Whirlwind Weeks!!

Hello Everyone!!
My apologies for the lack of posts recently.  I finally had a second to sit down and throw some pics together of things we did the last couple of weeks.  We had open house the Thursday before Spring Break and our "theme" was Texas.  Our curriculum includes learning about the symbols and important historical elements of Texas. The kids loved learning about this amazing state and sharing what they learned with their families.  We included some research practice and expository writing along with some technology, some craft connections, some poetry, book making and so much more. Most of this is from our Texas units which you can get for free at the end of the post.  Til then, enjoy the pics!

I spy a little Texan learning about important symbols!

Texas style word clouds

The halls of Texas are upon us!!

practicing our word work in red white and blue style!

making bluebonnets from tissue paper!

Celebrating narrative and Expository Print

Kids made Alphabet books!

QR codes to go along with our animal research.  Just scan and listen to your first grader read his/her expository paper!

For your own printable Texas Unit, click here!

To celebrate being Texan, we made out own version of Armadilly Chili! Yum!

A scoop of Armadilly Chili, please!

For your own Armadilly Chili unit, click here!

Up next? A study on our US symbols!  Stay tuned!!

Now off to work some more on my friend's wedding!  Having a ball!!! I'll post some pics soon!!

Have a great week, everyone!!

Don't forget to leave a comment!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Welcome to Our Fishbowl!

Hello Everyone!
What a great turnout we had at our annual open house.  The kids got to show off all their hard work, and family and friends got to see where their little loves learn and grow during the school day.  I wanted to share a few pics of a couple of the displays we did to help welcome the community. I've already shown you the aquatic habitat learning that we have done over the past couple of weeks.  Enjoy the rest of the pics!

Our fish mask pictures!

 

First grade is "fin"tastic!

 

What's in YOUR fishbowl?

 

Welcome to our fishbowl!!

 

All five of our first grade classrooms had a

 "fishbowl surround."

 

OH! And here's our inspiration!!  Let me introduce Lollipop and Bob. 

Our sweet little guppies!!

I want to send a huge thank you to the moms who came to help with our hallways!  I also want to thank my team for their hard work and dedication!!  You gals ROCK!!

 

I can't wait to share with you an amazing opportunity our kids had with respect to an art program we had available tonight.  But ...another time.  this girl is exhausted.  Good Night!!

 

Joyfully!

Nancy

 

 

Camping Unit

Hello Everyone!
Thanks for stopping by for a peek into the wonderfilled world of first grade!  I want to share some highlights of our Camping Theme.  We had so much fun studying the animals you would find while camping, researching through Pebble Go, reading poetry, writing poetry, reading books, both fiction and nonfiction, writing our own nonfiction pieces, celebrating reading with camping day, and doing firefly science experiments. We got to show it all off at our annual Open House! Enjoy the view!!

Our favorite "camping" books!

Fishing Day! Fishing for Facts

Caught One!

Hiking Day!! Writing Acrostic Poems

I went hiking and saw...

Sight word stars on the ceiling! Can you see them?

Stargazing for sight words

I'm Sleeping in my sleeping bag...poetry

Reading to Flashlight

Reading to firefly light

Paper bag backpacks to hold some of our work!

Our very own little pup tent!!  Can't wait to read in here!!

Welcome to Camp VandenBerge!

hallway display of our animals

Happy Campers

Fireflies and Glowsticks Science!!

Put glowsticks in ice and hot water.  Look at the difference!!!

 Our Sci Fri experience was to ask questions about the effects of temperature on the brightness of glow sticks (fireflies). (Thanks to the sweet mom who supplied us with glowsticks for each kiddo!!!) We discovered that the warmer the environment, the brighter the glow!!!  The chemical reactions release more energy more quickly in a warm environment. Is that why we see more fireflies in the summer months???
firefly printables are here! :)

Fireflies and Glowsticks printable

Sleeping Bag Poem Printable

I can't wait to catch some fireflies this summer!!!

Thanks for taking a peek into our world!!
Hope your tomorrow is just as bright!!
Joyfully!
Nancy