Good Touch, Bad Touch - Keeping Safe

Barabar Hilton from the Family Service Association of Howard County, Inc. came to discuss 'Good Touches and Bad Touches' with the first grade children. She talked about who gives you good touches and what those are. She suggested children not talk to strangers and keep an arms distance away from strangers. She emphasized that adults do not need to ask children for help or directions. They are to ask other adults. The children were quizzed on what the correct action to take would be with several scenerios. They were encouraged not to have secrets between an adult and a child. Only secrets like birthday presents or mother's day presents... which are good kinds of secrets... are okay to keep. Mrs. Hilton was very informative, and helped us learn to be safe.

Distance Learning on Butterfly Puppets

The first grade classes participated in a Distance Learning in which we connected to the Puppetry Center in Atlanta, Georgia. We learned about various types of puppets. We also reviewed things we were learning about butterflies. We reviewed that they start as an egg, then become a caterpillar, then a pupa, they form a chrysalis, and finally become a butterfly. They showed Painted Ladies like the butterflies we are growing in our classroom. We had fun flying our butterfly puppets.

Incredible Edible Landfill

Both first grades participated in an Incredible Edible Landfill program brought to us by Howard County Recycling. Marla Vechey taught us how to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. We learned we can recycle any color of glass. Plastic needs the numbers 1-7 to be recycled. Tires can be made into mulch. After learning about recycling and landfills, the children made their own incredible edible landfill. They started by placing a fruit roll up into a plastic cup as the liner that is under the landfill. A twizzler was the Leachate pipes that take out the garbage juice underneath the garbage, pudding was the garbage, a vanilla wafer was the cap, chocolate syrup was the dirt, and M&M's were the grass. The children enjoyed eating their landfill. We are going to try to do more re-using and recycling in order to help save the Earth!

Dinosaur Shirts

We are preparing for our fieldtrip to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis. Each child painted a dinosaur on their t-shirt so we would all be easily identifiable during our fieldtrip. Lots of fun.

Learning How to Count Money

During Learning Center time, we worked in a 'Pretend McDonald's' center so we could learn how to count money. Each child had to count out enough money to 'buy' a hamburger, (which was actually 2 vanilla wafers for the buns, a chocolate covered cookie for the hamburger, and red and yellow icing for the ketchup and mustard.) They also had to 'buy' french fries (which were canned french fries), and a cup for a drink. After 'buying' each item, they had to count all the money all together and make sure the amount they came up with matched the amount that was covered on the menu. What a fun and yummy way to learn how to count money!

A Moth Surprise

Last September, a child brought in a cocoon for our Science center. The cocoon looked a little squished, but we left it out so the children could observe it. After Mrs. Stites put the science center away in December, she placed the cocoon on top of the children's mailboxes, and forgot about it. Yesterday, Mrs. Stites noticed a huge brown thing in the corner of her ceiling. A Luna Moth had hatched out of the cocoon! What a surprise. The children were ecstatic! We observed the markings and the fuzzy antennae. We also noted that moths have such big thick bodies. This was great timing, as now we can compare what our butterflies look like when they hatch out. (We are growing butterflies from caterpillars right now.) What a fun surprise!

Student of the Month for Howard School

Andrew David Delelio was honored last night at the Northwestern School Corporation Board meeting. He was nominated because he continuously has a positive attitude. He has great team spirit, works hard and tries to do his best. He constantly has a smile on his face, and makes good choices most of the time. Andrew is excited about learning and often adds information about whatever we are talking or studying about. He thinks he is good at 'adding' because his initials are 'ADD'. The thing Mrs. Stites hears most often from Andrew is "Mrs. Stites, this is so much fun!" Andrew helps make Mrs. Stites' day a happy one. He is a pleasure to have in the classroom.

Special Person of the Week

Our special person of the week lives in a blue and white house with her mom, her dad and her sister. She has a dog Blitzen and a cat Cuttles. Her favorite color is pink because pink is pretty. Her favorite subject is Math because she likes it. Her favorite TV show is ‘Hannah Montanna’, and her favorite book is Snow White. She likes to eat Spaghetti. She likes to play outside. She feels happy when she plays with her sister. When she grows up she wants to be a veterinarian because she likes to help animals. She also likes horses. If she could go anywhere in the world, she would go to Hawaii. She feels she is special because she likes to help others. She feels the best thing about her is that she loves animals.

Telescopes and Constellations

Our class finished our unit of study about Space by making telescopes. We covered a Pringles can and then glued pictures of constellations to a blue piece of paper. We used straight pins to punch holes wherever we saw stars. Then we cut out the circles and placed them in the lids of our Pringles can. Our teacher already punched a hole in the bottom of the can so we could look through it. We saw the formations of the constellations Orion, Pegasus, Cassiopeia, Leo, Gemini, and the Big Dipper. Fun times!

Pie Throw for Leukemia - LLS

The students at Howard Elementary School raised money for the LLS foundation in order to help out with finding a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma. Each class tried to raise enough money to throw a pie in the face of their designated student council member. For every $20 raised, the students got to throw one pie. Mrs. Stites' class raised enough for two pies. The whole school raised over $556.00. Our principal, Mr. Willman said if we raised over $500.00 he would take a pie in the face. We are proud of our efforts to help find a cure.