"Moon Over My Firsties"

Hello Everyone!
We are finishing up our science unit about observing objects in the sky.  Kids are busy documenting the moon's phases, and reading a lot of moon facts on Pebblego and BrainPop.  We, of course, had to read a fun fiction book about the moon, Mooncake by Frank Asch.  We did a quick reader's response in our journals.  In the story the little bear thought he had landed on the moon in his rocket.  Instead, it had snowed while he was asleep in his rocket. His mooncake tasted like...you know...water!  The kids had to imagine what the moon might taste like. We know that it is dust and rocks, but we got some imaginative  little responses!!!

The moon is made from cotton batting and then we cut little spoon shapes.

Friday we invited out third grade reading buddies to join us for "Moonlight Reading!" The kids brought their flashlights and I brought a light up moon!  The calm feeling in the room was absolutely beautiful!!

I found this moon light in my son's closet!!  So glad he saved it from his "astronaut phase!" He's 21 now and I don't think he will miss it!!  It has a remote that changes the lighting to look like the phases of the moon!! The kids loved it!!

Then, for our SCI FRI, we, of course, had to do the infamous crater activity. Our team has been doing this for years and it is one of the favorites!! After researching the reason for the moon looking so bumpy and dented, we set up a representation of the moon (tub with flour and cocoa powder) and dropped various sizes of rocks from different heights.  Love the reactions and the connection to other thinking!!  We are growing as scientists!!

A recording page can be found in this little unit.CLICK HERE!

At the end of the day we found ourselves with a little extra time. we decided to create our own moons.  A dab of white and a mini dab of yellow paint in the center of a piece of black paper.  We swirled it around to make a circle.  Some kids decided to try create some craters. We then sprinkled a bit of sand and silver glitter.  I think they turned out so pretty. These hands on visuals remind me of the moon in Ralph Fletcher's book, Hello, Harvest Moon. I may need to pull that book out and explore his beautiful words to go along with our moons!  OH!!  Next week's lesson plan just changed!!!  That seems to happen a lot!  

Well, that's what's going on in our little world.  Thanks for stopping by for a peek!! Have a wonderful weekend!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

A Great Day For UP!!

Hello Everyone!!
YAY!!! We had an awesome day today! It was all about clouds!! A great day for UP!! To start with, our Think Outside the Box Thursday shape looked very similar to a cloud...but it wasn't a cloud!!  Look what my little smarties turned that shape into!

They are really stretching and growing  their creative brains!!!  Great job, kids!!!

Then we were so excited to see a few little clouds out this morning!!  A rare event this time of year!  We made our cloud watchers earlier this week and haven't seen even a hint of a cloud until this morning!!  We hurried out to try out our watchers because the clouds were fun little popcorn clouds that disappear pretty quickly!!  We were able to observe and document our observations for a few minutes!!  

Recording sheet and cloud watcher template are only a click away!! HERE!!!

 Then of course we had to finish our shaving cream and glue clouds.  Sometimes it looked like...  You know, from "It Looked Like Spilt Milk!"

 You probably already know how to make this, but in case you don't, one part shaving cream, one part white glue.  Mix together.  That's it!  Plop a glob on some paper, and let the kids swirl and create a shape.  It takes all day or night to dry, but stays puffy!  Then, of course you need to write about it!!

It was a great day, with more fun to come tomorrow!!  Almost finished with beginning of year testing!!!  Can't wait for tomorrow!! It's going to be another good one!! Thanks for stopping by for a peek!!  Stay tuned!!
Joyfully!
Nancy

Observing the Night Sky with Splat!

Hello Everyone!!
We are busy finishing up our weather unit and beginning our "Objects in the Sky" unit.  We will be learning all about the sun beginning tomorrow and then moving on to the night sky.  I added a few things to a unit I posted last year.  Here are a few pics from the 27 page unit.

Patterns to make Splat are included!

Hope you find something you can use in this little pack!! If you think you might, click HERE for your free printable unit!

I'll be back soon with updates and pics from our journey this week!! Thanks for stopping by for a peek!!
Joyfully!
Nancy

Constitution Day

Hello Everyone!
Constitution Day is coming up next week (Sept 17).  We are required to teach our kiddos about the important concepts on which our country was found. We plan on using David Catrow's book We the Kids as a starting place for some good discussions and sharing.  We put together this little book for the kids to make and show their interpretations of some of the mature concepts.  I am excited to see what they come up with! 

There are pages for each phrase in the preamble.

 

The unit includes some information on the history of the constitution and a little word search bonus! Hope this helps you engage your kids in this important lesson of peace and freedom.

Want this free unit? Click here! Yes! It's free! :)

 

 

Stay tuned for more first grade fun!!

 

Thanks for stopping by!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Understanding Community Through Rosie's Walk and Me on the Map

Hello Everyone!
Just a quick post tonight.  This is one pooped teacher!  These looooong short weeks are pretty crazy!  But I did want to share just a couple of things we worked on this week! We are integrating our reading and social studies so finding just the right literature to fulfill both curriculum areas and objectives can be challenging.  In reading we worked on cross checking while reading, and in social studies we worked on our community and maps.  Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins, and Sweeney's Me on the Map both fit the bill.  As we were reading both selections, we practiced cross checking (Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense?) Once we understood the author's message, we were able to focus on the social studies part of them.  We were able to gather the prepositions from Rosie's Walk and discuss direction and position words in Rosie's community (precursor to map skills).
We then created a reader's response HOV (hands on visual) to show our learning. I put some pics and directions into a little pdf.  Here are a couple of pics.

 

For your free printable including a pattern for Rosie, click HERE!!

We enjoyed Me On The Map and created a simple anchor chart together to show our learning.  We are all part of the same communities.  I wish I would have had time for the kids to make those cool layered circle "Me on the Map" books, but time just got away from us. The kids were happy with the poster and it has become a conversation piece in the classroom.  We are all connected through many different communities!

Love these little faces!! Love that the kids that made them feel the connection with each other through "community!!"

Stay tuned for another peek into the goings on in our first grade classroom!! We love that you dropped by for a visit!!
Have a great weekend!
Joyfully!
Nancy