Walters Art Gallery

http://www.thewalters.org

http://thewalters.org/teachers/pdf/visit-activities/ancient%20greece%20and%20rome.pdf
March 7th

History Test on Chapters 1-6 Monday - details

Dear Parents,

The test tomorrow will only have material that was reviewed extensively with students this past week.  There will be 25 multiple choice questions and all the questions will be taken from the review sheets that your child has in their binder under history.  

My apologies concerning not having a review on the blog. 

Mrs. Gowin

Onward and Upward!

How to "Grow" a Reader

Frederick County Public Library Summer Reading Program

"You become a reader because you saw and heard someone you admired enjoying the experience, someone led you to the world of books even before you could read, let you taste the magic of stories, took you to the library, and allowed you to stay up later at night to read in bed." - Jim Trelease (20th century). The New Read-Aloud Handbook, ch. 1 (1985).

Children's List of Good Reads from FCPL including a list of new books.
For children in grades K-5

“The more you read, the better you get, the more better you get, the more you like it; and the more you like it, the more you do it.” 
― Jim Trelease, The Read-Aloud Handbook


Recommended series books: 
Amelia Bedelia, Flat Stanley, Henry and Mudge, Magic Tree House, Magic School Bus, My Father's Dragon Trilogy (we are reading book 1 this week!), Rainbow Fairies, A to Z Mysteries and whatever books your child self-selects!


Good Reads 2nd Grade Reading List

Education.com Summer Reading List

The Best Books on Reading I've Ever Read (For Parents!)

 The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease 

and Read All About It! (book excerpts and reviews for teens and preteens).

STEM In Class Activities

Recycling old crayons

(Solids to liquids to solids--

Energy in the form of HEAT makes the change possible)

Just out of the oven...The class loved their mini cupcake crayons!

Ordering animal tails in inches from least to greatest and greatest to least...

Ask your child if they remember the animal tails they had and how their lengths.

Did you know a bobcat's tail is only 8 inches long?

A lion's tail is 36 inches!

Fountain Rock Field Trip!

Living Organisms Program 

May 2013

Ms. Alice discussed the walking stick's adaptations with us.  It's hard to see, but it's on her palm!

We observed the toad eating and the food chain in action.

Rosy the tarantula

Having fun on the pond observation deck!

Observing the quarry pond organisms...we could see the turtles, but not much else due to the algae.

Ms. Terri had us demonstrated the food chain with puppets. 

We touched a snake!

Thank you parent chaperones!

March Book-It Awards

Way to go March readers!! 

(Parents use the certificates before they expire on May 11, 2013.)

More March Book-It participants!

The Traveling Trunk - Past and Present Unit

Learning about the Past through Family Antiques

 

Feed sacks, plain and colorful, were reused and repurposed.  Some were used to store vegetables or fruit in root cellars or colorful sacks could have been made into kitchen dishcloths, dresser runners, or even clothing.  Kitchen tools could have been made from wood like the masher above and a little metal pail could have been a lunch pail and even used for collecting berries or grapes.

Wooden cutting board with woodburning design on left.  In the middle is a metal bread plate on which a loaf of bread would have been wrapped in a cloth.  The inscription on the plate says "Give Us This Day, Our Daily Bread".  On the right, aluminum plates and candy dishes were popular in the 1930's.  

Quilts were made with material from old clothes, feed sacks, or excess fabric and had many different patterns.  On the rocking chair is a double wedding band design and is a family heirloom.   Women would sometimes have quilting get togethers as well as trade material.  Porcelain enamel bowls, pitchers and tableware were popular in the earlier 1900's.  Before indoor plumbing, pitchers and bowls would have been used to wash off your face in the morning and night. 

Darning Egg Wood Sock Mending Tool on the far left (even socks were mended after getting holes, very little was wasted long ago) and a oil glass night light lamp.  

Embroidery, crochet, and lacework were all sewing methods mothers would teach their daughters.  

Dr. Seuss Day!

March 2, 2013

Buddy reading our favorite Dr. Seuss books!

STEM

Friday we had a very fun and informative visit from Dr. Mimi, Grace's mom.  She is a chiropractor in Walkersville and brought models for the class to explore.  They also learned the importance of and how how to care for their backs.  Students also learned the difference between vertebrates (organisms with backbones) and invertebrates (organisms that have less and simpler systems) by reading along with the books on PebbleGo. 

Even though we know how to care for our teeth, which is important, we never really are taught about how important it is to care for our backbone, the core of our whole body!  Dr. Mimi shared models of how the vertebrate disintegrate or breakdown because of poor posture and also too much sitting (which starts in childhood now from watching too much tv and playing video games for endless hours).  We learned the proper way to breathe so we can be more relaxed and get more oxygen to the brain and body.   Our whole body and systems, like the skeletal, nervous, and muscular systems, all work better and stay healthier longer when we are moving and exercising regularly.  The class was very engaged and really enjoyed learning from a STEM Professional within our community.  

Thanks Dr. Mimi for teaching us Friday morning!!

 You can read about vertebrates and invertebrates again by logging on with our school subscription-- information on the white label inside the red folder.  We also explored the TrueFlix book online about the nervous system. (This was more of a 4-5 grade reading level book)


Watch the clip below to see how even young children can see and appreciate engineering in our world.  Together, SCIENCE, MATH, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY are all exciting areas that all kids can learn to easily recognize and understand! 

STEM in our classroom!!  

Mrs. Zimmerman is coming back on Tuesday to candle our eggs and see the growth of the embryos inside the egg.

The chicken is a bantam (often called a bantie).  They are miniature chickens and the hens lay much smaller eggs. 

                

Watch the video clip below to watch the embryo development throughout the 21 day incubation period! 

Starting Unit 8 - Double Digit Addition

Yankee Doodle with Lyrics

When we recently added a phonics poem the tune was to Yankee Doodle Dandy, which most of the students had never heard of.  We had to remedy this in order for the class to sing the poem, so we listened to the Yankee Doodle Song.  They were FASCINATED by the fact that the tune was actually used a MARCHING SONG for troops during the AMERICAN REVOLUTION (parent fun fact-it seems as if the tune was originally an English marching tune and Americans changed the words also to upset the English soldiers).  So many of the kids love to sing our patriotic songs like Grand Old Frag and the Star Spangled Banner, so I really wasn't surprised at how much they enjoyed listening to this oldie, but goody too!

Respecting others and the 4-H Schoolhouse Chick Program begins!!

The kickoff of the of the 4-H Schoolhouse Chick Program for the whole First Grade and Mrs. Miller will be visiting our classroom for a lesson on friendships, making friends and keeping them.  We've explored a few books already recently that have dealt with this topic, If It's Not a Big Deal, Don't Squeal! and Have You Filled Your Bucket Today?.  The real origami bucket's from Sara's talented mom Patti, were completed as a class activity to go along with the last book.  The first book was to help students understand when they should problem solve on their own and when something is important enough to get an adult's help.  Tattling can take up a lot of unnecessary instructional time and most of it occurs because students think they need an adult's help when they often don't.  

Children at this age are still learning social skills, such as how to negotiate, take turns, make choices and problem solve independently.  Discussing how friendships can involve give and take such as taking turns where playdates occur and taking turns choosing activities or games would be helpful whether it's in the car while running errands or talking about examples from your childhood.  There are tons of great picture books that address all of these topics as well. 

Students are also expected to be independence in various life skills, like being able to keep their desk organized, put away papers in their folders without help, place notes in the notes baskets without reminders, and tie shoes and zip up jackets in a timely manner.  

           

Regarding the Schoolhouse Chick Program, Mrs. Karen Zimmerman, the 4-H Volunteer, will be delivering fertilized eggs for the whole first grade as well as having a discussion with classes about their life cycles, different kinds of chickens, how to tell the difference between a hen and rooster and even how to tell the color of the egg that a hen will lay.  We will be starting our economics unit and integrating what goods farmers provide as well as addressing topics such as wants and needs, good vs. services, communities, money and making choices, community helpers and other occupations.  

Please make sure Thursday your child brings a water bottle to school and wears sneakers as they will be participating in Jump Rope for Heart during their specials time.

Have a FANTASTIC week!

Krista