Canvas Bags...Grade One Goes Green!

Today students will be bringing home their very special canvas bags to keep. After reading several books about how even children can make a difference in caring for our environment and its creatures, students were inspired with their own environmental slogans. They applied all they had learned during our Living Things unit as well and we brainstormed many slogans as a class, from "Bring Your Own Bag Shopping" to "Don't Turn on Flashlights...When Turtles are Hatching!" Students chose a slogan, drafted their ideas in pencil on a planning sheet and then transferred their ideas to canvas bags using fabric markers and fabric crayons. Our Waste Free Wednesday was a success last week...we only had 2 pieces of rubbish in the bin after snack, instead of a half a bin full the previous day. Hopefully these canvas bags will serve as reminders to our students of all the little but important ways (ask your child about these...she/he might mention using reusable snack containers, turning off the lights, turning off the tap while brushing, and bringing reusable water bottles to restaurants as just a few) they can make a difference in caring for our earth.

Holiday Concert

What a wonderful job students did today performing in the Bosch Center! They looked and sounded lovely, and it was nice to see so many of you there to enjoy this special treat.

Living Things Projects

Here are the finished products...our Living Things video projects! We used an iPad app called Explain Everything. Students worked in research groups and became experts on a living thing of Oman. They learned about diet, habitat, physical features and classification. Students photographed their research sheets and then recorded themselves reading their findings. They worked on reading slowly and clearly, and were also introduced to the pointer tool within the Explain Everything app...see if your child used this tool in his/her presentation!

Writing for Readers Celebration

Thank you all for coming to our Publishing Celebration. Students were so proud to share stories from their lives that they had drafted, revised and edited in order to share with you, our readers. They also enjoyed teaching you the amazing facts about animals they discovered in their Living Things research. Now they have their author pens as a reminder that they are all writers with tales to tell. And of course they loved the sweet, starry treat to celebrate with as well!

Working Together Accomplishes More than Working Alone

At a student assembly in the Bosch Center this week, grade one students shared their collaborative Community project from earlier this year. During this unit we had interviewed various TAISM staff to learn about their jobs and about how they are a part of the TAISM team. Students worked in teams to create a paper collage quilt square and a video clip sharing what they learned about our TAISM community. Finally, all the grade one squares were lovingly "stitched" together by some of our invaluable volunteer moms, resulting in a truly collaborative, communal effort. The quilt is now on display outside Mr. Duncan's art room. See the eight minute grade one video presentation by clicking below:

Living Things Research... and Publishing Celebration Reminder

As we near the end of our Living Things unit, students have been hard at work in research groups, gathering information from books and Internet resources . Each group has become experts about an animal found in or around Oman. Students have learned about the physical features, habitat, diet and classification of these living things. Students are excited to share their research with you, and hopefully we'll manage to squeeze this in with our personal narrative stories at our Publishing Celebration on Wednesday. Remember, it starts at 11:15 this Wednesday, December 12th. You will be invited to sit with your child to enjoy some of his/her work and leave a written compliment, and then rotate and visit with other writers in the class as well. Dismissal is at noon on that day.