Praying Mantis Visits

When a praying mantis lunges, grasps, and begins chewing on its prey over YouTube, it's interesting. When it happens in the classroom in front of our very eyes... it's priceless. We had a 24 hour visit with this little guy, and the children of 1C loved offering him a few snacks. Was so cool when he camouflaged himself like the orange towel and orange can outside the cage. One more real life lesson in how insects adapt in our world.

Peck Farm Trip - 9/18

We took a terrific trip to Peck Farm, studying insects, and seeing a little bit of local history. Don't forget to go back in October for the new Discovery Zone for kids. It will be a free playground for children on the Peck Farm property.

Peck Farm Fun

Peck Farm Friends

Peck Farm Butterflies

A few of the pretty "adults" we met:

Looking at Life Cycles - Mealworms

Studying the life cycles of our insect "friends" has been very cool! We learned that our mealworms change to "pupas" and a few friends even were surprised the their new "adult" discoveries. So we've managed to have egg, larva, pupa, and now adults in the classroom.

Give me an M!... A!....P! MAP Testing is Fun

We worked on our first round of MAP testing, on Friday. These test results offer teacher the chance to see where students are on their skill development, and what the next steps should be. Results can and will be forwarded as soon as all are available. We have another round of MAPs next week, this time with reading activities.

Say CHEESE!

School picture day! These "shots" didn't hurt at all.

Math Explorations

We need to have fun with our math tools, and get the "play" out of the way, so when it's time to learn, we are ready! Bonus, we get the chance to practice our expectations for small group work, and in game playing scenarios.

Our Larva Have Arrived... Sept. 5th

Today, we received a package that (pleasantly) wrecked our whole afternoon of reading instruction! The students have been learning about "Scientists" and what they "do." We put our learning to the test when we observed our newest additions to 1C. We received 9 Painted Lady Larva, which through the help of a document camera, and carefully observed them in their nutrient. We recorded our observations, predicted what might happen next, and then read Eric Carle's Very Hungry Larva (Caterpillar)story. We will poke holes in Mr. Carle's story (pardon the pun there...) as we begin to discover more about our tiny new friends. We also took delivery of 200 mealworms, which we will highlight on a new post, later this week.

Here We Are!

The smiling and silly version of 1C: 2013 Edition! Love 'em.

Curriculum Night is Wednesday, Sept. 4th at 5:30pm

Please join me this week to an Open House event where we can talk about our partnership in making this a tremendous school year. THIS IS A PARENT ONLY EVENT... so please make arrangements for your child to enjoy some fun without you!