Hanukkah and Saint Nicholas Day!

Playing the Dreidel Game

Menorah hat

The First Thanksgiving

Our study of the first Thanksgiving began in England and followed the Pilgrims on the Mayflower to Cape Cod and Plymouth. Each child made a Pilgrim house and a Wetu (the house of the Native American Wampanoag).

Four Winds!

Thank you to Rachel Kring, Grace Ciffo, and Heidi Simkins for teaching us about the sun!

Learning about how the sun shines on the earth to make day and night!

Hoping to make the solar cooker work!

Sea Star Quilt!

Our finished sea star quilt

The students problem solved around how many squares of each color they would need to complete their quilt.  They had to think about the relationship of triangles to squares in order to determine how many yellow squares they would need and how to turn them into triangles!

Students here are engaged in "private reasoning time," thinking about how many sea star arms are on the quilt.  After having time to ponder this individually, the children then took turns explaining their thinking to a partner and then to the whole group.  Students explained their reasoning by sharing their counting strategies.

Fun-O-Ween!

On Thursday, we celebrated Fun-O-Ween!  In the afternoon, we changed into our costumes and were led around the school by a group of 6th graders to many activities including Musical Chairs, the Limbo, Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin and more!  Thank you 6th grade team! Check out our pictures to see all the fun we had!    

The Limbo!

Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin!

Grab the Pumpkin!

Ghost in the Graveyard!

Bean Bag Toss!

Spooky Stories!

Musical Chairs!

Bowling!

A Visit from Police Chief Koss!

Today we had a visit from the Hinesburg Chief of Police, Frank Koss.  Did you know that he started his career as a California Highway Patrolman before moving to Vermont?  He's enjoying being in Vermont where the favorite part of his job is patroling the rolling hills of Hinesburg making sure people are being safe. The Chief talked to us about how his job as a police officer helps our community by keeping people safe and making sure people follow the laws just like we follow rules in school!  He told us all about the tools police officers use including handcuffs, pepper spray, and walkie talkies.  His police vehicle has a computer and flashes blue lights!  Chief Koss was happy to tell us the only time he has had to fire his gun is during target practice.  Thank you for helping us learn about the importance of police officers in communities, Chief Koss!

Firefighters Visit!

This past week, two Hinesburg firefighters visited our school to teach us about fire safety!  Firefighter Jim showed us all the protective clothing he wears when fighting fires including pants, jacket, and hood.  He even demonstrated how his mask and breathing apparatus works. It was very exciting!  He told the children that they should yell as loud as they can for help if they are ever involved in a fire so the firefighters can find them. Children should never hide!

Later that morning, we learned all about the fire and rescue trucks from Firefighter Eric.  He showed us all the parts and explained their purpose and answered the children's questions. Thank you, Firefighters Jim and Eric!

Our UVM Intern, Miss Lewis!

We are so lucky to welcome our UVM intern to our classroom!  Miss Lewis will join our class most Tuesday and Thursday mornings as well as a few whole days this fall.

Welcome to First Grade!

Our Rainbow Fish

We read the Rainbow Fish by Mark Pfister and created our very own!  Each child made a scale to show how he or she can share and be a good friend.

Here's the skinny...

Dear Families,

We are in the home stretch of first grade now and the room is full of farms!  The students are deciding how many of each farm animal they want to add to their farms, how much pasture land they'll need, and where to locate them on their farms. It's amazing how much information your children have learned about farm animals and farming! Ask your child what he/she has added to his/her farm.

During our library time the children have learned about the 3 steps of the Super 3 research model: Plan, Do, Review.  They have chosen a "fat" question and have now been researching information to answer it. Ask your student what the difference between a "fat" and "skinny" question is.  Our fat question has to do with the role of horses on farms.

On Tuesday we will be visiting the book sale.  This is a great opportunity to pick up some gently used books for summer reading.  Each book will cost 25 cents.  I hope you are all having a fabulous three day weekend!

Moo!

Dear Families,

We had such a wonderful trip to Shelburne Farms last Monday!  We started our day at the Dairy Barn and learned all about caring for cows.  Check out our pictures of your children milking Starlight, and meeting newborn calves!  Ask your children about what happens in the milking parlor.  After lunch, we spent time at the Farm Barn and were able to hold chickens, but only if we could catch them! We also got to visit with the horses and goats.  We finished up our day watching farmers make cheese - from the milk of the cows we had met that morning.  Thank you to all of the volunteers!  We had such a great day!  

Back at school, your children are all very busy planning and creating their own farms during math and we're reading and writing about farms as well!  We have begun practicing for our first grade play, E-I-E-I Oops.  Please save the date, June 6th at 6pm!  We also enjoyed a performance today by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra! 

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend!  Happy Mother's Day!