New Computer Aided Microscope

We used our new USB microscope to get a really close look at our rocks. It was super cool!

Starting our Science Unit on Earth Materials

We did our first investigation of our rocks. We looked at them with a hand, lens and rubbed them together to check for other properties. Touch here to see photos on mobile devices.

Author's Share

The students read their stories to the class in an author's share time. We heard some great stories!

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First Grade: August, September and October

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Meditation Lessons

We have a special classroom mom joining us on Wednesdays to teach the class how to meditate. The lessons are short and sweet, but give the kiddos another tool to use when they need to calm their bodies, etc.
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Decorating Sugar Skulls

As part of our leaning about the culture of Mexico, we learned about the celebration of Day of the Dead. Today we decorated sugar skulls, a traditional part of this celebration in Mexico.
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Silly Halloween

These are the silly photos!
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Halloween Party

We had a super fun party. The kids were adorable in their costumes.
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Firefighter's Visit

The Boulder Firefighters came to visit the first grade today. The firefighters reviewed the safe meeting place homework with the classes. They also talked about some important fire safety rules in the event of a fire in your house. The classes were very good listeners!

Learning About Solids and Liquids

In science we have been learning about solids and liquids. One of our focus questions is: What makes solids and liquids different?  We have also been exploring the properties of both. Thank you for your excellent responses to the question we posed in the parent journal. Your responses honed in some important information and also provided some addition learning which was super fun!

Student Organized Brain Break

They came up with this Brain Break on their own! So sweet!!

Introducing Red Lightning and the AquaFarm!

Our AquaFarm is up and running. Red Lightning is the name of our Betta fish. The kids nominated names and Red Lightning had the most votes. Great name!! On the top of the tank we are growing wheat grass and basil. It is a small personal ecosystem where the fish feed the plants and the plants clean the water. Pretty cool! We are exploring the science of aquaponics. We will experiment over the school year with other plants also. Here is the link for the AquaFarm if you want to read a bit more about our project: https://www.backtotheroots.com/

Sneak Peek

We are working on something really cool! More later.........

          

Applesauce From the Crest View Apple Trees

We cooked the apples all day and it turned into yummy applesauce. We gobbled it up this afternoon. Yum!!

Seed Saving Lesson in the Garden

On Friday, we went to the Crest View garden to learn about how plants produce seeds. We looked at many of the plants and found that a lot of them had seeds we could gather. We also learned about the many ways seeds travel to be disbursed.

Apple Picking

We are gathering apples so we can make applesauce on Tuesday. It was a great year for the Crest View apple trees!

Zucchini Bread in the Solar Oven!

Toady we made and then cooked Zucchini bread in the solar oven. It took 5 hours to cook outside in the sun and it was fantastic! YUM!

Pajama Day!

                                                              We love pajama day!!

Fitting Together.........

Like puzzles, we are coming together, making friends.

Our First Day in First Grade

We are coming together as a class. It's going to be a great year.

Indoor Garden Harvest

We ate more lettuce from our Aerogarden. It was yummy again!!

    

                                   

Our Lettuce Grew!!

Today we went out to look at the lettuce we planted in March. It has really grown a lot! On Friday it will be served in the cafeteria during lunch. We can't wait!

                                

     

                                                   

                                 

      

The Chicks Are Hatching!!

So far we have 8 chicks hatched! They are so cute an fluffy and a wonderful addition to our Spring growing in first grade.

Plants Sprouting

Plants are growing!!

The Countdown Has Begun...Hatching Chicks!

Not only are we growing plants, but we are also now incubating chicken eggs. The chicks are expected to hatch sometime around April 23rd. We will keep you posted!

Planting Brassica

We planted our Brassica seeds today. We will be using this plant to study about what plants need and how plants are similar and different to others.

Learning to Tell Time

In first grade we learn about measuring time with clocks;  analog and digital. The measuring time standard for first graders is for them to be able to tell and write time to the hour and half hour on both analog and digital clocks. 

Today we made our own practice clocks.

     

                         

       

Pajama Day

Happy Dance for Pajama Day

These kiddos can dance!!!

We Love Books!

I love when the students find a book they really like. In this case, these two even read the book to the class. We loved it and so did they!

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Lettuce Planting in our Crest View First Grade Garden

It was a beautiful day to go out and plant lettuce starts. The students planted the entire garden with little lettuce plants. We will watch how they grow over the next  few weeks. When the plants are ready sometime in May, they will be harvested and we all will enjoy eating our lettuce as salad in the Crest View cafeteria.

Winner, Winner, Ice Cream For Dinner!

The results of the parent Ice Cream flavor survey are in! Vanilla had 11 votes, Chocolate had 16 votes and Strawberry had 3 votes. We had a nice class discussion using our data language of more, less, greater and fewer. We calculated how many more and how many fewer with all the flavors. Thank you for your input to help us practice our data math!

Washington Monument Model

We created a model of the Washington Monument using marshmallows and toothpicks. The shape of the Washington Monument is an obelisk so the students learned how to put together the squares to make cubes and then to make the pyramid for the top. FUN!!!

Responsible Leaders

Here is the list the class came up with for the qualities of a responsible leader. Your additions from the parent journal letters were fantastic. Thank you for taking such care to answer the question so thoroughly!

Dramatic Before and During Flood Photos from Google Earth of the Crest View School Area

This is the Crest View Neighborhood before the flood. You will find Crest View in the lower right quarter of the photo.

BEFORE FLOOD

DURING FLOOD

Valentine's Party 2014

We had a great Valentine's Party. The kids had so much fun opening their Valentine's!

Happy Valentine's Day!

How Long is the Statue of Liberty's Foot?

Well, her foot is just a bit longer than our class when we stand shoulder to shoulder. We made a replica of the Statue of Liberty's foot and then measured it against our class. This is what we found out. (Her foot is really 25 feet long.)

Roman Numerals as They Relate to the Statue of Liberty

When we were learning about the Statue of Liberty, we learned that on the tablet she is holding is written: July 4, 1776, and that it is written in Roman Numerals. We had a discussion about "what are Roman Numerals" and then today we had a lesson about Roman Numerals by a student teacher!

What Does The Fox Say?..Brain Break

This is our new favorite dance brain break....enjoy!

Exploring Liquids

The class explored liquids and discovered that liquids have their own special properties. They also now understand that liquids are different from solids in several ways. They are quick to respond that: "liquids take the shape of the container they are in" and that "solids have a definate shape that is not easy to change".

                  

Science study on Solids and Liquids

In science we are working on learning about matter and specifically the solid and liquid states of matter. Students in first grade are expected to understand that solids and liquids have unique properties that distinguish them. We explore, classifiy and sort their properties. 

Here is the exploration of solids....liquids coming soon!

New Math App

We have been using a new math App which has been aligned with our most recent math unit. It is called Math Doodles.

Brain Break!

It is really important to give our brains a break every now and then. One way we do this is to dance to "Just Dance" videos. Notice what good dancers the children are!! One of our favorites is the Mario dance.

Better Late Than Never: Holiday Party 2013