Happy Chinese New Year and the Amelia Bedelia Fashion Show

Despite all of the snow, the First Graders have been hard at work at school.  We have been learning about the customs and traditions of Chinese New Year, and the girls led a parade around school today in honor of the holiday. Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Girls from Mrs. Gandhi's class showed off their new understanding of idioms to the rest of the First Grade in a special Amelia Bedelia Fashion Show.  The girls in the audience laughed at all of the great costumes and everyone had a wonderful time!

Celebrating in First Grade!!

What a wonderful day in the world of First Grade!  Our one hundredth day parade was a huge hit, and the girls proudly modeled their creative shirts through the Elementary Center and the Administrative Building.  After the parade, the girls enjoyed having lunch in the classroom with a festive Valentine treat and opening their many cards. Excitement was in the air as the girls thanked one another.  Have a great weekend!!!

From the Library

We have been reading some old favorites together in Library: Robert McCloskey's Blueberries for Sal; Judith Viorst's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday; Sharon Creech's A Fine, Fine School; and Peggy Rathman's Officer Buckle and Gloria. Now we are moving on to newer books including Mac Barnett's Telephone (based on the game where a message is passed along and changes as it travels), Candace Fleming's Clever Jack Takes the Cake (recommended by the Parents' Choice Foundation), and Michael Catchpool's beautiful book The Cloud Spinner. Ask your daughter how Sal was in danger, why Alexander was obsessed with Australia, if she'd like to attend the fine fine school, how did Gloria liven up the safety tips and what Jack's present for the princess ended up being.

Celebrate Good Times....

This week the First Graders enjoyed celebrating Winter Birthdays with a delicious cookie cake at recess.  Happy Birthday to all of our new 7 year olds!

The girls are also busy preparing for next week's two celebrations.  In class we are making bags for the girls to collect all of their valentines, and at home we know they are busy working on the valentines themselves as well as their 100th day t-shirts.  February is a fun month, and the girls are very excited!

Scratch Jr.

The girls have been working hard in the Scratch Jr. app.  We have learned how to add, delete, and edit a sprite, use all movement buttons, and most of the looks buttons.  We will continue to work in this app and learn how to use the green flag and how to move more than one sprite at once.

Art: Wire Self-Portraits

First graders are finishing wire self-portraits inspired by Alexander Calder. Students began by looking at the lines in their faces and then completing several one-line drawings of themselves on the iPad and on "art cards". Girls found that they could connect their features in many different ways. This observation came in handy when they were challenged to construct their face using wire. First graders looked at wire portraits by Calder, and brainstormed ways of forming strong attachments in their sculptures. Ask your first grader about the special tools she used. 

Next we read the book "What Do You Do With An Idea?" and discussed how our ideas are an important part of us. Girls shared things that they notice, wonder, and think, then created small abstract additions to their sculptures based on their ideas. Some chose to connect these ideas to their portrait and some chose to leave them as separate sculptures. 

A selection of ideas from first graders:

"I notice people make the world a better place." 

"I notice the sky is gray sometimes."

"I notice you can not get everything you want."

"I wonder what life before us was like."

"I wonder if there are colors we can't see."

"I wonder what it's like to be someone else."

"I think my stuffed animals are alive." 

"I think people should be nicer."

"I think when you grow up some things are harder for you."

Girls Rock!-Celebrating Groundbreaking Women

The First Grade girls are very excited about the current Read-A-Thon!  We are looking forward to the assembly tomorrow, and the girls will have dedicated reading time which may be applied to their goal. Also, they have had time in a few classes to read and may apply these minutes.  We are eager to see pledge forms on February 6, 2015.  Let's go First Grade!