Martin Luther King, Jr

Our class spent some time last week learning all about Martin Luther King, Jr.  We read a biography about his life and his teachings.  First grade children can be so very fair about things and they were outraged to learn that once upon a time there were laws that said you could or could not do things because of the color of your skin!  I have an interesting activity where I ask them to decide if a particular situation is "just" or "unjust".  It was fun to discuss each situation.  There were a few that they just couldn't come to agreement on...such as "kids who do not complete homework stay in for recess."  Some thinking shared was that "if I took the time to do it at home and my friend didn't, then he/she should have to use recess to finish".  I had to tell them that I wasn't going to be the teacher that kept a child in at recess over homework!  But I can understand the reasoning!  Others were more clear to them: People with blue eyes get to make more money.  

They were very interested in seeing MLK's entire "I Have a Dream" speech.  I'd shown the short clip where he talks about his children being judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.  But they wanted to see the entire speech so we watched during snack on Friday.  They cheered at parts and were more attentive than I'd anticipated because he's very wordy and uses sophisticated vocabulary for first graders.  They decided afterward that if they'd been alive then, they'd all have wanted to be there!

Each child then made their own "I Have a Dream" project.  We used differing skin colors to create the cover and then each wrote what their very own dream for the world might be...

It was a good time to read to them about Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges.  We read all about Rosa Parks on Friday and Ruby Bridges today.  Both were very brave to stand up for themselves and the rights to which they were entitled.  I think they were especially interested in the story of Ruby Bridges because she was just about their age.  A very brave girl indeed!

Today we talked about how all colors are beautiful and we have what color we have.  We made a Peace Dove which truly had ALL sorts of different colors!  And it IS beautiful!

Lastly, we talked about how skin is so many different colors and we put our arms together to see that no two arms are the same color!

Happy New Year!

It was really nice to see the kids after such a long time away!  They were excited to tell all about what they'd been doing since we'd seen each other last!

We began our science unit about sound almost as soon as we returned!  I was so excited to be teaching this new unit that I didn't even take any pictures this week!  Our supervisory union's science coach was here to co-teach and Ms. Konowitz and I taught the unit together.

Our unit began with a video of a glass breaking!  A man was making his voice very loud and the glass broke!  He starts to hoot and holler right after the glass breaks so I hit "pause"!

I asked the children to see if they could explain why that happened.  Lots of interesting and thoughtful (but wrong) answers.  They explained that his voice put so much air into the glass that it broke-like a balloon.  They explained that his voice was pushing on the glass and that broke it.  They explained that it was just so loud and loud noises break glasses.  We explained that we'd be performing some investigations over the next few days and after learning more, they WOULD be able to explain why the glass broke.  It was a great way to start the unit!

Then they used various items to make sound and learn that sound makes vibrations.  We then provided them with things that vibrate to determine if they also make sound.  They tried tuning forks...

...and drums and cymbals...

 ...they had lots of time to experiment, but also they spent time collecting data so they could make scientific claims.  It was a fun unit and hopefully if you ask your child about it, they can tell you all about sound and vibrations!

How the Grinch Stole...the Day...and Other Christmas Things!

The Grinch was the main character in our room today!  We had several Grinches and a few Cindy Lous!

Today we celebrated the Grinch by reading the book in which he stars and then we watched the movie...the 1964 animated version.  At the midpoint of the movie we stopped to have "Who-pudding."  (Otherwise known as Jello brand pudding!)  We also had another directed drawing project where each child drew the Grinch!  They look very Grinchy, don't they?

In the afternoon, we had our k-3 sing-along.  Each class was invited to the front to lead a song.  None of the kids knew they were going to be invited (nor did I!) so they didn't have time to get nervous!

Our class led "Up On the Rooftop" with hand motions, too!  I'll try to post a short video later tonight!  Then finally we were back in the room at the end of the day and I let them open their presents from me!  They've been really excited to open them since they saw the wrapped presents on my table...I kept teasing that I got them each a bicycle!!!

 They were very excited to get books (which certainly made their first grade teacher happy!) and wanted to know if they could look at them for a while!!!  Ha!  Have a very Merry Christmas!!!