Who let the bugs in?

It was a great day to see all the bugs...the Amy Ants were outstanding!  It really fit our student's personality. 

Our Future is Bright!

It's off to work I go.  I have loved seeing the great use of creativity, research, and  technology as everyone is presenting about their future jobs.

So far we have some great professions.  Draden wants to be a baker (although an afternoon shift baker - she wasn't so keen on the 2 am wake up call).   Henry wants to be a Disney Monorail Driver - did you know that they train for 7 days!  Roman wants to be a FBI Diver (there are only 60 in the country).  Avery wants to be a biologist and Smith and Hunter both want to be police (I know our safety is  in good hands).  Mahmood wants to be a Construction Manager and Yuuki will be a robotics engineer.  I know we are going to be in great hands in the future!

WILD for Research!

First grade is very busy learning how to research a topic. We started by learning that research is finding the answer to questions. We learned the different places to find information (Internet, books, personal  interviews, observations, and other sources). We used our trip to the zoo as a time to observe. Last week we started using the other sources in centers. I am so proud of how hard kids are working. Be sure to check out the zoo we recreated with our measurements.  This is project based learning at its best!

The Tax Man Came Today!

To go along with our unit on money, we learned that today is TAX Day in America!  We learned what taxes are used for and had to pay up - $2.00 for everyone.  Students had to make a hard choice, could they afford to rent a fancy pen for writing and still pay their taxes.  We learned earlier in the week that when you rent something you are just borrowing it.  Be sure to ask about the collateral (or deposit) they have to leave!  I hope they ask you about your taxes (The Johnson's just mailed theirs yesterday!)

We're are crazy for Animals!

We have been learning about how animals get their needs met, food chains, and different adaptations that help animals do their job.  We made a food chain.   When one of the links is cut students learned that the living thing has to make a change or risk not being able to sustain itself.

We also did a little experiment to show how our fingers are adaptations to the body that help us pick up things.  Aydin was a great participant.  We taped his hands closed and had him try different skills in the classroom.  We learned that task can still be accomplished, but it took more work and was not easy to do!

Puppets, puppets, puppets!

A few more of the puppet shows!

WILD at the ZOO!

We had a great day at the zoo.  We are thankful that the rain held off (it started raining the second the bus pulled out of the parking lot),  Here are a few pics from the fun day!