It's SO FUN to be a scientist!

Today in class, I did a Mystery science lesson that went perfect with our pushes and pulls unit. This lesson learned how to change the strength and direction of their push to solve a tricky problem. They needed to figure out how to push their wrecking ball so the it would knock over the three cups (the wall) without hitting one of the houses. This was a great problem solving experiement that really encompassed all we have been learning in our pushes and pulls unit. The kids LOVED doing the experiment and seeing if they could accompish the tricky challenge of knocking down all the cups (the wall) without hitting the house. So fun! After the experiment, we had a great conversation as scientists discussing what they worked for them and why they believe that strategy worked.

After we met at our table spots and I asked them to draw a wrecking ball doing work to knock over a wall on a piece of paper and write about how they got the wrecking ball to hit harder.

In HMH, we read a biography today about Dr. Mae Jemison. It was an inspirational story about a young girl who loved science and dance. She had dreams to be a doctor or astronaut and a ballerina. As she grew older, people tried to deter her from following her dreams but she pursued them anyway to one day living out her childhood dream. She became the first black woman astronaut. Yay, Mae! It was such a wonderful biography that had a great message for my little ones to hear. With this activity they did a writing piece of something they love. Mae loved science and dance. It was fun to see what they drew and wrote about. I was so impressed with all their detailed drawings and how well they wrote their sentences about what they love and why. Great job, K-1!

\\ After I did a grammar lesson with the class where we are continuing to work on complete sentences and identifying conjunctions. They are doing a great job with both and are learing so much!

In math, we began a new chapter that focuses on learning all about numbers to 100. We are learning a lot about place value and when given a large number of objects on how to group them in groups of 10 to make counting faster and more accurate. They did great in math today and continue to surprise me everyday with how quick they are learning. We are also learning how to start at a number and practice counting on to 100. Way to go, K-1!