Halloween

We had a blast on Halloween in first grade. We had special parent volunteers come into class and they read their favorite Halloween stories to us. We also brewed a wonderful snack that each student contributed a special treat to.

During math, we used skittles to reinforce our graphing skills. We recorded the data of how many skittles of each color we had. Then we graphed it and used the information on the graph to answer questions. We were able to tell what color had the most, which had the least, and compared the quanity of each color.

Air Drop Relief Packages

First grade studied air and learned a lot about how parachutes and planes travel through the air. We used what we learned about these two activities to create air drop packages. Students listened to an audio that described a real world problem with floods. When their is floods in communities, people usually lose most of their things or they get damaged by the water of the flood. Until they can replace their things, they need temporary things to help them survive. Students quickly came up with many ideas of how we could help people who suffer from a tragic event like this. We used the engineering design process to help us solve this real world problem.

First students came up with ideas of sending them boxes of all the things they need. Their items they wanted were perfect. We discussed the difference between want and need. Next, we had to figure out how we would send these boxes to them without them getting wet. The class decided the best way would be by plane since Thailand is so far away. I explained that it might be hard for the airplane driver to land a plane if the ground was covered in water. Students quickly decided that we could drop them off the plain. This brought the problem of the packages getting wet. Students started brainstorming how they could stay dry and how they would stay safe from a high drop. The overall solution was to attach a parachute, put a floaty under it, and wrap the package with water resistant material.

The next step in the engineering design process was for students to make a plan. Students worked with their group members to develop a drawing of their air drop package design. Once these were completed, students went to work. They created their packages and most of them looked just like their plan. After everyone completed their design, we took them to the balcony on the third floor of the school. Each group dropped their packages over the railing. Some fell hard and others drifted gently.  When we got back to class, we opened up our packages. Inside we had pasta noodles and marbles. If the packages fell hard, the pasta would break. This would mean that the items in the package got damaged and they need to go back and create a stronger design. Many students packaged didn't have any broken pasta. This means that they successfully developed a design that would make it safely to the victims affected by the flood. We had a blast doing this activity and creating a way to help others.

Friday is ART DAY in first grade!

WE LOVE TO PAINT! WE LOVE TO DRAW! WE LOVE TO DO ART!

We did crayon resist! Students drew a picture of three pumpkins in three different sizes with crayon. Then we added color to them by using water colors. The students were amazed when they saw that the color from the crayons came through the paints.

Each child got a cut out colored leaf. They were told to cut their leaf into four pieces. Then they traded their leaf with a partner. The partner then had to put the leaf back together and glue it onto a piece of black paper. Once they finished, each child wrote a sentence about something they like about fall. 

Parachutes...parachutes....parachutes!

First grade had a fun discussion of all the things that use air for recreation. We talked about sailboats, planes, floaty toys, jets, kites......and.....PARACHUTES! I asked them what would happen if I wanted to go up in an airplane and jump out to see the world, what would I need to keep me safe? Everyone said a parachute. I showed them a video of a friend of mine who jumped out of an airplane to go skydiving. They saw how the parachute kept him safe. We had a discussion of what he thought happened with the parachute and how it worked. Students came up with great ideas. They suggested that the air gets trapped under the chute and allows them to drift slowly. They were correct. As a class we created our very own parachutes. We threw them in the air in our classroom but our skydivers kept getting caught in the powerlines in our classroom (fishing line that we hang artwork on). We decided it would be better to have our skydivers fly from the top of the balcony on the third floor and fall down to the second floor. Each student got a chance to let their skydiver go from the top and the rest of class counted the seconds it took for our skydiver to land on the second floor. Congratulations, Savonne! Her skydiver had the longest flight!

What is in the air?

In science first grade has been exploring air. We have explored air through many investigations. Students used their own air to make objects move in the air. They had a lot of fun seeing what they could do with the straws. They figured out how to keep a ball floating in the air by blowing air through their straw.

We learned about compression and pressure through an exploration with syringes and tubes. They were able to see that when two friends pressed the syringe plug in it created pressure. We had fun playing a pressure game. Students also learned that when we compress the air in one syringe, it gots into the other syringe. One student brought up the idea of trying it with water. We did the same activity with water and it was fun to see, too.

One sunny day we explored air by blowing water in a cup with a straw. Our bubbles didn't last long. I asked the class if there was another way we could do this activity to make the bubbles last longer. The class suggested using soap in our water. We added soap and moved outside to see what would happen. When we blew in the straw it did make bubbles and they stayed. So we made a wand and blew bubbles. Why not on a sunny day? :)