Farms Make Vermont - Apple Farms

First graders began a unit on farms entitled Farms Make Vermont.  During this unit, we will learn about different types of farms with a focus on the economic cycle of Buy, Produce, Sell.  We will explore questions such as:  What kind of things would farmers need to buy to have this type of farm? What kind of products would this farm produce?  What products would they be able to sell?  What is the difference between a "want" and a "need"?  What would a farmer need to buy to keep their farm going?  Lots to think about and learn about!!

Every other Friday we are going to have a "Theme Day" during which we will focus on a science or a social studies topic exploring it all throughout the day.  Our first such day was focused on a study of Apple Farms.  We learned about the life cycle of the apple tree, how farmers plant and maintain their trees and harvest the apples, and then how an apple makes it from the farm to the store, to be sold to us!  We even got to try our hand at making applesauce!  It was a group effort and it was delicious!!

We began our day with chopping up some apples to get the applesauce started in the crockpot!

We read a book entitled "How Did That Get Into My Lunchbox?", watched a video of an apple processing plant, and explored lots of farm books!

We did an apple tasted test after learning that there are hundreds and hundreds of different varieties of apples!

We ended our day with a treat of delicious homemade applesauce!!  Yum!

Class Promises

We have been thinking about and discussing classroom rules and expectations.  Last week we wrote our Hopes and Dreams for first grade and realized that we could use some guidelines in our classroom to help ensure that we have a safe and supportive community to help us achieve our Hopes and Dreams.  Today we finished up our discussion by realizing that all of our ideas could actually fit under the 3 big schoolwide expectations: Respect Ourselves, Respect Others, and Respect Our Environment.  We then made little button people to represent our promises to each other to always try our best!!

Planning for our Reading

Did you know that it is a great idea to make a plan when it is time for reading?!  It turns out that it is!  Making a plan for your reading time (the books that you hope to read and the order which you hope to read them in) can help you stay better focused and accomplish more reading!  First graders got new reading mats to help them with their planning and found them helpful right away!

A Tree Can Be...

First graders went into the woods for Forest Time Thursday this morning!  We focused on the trees around us as we listened to the book entitled, A Tree Can Be... by Judy Nayer.  Students then spent a few quiet moments observing, listening, and thinking about what all of the trees around us might "be" to different creatures, including ourselves.  Then out came our Nature Journals to record one of our ideas about what a tree could be...  Such creative thinkers!!