Sharing our Instruments

Students from Mrs. Padgett's class came to visit our classroom. They are also beginning a new project on instrument. Our students were able to share with them many interesting tidbits they had learned during our project work.

Project Research

Students use the laptops to research their individual interests in project. Some students are looking into a specific disease, some are comparing soap and hand sanitizer, others are researching diseases around the world or ones that are not common anymore.

Germ Experiment

Last week our expert, Mrs. Randle, left us some agar plates to conduct our own experiments. The students picked three places in the school to swab and see if anything grew on their plates. Here are their results.

This is the plate from the bathroom urinal handles.

This is what grew from the floor swabbing.

Here is the swabbing from the walls around the building.

The fuzzy growth is fungi, and the others are unknown at this time.

Germ Expert

Today Mrs. Randle came to speak to our class about germs and her job. She works in a lab at Wishard Hospital which analyzes medicines to see how effective they are against strains of germs and also tests the cultures that are sent in from your doctor's office for things like strep, etc.

She brought in some agar plates that she had set up for us yesterday. On one, she had rubbed her hand on the bottom of her shoe and then placed her dirty hand on the agar. Then she washed her hands thoroughly and placed her clean hand on the other plate. Here are the results:

This is the agar plate that had the dirty handprint. It grew lots of germs: staph, fungi, and bacteria. The thumbprint was where all of the fuzzy growth is.

This is the agar plate with the handprint after washing her hands. It did not grow anything.

Students also made observational drawings of the agar plates and also of the microscope that she brought in. It had all the same pieces and parts as the microscopes we use here in the classroom, except it was biocular and an oil immerison microscope.

Students enjoyed looking at the prepared slides that our guest speaker brought to share. She also showed us a website that had animated characters that looked like real germs. The children really enjoyed seeing them come alive.

www.giantmicrobes.com

Project Germs

We are entering phase two of our project about "Germs". Today the students learned about the importance of handwashing and how easily germs are spread. I had received a germ glow light kit from Mrs. Bastin that has a bottle of fake germ powder that glows under a black light. We used this kit for our exeriments today.

First I passed around "Chester the Raccoon". I had liberally sprinkled the germ powder all over him. The students noticed he was dusty, but didn't think anything about it. After they had all touched him, I shared that Chester was sick and infected. That meant he had a lot of germs on him. We used the black light to see the germs on their hands. Even one student who had barely touched Chester still had enough germs on her hands to glow.

I had the students wash their hands, but told them not to use soap or warm water. They rinsed their hands quickly and dried them with paper towels as usual. They were surprised to see that there were still germs on their hands. We discussed how to properly wash our hands and how important it is to use soap, hot water, and scrub them for an appropriate time, etc.

When we looked at their hands this time, most of them had washed off all of the germs. However we were still able to see students who had not washed their wrists or under their fingernails. The interesting part for them was realizing that even though they washed their hands free of germs, there were germs now showing up in their hair, on their clothes, and especially on their faces. This let them see how much the germs had spread over their bodies in the short time since they had been infected.

Now that the student understand how to use this kit, we will be able to have them design their own experiment to test hypotheses.

Boxtop Store

Students have been hard at work this week working on Project. They have cleaned out the bookstore space in order to organize their Boxtop Store. We still need to finalize our grant that they are writing to the PFO for more school supplies. The children also worked on advertising this week and wrote jingles and a script for a commercial. Mrs. Roy came and videotaped the children on Friday. We are all anxious to see the finished product. Some students also worked on print ads.

Dr. Jay

We have been working on learning about teeth as part of our latest project. Dr. Jay came and visited our classroom to help us answer questions we had about our mouths and teeth. We learned that we should brush our teeth in small circles, molars are prone to getting cavities and that teeth are stronger than bones.

Teeth Drawings

This week for project work we did observational drawings of our own mouths. Students used mirrors to draw their teeth as best they could. Some of them counted their teeth to make sure the correct number was included in their depictions.

Students also worked on conducting surveys within our own class and have come up with many questions they are working to answer in the coming weeks.

Butterfly Release

Today we said good-bye to our butterflies. We had 9 caterpillars spin chrysalises, and we waited patiently for them to emerge in the butterfly pavillion. Five of the butterflies were released today, but unfortunately not all of them survived. The students were very excited to crawl inside the tent with the insects. They loved seeing them up close.

We are finalizing our insect book this week and I hope to have it shipped and bound over Fall Break. I for one am glad to finally be done with all the little critters in our classroom. Thank you for your support, and for graciously sending in bugs for the last few weeks. I know the children have enjoyed this project and learned so much.

Insect Project

We have been working hard on our insect project and learning about lots of different kinds of critters. Today the students used the paint program on the computer to draw different insects. We also took time in the afternoon to do some research and conduct surveys. They asked the other classes questions about animals that are commonly mistaken for insects like worms, spiders, etc. The they used a new program on the computer to create graphs showing their results.

A Trip to the Bank

On Thursday our class, along with Mrs. Reeves' class, went to Fifth Third bank as part of our money project. Students had fun learning about what happens there, and took a tour behind the scenes. They got to see the safety deposit boxes and the vault. It was a lot smaller than I expected. Students were able to get some of their questions answered that we had generated in phase one. They made observations and counted various items. They also completed rubbings and made observational drawing and diagrams.

Coin Rubbings

To go along with our money project, we did an activity suggested by Mrs. Simmons the art teacher. Students created their own coins using foil and paper. Everyone made a template of a face either as a profile or looking straight at you. They cut it out and added layers of card stock or string to the paper to give it thickness. When they placed the foil over the template and rubbed, all of the edges came through, and you could see lots of details just like on a regular coin. They also added designs and decorations to the front using an etching technique. I was very pleased with their efforts and impressed with the detail they put forth on this activity. I know they enjoyed working with their own coin designs.

Project Work

Today we watched Ms. Dorsel's class put on their class play. They have been working on theater for their project work. The students really enjoyed watching the second graders in their fairy tale play. They were also interested in doing a class play, and I told them we might be able to do one at the end of the year.

We have continued to work on phase two of our project with money. Students are eagerly researching questions and learning more about money every day. We may be taking a field trip to a bank soon with one of the other first grade classes.

Weekly Update

We have been learning many new things this week We read a couple books about George Washington Carver, and learned that he discovered hundreds of new uses for peanuts. He also taught farmers how to do crop rotation and that is was beneficial to their plants.

In math we have continued our practice of double digit addition with regrouping. We will be taking a test on this concept on Friday. Next week we will be starting subtraction with regrouping.

In Writing Workshop, students are working on how-to books, and writing about something they know how to do well. Some of their ideas are how to make oatmeal, how to draw a dragon, and how to build a lego plane.

Many children have moved up a level in Reading Workshop. I am excited to see their progress and that they are making good use of the reading strategies we have learned about.

In science, our amaryllis plant has grown quite a bit. Today the students measured it, and it is already 7 cm. tall.

For project we are learning about money. Students were very interested so far in how it is made, and would like to take a field trip to one of the United States Mints. I explained that they are both too far away, but they said we can just take a plane to get there. So...please let me know if you would be willing to sponsor this trip..HaHa! We will be partnering with the art teacher on an activity to print our own money, and work on other representations in the classroom.

Flag Project

We have begun working on a new project about flags. Students have helped to create a web about what they know about flags so far, and we are adding to it daily. They have also come up with many questions. We have answered a few so far such as: Who made the first flag? Why do people burn flags? How has the flag changed over time? What do the stars and stripes stand for? We have several groups investigating different areas of study: history, U.S. flag, making flags, flag etiquette, and symbols, shapes, & colors.

The students have enjoyed making many different kinds of flags. Two groups are working together to create a timeline showing the different flags over time in the United States. Other children are making their own flags using their imagination.