Yum! Learning about family traditions and eating tamales!

 A big thank you for bringing in fresh homemade tamales for our first graders to enjoy! Many children had never tried this food before and became fast fans! 

Making Gifts

We hope you loved your holiday ornaments! The kids worked hard to make the dough, create the ornaments, paint them, and then wrap them up for someone special! 

A Visit from Hedgie!

 I've got to say this was my first time meeting a pet hedgehog! Thanks for sharing!

Exploring Cultures from around the Globe at Meijer Gardens

 Here's some pics from our field trip to Frederick Meijer Gardens

Making Hot Cocoa!

 We learned all about following directions and creating "how-to" writing pieces this month. To complete our unit, we followed instructions and made hot cocoa in the crockpot. Of course we then topped it with marshmallows and enjoyed it while listening to some stories. 

Celebrating a German Tradition

 At the beginning of December, we celebrated "Nikolastaug" or St. Nicholas Day, by putting one shoe in the hallway. While we were hard at work taking a spelling test, St. Nicholas filled our shoes with goodies! 

First Graders go to College

 We had such a great time on our campus tour of Aquinas College today. We got to see where college kids live, eat, play and learn. What a great goal to work towards! 

Making Pumpkin Pie

 We really got into the Thanksgiving spirit this week and followed a recipe to make no-bake pumpkin pie. The kids had so much fun making it themselves and it was really delicious! 

Fall Party!

 We had so much fun today! A big thank you to parents who sent in party supplies, healthy snacks, and helped out with food and crafts this afternoon. 

The kids got a big surprise when an old friend who moved to a new school came to our party today! We miss her so much! 

Writing About Pumpkins

 This week we did so many pumpkin-themed learning activities. Here we are exploring a pumpkin and brainstorming some adjectives to describe the inside and outside of a pumpkin. The kids had a blast doing this and their paragraphs turned out great - check them out on our bulletin board outside our room! 

Classifying Leaves

 We each were tasked with finding twenty leaves and then classifying them into groups by shape, size, or color.

Checking out the Leaves

 We went out to explore the changing leaves and classify them by type. This ladybug decided to take a ride on our friend's face! After we collected some beautiful leaves, we made "stained glass" collages with Miss Holly.

Making Cider

 We used our five senses to differentiate between types of apples. Then Mr. Shawn helped us use several types of apples to make cider in the garden.

Using the Listening Center

Listening to books on tape and CD while reading along is a great way to learn to read. Check out your library for audio books to play at home.

Bird Invasion!

 One of our classmates had a few of her family members visit our class and they brought along their pet birds. We learned a lot about these fascinating creatures and how to care for them.

Fire Safety!

We had a visit from the Walker Fire Department. Fire fighters taught us important safety tips and then we got to check out their trucks!

Science Symposium Project...

We are investigating why leaves change color in the fall and tracking which trees change color first. Here we are making observations and drawing the tree line. We'll do this several times over the next few weeks and compare our drawings to see how the trees change.