Thank you for the wonderful attendance at our production this morning. The students were fantastic!! They felt pretty good about themselves afterwards.
I asked the students to write a comment on our whiteboard about how they felt- here are some of the things they wrote.
- I thought eveyone was very great
-I felt very great
-I felt good
-I was nervous
-I felt so great
- I felt really really really good
- I thought I didn’t have to worry
-a Big smile!
-I felt nervous but I think I did good.
-I felt goood
-I felt so so good about myself.
And they should feel good about themselves with the many aspects shown today: writers, actors, singers, musicians, artists and designers. Well done grade one!
We were very fortunate to have author and YIS teacher Trevor Kew visit our classes this week. After asking the students what they like to do in their free time, Mr Kew told the students about his passions which include soccer and reading. This eventually led to Mr. Kew’s clear message that one should “write about things you really care about”
Check out his blog to find out how he answered some of the student questions such as:
How old were you when you wrote your first book?
How do you choose what to write?
What is it like to be a real author?
Do you drink when you write?
And..do you think you will be able to come to our Book Launch in June?
This was our final week of inquiring into Life Cycles and all students have clearly demonstrated their understanding of the Central Idea: All living things go through a process of change.
However, the debate of what to do with our frogs continues…
Please take a look at the 1S VoiceThread Life Cycle comparison project and feel free to add comments.
A big thank you to our grade two captains for showing us how to “Move Your Body” Beyonce style today. This dance will be used to show team spirit at Sports Day on Friday. To follow are a couple of instructional videos created by our grade 2 captains.
Please share the videos with your child so he/she can practise at home.
The excitement continues in 1S as this morning we discovered our first frog!
The students were ecstatic with this discovery however they knew that our current tank, while seemingly lovely for tadpoles, probably did not provide a suitable habitat for a frog.
Luckily we were able to borrow a smaller fish tank from Ms Czubak and found some lovely rocks, dirt and insects to create a new habitat for our frog and others that are soon to further complete their process of metamorphosis.
Once the tank was completed, the students were relieved to see their frog resting comfortably in it’s new habitat.
Later we noticed a couple more soon-to-become-frogs, and added them to the frog tank.
What are we going to do with them when they all turn into frogs?
Leo came up with a suggestion, the students should take them home, that should be about 2 frogs per student.
1S had an exciting week of measuring, playing math games and continuing our inquiry into living things.
On Monday we invited KP in to share our learning about the life cycle of a frog and to show our class tadpoles. 1S students were eager to show their knowledge and the kindergarten students listened intently.
On Tuesday after reading through a book about caterpillars and the butterfly life cycle, the students asked if they could go out to look for caterpillar eggs, so out 1S went to our local park searching under leaves for eggs. Students picked up some dandelion seeds noticing another life cycle and they saw a caterpillar and some butterflies, however, we didn’t find any caterpillar eggs. When we asked a park worker about caterpillars, he dug in the ground and handed us some lovely caterpillar type critters from underground. We took these back to the classroom and our research tells us that they are probably a beetle larvae, now we have more classroom pets to study!
On Wednesday we placed all the tadpoles in containers so that we could look at them more closely and wonder when they will develop front legs. While the tadpoles were out we decided that it was time to clean out our fish tank. On Thursday, With fresh pond water in the tank, the students were happy to be able to watch the tadpoles in clear water.
The highlight of the week was on Friday morning when we discovered that one or our tadpoles had developed front legs!! Wow it is really starting to look more like a frog now-except for it’s long tail
One of the first things 1S students did when they entered the classroom after Spring break was to go straight to the fish tank to see if our tadpoles had survived the 2 weeks while the students were away.
Peering into the tank, the students were happy to see lively and considerably larger tadpoles swimming about, but it became very obvious that our class fish tank was just too small and maybe a bit too clean for all the tadpoles. The students discussed this and after taking a vote they decided that we should release some of the tadpoles to the pond in the park where we got the eggs.
On Tuesday we packed a container-full which was about half of the tadpoles, and set out to the park. The students were determined to put the tadpoles in the exact same place as where they had found eggs last month and when they got there, they were relieved to find other tadpoles swimming in the area. Our tadpoles were carefully placed in the pond and the students all watched to see if the tadpoles were safely playing with their new tadpole friends before heading back. On the way back we gathered some rocks, leaves and pond sediment to add to our fish tank to provide coverage and food for the remainder of our classroom tadpoles.
Back at the classroom, the tank looked quite different with the leaves and rocks and started to cloud up. The students had decided that this was probably good for the tadpoles as it provided places for the tadpoles to hide.
All week long the students kept their eye on the tadpoles and on Friday they were really pleased to find backlegs on one tadpole!
As we continue to inquire into the life cycle of a frog, we wonder what changes we will see next week.
We probably still have too many in our tank so if anyone would like some tadpoles to take home, please vist 1S
1S had a fantastic start this week to our new Unit of Inquiry: All living things go through a process of change.
On Monday we headed to Homes to buy some seeds. On the way back we walked through the Minato Mieru ga oka park and were delighted to find many different signs of Spring and living things including tree blossoms and toad eggs. Excited about these special findings, the students eagerly returned to school to plant their bean seeds. Each day the students eagerly observe and then record the changes they see in their seeds.
Then on Tuesday Grade One boarded a bus to experience one of the best natural open spaces for children in Yokohama, Kodomo no Kuni. The students were instructed to simply look for living things. This proved to be the perfect place to do this as in Kodomo no Kuni, there are plenty of plants and animals at different stages of life. The children had a wonderful day searching for living things and had plenty of time for some fun in the play areas and fresh ice cream. A big thank you to Walter and Miel’s mums for all your help during this trip.
On Wednesday 1S went back to Minato Mieru ga oka park to see if what we had head was true, that the pond had been cleaned out and that the toad eggs that we had seen on Monday were all gone. When we got there, unfortunately, we found clean water and no eggs but we collected pond water anyway as we knew of some good news. Luckily, Grade 2 teacher Ms Czubak, also known as our hero, collected toad eggs before the cleaning and had offered to share some with the grade one classes! With this in mind we got our fish tank ready.
On Thursday the students were delighted to find toad eggs in their fish tank and spent time just gazing at this wonder of life.
By Friday morning the shape of the eggs had changed somewhat and by Friday afternoon, the first tadpoles started to wriggle around the tank. The students were thrilled.
Click below to view the 1S Family Recipe Book. The students enjoyed drawing the pictures of their recipes and had fun creating enticing titles and designing the appearance of the title. Many thanks, 1S parents, for submitting the recipes and for your wonderful support all throughout our Unit of Inquiry. Enjoy!
