Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

Today we read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! By Mo Willems. After reading, the students were asked the following question: Do you think the Pigeon should drive the bus?





We followed the same Opinion writing frame to structure our writing.

Here are a few samples.

OREO Opinion Writing Part 2

On Tuesday the 5th we wrote to share our opinion about which flavor of OREO cookie we though was the best.
Here is the frame we used to structure our opinion writing.

Here is our graphic organizer we used to plan our writing.

Here are a few samples of our writing.

OREO Opinion Writing Part 1

Today we tasted two different flavors of OREO's. We tried Double Stuf Original and Berry Burst Ice Cream.

We used our five senses to explore and develop an opinion about the two flavors of OREO's.

Part 2 Will include our pictures and an update on the writing of our opinions.

How to Writing : How to blow a bubble with bubble gum

This week we started How-to writing. Today we did a shared writing activity. The kids and I wrote to teach our readers how to blow a bubble with bubble gum. Here are a few pictures from this activity.

Tomorrow I will post the steps in our how to writing process and a few samples of our how to writing. The kids had a blast!

-Mrs.  Nelson

State Capitol visit with Harmony Science Academy

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the State Capitol with a group of students from Harmony.  We had the opportunity to meet with several Senators and Representatives. We took a tour of the Capitol which included visiting the House of Representatives, who were not in session.  

A few pictures from our visit to the House of Representative: 



We were able to sit in on a Senate session and be recognized by the Senate.  After we were recognized, we were able to take a group photo with Senator West. (I hope to get that photo soon.)

I was amazed by this beautiful building!

View of the dome from them  basement of the Capitol Extension Building.

The top of the dome from the Rotunda of the Capitol Building. The star at the top is actually 8 ft in diameter.  The tour guide said that the Statue of Liberty (minus the pedestal) would fit inside this dome.

Rotunda Floor 

Floor in the Extension Building

I absolutely love the door knobs and door hinges.  These are found throughout the main building.

This was a fabulous trip! I encourage everyone to visit the Capitol Building and experience this rich piece of Texas History and see where Texas legislature takes its shape.

Visit Texas Senate for Kids for more information about the Texas Senate.
Visit Kids' House for more information about the Texas House of Representatives.

Calendar Detectives

After break we started Calendar Detectives.  Some people have had some questions about what this activity should look like. I am including a picture to help. This activity is geared to help students practice ela, math, and social studies skills on a daily basis.
I hope this helps!

Each day students will use the day of the month for math portion of this activity.  For a challenge the students can use the number of days we have been in school.

Mrs. Nelson

Science Vocabulary

Today we worked on our science vocabulary. The vocabulary words for our Rock, Soil, and Water unit are:
Resource
Rocks
Filter
Water
Texture
Smooth
Product
Soil

Here are a few pictures from todays activity.

Rocks, Soil, and Water: Play Dough

Today we visited the other first grade classrooms and explored rocks, soil, and water.  We made rock patterns and observed several.  In our classroom, we got our hands dirty and made salt play dough.

Thank you to everyone who donated items to make this activity possible!

Onomatopoeia: Popcorn Poetry

Today we learned whathouse an Onomatopoeia is. An onomatopoeia is a word that imitates or suggest the source of the sound. Here are some of the examples we found:

We used our five senses to as we popped popcorn.

After our exploration, we wrote poems about our experiences.