As promised, today was the highly anticipated boys lunch date -- no GIRLS allowed this time! Mr. Nelson came as our special guest and the boys had a great time eating lunch with him and then making their recycled art project. They turned ordinary soup cans into personalized pencil cups and had lots of laughs along the way. The boys weren't quite as excited about the camera as the girls, but I did manage to capture a few shots!
Today I was joined by a group of the sweetest girls in the world for a super special lunch date (no boys allowed!) To celebrate Earth Day, we made headbands out of recycled materials together. Do you recognize the fabric scraps?? We enjoyed eating lunch in the classroom - picnic style! - then crafting and doing a photo shoot together. Some of these girls just couldn't get enough of the camera! It was fun to see how each girl put her own unique spin on the headband craft and they sure had fun parading down the hall and showing off their new accessories this afternoon! For the past week, we have been busy learning more about our Earth and how we can protect it. The kids have added an excitement and a freshness to this study that I wasn't expecting and we have all gained a new perspective on how and why we care for our planet. Here's a brief summary of what we've been up to:  We went outside with our fifth grade buddies to welcome the arrival of Spring. While we were out there, we used our senses to make observations and then dove into writing poetry about the beauty and changes happening around us. Be sure to check the bulletin board outside our classroom for our poems and latest art project!    We read the chapter book Ready, Freddy: Save the Earth. Like the kids in the story, we decided to create our own Earth Day Challenge! Kids who complete and return the checklist by Friday (April 27) will become members of our class Green Team! We have already had many forms turned in - keep up the good work!  We used a Weekly Reader to practice partner reading some current news stories related to caring for the Earth. Hope and Grace got creative with practicing their fluency and begged me to record the video below!  I shared my favorite read-aloud story, The Lorax, and we learned about identifying character traits and how authors can create characters who change over time. We also made some great comparisons/connections to the movie. Stay tuned for more updates and pictures from our Girls Only and Boys Only recycled art lunch dates -- coming soon!
The GRAND TOTAL from our first grade service project is... $1,171.63! THANK YOU to everyone who helped us reach, and surpass, our goal! We are now able to help the Dryden family purchase a new pair of shoes for all 73 children in the orphanage in Ghana! Way to go, first graders! [Please scroll down for previous posts regarding One Day Without Shoes and our first grade service projects!]  All first graders have now started working on their animal research projects in class, and hopefully you've taken a moment to look through the packet that was sent home earlier this week. Most of the kids were able to fill in a good portion of their packet during class time and some have even been able to start putting their project together! Here is the packet, in case you need another copy: 
We went through our classroom library and the school library this morning and the kids were able to pull books that could help them learn more about their animal. These books will be kept in their book boxes at school, but I am more than willing to make copies of any of the pages if they'd like to take the information home. We will be going to the computer lab with our fifth grade buddies this afternoon to explore some helpful websites and print some information to bring home as well.
The following websites are great resources for this project, as is the Howard Miller Library. http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/ http://kids.sandiegozoo.org/animals http://www.sheddaquarium.org/explore_by_animal.html If you find that your child is having a hard time getting the required information on his/her animal, please let me know. Thanks for your help with this project! Tuesday, April 10 is quickly approaching! As the culmination of our service learning project, all three first grade classes (and teachers!) will experience what it's like to attend school and go through the day without shoes. Our hope is that this simple act will raise awareness and understanding of what the children in the orphanage in Ghana go through on a daily basis. On Tuesday, all first graders must wear shoes to school. When they arrive to the classroom, they will be allowed to remove their shoes and put them in their lockers for the morning. Our class will be using this barefoot time to learn more about daily life in Ghana, debrief and record some of our service project experiences, and prepare and enjoy a traditional Ghanaian snack. When the bell rings for morning recess, our class will stay inside together. As we watch our friends head outside to run and play together, we will discuss why it just wouldn't be safe for us to go out and try to complete our daily activities without shoes. I am confident that this will be a powerful 15 minutes and will help our first graders connect even further with our service learning project, and the children that we're helping in Ghana. Before lunch, for the sake of safety, the children will be able to put their shoes back on and we will finish the rest of the day as usual. I know that I've said it a million times before, but I need to say it again: THANK YOU! I am so impressed and encouraged by the ways that your families have supported and embraced this project. Your children have put their time, energy, and passion into this and I can't wait to celebrate with them when we reach our goal! Because of their enthusiasm, the news of this project has reached far beyond the walls of our classroom and we have raised more awareness and money than I ever could have anticipated. We have received donations from other schools, cities, and states and we have even had other ZPS staff members volunteer to go barefoot on Tuesday to help our cause. Wow! Please encourage your son or daughter to wrap up his or her individual service project this week so that we can tally our final amount raised on Friday. We will then combine our earnings with the other first grade classes and will present the Dryden family with a check to [hopefully] purchase 70 pairs of shoes next week! Thanks again for supporting the Frog Room as we "go without shoes so kids in Ghana don't have to!" | AuthorMrs. Nelson ArchivesDecember 2013 | ||
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