More Mystery Readers!

We've  been very lucky to have more Mystery Readers visiting us in 1-Thomson! Alessia's mom and Christina's mom both shared some of our favorite Dr. Seuss books.  March is Read Across America month, and we kicked it all off with a celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday.  So what better book choices than Green Eggs and Ham and Ten Apples Up On Top?!  Thanks for reading to us!

We Are Meteorologists!

What is weather? The first graders in 1-Thomson are meteorologists!  Weather has been the topic of discussion in science these days.  We have been observing weather around us and looking at weather across the world!  

The links on this map took us to different weather reports around the world

Our study of weather began with a discussion of snow and ice (we should be experts after the winter we've had!). We took a closer look at ice by using ice cubes to ask a question and to make a hypothesis. Our question: Which ice cube will take longer to melt?  The one in our bare hand or the one we hold in a glove?  Our experiment resulted in some chilly, wet hands, but we quickly learned that body heat caused the ice cubes in our bare hands to melt much faster!

Experimenting with weather

We are currently studying the four major cloud types: Cirrus, Stratus, Cumulus, and Nimbus.  We observed clouds and created our own cloud flip books using cotton balls.

Our study of weather will continue with a study of wind, rain, and storms.  We have been gathering all of our fun facts and information in our weather journals.  The meteorologists in 1-Thomson can't wait to learn and record more about weather!

Reader's Workshop: Visualizing

This past week during Reader's Workshop, we learned some more about what "good readers do".  Our focus was creating mental images, or visualizing to better understand text.  We started by reading some poetry and practicing "making a movie in our mind".  We discussed sensory imagery, or words that appeal to our senses.

Next, we read the poem "Green Giant"by Jack Prelutsky.  We closed our eyes and imagined the Green Giant based on the author's description.

  As we read, the students drew their mental images on paper.  It was so fun to see the different versions of the Green Giant-some big, some small, some happy, and some scary too!  This lead us to realize that our imaginations can take us to different places and no two people make the exact some movie in their mind!  Click below to see some of 1-Thomson's Green Giants! 

Common Core State Standard: RL.1.4: Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

World Read Aloud Day

The month of March marks the beginning of Read Across America and Wednesday was World Read Aloud Day!  Miss Klipfel's class invited us, along with Mrs. Higgins' class, to be a part of a very special Skype visit from author, Tara Lazar.  She read her book, Monstore to the first graders.  They loved this story of a store that sells monsters of all kinds!  After Tara Lazar's read aloud, the first graders had a chance to ask her questions about her job as an author. Thank you for having us, Miss Klipfel! 

If you are interested in learning more about Tara Lazar and her books, visit her blog by clicking here: http://taralazar.com/