Rhyming with Seuss

Inspired by Dr. Seuss this month in Writer's Workshop we have been working on creating our own rhymes. We used a very popular Dr. Seuss book, Green Eggs and Ham to help us get started.  First, Tim Tebow came for a visit and read us the silly story. 

Then, we decided on our own food that we definitely would not, could not eat!  1st graders came up with rhymes to create a poem.  1st graders took silly Dr. Seuss pictures and recorded their voice in Educreations. 

We even got to view our final product using an apple TV in our classroom!  Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Read Across America

Read Across America is still going strong here at Fuller Meadow School.  Friday was batty hat day and silly sock day.  Look at our very creative (and a little crazy) outfits.

For this fun event we met with our Kindergarten Buddies to make Dr. Seuss hats about our favorite things.  The top section was for our favorite place to read, middle was our favorite Seuss character and the bottom shows a picture from our favorite story.  1st graders and buddies loved sharing favorites with each other.

Buddies hard at work!

Finished product

We hope you had a silly sock-tastic weekend!

...and yes I do even own monkey socks.

Dr. Seuss

We have been having a Seusstastic March!  This morning as part of our Read Across America month we had a school wide stop, drop and read.  Students and teachers across the building stopped everything we were doing and just read.  1st graders took out their favorite book, found a quiet comfy spot and read.

1st graders and our Kindergarten buddies have been using the month to share our love of reading.  For Dr. Seuess' birthday we met and listened to the story Cat in the Hat read to us by the very famous Justin Beiber.  Who knew he made school visits? Afterwards, 1st graders and their buddies read their favorite Dr. Seuss books together.

Today, we met with our buddies again and read The Cat and the Hat Comes Back.  1st graders and their K-Buddy then filled in a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the two books.  Mrs. Newton and I were so impressed with how stupendous their work came out.

Another part of Read Across America in Room 116 was a QR hunt 1st graders took around the classroom with all of our Dr. Seuss knowledge.  Students worked in pairs to scan the QR codes with the iPads.  Once they scanned the QR code it brought them to a Dr. Seuss question that they needed to work together to answer.  There was lots of Dr. Seuss trivia.  Do you know where Dr. Seuss was born or what the first book he ever wrote was?  How about the number of words in Green Eggs and Ham?  If not, ask your first grader to help.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” Dr. Seuss

Clouds

1st graders have turned into meteorologists and are learning all about clouds.  It's as much fun as being on cloud nine.  We have learned about four main types of clouds: cumulus, cirrus, stratus & cumulonimbus.  Students have learned describing words for these clouds, constructed cloud flip books and even went on a cloud QR hunt with the iPads. 

Playing  Name that Cloud on the Smartboard  

After 1st graders learned all about the four different types of clouds, they used the iPads to go on a QR hunt.  Using the app, Qrafter, students worked in pairs to scan the QR codes located around the classroom.  When students scanned each code it brought them to a question about clouds.  They discussed the answer with their partner and then recorded it on their answer sheet.  Try scanning the code below (all you need is any free QR scanning app).  

Try scanning this code!

Once students became experts on clouds, they made their own cloud flip book.  Students used cotton balls to make realistic looking clouds then flipped open their books to write describing words.  Do you know which clouds are the dark and stormy cumulonimbus clouds?  Or which clouds sometimes look like pancakes?

Can you tell which clouds are high and wispy?

Make sure to take a peek at the clouds with your child.  They have tons of cloud knowledge to share!

Making ten

First graders have been learning the importance of the number 10.  Ten is a friendly round number that can be very helpful in math (he even has our zero friend).  During Math in Focus we have been practicing ways to add and subtract.  Knowing our tens facts helps us to solve these equations even faster. To help us learn the facts that make 10, we have been using this song. Students love it so much they have been wanting to practice at home, too.