Patterns in the Sky

 First Graders enjoyed another Science Extravaganza day recently.  This time we focused on our space unit which had us learning all about the patterns in the sky that we can observe, describe and predict.  We learned about the patterns of the sun, moon, and stars.  

We watched some time-lapse videos of the sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset, and learned that the sun only appears to be moving - it is really the earth that is moving around! 

We read this great book!

We created our own "torn paper art" scenes to show the predictable patterns in the sky across the day and into the night. 

And finally, we learned a little bit about stars and constellations.  We even learned that the patterns of the stars could help you if you get lost!!

Our Podcast is Here!! "Wild Kratts, Jr"

The First Graders at RES have written their own podcasts all about animals!!  This was a project led by our amazing librarian, Emily Wood after the students had completed a research nonfiction writing project earlier this year.  

Take a listen!!!  It's so wonderful and informative!!  

                                                                   Wild Kratts, Jr Podcast

Log Hotels!

 We read a book called Log Hotel by Anne Schrieber and then ventured out in the forest to do our own exploration of "log hotels"!  We discovered that there is a lot going on inside rotting logs!  We also learned just how important this part of the tree's life cycle is to the rest of the forest world, its inhabitants, as well as the soil!!

After our exploration, we created our own "log hotel" to share our learning with others. 

Highlights from the Week of May 3

 Here are some highlights from the past week.  First graders are learning lots and spreading kindness!! 

We began our week by making Kindness Rocks to bring the Kindness Rock Garden back to life! 

We began this work by reading this book and connected our kindness rocks to "filling others' buckets".  

 

We started a new unit in math and worked on solving problems about things that come in sets of 2s, 5s, and 10s.  

We began a new unit in Reading which focuses on fiction.  We will be exploring characters, story elements, and themes or lessons we can learn from books. We also got to do a little bit of reading outside at the end of the week when the sun finally came out!

We had another wonderful session with Miss Gigi and created our own camling pictures to look at and use when we need to bring our energy down, focus , or just do a few moments of mindfulness.