Plants, Plants, Plants!

 Each student has a vegetable plant and a flowering plant in the classroom.  We also have a small section in the school garden where we planted various vegetables.  We are hoping to be able to make a salad. 

We will keep your posted on our garden progress!

Career Presentation with Mr. Marsden

Mr. Marsden visited our class to talk to us about his career as a restaurant/catering business owner.  Mr. Marsden seems to have found his passion in this business.  He shared that he has been working in this business for over 20 years.  He started working in a restaurant before he went to college, but in college he decided to major in Management Information Systems.  After working in the field of Management Information Systems, Mr. Marsden realized his passion was really in the restaurant business.  Even though he changed his career path, he was able to apply what he learned in the business and management field to open his own restaurant.

The first graders learned that there are many jobs that Mr. Marsden has to do while at the restaurant, but there were also many decisions that had to made before the restaurant even opened.  What would the restaurant be called? What would be on the menu?  How would it be prepared?  What would the prices be? What would the restaurant look like?.... and many other decisions...

 Mr. Marsden shared that he has many employees, and the employees all have different roles in the restaurant.  Service is very important in the role of all of the employees.  Once the menus of his restaurant were passed out, the students were very intrigued with the menu items... of course this was right before lunch so students were asking directly for some of the tasty items on the menu. Mr. Marsden has invited us to come try out his restaurant.  We will definitely be doing that!

Thank you so much for coming to our classroom to talk to us about your career, Mr. Marsden!

Poetry Writing and Arts Integration

Students wrote about a caterpillar that turns into a butterfly.  Students acted like a caterpillar and butterfly to activate their prior knowledge and to begin brainstorming how a caterpillar moves and what a caterpillar eats.

The students learned a lot about poetry and descriptive language through this arts integration lesson.

Realistic Fiction Writing

Students have been hard at work with realistic fiction writing.

Students learned that a realistic fiction story begins with a character.  This character has a realistic problem or adventure with an interesting plot and most likely has a problem with a solution.  Students developed their characters and sketched out their ideas.

Students discussed ideas with other students and worked on their own specific writing goals.

Some students decided to create a book series.  This involved writing about a character in different stories and scenarios. We culminated our unit with authors sharing their characters' adventures.  The students really enjoyed this writing unit! 

Magic House Field Trip

First grade students headed on a field trip to the Magic House this week!  Students experienced the community workers and map making session.  They played the role of nurses, bankers, librarians, and other community professions.  Upon completion, students completed a community map with many of these places and more.  The field trip was a big hit!

We had a wonderful time on this field trip!  Thank you for helping to pay our entrance fee for this great educational experience.

American Symbol & Monument Project

We recently completed our American Symbol unit.  As a culminating project that ties in with our technology goals, students worked in small groups to create an I-Movie trailer.  The goal of the movie trailer is to convince you to visit one of the famous American monuments in our country.  This was also a great tie-in to our opinion/persuasive unit in writing.  Click the name of the place to see the video that the students created: 

Mount Rushmore

Statue of Liberty

Lincoln Memorial

Liberty Bell

White House

Washington Monument