at this time of year we put away our summer clothes and get out the fall stuff.  We discussed why we need to wear different clothes and what would happen if we didn't have the right clothes for each season in Manitoba.  Then we made a video about how to dress for the weather in fall.  Now you can dress for the weather too! (except it still feels like summer out there today! but we aren't complaining!)

Changing seasons!

The boys and girls in room 14 are busy learning about the changes that occur from season to season. We learned a poem to help us remember the seasons.

Winter, spring, summer, fall 

Four great seasons ,

I know them all! 

We discussed things that help us identify the season.( weather, animals ,outdoor activities and plants). Then we used our scissor skills to transform a mixed up picture into a fall picture. The children worked very hard and they decided that they really liked this kind of activity.  They had a lot of really good questions.  It sure had us thinking!!! And having great conversations all about the changing seasons. 

Counting rocks!!

Today we were counting rocks. We were figuring out if the number of rocks we had was even or odd. To do that we had to put the rocks in partners and if the rocks had partners it was even and if there  was one left out  we knew it was odd. 

Leaves, leaves and lots of learning....

We have been spending time investigating leaves in room 14. We have sorted and counted.  We have used them to learn about odd and even numbers and even used them as a visual reference to sketch illustrations for autumn poetry. The children made many observations as they investigated. Here are a few...We have noticed that they have veins and variations in colour. We also discussed that they are a part of plant that is a living thing and living things need water and air.  We found a lady bug hiding and we noticed that it was a brown ladybug not red...we wondered why?  Hmmm maybe a new investigation is just around the corner!!!! 

Family trees

Today we had fun creating family trees. We used a cold code to show our immediate and extended families. As we worked we shared family stories and talked about fun times with cousins and aunties and uncles.  We compared family size and we noticed that our families are a little bit the same and a little bit different. It was a lot if fun sharing and learning about each others families. We will continue to talk about families, culture, celebrations and traditions. 

Read to self.

We have begun to learn about Daily 5. It is a language arts program that gives the students the opportunity to practice their skills independently.   The first of the 5 is Read To Self.  The kids are taught to choose good fit books and build their reading stamina by engaging in reading by themselves.  We are up to 9 minutes of sustained reading right now.   During this Daily 5 time the teacher works with small groups and individuals on reading and writing skills.   Our next endeavour will be learning how to do Read to Someone.  We are very excited!