Hopes & Dreams

 We are going public with our Hopes & Dreams!

 Normally we have families come in for our Hopes & Dreams conferences so that each child can share his/her hopes and dreams, the family can share their hopes and dreams for the child, and the teacher can share her hopes and dreams for the child. Unfortunately, due to COVID, our in-person conferences were canceled. However, we will still be sharing our hopes and dreams through a shared document. 

During the first few weeks of school we drew and wrote about what we're excited about learning in first grade, as well as what we want to be when we grew up. We hung these as balloons from the classroom ceiling:

To make it fun, we got our pictures taken looking like we're holding onto the string of the balloon:

We look forward to sharing our hopes and dreams!

Our First Inquiry!

  We have been learning about the life of the researcher, Jane Goodall.

For our first inquiry, we started wondering about Jane by looking at some photographs.

We started to have lots of questions.

We started thinking about how we can learn from various sources. Some great ways to learn are through photographs, PebbleGo, and books. Each of us started learning about Jane by choosing how we were going to start our own research.

Declan, Delilah, and Braxton comparing research of similar findings.

They were so excited to have all found information about Jane's chimpanzee stuffed animal!

Kendrick is recording his research off of PebbleGo.

Braxton found out that she lived in a tent.

Mason found the same thing in a National Geographic magazine!

Piper is being told that she can confirm her prediction that she thought she liked animals, because Braxton found a magazine cover that said, "Animal Scientist and Activist."

Franklin is focused in his research.

Asher recorded so much research, his clipboard is full!

Delilah and Mason are comparing information across lots of print sources.

So many great conversations happen as they share their research with each other.

We got together as a big group to share and compare our findings about Jane.

Everyone was so proud of all our hard work as researchers!

We then read the book The Watcher, which told us more about how Jane accomplished her dream to work and study with chimpanzees in Gombe, Africa.  We also got some of our questions answered!

Jane was not only a researcher, but also a writer.  She kept piles and piles of research in her tent when she was working with the chimpanzees.

We learned that one of her favorite chimp companions was named David Greybeard.

However, after many years Jane realized that the chimpanzees she loved were in danger of becoming extinct.  She realized that the best way to help the chimpanzees was to share their story with the world.

Jane Goodall is an excellent example of the 3 A's:  Activism, Awareness, and Aid.  When we do our inquiries this year, Room 408 will keep these 3 A's in mind.

This is a National Geographic video that we watched so we could see Jane in action:

What inspires you about Jane Goodall?

Growth Mindset

  We have been having lots of conversations around a growth mindset.

  If you want to know more about growth mindset, click here.

We acted out how our neurons grow and get stronger when we practice something and don't give up.

We even saw how real neurons connecting on a brain scan. 

Here are some great books about growth mindset:

Elizabeth's bookshelf: growth-mindset-bookshelf

A Little at a Time

by David A. Adler

You Can Do It, Bert!

by Ole Könnecke

Jabari Jumps

by Gaia Cornwall

How to Catch a Star

by Oliver Jeffers

Making A Splash: A Growth Mindset Children's Book - gobrain.com to buy the book

by Carol E. Reiley

Winners Never Quit!

by Mia Hamm

Salt in His Shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream

by Deloris Jordan

The Most Magnificent Thing

by Ashley Spires

The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes

by Mark Pett

Your Fantastic Elastic Brain: Stretch It, Shape It

by JoAnn Deak

Whistle for Willie

by Ezra Jack Keats

When Sophie Thinks She Can't...: . . . Really, Really Smart

by Molly Bang

The Dot

by Peter H. Reynolds

Ish

by Peter H. Reynolds

Welcome Back!

 Room 408 came back to school last week and we are working hard to create our class expectations.  We will be working and playing together for 172 days this year and we want it to be a great year!

We are starting by sharing what we are looking forward to in first grade.  We looked at all the things we will be investigating in first grade and made note of our favorites.

We are learning how to collaborate with each other by exploring our math manipulatives. We love our work station time!

 

Here's to a great year!

Hopes & Dreams

We started talking about our Hopes & Dreams for first grade by reading a book about Philipe Petit called The Man Who Walked Between The Towers.    

You can reread the book here:

Room 612 was surprised to find out that this was a true story!

Here is the newscast from that morning back in 1974.

Here is a more recent video in which we hear more of the story behind Philippe Petit.

Philipe had a dream to walk on a high wire between the Twin Tower buildings, and he didn't stop until he had accomplished his dream.  

We will have our Hopes & Dreams conferences this fall.  Parents, teachers, and students will be sharing our Hopes & Dreams with each other.

What are your Hopes & Dreams?

Ideas Inspired by Animals

Did you know that a lot of inventions are inspired by animals? Here is the Jan/Feb 2015 article from National Geographic Young Explorer. This is a great family of magazines! Click here to link to National Geographic magazines.

Here is a video that highlights some inventions inspired by animals!

Remember when we studied Jacques Cousteau?

Jacques Cousteau was inspired by underwater creatures when he invented things:

Pick any animal and look for its functional parts. What could you invent?  Make a drawing of your new invention!

The inventions are coming in! I'll post any that are sent to me below:

Forrest invented a new thing from a bird. He says it is called KingFisher robot, and it helps people to fish. The robot uses its beak to pluck fish out of water, and makes it easier for us folks to fish! 

Kaydence invented something to help short kids reach things on high shelves!