Measuring Length

We have started a new unit in Math this week! We started looking at measuring length. We figured out that length means 'how long something is'. Today, we looked at how tall we are by cutting pieces of string to represent our length. Then we took the string and measured its length using a variety of good measuring tools. Before we started measuring, we brainstormed a list of possible tools that would work to measure length. Here are some of our tools that can work well:

- connecting cubes
- square tiles
- paper clips
- makers
- paper
- rulers

Here are some pictures of us measuring the length of our string-height.

Class Goals

Today we started something new! We now have a class goal. Right now we are working on getting to the carpet area quickly and quietly to show Mrs. van Rees that we are ready to learn. If she "catches" us doing this, we get to add a fuzzy to our class goal jar. Once we have filled our jar, we are going to have a celebration!

We brainstormed lots of celebrations we would like to have throughout the year. Such as, a popcorn party, wearing our pj's to school, having extra outside time, playing a game. We are looking forward to our first celebration!

We talked about what being ready to learn looks like and sounds like and practiced it this morning. Mrs. van Rees also took a picture of us doing it and we have that displayed on our easel with our look like/sounds like chart. We can't put it on our blog because it's a picture of us, but it's safe to have in our classroom.

Does your class have a class goal? If so, what is your goal? Maybe one day we can use your goal for our class.

Math Stations

We started Math Stations this past week as we have begun to explore numbers. We are looking at different ways that we can represent numbers and different ways to count. We have been using ten frames and number charts to help organize our counting.

Mrs. van Rees gave us an iPod to start taking pictures of our work. She said that she was SO impressed with how we handled taking pictures of our work. Here are some of the pictures we took.

Great Literature Inspires Great Ideas

Now is the time for beautiful colours and falling leaves. We've been reading leaf poems for the past few weeks and looking for our word wall words within them. We also read, "Leaf Man" written by Lois Ehlert. This book inspired a great art project!

The book was about Leaf Man who was on the move from the blowing wind. He was drifting all over the country, past ducks, geese, chickens, orchards, meadows and cows. The illustrations were made from actual leaves that were created into these various images.

We met with our Grade Six buddies on Tuesday and they helped us find a variety of leaves outside. We brought them back into the classroom, dried them off and let them sit for the night. The next day, during Art we took these leaves and created our very own Leaf Men!

Is it autumn (fall) where you live right now? If so, what is your favourite thing to do with leaves?

Classroom Video

Make your own slideshow at Animoto.

Mrs. van Rees was inspired to create a video of our classroom using Animoto. She had seen a few class videos where other teachers had used Animoto and she thought she'd give it a try. So, here it is: Our Classroom!

Welcome Primary Blogging Community!

This week is our week to "showcase" our blog to 4 other primary classes! Welcome Ms. Leech's class, Mrs. Ruckes' class, Mrs. Wideen's class and Ms. Ziemke's class to our class blog! Thank you for visiting us! We really enjoyed learning more about Mrs. Wideen's class blog and we are looking forward to meeting the rest of your class blogs in the next few weeks!

When Mrs. van Rees told us that we would be sharing our blog with you, we thought that you'd like to see our classroom. Here are some of the pictures we suggested she take, so you can get an idea of what our classroom looks like.

This is our classroom. Our desks are in groups of 4. We have 5 desk groups.

This is our classroom agreement that is posted on our wall to remind us of the things we promised to work on throughout the year.

A few girls in the class found a wooly bear caterpillar outside during nutrition break.
We have it in this cage to see if it will create a chrysalis. 

We created "Dot Art" inspired by Peter Reynolds' "The Dot" for International Dot Day in September. 

This is our classroom door with all our names on the owls.  

This is our monthly calendar so we can keep track of what is happening in the month.

Here is a picture of the front of the room and our SMARTboard.

Our school focuses on the 8 Keys of Excellence. These keys are posted on our wall as a reminder.
This month we are focusing on "Speak with Good Purpose".

This is our Math Wall and our math manipulatives underneath. Right now we're focusing on Graphing. 

This is our classroom library.

This is what our classroom looks like. What things in your room are similar? What things are different?

Global Read Aloud

October 1st starts the first day of the Global Read Aloud. Our class will be reading Charlotte's Web along with Mrs. Kewley and Mrs. McKinnon's classes at our school. Not only will our classes be reading this book, but classes all around the world will be reading Charlotte's Web.

Throughout the next 4 weeks, we will be sharing our reading with different classes participating in the Global Read Aloud.

If you are a class looking to connect with, please leave us a comment! We'd love to share our thinking and reading with you!

All classes participating will be following the same reading schedule:

Week 1: Chapters 1 - 6
Week 2: Chapters 7 - 11
Week 3: Chapters 12 - 17
Week 4: Chapters 18 - 22

Check out this Animoto of the Global Read Aloud history created by Mrs. Ripp (the creator of the Global Read Aloud)

Our Primary Blogging Community

During the summer, Mrs. van Rees connected with other Grade One teachers through twitter.  While they were chatting about their new upcoming classes, they agreed how great it would be to connect with other classes around the world together. So, one of the teachers decided to organize a Primary Blogging Community.

For the month of October, we will be visiting 3 Grade One class blogs to see what they're doing in their classrooms in Grade One. As well, their classes will be visiting our blog! Each week, one class will be in the "spotlight".  We'll be able to leave comments and learn more about each class. When it's our turn, the other 3 classes will leave us comments and learn about our class!

Later on in the year, these same classes will explore our individual blogs and we will be able to read theirs. This will be something like digital pen pals! It should be a great opportunity.

The classes that will be in our blogging community are:

Mrs. Ruckes' Class (from Michigan, USA)

Ms. Ziemke's Class (from Chicago, USA)

Ms. Leech's Class (from Surrey, BC)

Mrs. Wideen's Class (from Windsor, Ontario)

Identity Day

Today was Identity Day. Students from Grades 1 - 6 brought in items that represented themselves. We got to share our items with other grades as they came to our class and asked us questions. After talking and answering LOTS of questions, it was our turn to check out their projects in their classes. There were so many great projects and so many creative ways to present them!

Mrs. van Rees brought in some of her very favourite picture books. She said she would share these books with us throughout the year. We read Olivia while we were waiting for other classes to visit us in the morning.

Most of our class brought in items that were our favourite sport, favourite animal, favourite toy or about our families. Here are some pictures of items we created or brought in to share. Some of the items we brought in couldn't be put on our blog because they were photos of our families.

It was such a fun and exciting day! We sure were tired by the end of the day, but we're already looking forward to Identity Day next year.
If you had Identity at your school, what would you bring in?

Creating Patterns

For the past few weeks we have been working on patterning in Math. We created a variety of repeating patterns, including ABA, ABB, ABC, etc. Last week, Mrs. van Rees had us create necklaces or ropes, using yarn and different coloured straws. Check out some of our work:

First Time Blogging!

Today we started blogging! Check out our "student blogs" (the tab at the top) to see what we are writing about. It was our VERY first time blogging and we were excited but nervous to start. Remember that we are learning how to type and write, so some of our posts are short.  Mrs. van Rees helped us by writing what we wanted to say in brackets underneath our writing. She typed the words as we read our writing to her.

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading our blogs. Don't forget to comment on our work. We love to read your comments!

Raising Butterflies in Room 12

Mrs. van Rees went to the Butterfly Conservatory (go here to check out their website) last week and bought a Monarch rearing kit for us. We were given 4 Monarch caterpillars, 3 chrysalides and a potted tropical milkweed plant. Today, 2 of the butterflies came out of the chrysalides! It was so exciting to watch the butterfly stretch out its wings. Did you know that the wings are scrunched up and wet when it first comes out. We needed to let it stretch out its wings and dry before we could let it go outside.

We have a butterfly bush outside our principal's office, so we carefully carried our 2 new butterflies to the bush where we safely placed them. After school, some of us looked to see if the butterflies were still there, but they had already flown away.

Here are some pictures of our caterpillar/butterfly habitat in the classroom:

Our Monarch habitat

If you look close, you can see the Monarch pattern of its wings within the chrysalis.

Our biggest caterpillar sitting on a leaf.

This butterfly JUST emerged from its chrysalis moments before Mrs. van Rees got out her camera!

Welcome!

Welcome to our Classroom Blog for Room 12, First Grade O.W.L.S!

This is our space to share what we are doing in our classroom with our families and other interested classrooms around the world.

Mrs. van Rees is our teacher and she will be organizing our blog to showcase our learning. If you have any suggestions for her, please feel free to leave a comment.

Thank you for visiting our blog. Stay tuned for much more once our school year begins in September!