Mrs. Nordman ~ 1st Grade: Lighting the Holidays, "The Wizard of Oz", and Author Day

Helena & Bradley enjoying Buddy Reading during Daily 5.

This week we started our Lighting the Holidays unit. We made our "passports" so we can visit the countries that celebrate Diwali, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Los Posadas and Christmas. We will be mapping each of these places as we learn how these holidays use light as part of their celebrations.

Yesterday we began learning about Diwali, a Hindu celebration in India. We made play dough "diyas" which are the clay pots with candles that are used to light up their homes and patios. Thanks Tucker for pointing out that India is close to the equator, so it's usually pretty hot there. That led to an interesting conversation about how map location affects temperatures. We watched a very educational video on You Tube about Diwali. Here's the link, if you'd like to see it also. Diwali video
Today we will continue learning about Diwali through close reading of texts. Later this week we will learn about Kwanzaa and Hanukkah lights. Next week we will learn about Los Posadas and Christmas lights.

In math we continue to measure A LOT. We are measuring using inches and are briefly learning about measuring to the 1/2 inch. Measuring seems like it would be very easy, but the kids are still learning the importance of starting right at the 0 mark and the importance of lining up multiple rulers end-to-end with NO gaps to get an accurate measurement. We have been talking about different scales of measurement, like inches (which the US uses) on rulers and tape measures and Fahrenheit vs. Celsius for measuring temperature. REMINDER.... our Unit 4 math test will be next Thursday, Dec. 18. Here are some pictures using body measurements:

This week I will be finalizing all 1-1 reading with the kids to determine accurate reading levels, so don't be surprised if they do not have new books in their book bags. Normal guided reading will resume next week.

Finally, enjoy some pictures from our study and play of "The Wizard of Oz". We had a wonderful time!! Keep scrolling for pictures from Author Day!

Recreating the play back in our room:

Also, some photos from our special Author Day:

First Grade Swap to share our How-to Books.

Olivia enjoying the AHML Story Teller.

Miss Julie from the AHML. She told us about picture books and gave us blank picture books to be authors. We can turn them into the library Dec. 18 for possible viewing. This is optional though!