Unit





Unit 1 Working Together	Students are learning the skills needed to work together to solve a problem. Note to parents or guardians: Look around your home for a simple problem to be solved. Suggestions: How can we keep the living room neat? How can we stop losing sock matches in the laundry? Any problem. Then have the family sit down and discuss solutions. What are some rules for discussions? (Everyone has a chance to speak. Everyone’s ideas are valuable. Everyone gets to vote on which solution to choose.)

Unit 2 Living Together	This week students are examining living and non-living things. They are also looking at pollution and extinction. Discuss together what living things need to survive - food, water, shelter and the space to find all these things. Take a walk or drive through your neighborhood looking for ways your family can help wildlife. Several families in my neighborhood get together every spring to clean up trash along the street. If you are in an apartment building your family might organize a recycling area for everyone to use. Tenants could take turns transporting recyclables to the town recycling area.

Unit 3 Exploring Together	Students are comparing animals and plants this week, how their bodies differ, where they live and what they need to grow. Pick a day this week for a nature walk. Visit a park or conservation area. Bring along paper and pencil or a notebook. Have your first grader watch for animals and plants. What were the animals doing? How do animals use their bodies to survive? How do plant bodies help with survival? Be sure not to pick any plants or disturb any animals. Remember you are visiting their home.

Unit 4 Comparing Together	Students are comparing plant and animal movement and grouping animals by their characteristics. Pull out the old animal card games or magazines that have pictures of animals. Play a sorting game with your child. How many different ways can you both sort the pictures? Some suggestions are fur or hair/no fur or hair, long legs/short legs, fly/ doesn’t fly. There are many more ways to compare. Have fun!

Unit 5 Way Back When I	This week students are exploring how the world has changed over time and what we need to survive. Visit grandparents, great grandparents or your local historical society to find out how people lived 50 years ago and more. What did your neighborhood look like 50 years ago? Find out what games children played and what they had for food to eat. Draw a picture of how your neighborhood looked 50 years ago or more.

Unit 6 Way Back When II	Fossils and dinosaurs are the subjects discussed this week. Does anyone in your family collect fossils? What are fossils? Visit a museum in search of fossils. Look around your home for some objects to create fossils out of - knives, forks, spoons, barrettes, keys, soles of sneakers or whatever we use everyday. Buy a box of Plaster of Paris. Follow the directions on the label to mix up some plaster. Pour the plaster into an old pie pan or a flat container. Spray the object on the side to be put in the plaster with cooking spray. Then place in the plaster. Push down lightly and lift out. Let the plaster dry. See if some one can identify your fossils.

Unit 7 Season of Seeds	Students investigate seeds this week and attempt to sprout a lima bean. Many plants have seeds ready to investigate in the fall. Take a seed walk in a wild area that has trails. Make a wrist band out of masking tape turned sticky side out. Collect seeds as you walk along and stick them onto your wrist band. Back at home, look closely at your seeds. How are they different? How are they the same? How do seeds get from one place to another? Some have sticky spines, some have parachutes, some have fruity coverings that are eaten then the seeds come out when the animal goes to the bathroom. Seeds are fun. Seeds are important

Unit 8 Going Buggy	Insects are explored this week. Students are using Eric Carle’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar to learn about insect life cycles. Pull out the craft supplies and have family fun creating imaginary insects. Be sure that you have the correct number of legs and body parts. Your first grader should be able to tell you about insect body parts. Use egg carton cups, paper rolls, small boxes, clothes pins, pipe cleaners, etc. to create some wild and wonderful bugs.

Unit 9 It’s Alive!!
	This week students collect natural objects and sort them into living and non-living groups. Look around your home with your child and label (by pointing or creating actual labels) objects as living or non-living. If an object was alive at one time like pressed flowers, fur pieces or leather pieces they are considered living. Non-living things were never ever alive like rocks, metal, etc. What are some characteristics of living and non-living things?


UNIT 10 Touching Experiences.	Grade 1 students are estimating weight, length and capacity this week. They are also working on how to describe objects by their physical appearance and by how they move. Collect small objects from around your house and place them into a paper shopping bag or dark pillow case. Have your child reach in and touch one object. Tell your child to describe the object without pulling it out to see. Encourage a clear explanation by offering word prompts like; Is it hard, soft, smooth, furry, etc. After your child has described the object ask for the identity of the object. To make this activity fun do not press your child too hard. When he or she is tired of playing ask if they would like to collect objects for you to describe.

UNIT 11 Tools Rule I	Students are looking at tools and how tools help us build things. Decide on a simple project to complete with your child. Some suggestions are bird house, coat rack, paper towel holder. Remember also that electric mixers are really drills with blades. You could make a special cake or cookies as a project. Talk about each utensil as you use it. Help your child to recognize that moms and dads both have special tools to use.

UNIT 12 Tools Rule II	This week continues the tool exploration. They also explore crushed granite and natural and synthetic fibers. Create a chart to record tool use in your house this week. Keep track of each tool and what it is used for. Discuss how tools have helped people. What tools does your child use everyday? (Electric toothbrush, hair brush, ruler ....)

UNIT 13 The Long and Short of It	Students are looking at machines, magnets and measurements this week. Being able to estimate is a valuable skill to learn. Set up an area where you can practice with your child. Look at the examples below to get you started. How many will fit? Hold up a large box or jar with a wide mouth. Ask your child how many blocks, marbles, crayons, whatever, will fit into that container. Have your child make a pile of what will fit and then try to see if the estimate is correct. How long is it? Hold up a ruler for your child to see. Then point out a long object, like a sofa or bed. Ask your child to estimate how many ruler lengths is that object. Then use the ruler to check the prediction. How much does it weigh? Use a grapefruit or book, whatever, to have your child feel the weight of that object. Then give your child another object like a toy or stone. Ask your child which is heavier? Then how many of the lighter object would you need to equal the weight of the heavier object.

UNIT 14 And Away We Go	Transportation and mileage are topics of this weeks exploration. How many ways does your family travel during a weeks time? How does today’s transportation differ from the ways you traveled as a child? How about your parents or their parents? Share these differences with your child. Look at old photo albums for cars. Keep a family log of mileage for a week. Make a chart together of how far places are from your house. Plan a family biking or hiking trip for the weekend and have fun going slowly along.

UNIT 15 Magnetic Personality	Students are looking at magnets and how we could use them. They are also looking at machines and how they help us perform tasks. Do you have magnets on your refrigerator? Magnets are fascinating to explore with your child. Hardware stores and department stores usually have magnets for sale. Explore your home for metal objects that will attract a magnet. Try magnetizing paper clips to stick together. Hang one paper clip off a magnet. Will another paper clip stick to that paper clip? How many paper clips can you hang one off the other in a long chain? What tool can you create with your child that uses a magnet? Resource: The Way Things Work by David Macaulay.



UNIT 16 Grow Where You Land	Students are looking at different habitats where plants grow. They are comparing the plants that inhabit these different places. Go on a plant safari with your child. Try to find different habitats to visit. Look for the places where plants are found and look at the plants that live there. Check sidewalks and parking lots? Check fields and beaches, creek banks and pond edges, cemetery stones and stone walls. Look for picture books in your local library that show desert plants and mountain plants. Think with your child about why certain plants only grow in certain areas. SOIL!

UNIT 17 Weather or Not	This week students examine the earth from the ground up. They look at soils, rocks and weather. Take time each day to look at the weather forecast on the TV or in the newspaper with your child. Are these predictions always correct? Set up a weather station in your home. A simple thermometer is enough to start. Have your child record the temperature outside each morning and describe the weather outside. Compare this with the weather forecast. How does the weather affect our lives? Look in the daily paper for weather related news, floods, tornadoes etc. and share the news with your child.

UNIT 18 Look Out Below	This week students are investigating how our planet looks from space. They are also discussing the moon. Has your family taken a trip by plane recently? If yes, discuss how the earth looked from up in that plane. If no, ask your child how he or she thinks the earth would look from a plane. Visit the library and look for a picture of the earth from space. Sit with your child and try to identify the countries. Talk about the shapes you see. Can you find mountains and rivers?

UNIT 19 As Time Goes By	Students are exploring time and how the sun moon and even the weather change with time. Sun dials are easy to create. A simple sun dial can be created from a stick. Select an open sunny space in your yard, on your balcony, in a neighborhood park or even at the beach. Push a stick into the ground just to where it will stand up straight. Watch the shadow cast from the stick. Mark off the shadow on the half hours. Where is the shadow at noontime?

UNIT 20 Rock On	First graders are investigating rocks and looking at the book The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole. Does someone in your family have a rock collection? If not collect small rocks on family walks and hikes. Have your child look closely at each rock. Ask how each rocks is different or the same. Work together to sort out the rocks into piles. How many different ways can you both sort out the rocks? Visit your local library for rock guide books to help you identify your rock collection specimens.

UNIT 21 Crystal Clear	Students continue their investigation of rocks by sorting them by weight. They are also looking at volcanoes and crystals. There are crystals in the kitchen. Pull out the salt and sugar. Have your child look closely at the grains. How are they the same and how are they different? Look for a recipe for Rock Candy. This simple treat is made with boiling water and lots of sugar. Strings inserted into the mixture catch the crystals. RESOURCE: Kitchen Chemistry for Grades K-3 by John Bath and Sally Mayberry, Carson Dellosa Publishing Co. Inc. c1994.

UNIT 22 Eat Rocks?	This week first graders are looking at a great story entitled Stone Soup. They gather vegetables and try to make the soup. Take out the rock collection from two weeks ago. Look at each stone for crystals. Quartz crystals are very common. Remember the salt crystals. Salt is mined (dug out of the ground) On Cape Cod, folks used to extract salt from sea water. Salt is used to flavor foods. So I guess you could say we do eat one rock.

UNIT 23 Snow What?	Ice crystals are looked at this week. Snow flakes are incredible. If you live in an area where snow falls and you happen to have snow on the ground this week, try to collect some snow flakes. An easy way to collect snow is to use black construction paper and go outside while it is snowing. Let the snow fall on the paper and look at the flakes before they melt. Find pictures of different flake patterns. Cut out snow flakes from white paper. Fold a sheet of 8 1/2 by 11 white paper in half, then keep folding in half again and again until you have a small piece. Cut out small pieces along the edges. Open and see the snow flake. With a little practice you can create some awesome flakes.

UNIT 24 Water Water Everywhere	Water is the topic in science this week. Students are looking at rain and reading the book Rain by Robert Kalan. Try some simple explorations with water. Find out how many drops of water you can get to sit on a penny before the drop overflows. Try not to touch the penny when you add drops. Mix together food coloring to make purple or brown. Have your child make a triangle out of a paper towel and then dip the very tip of the triangle into the food coloring. Open the triangle and the food coloring should be in the middle. Add drops of water onto the colored spot and watch the colors separate again. This works with water-based markers as well. Talk about the water cycle. Ask how water moves through our world in a circle. Your first grader should be able to explain precipitation (water coming down from the sky), evaporation (water going back up to the sky), water vapor (clouds or steam) and run off (rainwater running along the ground)



UNIT 25 Growing Up Healthy	Students are investigating how people change as they grow up. They are also learning about germs and how to avoid them. Pull out the baby pictures for everyone in your family. Sit down with your child and look at how each member of your family has changed through the years. If you have a copy of your child’s baby footprint from the hospital take it out. Did you know that by the time your first grader is grown his or her foot should equal approximately three of those little baby foot prints lined up vertically? Make tracing of the footprint for your child and stack them up.

UNIT 26 Making Sense out of the Senses	This week is sensory week in your child’s class. Students are investigating smell, hearing and taste. How about a Sensory Olympics? Gather everyone together. Set up a course of sensory marathons. Smell That: Fill old film containers or small bottles with different scents. Cotton balls are great to pour on vanilla, peppermint, lemon, orange or almond flavorings. Put the cotton balls into the container. How many can your child recognize? Feel That: Remember the pillowcase or bag from Unit 10? Put common objects into a pillow case or paper bag. Have everyone try to identify them by feel alone. Design other Olympic sensory trials.

UNIT 27 More Common Senses	Sensory exploration continues this week with sight and feel. Students are also looking at the book My Five Senses by Alikii. Have your child follow you or another family member around for a half hour. Your child is to watch what senses that person uses during that time. Talk about the discoveries made in this observation.

UNIT 28 Mix and Match	Students are looking at family pictures and how the resemble family members. They are also comparing technologies today with those of yesterday. Find pictures of animal babies and adults of the same species. Compare the pictures with your child. Take a walk in a wild area, especially one where there is a pond. Look for insects and birds. Listen to the sounds and smell the odors. Every living thing starts out small and has to grow. Some babies do not look at all like their parents. Look for pictures of the frog life cycle and compare the stages.

UNIT 29 OH Baby	This week students are looking at themselves as babies. They are comparing how much they weighed and how tall they were with now. They are exploring the book Birthday Presents by Cynthia Rylant. Other mammal’s babies are sometimes very different from human babies. Visit the library for books on mammal babies and try to find out how much other babies weigh at birth. At resource for New England is the book Wild Mammals of New England by Alfred J. Godin. This book lists birth weights of many common mammals.

UNIT 30 What’s for Lunch?	Eating healthy foods and labeling outer body parts are topics for the week. Look through the supermarket circulars with your child and cut out foods from the 4 major food groups. Your child should be able to tell you what these groups are. Use the cut out pictures to make menus for the week. Paste the pictures on a chart set up for each meal. Try to limit junk food. Now is a good time to start reading food labels with your child and avoiding foods high in fat content.