Come Take a Ride on the Polar Express!

This week, we studied the popular book, The Polar Express.  It is a wonderful story with beautiful illustrations.  The students completed several lessons surrounding this story.

After listening to the book, the children wrote about their favorite parts.

They worked together to sequence the story.  After they did this sequence, they came up and retold the story for the class.  This was great practice in retelling, using sequencing words (first, next, then, finally), and speaking.

At the end of the week, we enjoyed watching the movie.  We used a diagram to compare and contrast the book and the movie.  The students did remarkably with this and were able to pick out many details!

Enjoy your winter break, D102!  See you next year!

Squiggle Writing

     One of our center activities this week was "Squiggle Writing."  The students are given a squiggle, are asked to use their imagination to create a scene with their squiggle, and finally write about it.   This week's squiggle was an open ended pointed shape and looked an upside down V.  Given the time of year, I was expecting to see a lot of Christmas trees.  Take a peek at these very creative squiggle writings:

"My squiggle is a castle with a unicorn."

"My squiggle is a shark."

"My squiggle is me and my friend climbing a volcano."

Much more than Christmas trees, indeed!  

How do you measure a wrist?

In D102, we've been busy learning about measurement.  We've discussed all the important details:  Lining our measuring tool up at the edge of our object, making sure our tools line up end to end, and looking for the closest number.  The students have been able to find the inches side of the ruler, the centimeters side, and successfully measure items around our classroom.  They've been doing great!

Next, we posed a question:  How can you measure your wrist in inches?  Your ankle?  Around your head?  After some discussion, the students were introduced to the tape measure.  They were then sent on a "measure hunt"!  They did a great job learning and exploring together.

Wonderful work, first graders!!

Welcome!

Welcome to our classroom blog!  This blog will be a place where parents, friends, and family can visit and check out what we are doing in our busy first grade classroom.  Please feel free to stop by often and check for updates! You can also follow our class on Twitter @MrsHuminsky.