In Bloom

Just a quick post this morning; I have a busy day ahead of me! There was a big focus on science this week, as we got further into our Needs and Characteristics of Living Things unit.

Science

We did a little bean seed activity I have heard about and then found on Pinterest. You place a moist paper towel in a Ziploc bag, and put a bean seed between the towel and the bag. You hang it in the window and you should be able to see the roots start to grow.

We planted them on Wednesday and they still looked like this on Friday when I left. I hate to be a negative Nelly here, but a part of me doesn’t think this is going to work. I hope I’m wrong! Either way, I told the kids that there are lots of scientists whose experiements don’t work. They just try again another time…

…Hmmm. Come to think of it, it goes along nicely with our big idea about PERSEVERANCE. Okay, I’ll no longer be bummed if they don’t grow. It will just be a new teachable moment.

­Math

We continued measuring with non-standard units. They had a blast estimating and measuring how tall they were using a straw. They estimated that I would be 56 straws tall. I must look like a giant to them!

Art

We always end our Fridays off with art and I sometimes find myself in a rut because most of the time, I put more effort into the activity than I get out of it from the kids.

But not this time.

All week, the kids at the art centre had one simple job: paint a piece of paper. By Friday, I had sheet after sheet of painted paper, all with different designs and textures. We used them to make Eric Carle art.

I read them The Tiny Seed and they made pictures of flowers. They turned out great! These artists literally worked until the last second to perfect their masterpieces.

A spiral-cut centre makes a great 3D flower!

And that was our week! Next week is another short week for me because I have TLC planning {Teaching Learning Cycle} to plan with my grade partners for our March units. All these short weeks are making February fly by!

Enjoy the end of the Olympics. I’m so proud of all our Canadian athletes; especially the women’s hockey team. Fingers crossed that the men will play just as well tomorrow. I’ll be watching, bright and early.

Currently February

Once again, better late than never. I like these things because it’s a fun little distraction, and they allow you to reflect on your day, week, month, evening…

Listening: As I’m getting distracted by this edition of Currently, I’m sitting in complete and utter silence, hoping that the ideas and inspiration will come to me as I sit here and plan for my little onesies.

Loving: Sometimes silence is nice; especially after a fun-filled crazy weekend.

Thinking: Here in Ontario, February 17, 2014 was Family Day. No school! We packed the car and headed up north to my aunt’s house for the weekend. We had lots of fun outside, delicious food and drink inside, and a really nice visit overall with some of my family. I really love the purpose behind this holiday.

Wanting: Wouldn’t ANOTHER day off be ideal? Just to recover from Family Day Monday…

Needing: As much fun as I’ve had this past week with our school’s Olympics and our outdoor fun on the weekend, I’m totally ready for spring. Adios, winter!

2 truths and a fib:

1. I am not a fan of Valentine’s Day-TRUE. It’s fun as a teacher, but in my own personal life, it’s not that big of a deal. My philosophy: let’s love each other in excessive amounts every single day!

2. I am gluten free-FALSE. Luckily, this is not my situation. Pasta and bread are my best friends. I’d be lost without them. YUM! 

3. I am going on a road trip this summer-TRUE. Rob and I are heading out East together to visit family and tour the east coast. No date as of yet, but we’re really looking forward to it.

Alright…back to work. Thanks, Oh Boy Fourth Grade!

A Week of Celebrations: Olympics, 100th Day, Valentines Day

What a busy week it was not only in Grade One, but in the entire school. Academically, it was tough to get through a lot of the planned content; but socially, it was such a fun and exciting week.

The Olympics

Each class chose a country to represent. Ours was Ireland. I know that you never ever hear of Ireland dominating anything in the Olympics, but since I travelled there last year I thought it would be cool to show the kids some of my pictures so they could see what Ireland looks like. And who doesn’t love watching videos of Ireland online where the narrator has a very attractive accent?

We had the opening ceremonies in the gym where someone from each class ran through with their country’s flag. We had a student run in and light the torch (it was fake, don’t worry), and we all stood and sang the national anthem. I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m the most over-emotional person in the world, but there were many others who were really touched by the whole thing. It was such an awesome moment for our school.

The entire day was spent outside where the kids rotated around different stations. I was in charge of the biathlon. There were no skis or guns (obviously!). It was more of a team relay. Lots of fun!

100^th Day of School

During our morning math routine, we took the big celebratory step of taking all those pennies and dimes off our piggy bank and placing a big loonie up there to represent our 100^th day of school. 100¢ to represent 100 days. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture. I’m sure you can use your imagination.

I made them this booklet to complete throughout the day. Click HERE for a copy. {None of the borders or pictures are my own.}

This was my favourite answer. This little one is such a dilly-dallier, so his answer was too perfect.

I also showed them what they would look like when they are 100 years old. I took their first day of school pictures and used an Aging Booth app on my phone to work some magic. To join in on the fun, I made one for myself too.

Pretty hot stuff, I know

This is how the conversation went:

Me: I made a picture of me when I’m 100 years old, too!

Boy: Let's see!
(I show him)
Boy: You look exactly the same!

Some other thoughts:

-“You look like the wicked witch!”

-general shudders and lip curling

I had to go find solace in all that candy they had given me just to continue on with the morning.

I also started the morning asking them what they would buy if they had $100. So many of them said they would buy a hot tub! They’re so hilarious.

Valentine’s Day

Oddly enough, it fell on the same day as the 100^th Day. Well, the primary classes may or may not have all had a different number in the 90s last week and decided to just make the 100^th day the same as Valentine’s Day.

The kids spoiled me and I spoiled them.

 The cupcakes I made them for our party. 

How awesome is this rainbow loom?!

Found this idea on Pinterest. Type your message in the box and it generates it into a heart-shaped message. Each kid got a personalized one in his/her card. Click HERE for the link.

 My homemade cards. They thought the phrase, “Just ducky” was so funny.

Another Pinterest find. THIS IS NOT MY STUDENT. I found heart décor at Dollarama, taped it to the Smart Board and got them to blow kisses. They turned out fantastic!

In science we are learning about the environment and I read them The Lorax, so it was only fitting that they would watch the movie for our party.

And with that, I am partied out. I hope you all had a nice Valentine’s Day with your loved ones. And Go Canada Go! 12 Olympic medals to date!

2014 Olympics

With a new month come new units, and I was so excited to fire up the Olympics unit here in Grade One. Most of them had an idea about what the Olympics are, but they didn’t know the history and the traditions behind it all.

On Monday, we had our own opening ceremony (even though the real ceremonies didn’t take place until Friday). I printed off pictures of flags of the countries that are participating in Sochi 2014 and put them in a bucket. The kids closed their eyes and picked one, and did their best to recreate it on a larger piece of paper. They turned out really well. I pinned them on our bulletin board in the hallway with the following famous Olympic quote: “The most important thing is not to win but to take part” –Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee.

The panoramic feature on my iPhone made the wall look a little warped. Just ignore that.

Our big idea for our literacy unit is Perseverance. All my read alouds are sports stories about characters that persevere through challenging times. Our Olympics bulletin board in the classroom is a nice visual reminder that our Olympic athletes must have perseverance to do what they do.

In math, we are beginning our measurement unit. In Grade One, it’s all about measuring with non-standard units (so no rulers; no centimeters; no metres). I gave them some diagnostic pieces throughout the week to see what they were able to do. They really enjoyed the capacity activity.

Want to know their favourite thing in this unit so far? They LOVE telling time. They always ask me if we can learn more about time. We have only touched on the hour so far but they’re dying to know more about when the minute hand touches “all those other numbers”. I love their enthusiasm.

See my mistake in there? The kids caught it as I was proudly showing them the new poster. Now I can’t stand it that I had to squish an extra word in there.

In science, we are starting our Needs and Characterisitics of Living Things unit; however, we haven’t got too far into it yet because of the Olympics. So far, we have discussed our 5 senses in our bodies.

Funny story time:

Me: Your nose helps you smell. What kinds of things can you smell in our classroom?

Kid 1: Crayons

Kid 2: Pizza

Kid 3: You

Me: Me? What do I smell like? (I’m feeling nervous at this point)

Kid 3: I don’t know. Nice; like my mommy’s perfume.

Which is funny because I don’t wear perfume to school. What a confidence booster!

I'm not big into rewards systems because I think respectful and positive behaviour should be an intrinsic value, but with the Olympics this year, I thought I'd try something different this month. I have four table groups and each one is assigned a different Olympic sport. I use this graph to award points to the groups who demonstrate positive behaviour, the ability to follow instructions, and who get their jobs done when asked. It teaches place value as well because every time they reach 10 points, they get a big happy face. They even remembered our Big Idea way back from September: Graphs help us see information easily. 

Well that was short and sweet, I know. Next week I’ll have more because there are some exciting times coming up. Valentine’s Day AND the 100^th Day of School!

Happy Sunday!

Another Goodbye to the Dinosaurs…and January Unit Plans!

It was our last week with the dinosaurs, so I made sure to teach them about one last dinosaur that they all wanted to know more about…the tyrannosaurus rex. After the whole terrifying allosaurus ordeal, I was shocked that so many of them wanted to study this horrific creature. They seemed to learn quite a bit, and they really enjoyed walking around like t-rexes with their puny dinosaur arms.

Since I’m a super nice and cool teacher, I bought them a little surprise on Tuesday morning.

The instructions said that the dinosaur should hatch in 12-24 hours, so I thought, “Great! They’ll have a few days to play with it!”

It did not take 12-24 hours. In fact, I had to {secretly} induce it on Friday morning before the kids came in. They were so excited that it had finally hatched! As they all came hurdling towards me to let me know, I put on an Oscar worthy performance of pretending to be just as shocked as they were.

I love ending things on a good note {can ya tell?} so I let the kids watch two Magic School Bus episodes that connected to both our dinosaur and energy units. Remember how much I love Bill Nye? I share the same feelings for The Magic School Bus. Grade One just can’t be taught properly without it.

"Busasaurus" 

"Gets Energized"

Oh wait...that's not how I ended the week. We actually ended off Friday by making dinosaur fossils! Here's what you do:

1. Use Crayola Model Magic-it's not messy and it won't cause health problems (apparently other clays can). Squish it into the bottom of a Tupperware container lined with foil.
2. Use a strong cast plaster and mix it with water until it resembles the consistency of pancake batter
3. I bought dinosaur skeleton toys off Amazon and used them to squish into the clay

4. Pour the plaster into the mould and let it sit. We are letting ours sit over the weekend.

5. Cross your fingers and hope they turn out as well as the model (even though mine broke on the way to school).

One last thing: If you want to use some of these ideas, but need some help to actually put it into a unit plan, I have attached the links to download mine. Change it up as you need to. 

January Literacy Unit Plan. Click HERE to download.

January Math Unit Plan. Click HERE to download.

January Science Unit Plan. Click HERE to download.

The kids are bummed that the dinosaurs are gone from the classroom, but I’m hoping they’ll be just as excited as I am for our new unit {starting tomorrow} on the Olympics!

Time to go and get everything ready for tomorrow/all next week.

Happy Sunday!