And now, the sneak-peak of our sculptures that you’ve all been waiting for! We finished up landforms today and I’ve got to tell you... we painted and painted and painted with the most impressive patience and attention to detail that you may ever see! I was blown away by the creativity, self-control, and detail-oriented work that I saw in these first graders today. Even the most enthusiastic of our bunch were so absorbed in their work you could have heard a pin drop... for nearly an hour in some classes! In case you haven’t been in first grade in a while, I am happy to remind you that this is HUGE for 6 and 7 year olds!

And now, ladies and gents, the fruits of our labor:

{the sculpting begins... this was the first time many of our first graders had worked with clay, or “claydough” as they called it. You can find our clay recipe HERE}

{A few people chose to use a photograph of the landform they were sculpting as inspiration... These are just old calendar photos that I tore apart and laminated for durability.}

{Finished sculptures from 1C}

{And the painting begins... we experimented with both tempera and watercolor paints. They each yielded very different results: the tempera gave better coverage while the watercolors allowed the texture of the clay to show}

{1D loved their mountains!}

{I was told that these prairie flowers are daisies and roses}

{working hard}

{I was told that this is 2 mountains with a river in the valley}

{And these volcanoes are just plain fierce!}

Make sure and visit the first grade hallway on Monday for the full show!

After sculpting our landforms this week, each person did a dictation (I typed exactly what they said) about their landform. Here a just a few previews of what is to come... Check out these fabulous descriptions!


"I made a desert with 2 cactus and little holes in the ground. Rattle snakes live in the those holes."

"I made a wetland. Wetlands have a lot of shallow water. My water is frozen and has some snow on it. This tree is a good place for someone who is traveling to sit and take a rest and put their feet in the water (if it melted)."


"Mine has a bunch of grass and flowers. And it has some hills. I made about 3 hills. Mine is called a prairie. A prairie dog could live here because it’s a place that is sunny and not too wet with a bunch of grass."


"My valley has a big hole through it so the water can go through it. It helps the water go to the ocean."


"Mine is mountain. It has some things that I sprinkled around it to make rocks. My mountain has some bumps on the sides."



... and just think, there are still 59 you have yet to read - and a landform sculpture to go with each  =)

After noticing the land around us, we branched out and began learning about other types of land too... mountains, valleys, prairies, wetlands (and the list goes on). We decided that we need to share some of our knowledge about land with our school, so we have begun a grand project.. shhh ; )  Yesterday, we began sculpting landforms! We still have more to make and some painting to do before they are ready for display, but I can tell you, it is going to be a must-see! I’ll be giving you a little sneak peak on Friday, but until then, I’ll leave you with your anticipation... and the recipe I used to make our modeling clay - just in case you’d like to do a project of your own!


No-Bake Clay
1 cup cornstarch
2 cups baking soda
1 cup cold water

Combine the cornstarch and baking soda in a sauce pan - mix thoroughly before adding water. Once blended (it will be about the consistency of melted ice cream), turn stovetop to medium heat and stir continuously until it thickens to the consistency of mashed potatoes (about 5 minutes). Place the clay on a cookie sheet and cover with damp towel until it is cool. Once cooled, kneed the clay and create something amazing! Or save it for a rainy day... It will remain moldable as long as it is kept in an airtight container.

Happy Sculpting!

After our awesome nature walk last week we had some serious journaling to do! We found so many cool things that only the favorites made it into our journal entries. I also let the first grade folks choose their top 2 favorite findings to take home, so if you discovered an interesting looking walnut or piece of bark in your kiddo’s backpack, now you know why =)

 

{A few people got creative and decided to do some leaf rubbings.}

{Yep, that says “football”... you never know what you’ll find on a nature walk!} 

{We’ve been working on labeling our journal drawings lately... do our labels look remarkable or what!?}

After learning all about the sky and how it changes we turned out attention to the land... and what better way to start our study than with a nature walk to see and take sample from the land around our school!

PS. Before I show you pictures, there is one thing we must first get out of the way. Whenever I start talking about land one song comes to mind that I simply must share. We actually learned this song in the first grade and sang it together to the sweet tune of my mandolin. Here is the original in case you need a little refresher =)

And now, without further adieu - photos from our nature walk....

Have no fear: these things that look a bit like, ahem, animal poop are actually walnuts =)