Mathematical Thinkers

Gifts from Author, Stacy McAnulty

Stacy McAnulty, author of many books that our crew loves, sent our crew some very cool gifts. She sent us bracelets that say "I make the world beautiful." and stickers. They go along with her book, Beautiful. We really enjoyed that book and were able to really have a good discussion about beauty in our world. We also read and loved her books, Sun, Moon and Earth during our study of the moon and the sun. Two other books of hers that made us giggle were 101 Reasons Not to Take a Bath, and Max Explains Everything: Soccer Expert. Her books are just perfect for first graders and she is very generous. Last year she sent my crew a copy of her book, Earth. Be sure to check out her website and her books. They are delightful.

Experimenting with Sound

We have been doing lots of experiments with sounds and vibrations during that last few days. Below are a few photos of some of our experiments. There is also a link to our kazoo band performance. You won't want to miss that! :)

Kazoo Band Performance Video

More Ways to Talk About the Stories We Read

Melting Snowman

As we continue to work on spelling more words correctly, we are playing a game that will help us with that. It is called Melting Snowman. It is basically just the game Hangman but I didn't want to have to explain "hanging" to first graders so I changed the hanging man to a melting snowman (photo below). Play is just the same, you guess letters to complete the phrase and if you guess incorrectly, a part of the snowman "melts" (is erased). You have to guess the word or phrase before the snowman melts. This would be a great game to play at home with your child. It really makes them think about letters, words and how words work. You can play this on paper but it would work better with a small whiteboard or chalkboard since you are erasing parts of the snowman.

Important Dates
3/7 We Are Crew, Too (Formerly Life is Art) Tickets on Sale here
3/16-3/30 Spring Break

Short Video of Us Playing Melting Snowman 

Guest Speaker

Today, Ms. Debbie, Huddy and Ari's mom came to talk to us about dental health. She is a dental hygienist. We had a lot of fun and learned about which foods are better for our teeth and how to brush our teeth correctly. Thanks, Ms. Debbie!