The Writing Chant

 

This week we learned our writing chat.  There are fun motions that go with this chant.  It is so important for us to know the writing process before we start writing.  

We also learned that the writing process is like a life cycle, it never ends! 

Room Tour

 We have been in school with each other for about a month now and I am sure many of you are wondering what your child's classroom looks like!  I can't wait for the day that you all get to visit our classroom in person!  For now here is a short tour of our room.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

ARRR MATEY!

We came to school to find Mrs. Wanke dressed like a pirate and a treasure chest locked up!  The treasure box had three kinds of locks securing it.  One was a number code, another was a litter code, and the last one was a key lock.  We wanted to know what we had to do to see what was inside the treasure box. 

Mrs. Wanke explained that we would have to do a series of challenges to learn the codes and earn the key!  We were ready and motivated to complete these tasks!

The first thing we did today was listen to Mrs. Wanke read the story How I Became a Pirate. 

Click the link to listen to the story at home.  

Mrs. Wanke explained to us our first challenge.  We were going to create our very own buried treasure map.  We had to follow specific directions to create this map.  

When we finished this challenge we earned a the letter K.  Mrs. Wanke explained there would be two more challenges to earn the letters E and Y to spell the word KEY. She went on to explain that when we spelled the word KEY, we would get the key to open the lock. 

Our next challenge of the day had to deal with our spelling!  Mrs. Wanke gave us a sheet of paper to write CVC words. Some were words we have practiced and others were brand new! On this page four spaces were circled.  If we successfully spelled the words, the circled spaces would reveal the letter combination for our FIRST lock! 

After lunch we came back and were ready to get that treasure box unlocked!  As a team we had to create a giant 100's chart with gold coins! 

This was a VERY difficult challenge!  We worked so hard and persevered!  We earned the letter E for completing this challenge!

Our next math challenge was to find the whole in the number bond. Each correct answer gave us a letter for the code below.  The secret code spelled out the three numbers for the combination lock. 

All our hard work paid off and we learned the combination and opened our second lock!

Our last challenge was a STEM challenge. Our challenge was to work with our partner to create a pirate ship that could actually float and sail across our ocean (kid pool)  carrying 5 pennies.  

We were only given certain materials.  Aluminum foil, 3 strips of masking tape, a small ball of clay, a coffee filter, and a straw.  

We worked really good with our partner. We developed a plan and worked together to problem solve when things did not go as planned.  

We had SO much fun creating these and watching them sail across the ocean.  We would blow the ship across...so our sails had to work!

We erupted into cheers when we earned our last letter, the letter Y!  We knew we would finally unlock our LAST lock of the day! 

We could barely contain ourselves when Mrs. Wanke opened the treasure box.  Inside was GOLD OREO cookies!

We had such a fun day today and we worked super hard!

First grade pirate teachers!

Ag in the Class: APPLES

 Today we had Ag in the Class!  Ag in the Class is when some from the a representative from the Winnebago-Boone County Farm Bureau comes to teach us about a specific topic.  Today was all about apples!

She read us a story about the lifecycle of apples.  We were already pros on the topic since we spend last week learning about the apple's lifecycle.  

After the story we made an apple lifecycle necklace.  This necklace has a beads inside it.  Each bead represents a different part of the lifecycle.   We practiced telling the lifecycle to our partner.  Ask us to share the lifecycle with you when I get home!