Sheep, Alpacas, and Rabbits, Oh My!

During our third visit with Miss Virginia first graders learned all about Fiber Farms!  Students learned that Fiber Farms are farms that raise animals (sheep, alpacas, and Angora rabbits) to "harvest" their fur which can be used to create clothing.  They learned the 10 steps involved in this process:
1.) animal,  2.) shearing or brushing, 3.) collecting, 4.)cleaning, 5.) carding, 6.) spinning, 7.) dying, 8.) yarn, 9.) knitting, 10.) clothing!  Students had fun learning about the steps and then putting them back in order after Miss Virginia mixed them up!  They also learned which fiber creates the warmest and the softest clothing!  Ask them!  (Hint: in order from the warmest/softest to the least warm - Angora Rabbit fiber, then Alpaca fiber, and then sheep fiber a.k.a wool!). 

Miss Virginia also treated us to some cheese making!  We made Farmer's Cheese right in our classroom!!  The verdict from most: a big thumbs up!!

How Many Apples Are Our Names?

In keeping with our theme of apples this week, while we are studying farms, we read Ten Apples Up On Top by Theo LeSieg and figured out how many apples high our names would be.  Some were pretty tall!

Making Applesauce

To end our week of focusing on apples and apple farms first graders made applesauce!!

Exploring Triangles

Today first graders explored a new set of shapes called Power Polygons.  It was a great way to start delving into an investigation of triangles to figure out what exactly makes a triangle a triangle.   We discovered that some of the shapes that we thought looked kind of like a triangle but were "too skinny" or "sideways" or "upside down", were in fact, actually real triangles!! 
Students also had a chance to create their own triangles using geoboards and rubber bands, as well as drawing them on dot paper.