Where We Are in Place and Time: Past and Present

Where We Are in Place and Time: Inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationship between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives. 

Central Idea: Children in the past lived differently from how we live today.

Lines of Inquiry:
Daily life then and now
School then and now
Factors influencing lifestyle change

Concepts: Change, Perspective 

Approaches to Learning: Thinking, Research

Learner Profile: Knowledgeable, Inquirer, Reflective

Learning Goals/Success Criteria:   

• learners can give 2-3 examples of how daily life has changed from the recent past to now and 
• learners can give reasonable ideas as to why those changes have occurred
• learners can give examples of what is the same and different in schools between then and now
• learners can place items on a timeline in order from past to present or present to past

How to support your child at home

The curiosity about histories of their families and how things were done in the past will likely come naturally to you child so be prepared for questions and discussions about it. One of the activities from this unit will be to interview a grandparent (if possible) or elder friend or relative to find out more about the difference between daily life in the past and now. Possibly have a couple ideas of who and give them a heads up so they might provide photographs to share. 

In the class:

This week we began tuning-in and seeing what we knew about the past and present. 

Reminders:

Monday: 

• Turn in Word Study books (remember to not only sort and paste, but practice writing/using your words!)
• Reading Log check
• NO Swimming lesson January 18th - we have just been notified of a COVID-19 related closure

Tuesday Library

February 1st-5th: 3-Way Conferences (I will be sending out more details soon) 

Happy Holidays!

First Grade worked hard in the last couple of weeks to learn the classic Christmas carol, Deck the Halls. We all tried playing on keyboard first, then split into a bell group, and keyboards. We put it all together (almost!) at the end! Also, 4 students decided to learn all of the old lyrics and sing the song! Enjoy!

Luckily we learned this song because when the Grinch came to our classroom, it was the only thing that calmed him down! 

Then, Santa heard how we were all trying our best in First Grade and got our emailed book wishes, so he came and delivered those to us. We were all so happy! 

Thank you to the PTA for organizing such a wonderful Holiday celebration day and we wish you all a very warm and happy holiday! 

Why do we need forces?

Now that we have a better understanding of forces and motion through our investigations and using that knowledge to build a marble run, students looked back through their wonderings on the wonder wall and found that many of them wondered why we even needed forces at all:

So we started to think about ways we saw forces working in our lives to make things easier. 

We also did an investigation into magnetic forces looking around our classroom for things that were magnetic. We noticed that some things magnetic force were stronger than others.

Reminders:

Monday, December 14th

• Swimming!
• Turn in Word Study books.

Friday, December 18th

• Santa's visit!
• The Grinch will visit!

Have a Great Weekend!

Decorating the Tree

Grade 1 put "We Can Do Hard Things" to the test last week by making origami stars to decorate our school tree with. In the last few months we studied 2D and 3D shapes and this origami used pentagon shaped paper and the repetition of 5 folds to create. 

Please don't forget you can order the plate your child made here!

Plates Order - Custom Made By Grade 1

Hello Parents! Please use this form to purchase the plate your child decorated. Also use the form to suggest any charity for the funds to be donated to!

Pictures of the beautiful plates are here.

Thank you for getting into the giving spirit of the season and your child will be tickled too!

Handling of plates:

-all stickers except gold/silver colors: microwave OK, dishwashing machine OK

-if they use gold/silver color stickers: microwave NO, dishwashing machine NO

-crayon stickers: microwave OK, dishwashing machine: Not Recommended

Using What We Know About Forces

 

We are taking what we have learned so far about motion, forces, slope, speed, friction and direction and applying it to designing and building a marble run. Students designed individually, then combined to make a group design, made a list of what materials they needed, and began building. It has been really exciting to see some groups apply their design and thinking skills to anticipate problems in the design phase and make adjustments. There is no doubt that Grade 1 LOVES to build and create!

Today is American Thanksgiving and in that tradition I would like to say how thankful I am for my bright, loving, thoughtful students, their supportive parents, and our DSKI community!

Remember:

Friday No School: Teacher Professional Development In-House Training (November 27th)

Monday: Word study homework / books and Reading Log check

Swimming: Monday the 30th

Tuesday Library

How The World Works: Forces

How the World Works: An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment.

Central Idea: 
Forces and materials are used to make our lives easier

Lines of Inquiry:
What forces are
How forces work
How we use forces to make things work

Concepts: Form, function, causation 

Approaches to Learning: Thinking, Research,

Learner Profile: Knowledgeable, Inquirer, Risk-taker

Learning Goals/Success Criteria:   

• learners can explain one or two types of forces and explain how it works
• learners can explain his/her understanding of how we can use forces to make things work
• learners can cite concrete examples on how forces and materials make life easier and better

Action (What you could expect students to do)

Action is personal to each student but students might:

• build something like a marble run (Pythagora Switch) using their understanding of forces
• notice when forces are used to solve problems around them (elevators, cranes, etc)

How to support your child at home

Noticing when forces to make life easier every day (riding a bike) using scientific vocabulary: push, pull, force, speed, motion, energy, slope/incline, ramp, friction, lift, drag, work.

Talk about how things are moving: their path or direction (straight, circular, ziz-zag).

In the class:

Students decided they wanted to use their understandings so far to build their own marble run and we began the design process:

Students noticing forces at work during play:

Remember:

Monday: Word study homework / books and Reading Log check

No swimming Monday the 23rd due to Japanese Public Holiday: Labor Thanksgiving Day. Please come dressed for the regular PE lesson.

Tuesday Library

Friday No School: Teacher Professional Development In-House Training