The first graders had a wonderful time yesterday celebrating their learning with their families at our trimester celebration! It was an afternoon full of hands-on learning, creativity, and connection. This special event was a fun way to share what we’ve been exploring in first grade during our study of Earth’s resources, recycling, conservation, and caring for the planet. Students and their families explored 5 stations related to our learning.
♻️ Trash to Treasure
At the Trash to Treasure station, students and families gave new purpose to old materials. Using recyclables and craft supplies, they designed and built something useful or decorative to take home. From robots and rocketships to imaginative sculptures, every creation showed how creativity and sustainability can go hand in hand! This station was a class favorite!
🌍 Earth BINGO
Families joined in a round of Planet Earth BINGO, drawing cards to cover spaces on their boards while learning new facts about our planet. Each card included an Earth-related fun fact on the back, sparking conversations about animals, habitats, and ways to care for our environment. Students loved combining learning with a little friendly competition!
🎃 Pumpkin Jack
At the Pumpkin Jack station, families revisited our classroom composting project in which we carved a pumpkin and left it to decompose in a bin in the classroom, just like in the story we read previously – Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell. Together, they observed how our once-bright orange pumpkin has been slowly decomposing over time. Students and parents worked together to brainstorm some adjectives to add to our collaborative poster. Some adjectives first graders and their families listed were “moldy”, “stinky”, “foamy” and “funky”. Next, they made observations and predictions about what might happen next. They recorded their observations and in a month or so the first graders will review these to see which predictions were true! It was a great way to see science in action and connect to our lessons on decomposition and the life cycle of organic matter.
🏗️ Landfill & Recycling Center Goodies
The Landfill/Recycling Center Goodies table gave students a chance to revisit the fun of our field trip with some cool take-home items! These items were so kindly gifted to us by our guides on our field trip and include informational booklets, stickers, magnets, car decals, and even pencils made out of recycled denim! These items serve as great reminders of what we learned on our trip. The fridge magnet was a reminder of a very cool tool, the Waste Wizard! This tool allows Springfield area residents to search for an item and find out how and where to recycle almost anything!
✏️ Student Writing Showcase
In the hallway, parents admired our student writing display – a highlight of our Trimester Celebration. Each student worked so hard the last few weeks writing an essay to respond to the prompt “What makes Earth so special?”. Over the last two and a half months in first grade, they have already learned a great deal about phonemic awareness, spelling patterns, handwriting, spacing, punctuation, writing complete sentences and more. They got to combine all of these challenging skills into one project as they wrote. Their writing was also thoughtful and heartfelt, celebrating everything from rain and oceans to flowers, colors, and gold. It is so wonderful to see the incredible growth the first graders have made in such short time and share this hard work with their families.
Our Trimester 1 Celebration was a joyful reminder of how much the students have learned in just a few short months. Through each station, families saw firsthand how science, writing, social skills, and creativity all connect in our classroom. Thank you to all the parents who joined us to celebrate the end of our first trimester. Your support makes our learning community shine!
