Making Lemonade out of Lemons!!!

We were all very disappointed to wake up to a winter wonderland the morning of our scheduled field trip. Due to the slick roads Friday morning our first grade friends did not get to travel to Des Moines to see Clifford, the big red dog. But we made the most out of our time together with some special activities and treats!

 Thanks to Mr. Parrott, we still got to enjoy a special lunch and an indoor winter picnic time with all of our first grade friends. A special thank you to the Wellman Elementary PTO for providing funds for our lunch on Friday!

We are very fortunate to have a wide variety of technology at Wellman Elementary, and on Friday students were introduced to the I-pods! Both the music and technology were enjoyed by all. It was fun to watch the students help each other navigate through the music libraries to find their favorite classroom songs! 

Last week Wellman Elementary had a very special visitor, Ronald McDonald! First graders enjoyed an assembly put on by this kind clown emphasizing good character. We were especially excited to see one of our friends perform some plate spinning acrobatics! It was a great time for all!

100 Days Smarter!!!

Today was an extremely fun-filled day as we worked hard on all sorts of activities that centered around 100! Students had fun preparing for this special day as we got our Day 100 attire ready complete with a 100 headband, 100 glasses and a Froot Loop necklace of 100 pieces! Students put their counting skills to the test as we kicked off the day working in small groups on our number pattern posters. We then 'warmed ourselves' up for more learning as we did 100 exercises. We also enjoyed a 100 piece trail mix snack that each student counted out independently. Last, we finished the day with a 100 Balloon Pop!!! It sounded like firecrackers were going off in the school! Students are now officially 100 days smarter!

Stone Soup

During the season of cold weather and lots of feasting, we took some time to read the story of Stone Soup. This story offered students an opportunity to see how the cooperation of strangers helped to warm the bodies of many. First graders then had the chance to work together to make their own stone soup! There were many brave souls who tried the soup and found it to be tasty!

Native American Games

As students finished up our unit of The First Thanksgiving, Pam Holz came to offer the students insight into Native American games of long ago. Pam shared with the students how hundreds of years of history has been written and documented, allowing us to have knowledge of the past. Students had the opportunity to play two different games. One game had students working on their aim as they worked to drop a rock into a small bowl, while the last game had students 'tricking' the human eye by hiding a rock within their hand and having another students guess the correct hand.

Young Geologists

First Graders wrapped up their unit on geology by finding places in our world where rock is used. The students found many examples of how rock is used not too far from school! Some of the examples our young geologists discovered were sidewalks, brick paved walkways, foundations for homes, and many more.

Apple Fun!

First grade students enjoyed a healthy snack of apples on Friday thanks to the Farm to School Grant Initiative that provided a variety of apples to our school. Students first took a closer look at some apples comparing the seeds and deciding if it contained even/odd amount of seeds. We then ended our time preparing an apple smile treat.