Owen L.

This is Owen L.  He is our student of the week this week!  Owen's favorite color is BLUE.  He loves to visit his Grandma's house.  Owen's favorite television show is Clifford.  When he grows up, Owen would like to be a firefighter.  His pet cat is named Cuddles.  The book Owen loves the most is the World Atlas.  His favorite sport is soccer. Owen loves to eat pizza.  Owen is special because he is a twin (his sister is in Mrs. Church's class), but the VERY BEST thing about Owen is the fact that he is a good friend to others!

Fun Reading Activity and The Hawkeye Hustle!

Thanks to Taylor and her parents!  They donated some really cool ABC pretzels to our class!  We used them for our reading lesson today!  Each child was given two handfuls of pretzels on a napkin.  The children used the pretzels to 'make words' and record them on lined paper.  Many were able to build their names as well as short rhyming words, color words and more.  What a fun way to work with words!  The kids enjoyed eating them when we finished!  Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Becksfort for the fun activity today!

Kylee, Brayden, Bailey and Jaden

Owen L., Do'olo, Isaac and Chloe

Clayton, Aiden, Taylor, Tristan, Elijah and Aubanie

Taylor gets to be in a picture alone!
Thanks for the neat treat Taylor!

Bridger, Ashlynn, Owen D., Reece, Jaden, Ryleigh and William.

The big event of the day today was the Hawkeye Hustle! The kids were so excited to turn in their collection envelopes for this PTO Fundraising event!  We are hoping that our class turns in the most money.  If we do, our class will be given $100 to spend on classroom items as well as a pizza party!  Keep your fingers crossed while the PTO officers tally up the totals!  Even if we do not 'win' the contest, the children of Hamilton Elementary 'win' because of all the wonderful ways the PTO spoils us!  Thank you for donating and allowing your children to ask for donations from family and friends!

Thank you to Mrs. Nykamp for picking up the leis for us!

The Hamilton Hawkeye participated in the Hawkeye Hustle!
Boy, were the kids excited to run around with it!

We did the Hawkeye Hustle inside due to the weather.

Mrs. Petersen had fun music playing while we walked.

Mrs. Petersen rolled a big cube to determine if we
had to walk, jog, skip, gallop, hop or run!

Some Hamilton High School athletes joined in to motivate us!

Miss Brandy, our High School Assistant, also joined us!

Ryleigh celebrated her birthday today, and her mom surprised her
by joining us during our time in the gym!

Getting ready to the the Chicken (or should we say Hawkeye) Dance!

The "Hawkeye Dance"

We always have to do "the funny one" at the end!  

Ryleigh

This is Ryleigh!  She is the Student of the Week this week.  Ryleigh's favorite color is PINK!  She would love to visit Disney World someday.  Ryleigh likes to watch Duck Dynasty on television.  When she grows up, Ryleigh would like to be a 4th grade teacher.  She has a pet dog named Natilyn.  Ryleigh's favorite book is "Mrs. McNosh Hangs up the Wash".  Her favorite sport is soccer. Ryleigh loves to eat Macaroni and Cheese!  Ryleigh is special because she is 6 years old (but almost 7), but the VERY BEST thing about her is the fact that she is SPECIAL!!!

Trip to the Fire Station

We were fortunate first graders again this week!  One of our special paraprofessionals, Kristen Heuer, is married to a Hamilton fire fighter.  Mr. Heuer agreed to have all three first grade classes visit the Fire Station for a tour.  The excitement built as we passed by the new skate park on our walk over to the station.

Mr. Heuer started by explaining to the children all the different types
of trucks they have and when they would be used.

Mr. Heuer and Mr. Kempkers show the children one of the
oxygen tanks they use.  Each tank holds about an hour's
worth of air.  In big fires when they are working hard, the
air may last half as long.

After Mr. Heur talked to us about the many trucks, the kids were allowed to walk through all the trucks for a close up look.

We learned that most of the calls are medical calls or accidents.
The firefighters average about 12 big fires per year.

There are three pumper trucks in Hamilton. We learned that across the street is a holding tank
that stores water to fill the pumper trucks. In a pinch, water can also be sucked out of ponds,
rivers and even a swimming pool when on the scene of a big fire.

It was neat to see all the compartments and see the equipment and many tools used.

These jeeps are used to get to fires in areas a fire truck cannot reach.  Areas such as a wooded area
are perfect examples of a place where the jeep would be used.

Backside of the pumper trucks.

On the others side of these jeeps, there is even a fire boat!  The boat would be used to rescue
people if their boat capsizes, or if someone is trapped or hurt on the river, or for
and ice rescue.  Mr. Heuer said it is one of their newer purchases, but has been used
already several times.

Next we went into the conference room area.  Mr. Heuer reviewed many safety rules with the children. It was a great review for the children and can never be heard too often!

Mr. Heuer showed the children what a smoke alarm would sound like.  He also told the children
that if their family needed a smoke alarm for their home, to let their teacher know and the
fire department would get a free smoke alarm to the teacher to send home with them!

We watched a short fire safety video (an oldie, but goodie) produced by Disney. I actually remember viewing it when I was a child (now that's OLD).  In the movie, Donald Duck learns how to prevent fires in his home he shares with his three nephews. They also have a home fire drill so that they are ready if there is ever a fire.  This is something all the children were also encouraged to do at home!

After the movie the children had a big surprise!  A fire fighter came out of the bathroom!  According to Mr. Heuer, many children are afraid of firefighters and will hide in their closet or under their bed.

Crawl near the floor where the air is best.  Even though you can't see much of a face, and it
sounds like Darth Vader, do not be afraid of a fire fighter!

Mr. Kempkers helps the fire fighter with the mask.

It's MRS. HEUER !!!!  What a great sport!
The Hamilton Fire Department does have one female fire fighter, so the kids
were told that BOTH boys and girls could grow up to be a fire fighter!

It was so much fun to visit the fire station!  But when we went back to school, there was more learning to be done!

We wrote Thank you notes to Mr. Heuer.  The kids wrote and drew a picture about something they learned at the fire station or a fire safety rule that they knew.

We wrote on fire helmets about what to do in case of fire.

We made cute fire dogs to take home as a culmination to our unit on fire safety!

Do'olo, Owen L., Chloe and Isaac

Bridger, Ashlynn, Owen D., Jacob, Ryleigh, William

Brayden, Bailey, Jaden, Kylee

Elijah, Aubanie, Clayton, Aiden, Taylor, Tristan

Close up of our fire dog project.

The completed  pack of fire dogs!

It was a fun day, but also a great day for reviewing fire safety and prevention!  Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Heuer for making our unit more fun and helping us learn more than we could in the classroom alone.  We appreciate all of our fire fighters in Hamilton and thank you for keeping us safe!

Clayton

This is Clayton!  He is our student of the week.  Clayton's favorite color is RED.  He would love to visit Disney World someday.  Clayton's favorite television program is Batman.  When he grows up, Clayton wants to be a firefighter.  He has a pet cat named Snickers.  Clayton's favorite book is "Scooby Doo".  His favorite sport is wrestling.  Clayton loves to eat pizza.  He is special because he is nice, but the very best thing about Clayton is that he treats others the way they want to be treated!

Nyboer's Farm trip

Grab a cup of coffee and settle in!  This blog entry is going to be a big one!  I took MANY pictures on Friday at the pumpkin patch and in our classroom afterwards.  Not only do I want you to see the excitement on their faces, I want you to know what we LEARNED as well!  So enjoy, and hopefully 'your brain will grow a little smarter' (one of our favorite sayings) after you read this entry!

Ashlynn, Taylor and Bailey

Jacquelin, Do'olo and Aubanie

Reece, Jaden, Tristan and Isaac

We rode the bus to Nyboer's Pumpkin patch with the other two first grade classes.  Luckily it was a short trip because the excitement on that bus was growing every minute!  When we got there, each class was assigned a wagon to climb upon.  Mrs. Nyboer pulled two wagons behind her tractor, so she would be our guide/teacher for both our class and Mrs. Church's group.

Our class at the start of our trip.

Mrs. Nyboer drove us just a short distance, and then stopped to teach us about the farm.  

Mrs. Nyboer showed us how a pumpkin starts with a yellow blossom.  The blossom
eventually falls off and that is where the pumpkin begins to grow. It starts out very small
and green, but grows into an orange pumpkin by fall.

Next, we rode out to the outer portion of the farm and Mrs. Nyboer drove into the corn field.  She showed us the difference between field corn and sweet corn.  The field corn is very hard (she banged it on the edge of the wagon), while sweet corn is much softer.  Most of the time, only one ear grows on each stalk, which is why corn fields are large!  She also showed us some beautiful full sized Indian corn as well as mini Indian corn. 

Mrs. Nyboer showed us some sunflowers.  She said that when sunflowers are growing, their heads follow the sun!  So they start out facing east as the sun rises, but by evening, they are facing west as the sun sets.  This time of year, the heads are heavy with seeds, so they do not move with the sun anymore.

Our next stop was in the gourd field.  Mrs. Nyboer taught us about just a few of the types of gourds.  She said the early pioneers used gourds in different ways. Not only did they eat the insides, they also made them into tools to make life easier. 

This is a warted spoon gourd.  Pioneers would cut a piece of the top off, scoop out the inside,
and use the shell as a spoon to eat with!  Gourds come in the 'warted' (with bumps) and smooth variety.

This is a warted pear gourd.  Pioneers would cut off the small end, scoop out the insides,
and use it as a cup or scoop.

This is a 'crown of thorns' gourd.  

Mrs. Nyboer told the kids they could get off the trailer and choose 2 gourds to take with them!  

Owen D.  chooses a spoon gourd.

Owen L. chooses a warted ball gourd.

William chooses a warted spoon gourd, while Ryleigh chooses a ball gourd.

Aiden chooses the largest warted spoon gourd he could find!

Jacquelin chooses two great looking gourds.

Jacob shows off his choice!

Taylor finds a cute little smooth spoon gourd.

Do'olo holds up her warted ball gourd.

Reece found one of very few crown of thorns gourd, while Bridger shows off
his very large warted spoon gourd.

On our way to the pumpkin field, Mrs. Nyboer stops to show us a pumpkin, which a deer cracked open to eat the insides from.  Mrs. Nyboer said they make many scarecrows for their farm to keep the deer and other animals from eating all the crops.  They move them around and create movable parts to fool the deer into thinking they are real.  They even have a cougar scarecrow which is placed near the woods!

A deer broke this pumpkin open and ate all the seeds inside. 

The kids got a kick out of this scarecrow.  He had golf balls for eyes and
his tongue stuck out.

The first graders gather around the funny scarecrow to get a closer look.

Mrs. Nyboer said her husband really enjoys thinking of new types of scarecrows to make. The kids saw one standing near a tree and named him "Johnny Appleseed".

Our next stop was where the kids were given the opportunity to choose a small pumpkin.  These pumpkins are 'pie' pumpkins, so they are a bit smaller.  Somehow, many children found some pretty large ones to take home!

Mrs. Nyboer tells the children to choose a pumpkin with a nice stem because it will
last longer than one without a stem.

Bridger shows off his choice.

Brayden can hardly hold his pumpkin up for a picture.

Chloe chose a smaller pumpkin.

Ryleigh is proud to show her choice.

Bailey and Jacquelin looked for the perfect size and shape.

Jacob found a great one.

Isaac shows off his pumpkin.

Tristan's pumpkin could hardly fit into his bag!

Ashlynn chose a smaller pumpkin.

Aubanie prefers a smaller pumpkin.

Jaden could hardly lift his pumpkin!

Our final stop was back near the bus.  Mrs. Nyboer taught us that mini Indian corn is actually POPCORN!  She told the kids that if they wait until Halloween or later, when the inside of the kernels are very dry, they can pop it.  She said the kernels could be removed and placed into a popper or pan, but a more fun way to pop it would be to place the entire ear into the microwave and watch it pop right off the cob!  No matter what color the outside kernels are, when it pops, it will be white!

The kids choose their mini Indian corn.

Jaden and Brayden show their choice.

We loaded up the bus and headed back to school!  We hardly fit with all of those farm treasures!

Not only do we learn while we are at the farm, we use our farm treasures for a math lesson when we return to school!  We use each of our treasures in different ways.  We learned the term "circumference" when we estimated the distance around the belly of our pumpkins.  Each child brought their pumpkin up to the front of the classroom and showed me where they thought I should cut a piece of yarn to fit 'just right' around their pumpkin.  Only two children estimated exactly correct.  The picture shows our results:

Next, the children learned how to use a balance scale to weigh one of their gourds against pennies (or another item).  They learned how to add and subtract the amount in the opposite tub in order to balance their gourd.  They then counted how many were required to balance their gourd.

Bailey and Jaden share a balance scale. It looks like Jaden's gourd will require a lot of counting!

Isaac, Owen L. and Do'olo watch Jacquelin works to figure out how many to balance her gourd.

Elijah counts pennies as Tristan starts to balance his gourd. Aubanie, Taylor, Brayden and Aiden also weigh their gourds.

Bridger and William figure out their gourd weight. Ashlynn, Ryleigh, Reece and Owen D. also work on their weight.

Finally, the children learned about measuring the area using their Indian corn.  They traced around their corn on grid paper, then counted how many squares it covered.

Elijah, Aubanie, Brayden, Aiden, Taylor and Tristan measure the area of their corn.

Bridger, Ashlynn, Owen D., Reece, Jacob, Ryleigh and William determine the area of their corn.

Isaac, Do'olo, Owen L. and Jacquelin count how many squares their corn covers.

Clayton, Kylee and Jaden trace around their corn.

Their discoveries about circumference, weight and area were recorded on a 'Pumpkin Patch Math' sheet to show parents what they learned today.  Of course, all the farm treasures went home as well!

We had fantastic weather for our trip to the Pumpkin Patch!  Thank you to Mrs. Nyboer for teaching us so much about your farm.  Thank you to our wonderful Hamilton Elementary PTO, who will help with transportation and bus driver costs.  Thank you to the parents for paying for your child's admission for our trip!

Front row: Bailey, Taylor, Ashlynn, Isaac, Do'olo, Jacquelin, Ryleigh, Owen L., Aubanie, Owen D. (hiding), Kylee, Jacob (behind Kylee), Chloe, and Elijah (behind Chloe)
Back row:  Reece, Jaden, Tristan, Brayden, William, Clayton, Bridger, and Aiden

"The silly one."