Trip to the Science and Nature Center

For our final field trip of the year, we headed to the Austin Nature Center. We learned all about Frogs, Toads and Amphibians. The students were experts! They remembered everything we learned about amphibians. We were fortunate to see some Barton Springs salamanders, too! After our trip, we went to Zilker Park for a picnic lunch and to play on the playscape. What a fun day! Thanks to our many parent volunteers! It wouldn't have gone as smoothly without you!

The Star of Texas Rodeo

On Tuesday, along with the other three 1st grade classes, we went to the rodeo! Wow, it was so much fun!
On our tour we visited the Southwest Dairy Farmer's exhibit and we watched as a cow was milked with a machine. Next, we stopped at the Chuck Wagon Cook-Out and learned a lot about how cowboys lived when they were helping move cattle along the trails. We also visited with some Buffalo Soldiers who taught us about life as a solider on the plains. Before lunch we met two young longhorns who impressed us with their tricks--they could give kisses, ring cow bells, and even bow at the end of their performance. Our last guided stop was a lasso demonstration that included lots of roping tricks. We watched as the two cowboys jumped through their ropes, spun single and double circles, and even lassoed some first graders! After watching their demonstration all of the students had a chance to throw a rope on a metal longhorn. A few of our students succeeded in landing the rope right on the horns! After lunch the class broke up into small groups and had a chance to further explore the rodeo grounds. Many of the students tasted free samples of ice cream from Borden, petted Elsie the cow (Borden's mascot), rode on a pony, explored the stock yards where show animals were being pampered, and visited the petting zoo. Overall the students had a great time and learned a lot about what a rodeo is all about! There are some coupons coming home in Thursday folders this week that they gave us to distribute.

A+ Federal Credit Union

On Monday we headed to the A+ Federal Credit Union with our Buddies in Ms. Russell's class. First, we went on a tour. Then, we learned how to write checks. We also learned how to balance a checkbook. We played games to see what we learned. Some of us even won prizes! Finally, we were treated to pizza. We were lucky to go on this special field trip because this is who gave us our math and science grant.

Austin Museum of Art Downtown

On Friday, we boarded the school bus and headed downtown to the Austin Museum of Art. First, we were divided into two groups and we explored the exhibits. We learned all about Roy Lichtenstein and his art work. I was very impressed that the children remembered what we learned in class about stipling, dialogue, and speech bubbles. We also made a lot of connections to 2-D and 3-D shapes. Then, we got to go explore in a hands-on room! We had so much fun (you can tell by the pictures)! Thanks to our parent volunteers for their help!

More Amy's Photos

Here are more photos from our trip!

Our Trip to Amy's Ice Cream

Today we put on our coats and headed to Amy's Ice Cream! We learned how they make ice cream. They start with a mixture of milk, butter, sugar, and eggs. They pour it into a machine and add flavoring to it. You can add anything to the base of the mixture in order to make a new ice cream flavor. We learned that you have to mix the ingredients and freeze it in order to make ice cream. We tried very soft ice cream that was just mixed, before it was frozen. It was soft and tasty. Then, we each got our own cupful of ice cream. Many students choose to add M&M's to theirs. After we ate, we played on their playscape before heading back to Zilker. We learned a lot about ice cream today!

Our Field Trip to Central Market

We were so excited to put on our tie dye shirts for first field trip. Don’t we look great? We were very excited to ride the school bus, too. When we got to Central Market we met our Foodie, Ms. Suzanna. She was our tour guide around the store. We spent quite a while learning all about the different kinds of hot peppers. Then, we were able to sample sunflower sprouts, pineapples, or grapes. Then we learned about the poultry and visited the seafood counter. Our next stop was the bakery. Yum! We were so lucky to have so many volunteers join us. What was your favorite part of the trip?