Classroom News

     The past few weeks we have been very busy in class! We continue to learn about each other and how to act in school. I introduced the Mystery Person, and we have almost wrapped up our daily student interviews. We are discussing the SIERRA norms for behavior, focusing on respect and responsibility.

     Children have been learning to work independently at literacy centers, so that next week we can start our reading groups. There are a variety of centers, all with a reading or writing slant. Ask your children to tell you about doodle loops or photo talk, these are just two of the choices.

     In math we have been working on sorting, graphing, and playing math games. We have also been learning different strategies for working out story problems, and each child created their own bug story problem. They are hanging on the wall, come check them out!

 

Expedition News

     This year’s 1st grade expedition is called Farm Fresh, we will be studying all about food that comes from farms. The first part of the year will be spent focusing on food we get from plants, and we have started off with some great field work.

     This past Friday we took a trip down to Machado’s Apple Orchard. Our crew got to see a variety of apple trees, peach trees, pear trees and even a plum tree with the largest plums I’ve ever seen! We tasted fresh fruit right off the different trees. We learned how to tell if a peach is ripe (ask your children about the “bellybutton”), how to properly pick apples, what an apple stem can tell us, and why apples get left on the ground. The tour included a peek at how Machado’s peels/cores apples with a special machine invented by one of the owners, and we ended with a tour of the kitchen where fresh apple pies were being made. And of course, we all had some fresh apple juice and apple pie!

     Two weeks ago our crew went to Nevada City and spent the morning at the Food Love Project, a farm dedicated to providing hands-on education to school children. We met Farmer Amanda, who split us into small groups and sent us out into the garden. Children planted kale seeds, went on a scavenger hunt looking for different foods/plants inside the farm, harvested tomatoes, eggplants, and potatoes. They went to a food tasting table where they tried melons, lemon cucumbers, purple carrots, and a host of other fresh veggies. We all had a wonderful time, and it was a great opportunity for the children to see a real garden full of food growing.
     In class we have been focusing on how apples grow and what apple trees look like during the different seaons.