Where Did October Go?

I can't believe it will be November this week! For many reasons I'm happy to be ushering in this new month. Mostly because the marathon I've been training for since May will finally be here. Yikes! Between training for the marathon, my husband's work travels, and the bazillion obligations at work this month, my little blog has been neglected. But as we hunker down for Sandy, I figured today was a great opportunity to get caught up!

PEEK AT OUR OCTOBER!

First, the delicious apple sauce made during our apple unit. The kids thought it was delicious and ... an added bonus was how wonderful the room smelt for parent teacher conferences!

We have been learning about shapes. My students struggled with understanding the difference between a rectangle and a square and being able to explain how they knew something was a square or rectangle. We went on a little shape walk one day. Who knew how many things are shaped like a rectangle or square just in our first grade hallway. The walk provided great conversation and math talk about squares and rectangles. Plus, first graders love clipboards!

Next, our water unit in science. I've really been trying to embrace inquiry science, so I let go of my controlling tendencies and let the students mix their own solids and liquids in water. They got to see each experiment up close and because they actually did it themselves instead of watching a teacher demonstration, they seem to have a better understanding. We only spilled one cup of red Kool Aid and one cup of oil and water...ooops. Our WONDERFUL art teacher pulled in this science standard during her lesson with oil pastels and why students shouldn't get them on their clothes.

This is my first year using a science notebook and so far I love it. Sometimes I make a recording sheet to glue in the notebook and sometimes I leave it up to the students to decide how to represent their observations. We used our notebooks a lot this week!

Scientists in action!