RAZ Rocket

We are adding a new component to our RAZ Kids reading accounts! Students in our class all have a subscription to RAZ Kids, a wonderful reading program that allows kids to read books at their individual "good fit" reading level online. I have just added the option for kids to use the RAZ Rocket with their reading account, which helps encourage them to read more. The way it works is that kids receive points/stars for books read on their RAZ Kids account and can then use those points to "buy" things for their RAZ Rocketship. They can view their individual rocketship on their reading account and "buy" furniture, robots, aliens, planets, etc to decorate the rocketship. I just added the RAZ Rocket to our class' accounts this week and am already seeing the kids eager to read more books in their accounts! In class the kids are allowed to add to their rocket only during choice time but they are able to access their books and the rocket at home too. This gives them lots more opportunity to read and have fun decorating the rocket. Just click the RAZ Kids link at the top of this blog and they can sign in!

Flynn Field Trip Reminder

Please remember to send a lunch from home on Wednesday January 30! First grade classes will eat lunch early in our classrooms before we head out to see Skippyjon Jones at the Flynn Theater!

ipads

Our class started to explore the use of ipads in math last Friday! Students were partnered up and given the job of exploring many primary math apps. Their goal was to evaluate which one they thought was the very best for practicing addition and subtraction. Our class did some great exploration and worked to generate a list of favorites. Next time we plan to take a closer look at our list and decide why these apps are the very best. Students will use these criteria for evaluating other ipad apps as we move on throughout the year! Below are some great photos of our exploration!

DARE

Our class finished up our DARE lessons today with officer Fontaine! Last Thursday our lesson focused on knowing when to say "no," and using the four step process of 1)Know 2)No 3)Go 4)Tell. We learned about 1)knowing when something is unsafe 2)saying "no" to the situation 3)going away from the situation and 4)telling an adult about it/asking for help. Our final lesson, today, helped us think about our own feelings. We talked about identifying what it feels like to be angry or upset and then making appropriate choices to deal with the feeling. This is a topic that first graders learn more about during guidance lessons throughout the year.

Amate Bark Paintings

During our theme study this week our class has been learning about some of the native peoples who lived in Mexico long ago. We learned that the symbol in the center of the Mexican flag is an image from an Aztec legend. We also learned some about Aztec and Mayan culture including what types of art they made, what types of games they played (the Aztecs invented a game much like soccer!), and the fact that they made huge pyramids! Over the past several days we have been working on an art project that comes from the Otomi indians of Mexico. The Otomi made textured paper out of bark from Amate trees and would paint brightly colored pictures of birds, animals, flowers, and daily life on the paper. People in Mexico still make this type of art today! Mrs. Sorenson has two real Amate bark paintings from Mexico that we took a look at before starting work on our own. We used brown paper, instead of bark paper, and created our own paintings to look like the real ones from Mexico. Below are some photos of our process, including the examples on real Amate paper from Mexico!

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DARE

Today we got to have our second DARE lesson with Officer Fontaine from the Colchester Police Department! In our lesson today we learned about keeping ourselves safe by identifying items that might be foods versus those that might look like candy or food containers but might actually be medicines or cleaning products. We learned that labels and warnings, types of containers, and where the items are kept (such as a bottle of something in the kitchen pantry versus one in the garage or a bathroom cabinet) are some clues that can help us to determine whether or not something is safe for us to touch. We learned that, most importantly, if we are not sure what something is we should leave it alone and ask an adult!

RAZ Kids Reminder!

Please remember, at the top of this blog there is a link to RAZ Kids, a wonderful reading program that the students in our class can access both from school and home! This is a great resource for reading homework or just extra practice. Each child in our class has an account with books at his or her "good fit" reading level that I update regularly. All your child has to do is go to the blog, click the link, and log in to practice reading! The students each use RAZ kids about once a week in class, so they are very familiar with the way that it works. A number of the children are using this at home too and if you have not tried it yet with your child, I encourage you to take a look! Happy Reading!

Mexico

As we learn about places in our world, first grade classes have begun a country study of our neighbor to the south. Mexico! We finished our mapping unit before break where we learned some about our continent, North America, and where Canada, the United States, and Mexico are. Just before break we learned about Poinsettias and the Mexican December holiday of Las Posadas. We are now learning about the map and flag of Mexico as well as some of its geography. On Monday we compared current weather in Mexico City to the weather here and discovered that Mexico is a much warmer place than where we live! We made a list of items we would need to pack if we were to travel to Mexico and are making our own passports so that we can "travel" to Mexico during theme time for the next several weeks! Today we started talking about some of the native people, such as the Aztecs, who lived in Mexico long ago. As we continue our study of Mexico we will make some great artwork to show what we have learned. I will post photos when we begin some of these projects!

DARE

Today we had our first DARE lesson in the series of four for first graders. This lesson focused on personal safety. Officer Fontaine, from the Colchester Police Department, talked to our class about how rules keep people safe both in school and in our community. We talked about how street signs and warning signs help remind us of some of the important safety rules outside of school. The group also talked about identifying safe people to go to when we need help and we learned that each one of us has a responsibility to help keep other people safe. Officer Fontaine finished today's lesson by talking to the class about what the phone number "911" is for and how to use it in emergencies. You will see two worksheets about "911" in your child's folder today. One of them provides space to fill out your child's name and your home address and phone number to keep by the phone in case of an emergency. Our class will continue with DARE lessons on Thursday mornings throughout January!