A Healthy Me is Drug Free!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three, Two, One

 Thanks to some very generous parents and relatives to my students my class will be receiving 7 magazine subscriptions to add to our classroom library. I intend on using the magazines in a reading center. Students will beable to choose a magazine article to read, then report on it. To train my class how to use the magazine center I did a class activity in which all students had to read the same article. A couple of years ago I went to a science workshop and received 20 copies of the same issue of National Geographic kids, so this worked out perfect. Better yet, one of the articles in the magazine is about beaks and we just did a beak experiment and study in science. I had forgotten I even had the class set of magazines. Anyway, I assigned students partners. With their partner they each took turns reading a page of the article until they completed the reading.

 

Once they read the article, the students worked with their partners to write down THREE new things they learned, TWO things that were interesting to them, and asked ONE question about something they want to know more about. We need more practice building up our stamina to work on an activity like this. I probably should have had them read with their partner one day, then work on the writing part the next day. The students got tired. It didn't help that we did the activity in the afternoon during science, so they were already getting tired.

Nesting Out of Season

 In reading a couple of weeks ago, we read a story called, "Get the Egg!" It was planned that we would make edible nests on Friday after reading the story, but cooking time was interrupted. We finally got around to cooking up our nests today, since last Friday we couldn't do it since we had our Fall parade and party.

 

To make a nest, melt chocolate chips in a home-made double-boiler, an electric frying pan with water and a metal bowl sitting in the pan. This works perfect for melting chocolate without burning it.

Stir in Chow Mein Noodles (oops, no picture available).

 

Scoop chocolate covered noodles out on wax paper.

 

Shape your nest.

Put your eggs in. You can use jelly beans, but one of our parents actually found Chocolate covered Robin Eggs for us to use.

 

What kid doesn't love to get MESSY?

 

Be sure to lick your fingers! 

"TahDah! Beautiful nests."

 

Make like a vulture and dive in!

 

A Colorful Wonder

It all started with a little Show-and-Tell about a trip to Tennessee. First, there was a geography lesson about where Tennessee is located.

 

  Next, there was an aroused sense of wonder, " Why do leaves change color?"

 

Hmmm! I just happened to have a non-fiction book about that particular wonder. Drum roll for a little scientific explanation via a book. Weather and light cause leaves to change color. When the temperature gets cooler and there are fewer hours of sunlight, it is a signal to a tree to take a rest that winter is coming. The leaves begin to die because the tree no longer needs them. As the leaves separate from the tree they get less water and can no longer make chlorophyl, that is what makes them green. The green color fades revealing other colors in the leaves. The new colors or pigments are made from extra sugar that is stored in the leaves.

 

 

 After I read the book to the class, the children worked in groups of four to sort the leaves into four color categories green, yellow, orange and red.

 

 

Once the students sorted the leaves they counted and recorded the number of leaves in each color category. Then they colored in a bar graph to represent their leaf data. I found the bar graph worksheet on the Web at, All Students Can SHINE.

 

 

 

 

Last the children learned how to make a leaf rubbing, by placing a leaf vein side up under a sheet of paper and rubbing over it with the side of a paperless crayon.

Ms. Gossett Goes M.I.A. During STEM Day

Yes, it's true! Ms. Gossett was in the classroom during breakfast this morning, but she went into the classroom bathroom and never came out. HOWEVER, a weird Mad Scientist came out of the bathroom claiming to be Albert Einstein. I have pictures to prove it.

Einstein taught Ms. Gossett's and three other first grade classes about The Scientific Method. He taught the students the steps for solving a scientific problem. He even let the students conduct an experiment with water, Sprite and raisins. 

 

Note: Einstein was a little too busy shaking bottles of Sprite to take photos, so the class photographer for the week was in charge. The pictures turned out great, however there are no pictures showing the steps to conducting the experiment. Anyway, can you make a hypothesis about what happens when you put raisins in a cup of Sprite? Some students thought the Sprite would turn brown. Others thought the raisins would explode. Still others thought the raisins would float. The raisins actually sink, float to the top and sink again. The carbonation causes bubbles to form on the raisin, lifting the raisin up. When the raisin reaches the surface the bubbles pop and the raisin falls to the bottom. It seemed like the raisins were dancing. At the end of the lesson, Einstein showed the class a California Raisin, "I Heard it Through the Grapevine," Michael Jackson YouTube movie.

During STEM Day students had an opportunity to rotate to other teachers' classrooms to learn about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). In Mrs. Prescott's room the children made a Scientist craftivity and wrote about how they are like scientists.

 

In Mrs. Lind's room, the children watched a short Brainpop Jr. movie about 3-dimensional shapes (math). Next they engineered a rectangular prism from gum drops candy and toothpicks.

 

In Mrs. Biance's classroom, the students learned about the tools scientists use. The students worked in stations using thermometers, magnifying glasses,  and magnets.