Hello 1st grade families! We have been having a wonderful few weeks leading up to our February Vacation. We were very excited to introduce two new teachers to the first graders. Francesca is joining us as a new full time teacher and Juan will join us as a substitute on various days through the week. The children have been very interested in learning more about them, what activities they like and the games they like to play. The children have also been loving the “LEDP Kids” word searches during quiet time. We have seen so much wonderful collaboration. 

Last week we enjoyed some challenges in our Engineering themed week. We read wonderful stories such as Papas Mechanical Fish and Iggy Peck, Architect. The children explored a variety of activities such as building with pasta and marshmallows, creating with legos like a Lego Engineer, and even giving some input of what they would have in a echo if they could design it. 

This week we are becoming Spies and Detectives.  We started the week off by going over Morse code, and creating Morse code necklaces. We then covered DIY periscopes, played an I-spy game and even discovered more about our finger prints. The children also enjoyed the stories Detective Mole and Detective Doughnut and the Wild Goose Chase. We have also been annoying the slightly warmer weather and playing in the snow! As the days get a little longer we are excited to spend even more time outside! 

Hello 1st Grade Families!

We have had an emotional 2 weeks here in the LEDP classroom. We are very sad to see our wonderful teacher Henry move to pursue a wonderful acting opportunity in NYC. The children have been making him cards and beautiful crafts since he broke the news. We have been taking time to remember the fun times we have had and wish him well. 

Out teacher activity themes have been been bouncing all round. We completed a “Fairy Tale” theme and a “Hand Craft” theme. 

During fairy tale week the children had opportunities to design fairy wings, act out a fairy tale, add their hand prints to a Japanese dragon, and try their hand at making their own fairy tale. 

This week we have moved over towards hand crafts for the children to try. One hand craft we introduced was finger weaving! The children had a blast attempting to finger weave a snake. Some children also opted to try out hand sewing! We had some LSA “hip stitch” experts help show us the ropes of what they have already learned. 

A few reminders, please be sure you send your child in with snow gear so we can have a blast staying cozy while playing in this amazing snow! We would also recommend a second change of clothes for your child to keep in their LEDP cubby incase of any accidents or slips in puddles. 

Hello 1st grade families! 

We have had an exciting past few weeks in our program. We welcomed everyone back from winter vacation and were off rolling again!

Since our last update we have covered a variety of themes such as Farming, Winter and The Human Body. The children have had the opportunity to complete projects such as guessing where different crops are grown, ice fishing with string, making snowflake crowns and creating  a pair of 'lungs'. The children have still loved making bead buddies, learning new card games and building some pretty impressive structures out of magnet tiles! 

We would like to remind families to pack warm gear for their children. When the weather is too cold, we play and burn off our energy in the gym, but when it's just warm enough, we all prefer being outside! 

Hello 1st Grade Families!

1st grade has had an exciting few weeks. The children have been LOVING making "Bead Buddies". This craft involves planning what beads to use, measuring string lengths, and weaving the elastic string through the beads to reach a desired shape! 

Teacher activities have been blasting off! We had the opportunity to cover "Outerspace" week where we talked about the planets, constellations, rocketships and different astronaut jobs on a space mission. The children got to measure the planets (to a reduced scale) and were able to see the amazing size differences between Jupiter and the other planets. 

We also covered "Ocean pt 2". We originally had an ocean theme week, but due to unforeseen circumstances, we were not able to complete all of the activities planned. But this ocean week was filled with learning about the depths of the ocean and its zones, watching a buoyancy experiment, making a mini aquarium, and guessing the sizes of different sea life!

This week we are working through "Artists and Their Mediums". We are having a variety of artists, some the children may be familiar with and some they may not have heard of. Some familiar names may include Jackson Pollock, and Leonardo da Vinci. Some unfamiliar artists may include Maria Marinez, a famous pottery maker and Roberto Benavidez, a famous paper mache artist.  

As a reminder, the teachers have been taking the sun's setting time into consideration when we go outside, so our time outside is slightly shorter, but it is still our goal to be outside as much as we can! 

Hello 1st Grade Families!

We have had a very exciting few weeks. The first graders have been really enjoying friendship bracelets, bead making and Mancala! The first graders have also been interested in our rotting pumpkin project, they are very curious why it’s “looking fuzzy” and seeing the seeds take root in the soil. These past two weeks have covered “Imagination Week” and “Bug Week”. 

“Imagination Week” was a wonderful collaboration of creating our own story characters, playing a production line machine sound game, and creating storylines for pictures their classmates drew. Another project the kids are working on is dictating what is happening in a wordless picture book. We will later type out their dictations, and tape them into the book giving them words! 

“Bug Week” will give the children a wonderful dive into bugs vs insects, learning about metamorphosis, and marking a very fun fingerprint bug craft. Considering how much the students have been enjoying our other animal related themes, we are not surprised they have taken a liking to these creepy crawlies. 

A few reminders moving forward, although we have had some nice weather, the forecast is definitely predicting a larger cool down. Please make sure your children are attending with cool weather clothing, because we do anticipate spending at least 30-45 minutes outside in the afternoon!