First Grade Authors' Share

On Friday, the 1st graders invited us to their classroom to listen to the books they just published.  You did a great job on your writing 1st graders!  Thanks for sharing your books with us!

Banana Bingo Celebration: Lunch and Dance Party in the Classroom!

 We got a banana bingo last week and the class voted on lunch and dance party in the classroom.  This is always a favorite.  Something about eating lunch in a different place is exciting for them!  And they LOVE the dancing part!

Mystery Reader 3: A Student and a Teacher?

 1. I am a student at another school.

2. I was your teacher.

3. I love birds.

The class was thrown off by the clues of being a student but also their former teacher.  They thought of all of the teachers they've had including substitute teachers.  Mrs. Bergo was on their list of possibilities, and they were so happy to see her arrive!  She read a family favorite of theirs: "Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler" by Margery Cuyler.  The class enjoyed the book and all of the questions they asked her!  Thanks for stopping by Mrs. Bergo!

Mystery Reader #2: A Giraffe Loving Mom

 1. I am not originally from Minnesota.

2. Giraffes are my favorite animal.

3. Little House on the Prairie was my favorite book series growing up.

The class felt pretty confident about who this was because only one student could confirm that her mom's favorite animal was a giraffe.  The perfect read aloud for her was "Giraffes Can't Dance" by Giles Andreae.  Thank you so much for taking the time to read with us and chat with us!

Mystery Reader #1: A Repeat Reader!

1) I've been a mystery reader every year.

2) I coach in the fall.

3) I'd rather ride my bike than drive a car.

After reading these clues, the students thought that our mystery reader was for sure Mr. Semmen.  That's exactly what Mason was hoping for!  Mason has been a mystery reader ever since being a 2nd grader himself in my classroom.  He considers himself an expert flag football coach in the fall.  He really does love riding bike.  It's always fun when the class is thrown off with the clues!  Mason read a Piggie and Elephant favorite: "I Will Surprise My Friend!"  Thanks for reading and chatting with us Mason!  We loved it!

Poetry Writing

 Over the last month we worked on writing and illustrating 4 different poems in our writing block.  The students wrote acrostic poems, portrait poems, haikus, and 2 words on a line poems.  After writing at least 3 of each poem, each student picked out their favorite of each poem to publish.  The final page in our booklets is "About the Author."  On this page the students are able to share more about themselves with their readers. Their books turned out beautiful!  We shared our booklets with the first graders once they were finished.  

Engineering an Egg Drop

 In our engineering unit, we've learned that engineers need to use creative ideas to build or take things apart.  They also need to be great problem solvers who are willing to try things in a new way if they don't work the first time.

In order to put these skills to use, the students built an egg drop box with a few limited supplies.  Each group was given a shoe box filled with 1 toilet paper tube, 2 cotton balls, 1 styrofoam cup, 2 paper towels, 2 popsicle sticks, 2 straws, 2 pipe cleaners, and a roll of masking tape.

On day 1, the students created their boxes without the egg.  They had to make some assumptions on how the egg would fit into their design.  On day 2, the students were given the egg and many groups had to problem solve a new design based on whether or not the egg fit into their original design.  

This project also gave the students another chance to collaborate within a partnership or group and practice listening to each other's ideas and working together.

The goal was to keep the egg safe for 3 different heights of dropping.  We dropped off a desk, off the landing of the stairs to the new gym, and off the catwalk.

After each drop, groups may have had to redesign if their egg broke from the drop.  This was a fun project!

Egg drop construction:

Drop 1: Six out of eight eggs survived!

Drop 2: All eggs survived!

Drop 3: We dropped from the catwalk in the gym.  The class couldn't believe that every egg survived!