A Special Visit

Roman's dad recently returned from serving in Afghanistan and paid a very special visit to our classroom on Tuesday afternoon. He came with artifacts, pictures, stories, and even a taste of a MRE, a real meal he would eat when deployed. We got to try crackers with a cheese spread and a chocolate/peanut butter spread... not bad! :)

THANK YOU MARK for visiting and for SERVING our country!

Ambulance Education

Cecropia!

Isaac's family found a very unusual looking caterpillar at their home, in a Maple Tree, about 7 months ago. They researched it, took pictures, and nurtured it until it hatched in his mom's 1st grade classroom. It turned out to be a very rare CECROPIA moth. Mrs. Charlton brought it to our classroom last Friday afternoon and it was amazing; the pictures really don't do justice. It was huge, and the sad part is, they only live for 4-5 days. Some of you may have seen it while visiting for lunch in the classroom. Take a peek at this link for more fun facts: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecropia_moth

Lunch in the Classroom: April 27

Thank you for joining us for our first lunch in the classroom! Take a peek at some pictures that were snapped while you were here! Hope to see you at our next and last one on Friday, May 18!

Check these out!

Here are some great websites to check out at home with your 1st grader:

Science: Foss Web
http://www.fossweb.com/modulesK-2/index.html

Starfall
http://www.starfall.com/

Math Expressions: Grade 1
http://www.eduplace.com/math/mthexp/g1/index.html

Tumble Books
http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/customer_login.asp?accessdenied=%2Flibrary%2Fasp%2Fhome%5Ftumblebooks%2Easp

Earth Day!

We celebrated Earth Day, a day late, on Monday with our 6th grade buddies. They met us in our classroom, we partnered up, grabbed garbage bags and gloves and headed outside to pick up any and all garbage we could find. It's amazing how much we found, even after the all school clean up that happened this weekend. After our hard work outside, we headed back into our classroom and made an earth day snack with rice cakes and green and blue cream cheese. Yum! Or not, they were a little bland so no one fell in love with them, but it was still a fun afternoon!

Dates to Note in 1st Grade!

April 18 - Grandparent's Day and Talent Show
April l9 - Spring Portraits
April 20 - Beauty and the Beast play @ Divine Mercy in Faribault
April 27 - Join us for Lunch in the Classroom
April 30 - Field Trip to NPL (Northfield Public Library)

May 10 - Field Trip to the Children's Museum and North Park in Lakeville
May 18 - Join us for Lunch in the Classroom
May 23 - 1st Grade Mass

Probability

We've been working on probability, likely, unlikely, possible, and impossible situations in math. The children created spinners and were to document how many times they spun each color. They used tally marks and a table they created on white boards to record their information.

Tanzania, Africa

Ms. Kelly Lynn and her daughter Alexa will be traveling to Tanzania for one month this summer. For Girl Scouts, Alexa had to create a project/presentation about the country. She and Ms. Kelly came to our classroom this morning and the kindergartners joined us in our room as we listened and learned about the very cool similarities and differences from our country to theirs. The children had the chance to have a taste of Tanzanian food. Although many of the children weren't in favor of the taste, we made sure to remember that it's not gross, just different!

Land and Water Models

In Earth Science we have been learning about various land forms and bodies of water. The children worked with 1 or 2 other people to recreate a model of a certain type of landform. After they were finished, we sat together in a circle so that each group could present and explain their finished product. We had some great questions and comments from peers as well. They worked very well together and were very clean scientists - surprising for working with so much clay, sand and soil!

Pennies for Patients

We reached ANOTHER goal for Pennies for Patients, so one student from each grade who brought in $1, had their name put into a bucket with the chance to be picked and throw a pie at our spanish teacher, Guierllmo. Frank was picked from 1st grade, with a perfect aim! We reached ANOTHER goal as well, so each child who brought in $1 got to take part in duct taping Mrs. Marvin to the wall in the music and art room.

As many of you know and have heard from the newsletter or your child, the middle school is leading the Pennies for Patients fundraiser until February 29th; all donations go to lymphoma research/patient needs. The 1st graders have been doing a great job at bringing in their coins.

The theme for Friday was, "Delay the Day." We couldn't start working until all of our coins were counted and totals were documented, and the 1st graders brought A LOT this day, so they got busy after morning meeting and worked together to count all the coins. I'm going by what they counted :) which turned out to be: $23.95. Our total so far since the kick-off is $99.07 - we're neck and neck with 5th grade!

Mystery Readers

Mystery Reader #1
Mrs. Koopmann
(picture to come!)

Mystery Reader #2
Sister Bernelle
Clue 1. I like Jesus a lot and I pray prayers out of a big prayerbook every morning before school starts.
Clue 2. I make book reports for the puppy.
Clue 3. I correct math papers and put them in each folder.

Mystery Reader #3
Mrs. Bartho
Clue 1. I come to school more than each of you.
Clue 2. My kids all play hockey.
Clue 3. I answer the phone and say, "Good morning, St. Dominic School - this is...."

Mystery Reader #4
Mrs. Marvin

Mystery Reader #5
Mrs. Balvin

Mystery Reader #6
Mr. Beaham

Mystery ReaderS #7
Isaac's Grandparents

Mystery Reader #8
Mrs. Beaham