Today we visited Miss Beth's amazing art show.  Her students study eight famous artists and learn from their work.  We were lucky enough to visit their show, learn about the artists, and complete a scavenger hunt of some very interesting facts.  Did you know the Michelangelo wore pants made of dog skin?  Did you know Ansel Adam's was a photographer?

Today we created a treasure hunt.  We worked with a partner to pick a mystery location on the little playground.  We wrote a poem/riddle about our mystery location.  We learned how to use compasses and then gave directions with steps going north, south, east, and west.  Finally, we created a map to go with our directions.  X marks the spot.  

If you have a compass and you like riddles you can go on our awesome treasure hunt!
(each set of direction is followed by the map that goes along with it)

We certainly had a busy day!  First we heard from a local guest author, Amiee Beazley, who wrote Snowmastadon!, Snow Day Adventure.  She shared her writing process with us and read her wonderful book.  We learned a lot about becoming a writer and how being a writer can mean so many different things.

Then we had our last first grade visit from Mr. G.  We worked with memory wire.  We learned that memory wire returns to its original shape when heated.  We heated the wire three ways: with the electricity from a battery, with boiling hot water, and with the heat from a hair dryer.

(sorry I can't make the videos show vertical?)

Last, we visited Miss Kelly next door and learned all about the frog life cycle...we came back as frogs too!

As the year is coming to a close we are wrapping up some projects and things that you will see coming home next week!  Here's a sneak peek of some self portraits we are making

Today Miss Lisa May was kind enough to read us two more wonderful books.  We're sad that library is over and we were glad to listen to her wonderful story telling one more time!  We listened to and discussed two very different, but equally funny books: Epossumondas and That is Not a Good Idea.  

We've been on a bingo kick lately.  Today we played with coin values.  It was really challenging. There are many ways to make the higher values.  It was fun to see the different possibilities.

Today we played BINGO.  With TIME.  We practiced reading digital and analog clocks in a race to win.  We used the cool clocks we made yesterday to help us!

Today we made our own clocks and not just ordinary clocks.  These clocks have special flaps under each hour that let us peek and see the minutes.  We're very good at telling time already, but sometimes we just need a little reminder.  We practiced by figuring out what time we get up in the morning, what time we go to school, what time we go home, and what time we go to bed.

Well, after thinking it would be a cold and rainy morning...we had the most perfect, sunny, spring day for ACES.  We explored Hallam Lake and the ACES garden in search of signs of spring.  Many things change after the winter and we are now experts at finding them.  Spring brings more water because of higher temperatures, longer days, and snow melt.  Spring brings baby animals--we were lucky enough to see six goslings.  Spring brings flowers, buds on trees, and an abundance of the color green.  Keep looking all around you for changes in our mountain spring!  It happens fast.