Physical Education

It is Hockey time in the gym!!! First graders worked on how to hold on stick correctly, shooting and passing. They finished the unit with exciting games of Flip Hockey.

Now that the 1st graders have discovered how birds care for their young, examined the unique characteristics of their group's bird, and storyboarded the bird's actions to plan for their stop motion videos in the innovation lab, they will be moving on to complete a short lesson on friction, and then move into a “careers in science” unit in April. We will begin by studying what kinds of responsibilities marine biologists and botanists have!

Science


Innovation Lab

1st graders continue their unit on animating movies. This month, they will create a movie connected to their learning in their Art and Science classes. As part of a bird study, and in conjunction with a project created by the Audubon Society, students will make animated movies about the life cycle and habits of local birds. Follow this link to find out more about The Birdsong Project.

Art

First graders are working on a collaborative unit across science, art, and Innovation Lab! This unit is inspired by the many murals of birds featured in the Washington Heights neighborhood commemorating notorious ornithologist and illustrator, James John Audubon. Students were broken up into groups and each assigned a unique bird native to North America. Students learned how different adult birds take care of their young in science class, and in art class they are working together to create props that will be used in a stop motion animation showcasing their content knowledge. First graders worked together to assign each other tasks to tackle off of their checklist and thought like scientific illustrators when coloring their birds with color pencils. We are excited to see each group's animation later this year!

Music

First grade students are learning about call and response songs through musical play. We are also beginning to explore ABA musical form by practicing guided movement activities when listening to musical selections by composers such as Chopin and Beethoven. The students have loved exploring our Orff collection and applying their knowledge of quarter and eighth notes to playing bass bars. We will review Pesach songs as we get ready for the upcoming holiday!

Library

First graders are exploring forms of poetry for National Poetry Month this April. We are reading different poetry collections to learn about forms like rhyming poems, limericks, and concrete poetry. Students will find the poetry section on the shelves and use their space savers to find poetry books that interest them. We will also get to write our own fun poems and share them in class!