Play Practice!

We have begun practicing for our play! Students are learning their lines and songs. It takes a lot of courage, focus and attention to be part of such a big group endeavor. We are already so very proud of everyone!

Plants

We have been observing and recording the growth of our bean plants for several weeks. It was awesome to see the leaves searching for sunlight, tilting and leaning toward the sun. We also concluded several other plant experiments that tested questions such as, "Can a plant grow without sunlight? ....without water? ....without soil? Are plants strong? Can they survive in the cold?"  Ask your child to share with you the results of their unique experiment.

Arbor Day and Green Up Day

On Friday, May 1st we celebrated Arbor Day and Green Up Day, with beautiful weather, finally. (Please excuse some closed eyes in these pictures . . .we are getting used to sunny days!).
We noticed that the garden next to the Breeze Way needed cleaning when we were outside during our Hands On Nature activity about birds in the forest.  The clean up job was completed with much enthusiasm.  Right afterwards, we headed to the back playground to join other classes in celebrating Arbor Day.  Joplin James, a Kindergarten teacher, had organized this event.  Through his work the school received a donation of a red maple from Horsfords Nursery.  We watched the tree get put into the ground, next to the oak tree that had been planted last year for Arbor Day (many of the children remembered this).  Joplin led us in a fun song about a tree.

What do you think is inside a seed?

We are studying plants. The first question we pondered is "what is inside a seed?"  We dissected seeds, and drew and labeled our observations.  It was exciting to discover that there is a baby plant inside the seed.  We are also watching seeds germinate in clear plastic bags that we have hanging in the window.

First grade is FUN!

So many exciting things happen in first grade:

Helping each other tie shoes.

Loosing teeth.

Reading with friends.

Writing and writing so much more.

Sharing writing with our classmates.

Working independently.

Eighth grade volunteers

We have said good-bye and thank you to our 8th grade volunteer Anna.  And, we have welcomed a new volunteer, Aidan, who was once a 1st and 2nd grade student in this classroom.

Hands On Nature: White Tail Deer

Last week we learned all about the interdependence among white tailed deer and other living things in the forest. Students were able to touch and feel pelt samples, hooves and skulls. Ask your child to teach you the difference between antlers and horns!