Field Trip and Field Day Roundup!

Phew! This week sure put our stamina to the test! We took all of our ocean learning and ventured off to the aquarium. It was a blast! I was blown away with how much they remembered and how many connections they made as they explored the ocean creatures. We spent the week leading up to the trip "diving" into some ocean nonfiction shared reading using Stephanie Stewart's Ocean Life for the Common Core Classroom.  What a fabulous product! My kids LOVED having their own "nonfiction book" that they could read and interact with. Each day we read one or two articles about an ocean creature. As we read, we spent time using the strategies we had learning in reader's workshop to determine a definition for the vocabulary words. Then, the kiddos were responsible to classify the ocean creatures and write 3 new facts. We used highlighters as a tool to find "evidence." All of a sudden you throw highlighters into the mix and it's a "new" activity! :) 

Then we applied our learning to some super cute craftivities! We practice creating our own ocean animal inferences and integrated what we are learning about opinion writing in writer's workshop.  

As if our field trip wasn't enough fun in the sun, we had my favorite day of the year....field day!!!! We took sometime gearing up for the big event by having a discussion around sportsmanship. I was blown away with their responses when creating this chart... the "no ceating" and "no braging" made my teacher heart happy. :)

I knew I wanted to get in on all the action so I asked for as many parent volunteer "team captains" as I could to help the event run as smoothy as possible. Luckily we had a great turnout! My parent volunteers were so excited with their own captain badges and whistles! 

 You can find the captain badges, parent letters, field day awards and printables in my Field Day Pack. I picked up the whistles from Michaels in the party favor section.

   

Next week will be a big math review using centers and scoots as we prepare for our end of the year assessment. Stay turned for more first grade FUN! :)