Happy Thanksgiving!

One last picture to commemorate the season!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving!

In First Grade the girls are very busy in all of their subjects getting ready for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.  They have been learning information about the First Thanksgiving and what it was like to live in that era.  Ask your daughter about some of the facts she has learned.  Some are quite funny! The girls have also been talking and writing about their Thanksgiving traditions and special foods.  This is a favorite unit by all!

From the Library

First graders started off the year sampling from Cynthia Rylant's beloved books in series. We read one each from these: Mr. Putter and Tabby, Poppleton, Henry and Mudge, and Annie and Snowball. (Annie and Snowball is a newer series. Annie is Henry's cousin and next-door neighbor. Snowball is her pet rabbit.) If your daughter enjoyed these books she can find an endless supply in our library. Next we tackled Tomie DePaola's Bill and Pete series. Ask your daughter about the adventures of William Everett and his toothbrush (who is also his best friend).

Art: Monochromatic Habitats

After creating bugs based on themselves, first graders began making habitats for their creatures. They began by looking at paintings to figure out possible definitions for the word "monochromatic." They noticed that monochromatic paintings were all one color, but if you looked closely sometimes the color could be a darker, lighter, or just a little bit different. Each girl used cut tissue paper, tempera cakes, and colored pencil to create a monochromatic environment. They had the additional challenge of choosing one shape that would communicate something about the type of habitat they chose. First graders will place their bugs in their monochromatic paintings using 3D sticky dots in order to pop them out. 

Here is what demonstrations look like in first grade art: 

First Grade Happenings

This week we say good bye to our spiders, Charlotte and Octavia!  They have been a great addition to our classrooms and the girls have learned many facts about them.  Look forward to seeing your daughters' spider folder next week.

This week we celebrated Fall Birthdays and enjoyed an especially yummy treat!!  Happy Birthday to our new seven year olds.

Tonight is game night in First grade.  We are enjoying playing games in the classroom, too!  Have fun tonight.

Art: A Bug Like Me

First graders have been hard at work creating "bugs" based on themselves and inspired by Oaxacan folk art. They worked with a partner to identify all the parts of an assigned insect/spider, and then we created a list of all the observed parts. Next each girl visualized a bug that was like her. For example, one girl imagined long legs because she loves to run fast. First graders used paint in the easel room to outline and fit together all the necessary parts of their bugs. They filled in the parts with oil pastel and poster paints. Lastly, they are adding patterns based on observation of bugs under a microscope or magnifying glass. They are also imagining what their own bug would look like under a microscope to create their own patterns. Girls use iPads to experiment with patterns before adding them to their bug. Ask your first grader if she can describe the animal sculptures from Oaxaca (see last image for example).