It smells a little fishy to me...

It has been a busy last week of first grade! We began our week with the shark dissection in the Science Resource Center. They have been waiting all year to do this! First, the children witnessed a dogfish shark dissection performed by our fantastic mom scientists. We reviewed what we have learned about sharks and more. Then we broke into small groups and the children were able to learn so much more about the internal organs as they dissected their own sharks! The wonder and excitement filled the room... along with the smell!















Enjoy the following voice thread that we made to tell you some of the things that we have learned about sharks this year!



Tuesday found us at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa! After a fun bus ride over with laughter and singing, we spent the morning touring the Aquarium and observing all the wonderful creatures of the sea. The dive show and the touch tank were two of the favorite adventures for our class. We then enjoyed a picnic lunch together with all four classes before heading back to school on the bus.
















How many people can say they touched baleen from a whale? Not many! On Wednesday, we did just that! Two of our middle school students, Jacob N. and Justin S. from Mr. Cruise’s midde school science class brought actual baleen and told us all about it as well as many other interesting specimens from the sea. It was so cool!





On Thursday afternoon, we had our final party in first grade. The children had a great time rotating through the four classrooms. We decorated picture frames for our class program photo, made underwater crayon resist pictures, played Ocean Bingo, danced the limbo, and made edible aquariums! M-m-m-m! What fun!














It has been an incredible year! Thank you for sharing your precious children with me. I will miss them so much! Give them a hug every now and then and tell them it's from me!

Thank you for always being there for us. You have helped in so many ways... parent readers, math games, library parents, party planners, science helpers, photographers, and more! We could not have made it without you! I will miss you all! Please stop in and see me next year! Have a great summer!

Susan

Commotion in the Ocean!

Thank you to Erin Ross for the pictures that I put in the following video.

Party Central!

Wow! Room 1-4 was party central last week! We celebrated 4 birthdays and had a final compliment party! In fact, the children earned 100 compliments this year! Way to go!

Happy Birthday, Channing!

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

Happy Birthday, Samuel!

This year, one of our favorite times of the week have been Friday morning math explorations. This past Friday was no different.

One station involved constructing polygons with a particular number of sides and corners.
Here Molly puts the finishing touch on a six-sided hexagon.

Nico, Russ, and Julia worked on elapsed time word problems at another station.

Channing, Jonathan, Oliver, and Samuel work on equivalent fractions with Jonathan's mom.

Lauren and Hailey play math Tic-Tac-Toe.

Rachel, Lauren, Sarah, and Shannon work on fraction number stories at the computers.

It is hard to believe that we are beginning our last week together. We will still be packing in a lot of fun and learning this week! I know that it will go by too fast. On Monday morning, we will be dissecting dogfish sharks! The children have been looking forward to this all year! Many thanks to Sharon Cannella, Jodie Gayoso, and Sandy Epstein for volunteering to help! On Tuesday, we will be going to the Florida Aquarium. I look forward to seeing many of you there! Anyone can join us! If you did not send in your payment of $7.00, you can still join us. However, you will need to pay the admission of $19 at the door. On Thursday, we will have our end-of-the-year party with all four first grade classes. All parents are welcome to join in the fun from 12:30 - 2:30! Friday is our last day together. Dismissal will be at 12:00 noon. Please be sure that your child brings his/her green bag to school each day this week. The children will be bringing lots of treasures home! See you soon!

Susan

Commotion in the Ocean!

Thank you so much for joining us in the theater this morning and then at the reception. The children did a fabulous job on stage! I am so proud of them as I know you are. They worked hard to learn the songs, dances, and their speaking parts. We have spent the last four weeks learning all about the ocean and its inhabitants. This in-depth study has integrated reading, writing, science, math, technology, art, and music! We will finish up next week. It has been oceans of fun!


Don't lose track of the "Commotion in the Ocean" t-shirts that the children wore today! They will be wearing those and jeans on the field trip to the Florida Aquarium on Tuesday, May 25th and again on Thursday, May 27th, for our end-of-the-year party!

A big thank you to Erin Ross for sharing these pictures. More to follow! If anyone else has pictures to share, please e-mail them to me!

Have a great weekend!
Susan