As we continue to write poetry, we discuss how we can measure things and feelings in words. You can capture the feeling of snowfall in a list of words that measure how you're feeling in that moment. On Friday, we practiced writing up a snowstorm as we brainstormed words for a wintery poem all about our favorite form of precipitation. We think if we sent these lists to Florida, the kids there would understand the magic of a snow on a peaceful, quiet night. In other news, we did some literal measuring of things around the classroom. Even though it was fun to measure in human feet and markers, we decided it made more sense to measure in a standard unit so people would know what we were talking about. Today we used centimeter cubes because we love groups of 10s and 100s. Next up, using rulers and meter sticks.
Today we took a look at length. We decided we wanted to order the class from shortest on the left to tallest on the right. We used our feet to measure and this is what happened: Hmmmm. Well, everyone's feet are different sizes so of course we got all mixed up. Next we used markers to measure and this is what happened: What!? All the markers were the same size. Well turns out you can't use gaps or overlaps when you're measuring, so next we tried being extra careful with markers and this is what happened: So much better!! It was fun to measure each other, graph our measurements, and figure out as a class how to make things right. We got such different results each time even though none of us grew or shrank in the process! Check out the process below. First feet, then markers with no rules, and then markers being extra careful to leave no gaps or overlaps!
Another week, more vocabulary words. This time though, you have to guess which is which! BEAM - the look on your face when you are delighted. POSSESSION - something that belongs to you. MISERABLE - how you're feeling when you miss the bus. HUMOR - when someone tells a really funny joke. Where do you find a frog with no arms and no legs? Right, where you left him! That's some good humor right there :) Thanks for sharing Siri. Did you know first graders have superpowers? Not just the things we talked about yesterday (friendship and kindness) but for real superpowers. Check out the picture below. We can fly, lift buildings and cars, see through walls, become invisible, and run at lightning speed!!
And...we heard from Mr. Yari, our Scientist of the Week. He asked us: What will happen if I pierce a plastic bag full of water with a sharp pencil? We made some great hypotheses (including exploding water), but turns out he had a surprise for us. Ziplock bags are made of polymers. Polymers are chains of flexible molecules. When broken by a sharp pencil they form a seal that is water tight! Check out how many pencils we fit through this bag without any leaks!! Thanks Yari!
Today we took a moment to talk about our superpowers. While it would be nice to fly, have amazing strength, or be invisible, we realized we already have so many superpowers that we are thankful for. We took a moment to write about them this morning and we look forward to sharing them with our classmates as the year goes on. November is the perfect month to practice gratitude and think about strengthening our classroom community. Check out our superpowers, both physical, mental, and emotional!
Wednesdays are for living outside the box. And so, they are usually our favorite days!
Then we continued our theme of fractions (starting with baking pumpkin bread on Monday) in this three act task! We wanted to know how many orange wedges are in the bowl?
Sliced Up (Act-1) from Graham Fletcher on Vimeo.
In order to figure it out, we needed to know the following:
How big is each orange wedge in relation to the whole orange? How many whole oranges were used? And our wishes were granted...
And finally the reveal! Essentially we needed to figure out the number of oranges times the number of wedges. We approached the problem a couple different ways...
4x5=20 4+4+4+4+4=20 and some of us drew detailed pictures Sliced Up (Act-3) from Graham Fletcher on Vimeo.
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Sliced Up (Act-2) from Graham Fletcher on Vimeo.
And for the most "out of the box" question of the day, Miss Kylie asked us if we could fit our bodies through an index card. We were only given an index card, scissors, and one piece of tape. We were skeptical at first, but we made it work. For a challenge, she took away the tape. Minds blown!
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May 2023
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