Leverett School Grade 1 Joyful Learning For Young Children 

We were busy at work today making beautiful cards and ornaments to give to our families for the upcoming holidays.  Look at these beautiful creations by our 1st grade artists!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week in math we started using measuring tapes to measure heights and area around an object.  We worked with partners.  Look at the cool graph we made below with the information we found.  Can you tell from our graph what the average height of a first grader is?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also hung up all the great work 1st graders did interviewing family members and friends at home.  Each child was very proud to share information about someone they knew doing important work in our community.

 

Look at all these Holiday Cards coming in from all across the country!!!!!  Every day we open up new cards, find on the map where it came from, and learn a little about the school who sent it.  This project has been a wonderful addition to our unit of study on America.

 

1st graders have been very busy this week interviewing people from our community, people  at school and people at home to learn more about each person’s job and how that job helps the community.  We interviewed Leverett’s Fire Chief, Town Building Supervisor and the Superintendent of Union 28 schools.  We interviewed several people who work here at school and a few parents.  Students also brought in interviews they did at home and shared with the class what they found out.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a group of students heading down the hall to interview our principal, Miss Ross, and our school secretary, Marilyn.  We used the iPads to take pictures and clipboards to record notes of what we learned.

 

Here are students getting ready to share what they found out with the class.

 

After talking about each job, we sorted them into two piles.  Which jobs provide GOODS for our community?  Which jobs provide SERVICES for our community?

 

 

 

 

 

In Writer’s Workshop we talked about ACTION WORDS and how these words can help your story come alive for the reader.  After some independent writing time, 1st graders met with their writing partners to find the action words in their own story.  Then we shared what we found with the whole group.  We are learning about the value of working with a partner and getting feedback on your writing.  

 

 

 

 

 

We did a fun project on Wednesday about the Symbols of America.  Children chose their favorite symbol we have learned about, wrote three facts about it, drew a picture and then did a collage picture.  They are now hanging in the hallway on our bulletin board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also had a special read aloud today.  We read a book brought in by a 1st grader about Nelson Mandela and had a meaningful discussion about him, South Africa, and the meaning of the word apartheid.  Ask your child about it.  Many of them had beautiful, inspiring things to say about diversity and fairness.

 

We were letter writers!  We made 30 Holiday cards that we are mailing to 30 different school across the country.  In return, we will receive 30 cards back from these schools.  We are taking each card as we receive them and finding on the map where it came from.  Each card tells a little bit about the school that sent it.  There is a nice display of these cards hanging in the hall by 2nd grade.  I will post pictures after some more come in!  How nice it is to receive mail every day from around the country and what a great activity it was for our young 1st grade writers to be creating cards to send to them, too!

 

 

 

 

In math we are working on measuring things using nonstandard units of measurements like our hands, arm span, hand span, etc…  The kids measured lots of object in our classroom working with a partner.  Then they recorded their work and came back to share it with the class.  It was a very active math class!  We learned a lot about teamwork and how working with a partner can help you accomplish your task better and quicker.