Food, Fun, and Reading!

Wayne County UNL extension educator Mrs. Amy Topp is spending four Fridays this month working with Kindergarten and First Grade students emphasizing the value of healthy eating through fun activities and children's literature. This program is titled Food, Fun, and Reading.   Mrs. Topp's visit on Friday concentrated on the fruits and vegetables food groups.  Each student has a copy of the new nutrition guide called My Plate which replaced the Food Pyramid.  More information can be found at www.choosemyplate.gov about this new nutrition campaign.   

Mrs. Topp shows fruit juice which is part of the fruit group.  She told the boys and girls to check for added sugar in fruit juices.  The healthiest fruit juices have no added sugar. 

Studying the My Plate nutrition guide

Fruits and vegetables are full of vitamins.

Listening to Mrs. Topp

Coloring pictures of fruits and vegetables

Yummy!  Delicious carrots, broccoli, and apples!

Munching on healthy fruits and vegetables

This baby carrot sure tastes good.

I like fruits and vegetables!

Mrs. Topp read the children's book Tops and Bottoms to the class.  

 The First Graders look forward to Mrs. Topp's visit next week!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year from the Winside First Graders!  After reading and discussing the children's book Squirrel's New Year's Resolution the boys and girls defined the word resolution.  While wearing party hats and listening to the song Auld Lang Syne, the First Graders wrote the resolutions below.

My New Year's Resolution is to clean my room.

My New Year's Resolution is to help animals.  I will give cats milk.

My New Year's Resolution is not teasing my cat.

My New Year's Resolution is to help my mom every day.

My New Year's resolution is to tell jokes.

My New Year's Resolution is to be a good listener.  I am going to help people who are sick and hurt.

My New Year's Resolution is to vacuum my room for my mom.

My New Year's Resolution is to be a better reader by reading more books.

 

My New Year's Resolution is to be stronger so I can work on my dirt bike and drive my dad's friend's gator.

 

My Year's Resolution is to help my friends move stuff.  I will help my sister by cleaning.

My New Year's Resolution is to help people because I see people very old.  I will help them open the door.

My New Year's Resolution is to help my mom and dad every day.  I will help Dad load wood and Mom cook.

My New Year's Resolution is to not get any practice sessions, follow directions, and be a good listener.

My New Year's Resolution is to have my dog do what I do.

My New Year's Resolution is to get an eagle and help him fly.

My New Year's Resolution is to help my dad fix tractors.

My New Year's Resolution is helping people by saying, "Are you okay?"

Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me!

Run, run, as fast as you can!  You can't catch me!  I'm the Gingerbread man!

The First Graders listened to seven different versions of the Gingerbread man.  As part of their reading and language the students compared and contrasted the variations in this popular folktale.

The class learned that folktales have so many different versions since long ago they were passed on from generation to generation orally.  To gain a better understanding of what happens in this process, the First Graders formed a line.  I whispered a sentence in the ear of the person at the head of the line.  Then that person whispered to the next person and so on until the last person in line revealed the sentence to everyone.  The sentence I whispered was:  "Mrs. Halpin rode an elephant to school this morning."  The sentence shared by the last person in line was:  "Sh, sh, be quiet."  Oral retelling can result in less consistent but sometimes more colorful and more interesting stories.

The boys and girls also placed their chef hats on, stirred up, and baked gingerbread cookies.  The recipe had to be doubled so it was great practice in the math doubles.  Of course, lots of reading was involved along with vocabulary terms including ingredients, dozen, preheat, etc.

Winside head cook Mrs. Backstrom helped the class bake the cookies in the school kitchen.  As the cookies were removed from the oven a visitor appeared! (Some students believe Miss Topp is related to the Gingerbread man.) See the picture below.

The Gingerbread Man!