Let's catch up!!

There are so many incredible things happening in first grade, it's hard to know how to begin. In an effort to cover lots of ground, I'll post a bunch of great pictures and let you and your child share stories!  I'll be excited to hear about what you share together when we get a chance to connect in person next week at Open House! 

Last Thursday we built our very own kites and flew them to uncover more information about air. 

It was great fun!

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Last Friday was amazing.   We began the day with a brief walk in the mist. We enjoyed our time in the forest by looking for clues and acting as nature detectives. We saw beautiful leaves and noticed how our special trail seemed to be changing with the season. 

As we ended our hike, we once again found ourselves in our precious garden. We've been talking a whole lot about making healthy choices, and how lots of the food we eat is made by machines and travels far and long before it hits our plate. We decided that we'd like to be a class at that helps to explore new options for what we eat in our school. We want to be leaders in an effort to learn as much as possible, share our culinary creations, and teach others in our school about the importance of living in a healthy way and connecting with what we eat.

We harvested veggies and brought them in. 

First graders choose to work during their snack break, between reading and spelling time!    They prepped onions, garlic, leeks, and Swiss chard, for a sauté. 

(So sad to be cutting onions!)

Later we joined the kindergarten to help them with a counting project. We each prepared a collection of items for them to count. After playing a mathematical game with buttons, first graders led them in some counting practice.   Our students loved the opportunity to help and guide their kindergarten friends, and every adult in the room was beaming at the success. When classes get together to share in the experience of learning, kids get so much out of it. It's as if they "lean into" the activity in and effort to honor the presence of new friends and share the learning to the fullest. It was a great moment. 

Later, we turned our sautéed vegetables into a pesto, and used it on some whole wheat paninis. We took great care in plating ( with edible flowers from the garden and freshly picked cherry tomatoes!), and shared them with the second graders. They, in fact, planted and cared for lots of the great plants in our garden last spring. This was a nice way to thank them for their hard work and allow them to enjoy some of the fruits of their labor. 

Yum!  

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This week we've already made pinwheels to measure wind speed, worked hard on our writing, and taken an amazing field trip. More on that later!  Thanks for reading. 

Have I mentioned how unbelievably fun it is to teach and learn with this class?  Mrs. Black and I are feeling pretty lucky these days!