Rainforest: Round 2!

Welcome back to our class blog! It has been awhile! This week we started learning about the rainforest (again). A few weeks ago, in the middle of studying Australia, we learned about South America for a week when the Project GLAD demonstration was in our classroom. But now we are really diving in (and Miss Kloczko gets to teach this time)!

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We made turtles! -Jade

(We started these last week when we were finishing up with Australia!)

We read Afternoon on the Amazon. -Juan Carlos

My favorite part of the week was when Miss Kloczko read us a book, Afternoon on the Amazon.

We made Mother's Day gifts! -Allyson

We are taking some special papers home. In workshop today our group did Star Wars math. We added numbers with ones and tens.  -Aaqil

We read a chapter book. -Liam

I drew pictures for Jaguars Here, Jaguars There in my poetry folder for workshop. -Tianna

We learned about jaguars. We learned that they hide from their prey. -Kendall

I want to know if  we are going to learn about the aye-aye? -Lorenzo

This week at art we did a special project. It was a nice toucan. -Mati

I got to color the spots in the jaguar's rosettes. -Lea

Jaguars hunt tapirs, monkeys, and birds. -Jules

We learned about the jaguar. If I was a jaguar, I would eat fish. -Jared

On Thursday and Friday, Miss Kloczko read us Afternoon on the Amazon. We learned about the jaguar.  -Nya

We watched Wild Kratts. We saw a jaguar, a harpy eagle, and a basilisk lizard in the rainforest on Wild Kratts. We learned what vocalize means. -Kyara

Today we were sly. That word was a new word in our chant. -Jaykob

We learned a new signal word. The word was strata. It means layers of the rainforest. -Anshika

We learned about the jaguar again. -Anahi

We did a jaguar chart and a Mother's Day present. -Parker

We read Magic Tree House #6. -Tanaya

The rainforest is close to the equator. -Damion

We learned about the jaguar. It eats sloths. Poor sloths. -Indigo

We made a Mother's Day gift. -Carol

We finished our sea turtles and did a spelling test. We did our best. We have a secret present for Mother's Day. -Fabiana

We got new teams. -Cooper

We also started a new chapter in math! We are learning about data, and how to create and read different types of graphs. Next week, the kids will be able to do their own surveys and create graphs to show the data they collect! We also talked about mindfulness. The kids are already earning lots of team points for showing mindfulness!

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This book was perfect! Thank you Ms. Hines, for sharing with Mrs. Kahler, who shared with me. ;)

Thanks for reading! Happy Mother's Day, moms! ♥

Africa!

This post is long overdue! We have been so busy studying Africa, place value, and of course, learning some new signal words. :) Check it out!

We are preparing for second grade and working on independence! 

Such a sweet Valentine's Day with these little ones!

Nothing makes this first grade teacher happier than an email inbox full of shared google docs to print out! So proud! And take a look at the padlet we've been working on for homework!

And finally, a little giraffe inquiry... Do you know how many spots a giraffe has? Or how much water a giraffe drinks each day? Or why it has ossicones? Help us with our research and leave us a comment below!

Thanks for reading!

The Boat Challenge, Flexible Seating, and Farewell Europe!

What a fun week! On Monday, the kids participated in "The Boat Challenge!" With a partner, they were asked to build a boat that could sail from Europe to New York and carry cargo. The kids had a ton of fun and worked so well together! Thank you to Anahi's mom for all of the great photos!

This week we also tried out some new seating options! Our classroom now has exercise balls, a few stools, a wobble chair, and three floor cushions for sitting at a low table. I've given the kids some freedom in choosing where they work during reading and writing time, and I've been amazed at the results. Some kids work best sitting on the floor on cushions or on the carpet, some like to lay on their tummies, some stick to working in a chair or stool at their regular tables, and some like the exercise balls because it allows them to wiggle a little and helps them to focus! We are looking into trying out some more seating options, so please let me know if you are interested donating to our classroom! :)

Who says you can only work in a chair at a desk? Indigo made a list of places to work!

We also talked a little bit about Groundhog Day on Monday, and we wrote opinion pieces about whether we wanted the groundhog to see his shadow! Their writing was too cute! Looks like Spring is coming early! :)

This week was our last week studying Europe! We played Woodland Jeopardy on Friday (I also threw a review category in there, the bald eagle from North America). The kids learned so much about the animals of Europe and I was super impressed at all they remembered about the bald eagle from our FIRST unit this year. Wow!

Get ready for the African savanna, zoologists!