Leverett School Grade 1 » 2018

Classroom News

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Posted by Alissa | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on April 30, 2018

: Last week we published our first opinion pieces on which object from our collections won first place.

: Children read their stories about the first place winner to each other.

: Even in the bear dens…..

: And sometimes even helped each other do some editing.

We had a building challenge last week. Use the materials provided to come up with your own creation. Come back to the rug and present your work to the class.

Our Courtyard Keepers are back in action! Thanks to our expert gardener and former LES teacher, Deb Brazeau, for the donations of plants.

It was Liz’s last day on Friday! She returns to UMASS to graduate. We sure will miss her.

We also finished our unit of study on People Who Worked For Justice. Children wrote about famous people in the history of the USA who showed courage and a belief in justice for others. Then they chose one favorite person to create a mobile of. We read our work to our friends and put it on our bulletin board for all to see. We also wrote letters to Ruby Bridges to tell her how much we admire the courage she had as a first grader when she integrated into her school in 1960. Please come in to read the children’s letters. They are so beautiful.

Most importantly, a HUGE THANK YOU to all Leverett families, especially our School Committee members, for your support of our school at Town Meeting this weekend. The children and I appreciate all you do for our school. !!

Building Challenge and Wish List

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Posted by Alissa | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on April 11, 2018

: We were given a building challenge today. Can you make a suspension bridge with the materials provided?

: First we met with our partners and came up with a plan. We drew a picture of our bridge and labeled the materials we would need.

: Then we went to work building.

: Some designs didn’t work the first time around, so we came up with a new plan.

: It took a lot of teamwork.

: Some very creative suspension bridges started to emerge!

: At the end, we walked around to see our friends’ bridges.

: We shared our ideas on how we made it.

: We even got some other teachers to come in and take a look!

: Most importantly, we were very proud of our designs!

Walking around and observing the kids at work, I loved listening to their conversations as they worked together. I overheard one team say, “We are a good team. We are good builders. We cooperate. We listen to each other. We combine each other’s ideas and make something even better!” I couldn’t have said it any better. Once again, the kids remind me it’s not always about the final product, sometimes the process is where the best learning takes place. Today we learned how to: Ask Questions. Imagine. Plan. Create. Improve. And, most importantly for these kids, work together cooperatively as a team.

WISH LIST:

As you can see, we have some wonderful builders in our class. But our supplies are running low. We would LOVE donations of any of the following materials for our Creation Station and our Building Challenges.

TAPE: masking, duck, clear…any kind of tape
popsicle sticks
buttons
pipe cleaners
string, yarn, twine
fabric pieces or felt
low temp, mini glue gun refills
glue sticks
interesting recycled containers kids can turn into something cool
paper towel or toilet paper tubes
any craft items (like jewels or pom poms) that you may find at a dollar store

THANK YOU for supporting our young artists and designers!!!!

First Grade News

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Posted by Alissa | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on April 6, 2018

Look who came into our classroom today! We had a Nigerian Dwarf Goat visit from Case’s farm. What a wonderful way to start our Friday. She is just 10 days old and we got to pet her and ask all kinds of questions. We all fell in love with this beautiful baby goat and we wrote about her later in our Fabulous News journals.