First Grade Library Classes: Red Clover Books

This is a guest post from RES teacher librarian Beth Redford.

2014-2015 Red Clover nominee 

A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin 

by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet

First graders are enjoying this year's Red Clover books in the RES library. Named after Vermont's state flower, the Red Clover Award is Vermont's children's choice award for picture books. Every year, a group of teachers and librarians puts together a list of  10 fiction and nonfiction Red Clover books. Students who read or listen to at least five titles from the list get to vote on their favorite book. Their votes, along with votes from students all over the state, help choose the Red Clover Award winner.

Scholars are practicing their critical thinking skills while they are discussing these books in library classes. Our questions to focus on are: do I like or dislike this book, and why? What specific details in the text or illustrations make me think this book is interesting or boring, beautiful or ugly, serious or funny?

This week we read and discussed A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet. More information about this unique American artist and his work is available at the Red Clover Website. More information about the Red Clover program and the rest of this year's reading list is also available at this link.



cover image is from https://sites.google.com/site/redcloveraward20142015/home/a-splash-of-red-the-life-and-art-of-horace-pippin

Learning About Coins

Today in first grade we finished our week by learning about the quarter. We played coin bingo,looked at real money, and practiced counting coins. Students got to choose an activity to help them practice using the coins.  Some students chose to work in partners, while others chose to focus in on worksheet practice.  Next time you have a little change in your pocket, have your first grader count it for you!  

Collecting, Representing and Analyzing Data!

You read that right! Wow! What anmazing work! Our first graders were busy this week collecting, representing and interpreting our data.  Students worked in teams to select a question, survey their classmates and represent their data.  Then, learners shared what they found interesting or surprising about the data they collected. The representations will be hanging in the hall!  Stop by and check them out!

Grade 1 Potluck Reminder

1st Grade Potluck

Hi families,

We will have the first grade potluck on Wednesday,  January 14, 2015 from 5:30-6:30in the RES cafeteria.  I hope to see you all there!

 Click on the link below to signup for an item and so we know how many families will be joining us. 

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0848acae2aa20-first

We Read 120 Hours!

120 hours of reading, can you believe it?  That's right! Our first graders read 120 hours.  To celebrate this accomplishment our class choose to make homemade healthy smoothies!  Students chopped, mixed and blended our treat. Then, they got to select a brightly colored straw to slurp their smoothie through! Mmm, they were delicious! 

Student Choice = Eager Learners!

Our first graders came back from our break ready to learn! Students were so eager to learn more about animals that we decided to expand our nonfiction writing project! Students are selecting animals that they want to learn more about and reading up on them! They are doing their own research and asking for more!! I am so impressed! As we start writing our nonfiction chapter books, families are going to be amazed with the facts ours first graders know and their ability to organize their writing. We hope their nonfiction books will teach you lots of new information!