Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Heat can change matter!

We spent 2 weeks learning all about the different types of matter.  This week, we are learning about how matter can change.  Did you know that heat can change matter?

We took some solid ice cubes and put them into hot water.  The ice cubes melted and turned into a liquid.

Then we used a hair dryer to add some heat to a solid piece of chocolate.  It turned into a liquid too!

Next up, we used our hands and friction to melt an ice cube! It was COOOOOOLD!!

Next up, learning how freezing can change matter!!

Monday, November 28, 2011

What's the matter?

We've spent quite a lot of time learning about matter.
We started out with a "Solid Search" around the classroom.
The next day was all about liquids.
We wanted to see which liquid would flow faster...dish soap, honey, or juice.
We made some predictions about which of these containers were holding the most liquid.
5 of us thought there was more blue water.
3 of us thought the red was the most.
And 13 of us thought there was more green water.
But we found out that they were all the exact same amount of water! They just had a different shape.
The next day, we observed some solid ice cream, and liquid rootbeer.
When we poured them together, they created a gas-y froth!
Next up was a mystery solid.  We used our sense of smell, touch and sight to record important information.
It didn't smell very good. :)
We recorded our observations in our science journals and made some predictions about what we thought it was.
Mrs. Glass told us it was called Alka seltzer.
Next we had to predict what would happen if we dropped the Alka seltzer in a glass of water.
It made bubbles! - a gas!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Much to be thankful for!

Our class has so many things to be thankful for.
Check out these plates we made with our families.  They show some of the many things we are thankful for.

The whole first grade participated in a re-enactment of the First Thanksgiving.  Half of us acted as Indians, and half as pilgrims. 

Friday, November 18, 2011

First Mate - Peyton

My name is Peyton.
I am 6 years old.
My birthday is January 26.
The members of my family are me, my Mom, Tre, Tabby, my Grandma, my Grandpa, and my Dad.
My favorite dessert is ice cream.
My favorite color is blue.
My favorite singer is Justin Beiber.
My favorite book is The Surprise Garden.
What I do best is play baseball.
I help others by reading to them.

Monday, November 14, 2011

We voted!

We started working on Addition this week.  A fun way to practice is to use Zoo Plates!
We rolled our dice, counted out our beans, and put them in our animals' ears.
To find the sum, we moved both sets of beans down to the animal's face and counted them together.


 In Social Studies, we've been studying the Earth and the landforms.  We made these "Earth Pockets" to hold our flashcards on each of the landforms.  We sewed the 2 pieces together ourselves!

On Election Day, we discussed the importance of voting.  We even had our own Election for a new class helper!
Cookie Monster promised a Cookie for everyone when there was any kind of trouble.
The Count said we could count on him to help us solve our problems.

After hearing their slogans, we discussed with partners what we thought would be best for our classroom.
Then we went to the polls! We had people to help protect our privacy as we voted, helpers to pass out ballots, and volunteers to give us our "We Voted" stickers.
Then it was time to count the votes!
Our race wasn't very close at all!
We decided The Count was the better fit for our class!

We also took some time to write letters to some of the Veterans who have served our country.  We are very thankful for all they do for us!

Science has been all about space.  We used vanilla wafers to illustrate the different phases that the moon goes through.
We learned about the different planets in our solar system.  To help us remember their order, we made a hat! We put the planets in order and put the sun right in the middle!

Our last space project was to create a Moon Goon!  Our Moon Goon's have some pretty funny names and bodies!