Wow! With March break, Easter and the weather finally looking better, time is really flying by! I told the students now that we are into April we are getting into "Go Time". We are wrapping up all the things that we need to learn in grade one, and starting to prepare for things they will need to know in grade two. It is such a time of mixed emotions for me. I am so proud of how far these littles have come, and the growth that they have shown, but I am completely not ready to let them go! I truly love this group of kids and have grown so close to each one of them...
But...time keeps ticking...
In the coming weeks we are going to be finishing up our math unit on geometry and spatial sense, and moving into a unit on linear measurement. The students normally enjoy this unit, and I save it until the spring weather so we can do a lot of the activities outside.
In science, we are just finishing up our electricity unit...I'm hoping that my message is getting across, and they are remembering to turn of lights and electronics that aren't in use!
In literacy, we are going to be starting an exciting Inquiry project! Since Christmas, as a class we have been reading the Magic Tree House series. So far we have finished 14 chapter books! The students love these stories. They tell the tale of two young children who find a magic tree house in the woods that takes them time travelling to the past and future everywhere from the Dinosaurs and Ice Age to Outer Space. For their Inquiry project, the students have been asked to choose one of the books that we have read and select one thing they would like to learn more about from this book. We have everything from a student learning about Lions in Africa, to the history of Chinese writing. The topics are as varied as the students personalities since each child gets to learn about what they are interested in. The scope of these projects is incredible, because each child also gets to choose how they will present the information that they learn...some will be making books, some will be making posters or powerpoint demonstrations, and we even have one student writing a play! It will be an amazing experience of genuine inquiry and learning at it's best! It also proves a huge challenge as I have 22 students doing 22 completely different projects on 22 different topics! Wish me luck! The positive part is that there is absolutely no work for you to do at home. The students have been told that they can look at home for books they may have to help them, or if they would like to spend some time with you looking information up on the internet (I will provide a list of appropriate kid friendly research sites.) but there is no actual work to be done at home. It is all completed at school. I have also told the students that I DO NOT expect anybody to go out and buy anything for this project. They will have plenty from what we have at school, what you can do at home, and maybe a trip to the public library. I'm really looking forward to see how this all comes together!
I think that is about it for now.
Here are some age appropriate links where the students can look for information to get you started.
KidRex (General Kid Safe Search Engine)
Book Flix (Varied Topics)
Pebble Go (Good For any student learning about science or animals)
