Creepy, Crawly Science

First Grade Entomologists got up close and personal with bugs and insects this week. On Tuesday, we enjoyed an in-school study trip with High Touch High Tech. A professional scientist visited us and engaged students in some hands on, interactive learning. They investigated a live scorpion, a cockroach exoskeleton, and superworms. They built edible, true to life models of spiders, observed bugs and insects through micro-viewers, and created art documenting the life cycle of a butterfly. We added an ant farm to our Science area of our classroom and one of our Centers this week is observing the ants in their gel habitat. This gel was actually developed by scientists at NASA! For such a tiny creature, ants are truly fascinating! Did you know it is estimated that there are around 1 million ants for every 1 human in the world?! Ants also live in social colonies, much like humans! On Thursday, we released our butterflies into our backyard! We have been watching the butterflies go through the stages of their lives—from egg to larva to pupa to adult!

Class Jobs  

We introduced our class jobs this week! Some of the jobs include calendar helper, attendance helper, meteorologist, zoologist, botanist, and greeter/ambassador. Class jobs help students develop a greater sense of responsibility, take ownership for their classroom community, and reinforce various academic skills.

What’s in a Name?

In Phonics, we have been exploring our names and discussing short and long vowels sounds, blends and digraphs. This is helping First Graders become better readers and recognize similar patterns and sounds that they have seen before in words they already know, in unfamiliar words.

Important Dates:

Friday, October 12th                    11:30 Dismissal

Monday, October 15th                 Make-Up School Day

Wednesday, October 31st           Halloween Carnival, 11:30am