Listen out for spring peepers!

Dear Families,

We've had a very busy week!  We have been learning about frog life cycles and writing informational reports about them.  Did you know that different frog calls mean different things?  Your first grader does now, along with many other interesting facts!  In math, we have begun our geometrey unit and students have also been figuring out picture problems and creating their own for classmates to solve.   

Wasn't it wonderful to have some sunny, spring-like days last week? With the hope that there will be more of those in the near future...please keep sending boots and a change of shoes so the mud on the playground doesn't come into our classroom after recess. Thanks for your help! 

The PIE garden group is looking for each classroom to have a parent volunteer that could help with planting and garden work this spring.  This volunteer would organize other volunteers to help with our planting day.  Please let me know if you are interested in volunteering for this position.

I am looking forward to talking to you all about your wonderful children during conferences!  If you haven't done so already, please sign up using the sign-up genius I sent out earlier this week.  If you did not receive it or none of the times work for you, please let me know so we can find one that does.

First graders exploring what happens to shapes in a folded mirror!

Happy Birthday to our Student of the Week!  We enjoyed learning all about you!

Hop, Walk, Waddle, and Bound!

Dear Families,

We have had a fun and busy week leading up to vacation.  Most of the week has been spent wrapping up our Penguin unit. Each child has painted a life sized penguin with accurate features and coloring.  They all did a beautiful job. This is a class full of talented artists! The penguins will be hanging in the hallway after vacation. When you're next in the school, come and check them out. We will continue to study penguins in Language Arts through research and report writing. In math we'll move on to Explorations in Geometry.

Thank you to Addison's and Veronica's moms who taught us a wonderful Four Winds lesson about animal tracks on Wednesday!  The class learned all about the four types of track patterns we might observe in Vermont. They include: Walkers, Hoppers, Waddlers, and Bounders. Let me know if any of your children spot some of these tracks in the snow outside!

Today, our last day before the break, was full of learning and fun!  This morning we had a visitor named John from CSWD.  Students will come back from break to find the sorting station (pictured below) in the cafeteria and will be asked to sort their liquids, recycling, trash, and compost!  Volunteers will be there to help them. We are also going to begin composting in our classroom during snack time.  Our class is very excited to help reduce the amount of trash our school produces!

One of our students won this weeks Reading Celebration book trivia question when she answered correctly! This was the question : " A young cat mistakenly tries to to find milk in an unusual place.  Where does he look for the milk?" Find the answer at the bottom of this post.  We ended our day with our school wide reading celebration and a very entertaining performance of juggling and comedy by Steven Gratto.


Check out these first graders hard at work on their life sized penguins!

Have a fantastic vacation with your first graders!

Answer to the trivia question:  The moon from Kitten's First Full Moon  by  Kevin Henkes.

 

If I Were President...

I would make the laws fair.  Help the animals.  Own a pony.  Have there be peace.

I would make money.  Tell people not to smoke.  Make school rules and tell people not to liter.

I will save people.  I will like people.  I am a president!

I would change the world.  I would help people. I would be nice. I would help people by giving them money.  I love people.

I want everything I buy to be free.  I will protect people.  Protect my country. The world  should be fair.

I would make everything you buy free and save people and protect the world.

I would help people.  Protect my country.  Work hard.  Include excluded. Make the world better and better.  Make money.

I would make people be fair and lead the country in the right place just like Barack Obama.  When I grow up I want to be just like Barack Obama.  I will make the country be very nice to each other.

I would help people in my life.

I would not like to be president, but I think the president likes his job.

I would help people get along.  I would protect my country.  I would work hard.  I would include everyone and no one would feel excluded.  I love my people!

I will save people.  I will work hard.  I will do my best.  I will  not lie to kids.

I will help people to be safe and free.

I would work hard and do my best and save money for our country and protect people.  I would work really, really hard.

I will make the world fair.  I will ask people what they want me to change.

I would make the world a better place and I would make more money.

I would protect my country.  I would make an army.  I would help the army.

Love is in the air!

 

What a fun filled week we've had and it's only Thursday! On Tuesday we celebrated our 100th day of school. All day we participated in activities involving the number 100 including creating portraits of ourselves at age 100 complete with grey hair and wrinkles. We also made 'bucket lists' that focused on everything we'd like to accomplish before we reach the big century mark. The children displayed their homemade creative projects and we had a chance to check out others during our parade around the primary wing. Thank you for all of your help with these!

Valentine's day has been really special. The children have all done such a nice job celebrating their friendships by exchanging cards and other treats. Look for the Valentine reading activity that came home today and another special glittery surprise!

 

During all of this excitement we haven't forgotten our feathered penguin friends. We have had some activities centered around penguin pairs that the children created and we are getting ready to make life sized penguins. Ask your child which one s/he plans to make and what s/he learned from the class graph we created.

 

Tomorrow (Friday) begins our Hinesburg Reading Celebration kickoff! At the end of the school day, the whole school will assemble and read silently in the gym. The reading graph this week will look a little different than our usual one. Please use this one in its' place and bring it back the Friday before vacation. Mrs. Stanley, our librarian, will draw names for prizes on that day!

 

*Reminder - Please send sneakers with your child on Thursdays and Fridays for P.E.  Thank you for your help!

 

100 Days Smarter!

Our Student of the Week!

Blubber Glove

Our class is fully emerged into our study of penguins!  Your children are becoming experts on Rockhopper, King, Little Blue, Gentoo, Chinstrap, and Emperor Penguins. They have also become quite skilled in finding important information in nonfiction text, highlighting it, and referring back to it. Together we are putting this information onto a large graphic organizer where we can examine it all in one place. It helps us compare penguins’ heights,weights, and characteristics.  One of the special adaptations that penguins have is a thick layer of blubber that helps them survive in the icy waters of Antarctica.  Our class was able to feel for themselves how this insulation creates a barrier from the cold. Ask your child to tell you about our “Blubber Glove” experiment! 

The Tooth Tutor, (AKA Mrs. Thorburn ) visited today to teach us about caring for our teeth!
Thank you!