St. Nicholas Day Fun

Last week we learned all about St. Nicholas and celebrated his feast day on December 6th.  We made subtraction facts with St. Nicholas's beard and even got a special chocolate treat!  Did you know that St. Nicholas was a Bishop who raised 4 people from the dead!  He performed many other miracles too.

First Snow Day

All kids love snow!  We really enjoyed our second recess because it was snowing and made our fun even better.

Map Time

Part of first grade's social studies standards is teaching about maps.  We've been learning about our country and states as we've been receiving post cards from friends and family.  We learn where those states are compared to northern Illinois.  This week, we learned that all maps have a title, compass rose, date and a key.  We took our map skills to work and made our very own maps!

Owl Pellet Dissection

        We've been learning A LOT about owls, their habitats, their diets and so much more.  The best way to learn about their diet is through an owl pellet dissection.  Owls are a type of raptor.  They're birds that will eat their pray whole.  Since their body cannot use all of the parts of their prey (fur and bones), they have to get rid of that somehow.  Birds have gizzards and an owl's gizzard is the way that those unnecessary parts are gotten rid of.  Inside the gizzard, the fur and bones are packed together into a pellet.  Once the pellet has filled the gizzard, the owl spits it out.  By dissecting the owl pellet, we can learn about what the owls eat!