I also understand that First Grade is the first time in your child's life that he or she is sitting in a desk...for hours...day after day. Talk about a tough thing to adjust to! They not only have to get used to having a desk, but they also have to learn how to keep the inside of their desks nice and neat, too! They have to learn not to play with their pencils, fanny packs, etc. Mrs. Coulter and I have the honor of trying to teach them how to correctly sit in a desk to show their teachers that they are listening- feet on the floor (under their own desk), no heads leaning on their hands, sitting up nice and straight, eyes on the speaker. In fact, Mrs. Wolfe and I have the same poster in our room that shows how students should be sitting, so these are skills they will be using for years to come.
Has your child talked to you about buddy or partner work during math and reading? After I have taught the whole class our math lesson of the day, I pair them up with a buddy and let them find a comfy spot on the floor to complete the rest of the worksheet with a friend! They love this! And, it gets them out of their desks for a few minutes = ) It teaches them patience, because they are not allowed to progress onto the next problem if their buddy isn't ready yet. It teaches them kindness, because they usually end up helping each other when their buddy doesn't understand a concept. It also allows Mrs. Coulter and I time to walk around the room and help students on a more one-on-one scale. Here are some photos of our students during one of our buddy sessions of math:
Comparing two numbers using cubes to understand "greater than" and "less than" |
Math buddies working hard together! |
Friends teaching friends! |
Finally, the kids were very excited to have their first science experiment this week! They are learning about plants- right now we are focusing on the functions of the roots, stems, and leaves. To demonstrate the function of stems carrying water to the parts of the plants, we placed Napa cabbage leaves into a beaker filled with colored water. We can't wait to get back to school on Monday to see whether the stems actually carried water to the other parts of the leaf! Here are some photos of our little scientists:
Our Napa Cabbage stem experiment |
Scientists working hard at their desks |
Please don't forget that Tuesday is a mass day for our class, and shorts are not permitted on mass days. Also, there is no school on Friday- the parish needs a day free of students on campus to prep the school for the fall festival. Thank you for a great week, and we will see you on Monday!
Take care!
~Ms. Hudson
Ms. Hudson,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate these updates. Lots of cool stuff. Particularly, you make mention of the classes in-process plant experiment of root, stem, and leave function. Funny as this may sound, you must post the cabbage results. :)
Good luck this week.
~Robert
Ms. Hudson - your blog is SUCH an incredible place for us to see all the great work you do and the fun stuff that happens in your class. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDelete~Maureen