Spy School - Mission Complete

We had the best day!  Our classroom was transformed.  We were not first graders today, we were special agents investigating the science of sound.  Let me back up.  The intrigue started the day before our spy school.  Mrs. Wolverton came down to our classroom.  She had mysterious TOP SECRET message for each first grader.  The messages were dropped of by a special agent.  The children were so curious.  When they got the envelopes home, they found a message in a puzzle.

The students were so curious. Tuesday, when they arrived, our classroom was blocked with caution tape.  Students had to do a fingerprint scan with Agent S before being allowed access to spy school.  Inside...WOW!  The new agents had a mission card, dark sunglasses, an ID badge, and their Launch Logs.  It was finally time to learn about the mission.

The mission for the day was introduced with a short video message.  The students were to complete different experiments on sound.  The objective was to learn how sound is made and how sound can travel.  The agents of sound were so engaged in their learning.  After each station was complete, the agents put a fingerprint on their mission cards.

 

The sound investigations included listening to your heart using a stethoscope, creating different ways to get sound from a metal water bottle,  exploring the sounds of a rubber band against a plastic cup, and observing sound waves in action with salt, a glass, and tuning forks.  The special agents recorded their learning in their launch logs.  After the sound stations, the agents received a coded message.  The students were able crack the code to discover the message, "Sound travels in waves. Vibration creates sound."

 

The last task to complete was to use the knowledge of how sound travels to make a cup phone.  The agents worked hard to create the phone and then perform some tests.  The special sound agents had to test to see if the sound traveled better with a tight string or loose.  They also tested to see what happened if you held onto the string.  Would the sound still travel?

So much learning occurred before noon!  The agents worked very hard and received spy certificates.  What an amazing group of special agents.  Special thanks to Hope King at Elementary Shenanigans for the inspiration and to Project Lead the Way for the rigorous curriculum materials.  Also, thank you, Agent S and Agent K for assisting the learning.  Signing off....Agent N.

Turkey Time

Well, I could not be more thankful to teach these turkeys!  We have such a great time learning!  Of course, with Thanksgiving this week, we have been working on our standards but with a turkey twist.  For example, we made these fact family turkeys to practice properties of addition.

Since we have been working on animal locomotion in reading, we made a list of vivid verbs for "Run, Turkey, Run!"  Then, we made a class book about how some turkeys got away!

 Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Animal Locomotion

Our latest reading unit is on how the world changes.  We are only halfway through the four week unit.  In the first two weeks, we have focused on how animals and plants grow and change, as well as, animal locomotion.  From our reading we discovered that animals move to survive.  There are many different verbs to describe movement.  We recorded all the verbs we have found in our reading books on a "Move It" chart. 

We also used a digital tool called padlet to share our learning. The students had to scan a QR code to have access to the padlet.  Then, the assignment was to take a photo showing text evidence of animal locomotion in one of their reading books.  The students had to take the photo and upload it to the padlet, they also had to write the verb describing how the animal moved.  The students were so excited to share their work.

Created with Padlet

Check out this unit's leveled readers by clicking on the "World Changes" button at the top of the blog.

Pumpkin Jack

 All for science....

The children were very interested in the science investigations we did before Halloween with pumpkins.  So, we decided to keep it going.  Meet Jack and Jake.  These two are from our class' pumpkins that we carved on Halloween.  Then, after Halloween we put them in a plastic container with some soil on the bottom.  In reading, we have been studying how things in our world grow and change and with Jack and Jake we had a real life examples to observe and study.

Our experiment began on November 2nd, our first day back after Halloween.  We had a  bright, orange, round pumpkin.  On day one we drew the pumpkin and made a prediction about how it would look in twenty days.

Next, we watched.  Jack and Jake changed.  They grew some white fuzz.  The flesh of the pumpkins turned black.  Part of an eye collapsed and fell.  Smiles became quite droopy.  And, let's not forget about another significant change.....the SMELL!  Yikes!  We had to put them outside. About every three days the scientists recorded observations in their journals.

At the end of 20 days, the pumpkins are hardly recognizable.  Decay....one way things in our world can change.

Friends and Family

Over the last five weeks in reader's workshop we have been researching the question: "How are my friends and family connected to me?"  In our small groups we have read several books on the topic.  Further, we have had wonderful class discussions. Click on the Friends & Family link above to see the leveled books the children have read in their guided reading groups.

The reading unit began by focusing on friends. In class, we read the book How to Lose All Your Friends.  While the students loved the book, they were appalled by the girl's behavior.  We decided to do a rewrite!  Together the students put together the main ideas of how to be a good friend.  They came up with six ideas:

1. Smile.

2. Share

3. Be a good sport.

4. Be kind and helpful.

5. Talk and listen.

Next, the students got into small groups.  Each group took one of the main ideas from our list.  They used our guided reading books about friends to come up with details (examples) of each good friend trait.  They had amazing discussions. Then, we began filming scenarios of children being good friends.  We used iMovie to put together this short video trailer on how to be a good friend.  The children did an amazing job on their first inquiry project about friends.


In the last half of the unit, we have been focusing on inquiry questions about family.  We have discussed how families are alike and different, how families are a part of who we are, and what families share.  Through all our reading and discussing, one main theme kept reoccurring: all families look and act differently but love is the most important thing to share.  Here is a poster of all our inquiry questions about friends and family and the notes from our class collaborative conversations.

To wrap up our family study, each student composed a story about their families.  To begin the writing project I showed the students a pencil drawing of stick figures and told them it was my family.  While the students were being very polite about my drawing, I eventually got them to tell me that my picture lacked detail.  I then showed them a colored drawing of my family that included lots of details.  They felt that drawing was much better.   The students then made very detailed drawings of their own families.

Next we compared two stories, one lacked detail (This is my family.  This is my mom. This is my dad.) It reminded the students of my stick figure drawing.  The writers had the assignment to take my "blah" story, cut it up, and add details.  They learned to revise.

We are still working on editing and publishing our family writing.  The children are proud of their work.  They are loving sharing their stories with the class.  Stay tuned, the published stories should be hanging in our hallway by the end of the week.  Here is a quick preview of a couple of the papers.

This is My Family

This is my family. My family is nice. This is my dad. He likes to build stuff. He likes football. This is my sister. She has a lot of friends. She went to this school for three years. This is my mom. She likes making glass. She is a nurse so she can help me when I get hurt. I love my family.

This is My Family

This is mom. She likes to be pretty. She likes to snuggle. This is my dad. My dad likes to rake. He is funny. This is my brother. He plays a lot. His favorite color is green. This is my sister. She is cute. She loves me. This is my family.