Wonderland in 1st Grade

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Measuring in our Classroom

This week we learned about inches and centimeters. We explored using a ruler and measuring inches and centimeters. Using a ruler is a standard form of measuring. Earlier last week we measured things in our classroom using string which is a non-standard form of measuring. The students were quick to see the difference. They all noticed that the ruler had numbers and the string did not.
We also continued our work on measuring cups, pints, and quarts. We are very close to 2 gallons. We are adding a cup of water each day to our gallon containers. We ended the week with 27 cups of blue/green water. Ask your child to tell what we are doing with the blue/green water.

In Calendar Math our focus this week has been on going shopping. The students were given a problem to solve. Example: If I had $1.36 and spent 79 cents, how much would I have left? We also continued our work with expanded notation and rounding to the nearest ten. Everyday the students are given questions about "what time is it?" Please work with your child on telling time.

In Science we did a lab on "Why fish have scales?" It was a fun lesson. The students rolled a small amount of playdoh(this was the fish with out scales), next they were asked to poke the playdoh with a toothpick(the toothpick represents a predator, disease, and environment). They had to give and explanation about what happen. We put the playdoh in a plastic egg (this represented fish with scales) and poke the toothpick through the egg. Most toothpicks broke. The egg which is the scale of a fish protected the fish. We had a good discussion about why fish need scales. Another good week!
Enjoy your Spring Break!

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