President's Day and Dental Health

Why is it that short weeks always feel longer than regular weeks? We were out of school last Monday for President's Day, but I feel like last week was 7 days long! I am definitely looking forward to a "normal" week.

During February, our first grade team tried something new--we switched classes for one hour every Friday. We were all feeling the heat to work in all of the science and social studies standards, so we split them up! In February, we focused on America, with each of us teaching one topic--Washington, Lincoln, the American flag, and other symbols (the bald eagle, the Liberty Bell, etc.) It turned out so great!! It was much easier on us to just prep one lesson for the whole month, and so much fun for the kids to have a little change. (We are looking forward to focusing on maps and geography in March).

I taught about George Washington. First, we listed some of the things they already knew about Washington. I am always amazed at what little facts they know! Then we read George Washington and the General's Dog. It is a simple little picture book, but the kids loved it! It was much more relatable for them than many of the other books I looked through.

Then we did a little Washington craft and writing activity. We had such a good time, and learned lots of fun facts about Washington!

 With my own kids last week, we learned all about dental health with the help of Cara Carroll's Dental Health Unit! Their favorite part was definitely our science experiment! We left eggs in soda and juice all week to see if the drinks could hurt our enamel (the shell). We formed hypotheses, made observations, and inferred what this meant for our own teeth. They love learning new, big words almost as much as they love doing science experiments!

Here is what our eggs looked like after 3 days.

GROSS. Especially that line left by the soda--it had all separated by this point. 

Then we brushed the "teeth" to see how much that could help the stains left behind. This picture makes them look more white than they actually are--the toothpaste did not do much.

We had such a good time with this experiment! It led to so many great conversations about science and dental health!

I can't believe that March is just a few days away! Now my brain has turned to St. Patrick's Day and how our classroom will celebrate! I just entered a giveaway at Keepin' It Cool in Kinderland for The Naughty Leprechaun Story. I had never seen this book before, but it looks adorable--and a great change in management for when my kids are definitely getting spring fever! Head over and check out the giveaway!

How do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day in your room?