First Grade News

What's Going on in First Grade?

     It's been a busy week! We worked around half days, spirit week and classroom visitors.  We enjoyed 60 degree weather and bundled up for blustery snow.  We completed big writing projects and nearly finished a math chapter.  We laughed, learned, experienced new things and met new people.  All this in one week? You bet...these are busy first graders!

Spirit Week

(Madalyn all dressed for "Retro Day")

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Book Drive

     Some Hartwick College students have been working with Mrs. Murdock on a project involving a book drive.  This week one of the students visited our class, read us a story and told us about the drive.  She informed us that they are collecting books that will eventually be donated to the Riverside Library.  Wonderful!

(Miss Kelsey (from Hartwick College) read us the story 

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fun Friday

     It was a perfect winter day to paint a winter picture.  But we didn't use just regular old white paint, oh no...we mixed our own! Using shaving cream, glue, glitter and food coloring we created puffy, sparkle paint. It looked so smooth we wanted to touch it with our hands. Black construction paper was the best background for our artwork. The outcome? White, puffy, winter scenes containing igloos, snowmen, snow forts,  snow covered trees and of course many, many snowflakes!

(Craig is painting a snowman.)

(Isabella painted a snow covered hill.)

(Athena made a snow fort.)

(Take a look at Gwen's puffy snowflakes!)

(Sharon is adding a pink hat to her snowman.)

Creativity In the Simple Things

Creative Kids!

     I've got a creative bunch of first graders in my class! It's amazing to see what these children were able to do with a bit of imagination and a few simple mediums.  They used beads, play dough, paper, markers and blocks to create, build and design. But what's even better is hearing their explanations and reasons for creating the way they did.  Take a look at some future architects, designers, artists and carpenters!

(Liam and Anthony made "The Great Wall of China".)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Six students laughing, imagining and creating using play dough.  Did Emilee make a monocle?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Emilee and Arianna made snowmen.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Maddy and Sharon built a library. Every time I looked it had gotten bigger...)

(and bigger...)

(and bigger!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Owen built a "factory".  He even showed me where "the boxes come in".)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Wow, Athena is one patient girl!  Have you ever used Perler Beads? They seem to have a mind of their own!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Josh and Leah have great hand-eye coordination.  They finished their Perler Bead creations and are waiting for Miss Novellano to iron them.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Skylea, Gwen and Isabella decided to draw.  I wish you could see the amazing detail in their work! Very creative!)

Slipper Day!

No sneakers today...it was slipper day!

There were super hero slippers, slippers that moved and animal shaped slippers walking around our classroom today! Why? For slipper day! The boys and girls were so excited to wear their slippers at school. As they entered the room I heard the children exclaiming over the fun slippers they saw.  They were so excited that I even needed to remind them that we still had work that needed to get done. Although at times it was hard to focus, we were able to complete our jobs!

We can journal write in our slippers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We can read in our slippers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We can make words in our slippers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We can drink hot chocolate in our slippers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We can be silly in our slippers!

What a fun day!

Winter Fun

We Are As Unique As Snowflakes!

     In first grade we have been discussing how each of us is unique, different and special.  We began by reading two  inspirational and beautiful books. 

 (Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. This is the story of Wilson Bentley, a Vermont resident, who loved snow and spent all his winters photographing snowflakes. A few weeks prior to his death his photographs were eventually compiled into a book.)

(Snow Crystals by W.A. Bently and W.J. Humphreys.  Mr. Bentley's book contains pages and pages of the beautiful snowflakes he photographed.)



    We discovered that out of the thousands of snowflakes Mr. Bentley photographed he never found two alike. We then created a bulletin board of our own snowflakes with writing pieces about how unique we are.  Here's a peek at the board!

     Then we celebrated snow by making our own snow cones! Yummmm! (Don't worry families, Miss Novellano made sure it was fresh, clean snow!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This Is "For The Birds"!

     Sometimes animals need help finding food in the winter.  So, to help out our feathered friends, we took some time to make bird feeders.  We followed the example of a family from the book Night Tree by Eve Bunting.

Putting the peanut butter on the pinecones:

Rolling the pinecones and peanut butter in the birdseed:

The feeders are ready for the birds!

The messy projects are the most fun!