Fun with Germs

On Friday, our ELA group learned about the importance of hand washing from our friend Ms. Melissa Webb at the extension office. She showed us our germs under a black light, yuck!!! She comes to us about twice a month and teaches our kiddos about making healthy eating choices, hygiene, and we always make a fun snack! Friday we made fruit pizza using graham crackers, yogurt, and fruit. Since we had been learning about living things, we dug out the seeds from our grapes and talked about what they would need to grow.

Harralson's Blog Post

WOW!  The weather this weekend was amazing!  I hope your kiddos got to play outside today!
This week, we introduced our new Science curriculum.  The kids had a ball watching their popsicle (a solid) turn into popsicle soup (a liquid).  We used straws to drink our special soup afterwards!  This week we will continue talking about solids, liquids, melting, and freezing.  Friday we will be making homeade ice cream :)
A reminder that our after school program on Wednesdays will continue until Spring Break.  Check out the website abcya.com - there are some great educational games your child will love playing!  Pictures have been uploaded to the photo gallery under "Science" and "After School Club”.  Check out our compound word outfits!  We celebrated compound words on Friday by wearing necklaces and chewing bubblegum in the classroom.  What a treat!

Measurement in 1st Grade

Students in Mrs. Johnson's class revisited nonstandard units of measure. They  discussed the meaning of nonstandard,  how to measure with  no overlaps, no gaps, and why this would be important to measuring accurately.    Students  then chose a partner and  explored measuring  with a "heart" ruler.  There were ten hearts per ruler.  Students had a list of items to measure.
   Then student pairs  were given the problem of  measuring water, marshmallows, and  gummies.  Students then quickly discovered other types of  measuring tools  were needed.  In  various stations,  student pairs  constructed the "gallon man" on the smart board, measured water,  measured and weighed gummy bears and  marshmallows.  At the end of the week students used  their skills to create a measured treat.

More Sounds

Students explored sound through books and various experiments.  Students were given rubber bands and asked to make sound. Next students were given geo boards with rubber bands.  Students discussed vibrations and the different pitches different bands made.
Students paired up and were given a balloon.  They were given directions of one student to talk near the balloon and the other would listen.   Students then discussed their voices produced sound waves that traveled through in and around the balloon.
Then they  explored sound waves by using a tuning fork.  When they hit the tuning fork on the table and placed it in water they watched as the water moved.  You can't see vibrations, but dipping the fork in water made it anything but invisible.
Last they created a bear cup that would  growl.    Students discussed questions about how the string,  vibrations and the cup all worked together to make it happen.
The unit was filled with lots of fun and learning.

Sounds Abound

First graders just finished up their study on sound. Check out Mrs. Blevins class as they experiment with different ways to make sound!

Your Children, Their Future

Have you looked around at the world lately? If you haven't looked I will tell you that the world is changing at an exponential rate. What I am going to blog about isn't meant to scare you, but to inform you about things I have read lately. In the past month I have finished two books- Most Likely to Succeed by Tony Wagner and No Ordinary Disruption by Richard Dobbs along with numerous articles dealing with the future of education.
I have three boys myself and I have to make sure that the number one priority in their life is to do well in school. It is my job to make sure they get a good night's rest, eat a good breakfast and dinner, make sure they do their homework and are respectful to their teachers. I also need to support my children and make sure they can read, write, do math and help build their curiosity.  If I am doing my part and making sure that I am meeting those needs for them then the rest is up to them.  I am just like you all and want my children to succeed and do better than me in life.
Here is the problem that we face as parents-The World. When I say The World I mean everything from technology to their future careers. Here is a stat from Richard Dobbs book- "By 2025, in fact, computers could do the work of 140 million knowledge workers, and robots could do the work of another 75 million people." Have you looked around at the world lately? Yes, I asked that earlier, but I really want you to look around the next time you go shopping, out to eat or just for a drive. When you go shopping are you seeing less cashiers and more automated self-checkouts. Are you even going to a building to shop or are you buying more things online? Have you been to a restaurant lately and paid the computer at the table instead of a waiter or waitress? Now for the good news- the book does state that there will be high demand for skilled positions in engineering, software development and health care.
Tony Wagner's book is a perfect compliment to Richard Dobbs' book in that it tells us what our children will need to know and be able to do to be successful in the future.  Tony tells teachers and parents that students will need to be creative, be able to collaborate, be innovative, show grit, be able to think critically and be able to ask great questions. Think about those skills and the jobs listed in the above paragraph. Those skills are a perfect fit for engineers, software developers and people who work in health care.
I would like to give you some stats that deal with income I read recently in an article.
Today high school dropouts can earn $24,000 a year, which will earn that person around $973,000 over their life. A person who now holds a high school diploma could make $32,000 a year, which will earn that person around $1,300,000 in a life.  Now here is the problem-those jobs will become harder and harder to find with computers and robots taking those jobs.
The article states that a person who earns a 4 year college degree earns about $50,000 a year, which will earn that person anywhere from $2,500,000 to $5,000,000 in a life. Can you see how a great education can lead to more money?
Guess What? At Estes, we are doing everything possible to prepare your child for the real world. Your child is in great hands with some of the best teachers that you will ever meet. We just hope that your child comes to school every day and sticks around at Estes for his or her entire elementary career.

Won't You Be My Neighbor

In ELA last week, we learned about neighborhood and communities. Ms. Holly's real neighbors came in to speak about the importance of being good neighbors. We talked about ways people, even kids, can make a difference in their own neighborhood and communities.
Next week we start our unit on living things in the neighborhood.

Making Valentines for the Elderly

The Lighthouse Team and Mrs. Williams kindergarten class made Valentine's Day cards for a local nursing home.

Lights and Sounds

In science first grade students are  studying light and sound.   They  are developing their  science skills through inquiry, prediction, observation, investigations, discussions and recording their findings.  They stepped out of the traditional classroom setting and into the PRC  last Monday for some   hands-on science fun. 

Harralson's Blog

I hope your child has enjoyed their snow day today! We had a great time on
Friday with our Valentine's centers and party.  Pictures are under the
picture tab entitled "Valentine's Party²."
We will be rescheduling the publishing party to next Monday, February 22nd
at 5:00pm.  Just a reminder that we will have ice cream in the cafeteria
afterwards.  There will be three writing pieces that your child will be
sharing with you - you don't want to miss it!  They are so excited to
share their own personal books they wrote with you!
I'm super excited about Science Fridays coming up in our classroom.  We
received a new curriculum and this week we will be talking about "Freezing
and Melting" (liquids to solids and solids to liquids).  Your child will
want to be present for our experiments, making snow cream and Popsicle
soup!
This Thursday is a special reading night!  It starts at 5:30pm.  You might
even be able to catch me in "character" for a special picture.  Come out
for our reading family night!  It should be tons of fun!
In Math this week, we will be reviewing 2D and 3D shapes.  I will be
sending home a sheet to stick on your fridge to help your child practice
and review shapes.  It will be in their folder on Tuesday..  Also, this
Friday is ³Compound Word Friday.  Our class will be dressing up in their
favorite compound word.  It could be a butterfly, football, etc. on their
t-shirt.  I will give more examples in the letter coming home on Tuesday.

The Joy of Reading

Ms. Layson's boys can be seen here enjoying a good book.

Candy Writing

Did you know that the Hershey Chocolate Company was founded in February, 1894? You didn't know that? Well, now you know!
Since we are talking about chocolate I thought this would be a good time to introduce this month's writing challenge.
Scenario: You have just graduated college and have been asked to take over a failing candy company. Your first job as the new president is to come up with a new company name. It has to be a catchy name that people will remember. Next, you will need to come up with the company's signature candy bar. You will need to come up with the name of the candy bar and the ingredients. Lastly, you will need to design the candy bar's wrapper. Please make sure you write in complete sentences that start with a capital letter and end with correct punctuation. You have the rest of the month to do this assignment. If you bring in your writing your teacher will give you a star up!

The Zoo Comes to Estes!

Ms Coomes' class has been working on creating an Estes Zoo! The kids have been researching animals and recreating their natural habitats in a zoo exhibit! The kids learned about adaptations, whether the animals lived in groups or alone and why, and interesting facts about their organism! The kids also used area and perimeter to create maps for the new Estes zoo!
After researching, Ms. McCarty class came to visit the zoo! They wrote facts they learned and interviewed the zookeepers from Ms. Coomes' room! The kids all worked extremely hard and learned a lot about these wild animals!