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Going Batty in Garrison School’s First Grade
 | | Left to right: Rilea Fusco, Mimi Whitson, Sarah Kelly |
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The children in Mrs. Martin’s first grade class at the Garrison School began their introduction to the study of nocturnal animals by first investigating bats in both fiction as well as nonfiction book selections. The youngsters began the unit by listening to the read aloud story Stellaluna by Janell Cannon after the class morning meeting time slot. This lively bat tale was a great springboard for the use of Venn diagrams as the youngsters and their teacher discussed how each of us is similar, while still remaining unique. This graphic organizer will also be used to compare birds to bats as well as other nocturnal animals during the fall and winter seasons.
The first graders enjoyed sharing the nonfiction bat booklets that they had developed during Writing Workshop with the students in Ms.Scecina’s fifth grade class. The older children were an enthusiastic audience. They also helped the younger pupils assemble bat masks to wear during their bat parade around The Garrison Union Free School.
The first graders also had the opportunity to learn poems, songs, and chants about these flying mammals during their shared reading experience. The youngsters dressed up in bat costumes and flew through the primary wing to share and teach their newly learned information with other students. Teachers as well as students joined in as they learned the words to the bat related poems and songs.
Ms. Lauren Johnson, the school’s literacy specialist, worked with the first graders to design scripts to produce a puppet show integrating the characters from Ms. Cannon’s book. This activity gave the youngsters an opportunity to work with their peers in small cooperative groups towards a common goal. Our Drama Center has become a hit in the first grade classroom as the children become more familiar with Reader’s Theatre. Ms. Johnson also assisted the children with creating different written versions of Stellaluna at the Balanced Literacy Writing Center. They can’t wait to share our stories!
This month as the first graders develop and expand their math skills using bats as a theme, they will graph their favorite fruits using both pictographs and bar graphs. Which fruit do you think the fruit bats prefer?
The first graders continue to expand their technology skills with Ms. Mary Palumbo, Library/ Media Specialist. Working together as a team, Ms. Palumbo and Ms. Martin helped the pupils to produce an animated bat slide show using the newest version of Kid Pix Deluxe 4. School principal, Mrs. Impellittiere joined in the multi media center for a preview viewing of the slide show.
It truly is amazing what can be accomplished when dedicated staff and parents work together to foster and encourage the mission of life long learning in the Garrison School community. Mrs. Martin hopes to continue to work on interesting projects during the winter months.
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