First grader scholars think like scientists!

I'm always amazed by the artistic talent and level of details that my scholars possess.  The scholars enjoyed drawing themselves as scientists for their science portfolios.

Universal Theme: Relationships can be Positive or Negative

Science Experiment: How do different objects change a beam of light?

One of my favorite things about our new Common Core standards is our all new science standards.  In past years we focused on concepts such as seasons, states of matter, and life cycles.  Our new standards are much more vigorous and I've enjoyed designing these new experiments for my scholars.  Here are some examples from the "lab reports" we completed last Friday.  The scholars observed how the light from a flashlight was changed by clear plastic, wax paper, cardboard, and mirrors.  I was so excited to see several scholars take the initiative to design their own follow up experiments, such as combining two materials or placing the materials in different locations.  The experiment was a big hit!

Examples of Junior Great Books work

One of my favorite parts of teaching GATE is being able to integrate Junior Great Books.  Bringing in high quality literature and engaging the students in a complex discussion of the books challenges their minds and always leads to deep discussion and understanding.  Sometimes their answers go in a direction that I could never have predicted!  Another reason I love Junior Great Books discussions is it give students who may not have the highest writing skills the opportunity to shine through their contributions to class discussions.  My role as the teacher is to pose questions and facilitate the discussion, but never to provide answers.  For our most recent Junior Great Books discussion the scholars recorded their ideas so we could see if our answers changed after listening to our peers' ideas during the discussion.  I'll let their work show you the kind of high level thinking these first graders are engaging it:

I'm so proud to see that we have reached the point where the scholars feel very comfortable changing their answer OR keeping their original answer, depending on their OWN thinking.  They are no longer as concerned with finding the "one right answer" but are comfortable with the understanding that different people can answer a question different ways, as long as they can justify their thinking and explain it by referring to the text.  This is a HUGE and very IMPORTANT step!!  At such a young age they are taking ownership for their own ideas and learning.

Habits of a Scholar: Varied Resource

For our new habit of a scholar, Varied Resources, we learned that scholars use a variety of resources to find information.  We discussed how scholars have to make decisions about which resource is the best choice for a particular type of information.  For example, dictionaries and thesauruses can be great resources to help us learn new words, but the won't tell us much information about fossils.  Interviewing a person who experienced an important event can give us great first person reporting, but an interview might not be the best resource to learn about synonyms.  The internet is an excellent resource for learning about current events, such as on Groundhog's day we were able to watch a video of the event that happened just a few hours earlier all the way across the country, but the internet has some information that might not always be accurate.  The big idea that we took away from our discussion of Varied Resources is that different resources are used at different times and scholars need to be comfortable choosing the right resource for their question.

100th Day Celebration

On Friday we celebrate the 100th day of school with several fun activities.  First, we predicted how many head and tails we would get if we flipped a coin 100 times.  The scholars then tested this and recorded their results.  Next, we wrote and drew pictures to share our opinions on what we would like to have 100 of and what we are glad we do NOT have 100 of.  Later, we went outside for a special PE time.  We each measured 100 steps, 100 skips, 100 criss cross steps, and 100 movements of each student's choice.  Some of the scholars crossed the field with their large movements.  We definitely saw that 100 is a lot and we realized how we have all become "100 days smarter" through our hard work this year.

  

Spring Conferences

Please check your child's homework folder tomorrow for a note from me regarding spring conferences.  All scholars in our class are currently on track towards meeting their academic goals for first grade, so Spring conferences are NOT REQUIRED.  However, I know that many parents value the time to meet with me and review their child's progress in person.  For this reason, I have reserved a conference time for every scholar.

Please check the time that I have scheduled for your child and mark one of the three choices on the form provided (I will come at the scheduled time, I don't want to have a Spring Conference, or I need to schedule a different time).

Please keep in mind that I am always available to answer your questions regarding your child's progress.  If you choose not to have a conference you will still have plenty of opportunities to ask me questions.  My goal is always for parents to be aware of their child's progress and I try to be as open as possible regarding parent communication and involvement.  In fact, that's the main reason I maintain this website!