Next Adventure

This blog has chronicled the incredible journey of a terrific group of children for two years of schooling.  We started as Connected Kinders in 2012 and ended as tech-savy, vivacious learners, ready for second grade in 2014.  Now, these special students are divided among three second grade teachers and I am starting the next adventure with a new group of "Connected Ones."  If you are interested in following this new group of Eagle Cliffs first graders, you can find our next adventure on a new blog: The Connected Ones (www.ecconnectedones.blogspot.com).  Thanks for visiting!

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Memories

The children wrote this delightful poem in library after reading the book Last Day Blues. It was hanging on the board when I entered the room on the last day.  I admit, I got a little teary.  We have had such a special two years together.  It has been an honor watching the children learn and grow.  We have some great memories.  The children also wrote letters to the upcoming first graders about how to have a great year.  Each letter is posted to the students' individual blog page but here are a couple examples.

 I am going to miss my Connected Ones.  Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with me. 

Join Reading Rainbow

I know I have said it before but I LOVE this app! We have had Reading Rainbow in our classroom for the last two years and it is incredible for developing a love for reading! Ask your child, it is the best. I couldn't be more excited about Reading Rainbow's new campaign to build a web based version and bring Reading Rainbow to schools in need. If it is possible, I love them even more. This app would be great to add to your summer learning list. For only $4.99 a month your child would have access to an incredible library of amazing literature and engaging informational videos. The Reading Rainbow app is worth supporting.

Measure Up!

Our last unit in math explores concepts of measurement.  We are concentrating on length.  In first grade, our objective is to develop accurate measurement techniques.  For example, we must line up our starting points and we must be careful not to leave gaps or have overlaps between units.  We will also use a variety of nonstandard measurements to discover that different units of measure will result in different measurements.

     We started exploring measurement by just comparing length.  We lined up objects in our desk and recorded the longer and shorter.  Then, we used the foot cut outs from last week's homework assignment to compare feet measurements.  We ordered our family's feet on our desk then we used cubes to find out which feet were the same length.  Also, we measured different lines around the classroom with our hands and feet.
      Our class measurement discussions were fantastic.  The students made great connections.  They all got really good at accurate and precise measuring.  Here are some great online games to use at home for practice measuring:

Measurement Games

1. Estimate and Measure

2. Fish Tales

3. How Big are You?

4. Length Strength

5. Can you Fill It?

Mr. Wardell

We had our last visit as a class with Mr. Wardell. It was bittersweet. The children love seeing him and telling him about all they are learning. Mr. Wardell brought them a cute little panda from his most recent visit to China. The children made him this video about all the things they feel are important about Mr. Wardell. He absolutely loved their creation.

Although it was our last visit as a class, it will not be the last we see of Mr. Wardell. He told the children he would be visiting them next year in their second grade classes. He has also generously committed to continuing the project that our class has started. Mr. Wardell is going to help Eagle Cliffs expand our access to 21 century learning.

Between our school's PTA, tech levy funds, the Billings Education Foundation, a Century Link grant, our read-a-thon fundraiser, and Mr. Wardell's incredible generosity we have some amazing opportunities coming our way next year. First, all three second grade classes will have 12 devices in each classroom. The entire first grade will be working in a one to one environment. This means each first grade student will have their own ipad at school! Incredible! Further, Eagle Cliff's kindergarten will have their own ipad lab. We absolutely saw the power in starting with digital tools early so I love that all students starting kindergarten at Eagle Cliffs will get to learn with ipads.

Thank you to Mr. Wardell for being the catalyst for this amazing learning project. Also, thank you to all who have contributed to our students' learning. What an adventure next year will be!

Field Day Fun

It was a perfect day for field day.  We had wonderful weather, great sportsmanship, and super fun games!  The children had a blast.  Here are some pictures from our field day!


Field Day on PhotoPeach

Celebrating Mom

 Happy Mother's Day amazing moms!  The children took such care in making your portrait and writing you a poem.  I hope you enjoyed your gift.  I can tell you it definitely came from the heart!

Show Me the Evidence

This year we have become researchers. The students ask amazing questions and are getting very good at finding answers in text. We have been on working on showing evidence when presenting new information. In one activity we did some research on frogs. We made a class chart about the facts we thought we knew about frogs. The children had to find text evidence to move their fact to the "We were right" column of the chart.

We also used text evidence when commenting on each others' blogs.  The students had each written a few sentences about a habitat.  Next, the students had to go to each others' blog, read the post, and comment about the habitat.  Their comments had to add a fact to the paragraph and they had to have text evidence to back up their information.  The students did great.  Their comments were one topic, positive, and based on text evidence.  Our next step will be citing where information comes from.  Here is one child's post and the string of comments.  If you are interested in seeing more, check out your child's blog page under "Student Pages."

As we look ahead to summer, we want to keep these researchers going.  Like I said, these children are so inquisitive and interested in knowing more.  There is a great site that answers different wonders! The site posts a new question everyday and then has a paragraph and video to explain the wonder.  We have been doing a couple every week and the children LOVE it!  This would be a great site to visit over summer vacation.  Check it out!  Click here: Wonderopolis.

Poetry Pics

Better late than never!  Poetry Cafe was so wonderful.  I wish you could have been sitting where I was....the children were so thrilled to hear their parents share poetry.  I thought the children did a fantastic job sharing and I can't get over the open mic response.  Fabulous!  Thanks for your wonderful participation and support!  So fun to celebrate writing!  I hope you treasure their books, we worked hard on them.  Here are some pictures from the event!

Poetry Cafe on PhotoPeach

Food Chain

 We have been learning about the food chain this week in science.  We have discussed predator and prey.  We learned about producers, consumers, and decomposers.  Here is a great interactive site to practice ordering different food chains from a variety of habitats.

The Food Chain Game

It's About Time

Here are some great interactive computer games to help students tell time on analog clocks.
1. Clock Splat
2. Hickory
3. Stop the Clock
4. Stop the Clock Level 2
5. Time Traveling

Money, Money, Money

We are continuing to practice, practice, practice counting coins.  This week we used the Chromebook lab and this list on the blog to practice with online interactive games.   The students worked very hard.  You can access any of these learning games from home by clicking on the links.  The children already know their favorites!

1. Money Bingo

2. Enough Money

3. Tell the Amount

4. Feed the Dolphin

Not only do we use computers and ipads to practice counting coins, we also use manipulatives.  One example of a game the students love is called race to a quarter.  This is a game students can play at home.  To play, you will need a di and many pennies, nickels, and dimes.  Players take turns rolling the di and taking that many pennies.  When students have enough pennies to trade for a nickel, they can make the exchange.  Further, when a player has two nickels,  he/she exchanges for a dime.  Play continues until a player gets a quarter.  The game can be extended to race to a dollar.  

Another activity we did to was making words with a coin code.  We used this coin code to show coins that represent each letter.  Then we would spell words, match the coins, and count the amount.

Students even found the worth of their first and last names and posted their thinking to their blog page.  Check out your child's student page to see his/her hard work.  Try out this activity at home.  Who's name is worth the most in your family?

Reading Royals

All hail these great readers!  Our king and queen read over 150 minutes this week between RazKids and Book-A-Night!  Great work!  Remember, book-a-night will end May 1.  Keep up the hard work.

Poetry

April is poetry month. All month long we have been reading and writing poetry. We hope you can make our poetry share on Thursday, May 1 at 1PM.  Next Thursday, our classroom will be transformed into a cafe setting where students will be reading aloud some of their favorite poems that they have written.  We  are going for the 1970's cafe feel where the students will listen to soft jazz, wear black (and a beret for the super stylish), and read poetry

There will be an open mic session after the students share.  Please consider sharing a favorite poem, the children would love to see their parents participate.  Thank you for your continued support.  Here is a quick preview of some of the poems you might hear at the Poetry Cafe.

Snakes

Snakes are mean.

The King Cobras are the king of the snakes.

Some are in your home....maybe?

Some are everywhere.

Some have rattles.

I love snakes.

by Cole

Police

They are here.

They are there.

They drive in white.

They drive in black.

They arrest.

They save.

Police are the heroes of the day.

by Blayze

Library Field Trip

The students loved our field trip to the new public library.
Library Field Trip on PhotoPeach

Earth Day

Tuesday, April 22 was Earth day.  In class, we discussed what we can do to take care of the Earth and preserve natural resources.  We talked about how to reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost.  We watched an awesome Reading Rainbow video clip on how things are recycled.  Click here to watch the video.  We also illustrated the lines to the song "What a Wonderful World."  Enjoy our drawings and our reading of the song:

Biographies

For the last couple of weeks, we have been reading about amazing people in our reading groups.  We had the inquiry question, "What can we learn from amazing people?"  Through our biography reading, we have learned about amazing people like Rachael Carson, Ellen Ochoa, Ben Franklin, the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and more.  The students loved to share their biographies with other classmates and our 5th/6th grade buddies.

  If you are interested in some of the biographies we read, go to the Lead21 History button on the top of the blog.  From there you will see a Symbaloo with the books we read in reading groups.  I'm sure your child would love to read them to you.

When we finished reading several biographies, the students had to pick one amazing person to write a poem about.  The poem was a triangle poem.  The first line answered "Who?" with one word.  The second line was two words for "Where?" and then three words for "When?"  Last, four words to describe "How?" and five words for "Why?"  Here are a few great examples:

Ms. Ochoa

Outer Space

Still works today.

Flying in a rocket.

To achieve her wonderful dream

By Lauren

Franklin

In Philadelphia

Long, long ago

Made inventions for people

He thought of others first.

By Adalyn

Sacagawea

The West

In the 1800s

Taking a dangerous journey

Helped guide Lewis and Clark.

By Layla

The students all published their biography poems to their blog page.  Go to the student pages at the top of the blog and click on your child's name.  Email me or ask your child for their password.

My Father's Dragon

     At the end of a great read aloud there has been many instances where the class has cheered.  I know it is a great book when the class claps at the end!  I was shocked after I read one of my favorite chapter books, My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett.  The children didn't clap at the end, they GROANED!  What?! I asked them why....did they not like the ending?  They said that they didn't want the book to end!
     The book is a great adventure about a boy named Elmer Elevator who sets out to rescue a dragon.  The dragon is on Wild Island being held captive by a group of wild animals.  In the beginning of the book, Elmer packs for his journey.  He packs some strange items like 24 lollipops and rubber bands, a hair brush and ribbons, six magnifying glasses, and bubble gum.  He uses each of the items to cleverly trick and/or distract the animals that are holding onto the dragon.  We made predictions before each chapter about how Elmer might use his next item.  It was wonderful to see how the children's ideas got more creative as the book went on because they were starting to see the pattern in the book. 

We used a digital tool called padlet to make our predictions before the chapter.  The students scanned a QR code to get to our padlet link, then from their ipad they could submit their predictions.  As they were typing, all their ideas showed up on the whiteboard in real time.   Then, the students read and shared each others' ideas.  Above is our padlet about how Elmer might use the six magnifying glasses.  There were lots of great ideas.  You will have to ask your child what Elmer actually used the magnifying glasses for!

     Since I got a big groan about finishing the book, I did give the children some good news.  My Father's Dragon is actually the first book in a trilogy!  We don't have the books at our school library but I know for a fact that the Billings Public Library does!  Check them out!