Playground Playdate TIME CHANGE!

To accommodate more children, the playground playdate is being moved to 5:00 on July 11th. Hope to see you there!

PLAYDATE

Our first playground date is scheduled for July 11th.  Please mark your calendars and meet us on the big playground for an informal community building playtime at 9:00a.m.!

Move Delay

Maintenance/Cleaning Schedule has changed so we are no longer moving this week.  I will keep you posted when things get rolling. The boxes are packed, however, and everything is ready for the move down the hallway!  Thanks to those who have volunteered to help with the move!

Classroom MOVE!

I am in the process of packing up our classroom to move early next week.  We are clustering grades so the same grades will be grouped together in nearby classrooms.  My class will be moving to Shelby Quinn and Christina Mollinaro's classroom that is diagonal from the library.  It is in between George Leal and Emily Wrigley's classrooms.  Mr. Leal will not be returning so we will have a new teammate next year. I will be moving our materials and furniture early next week so if you or any family members would like to help, let me know!

Thank you to everybody who has helped to make our class community grow.  See you in First Grade!

The ABC's of First Grade

Mrs. Giffin's students shared their experiences in first grade with us, answered questions, and even created an ABC poem all about what it's like to be in First Grade. Check out the video to listen to the poem. Tomorrow, we will move in desks from Mrs. Cody's classroom into our own and walk around their classroom to see what our room might turn into!

Favs from 2010-2011

This collage generated with Smilebox This will play as a slideshow - click play, then play again!  Enjoy! Hopefully I'll work on an entire year slide in the next few days! Here are some group favorites from the year.Click on play, then click each picture to blow it up!

Create a photo collage

Cookout

Thanks to EVERYBODY for helping to make the cookout a success!

Create a free slideshow

Fairy Houses Tomorrow!

We are going to walk to Harrison Field with Mrs. F's class tomorrow to build fairy houses.  Please pack a water bottle and wear sneakers! 

Busy End of the Year

I apologize for not being able to keep up with the blog this week.  It's been a busy week!  Last week, we finished up assessments and have been having a GREAT week. Here's a brief summary of this week.  I hope your child has been sharing news about their days with you. We are creating a memory book with some of our Kindergarten year favorites which will go home next week.  We are also reading the Red Clover books and doing a variety of fun activities...blowing bubbles, painting squares, graphing and tasting grapes, "doing nothing," making sequels and writing about Redwood trees, and much more.  Ask your child about the books they've read this week and how these activities pertain to the books.  We have also continued to journal our observations of our bean seeds that have germinated, and have been taking care of our sunflower plants that are beginning to sprout!  The excitement of first grade has come and we've been having a few discussions about getting ready.  On Tuesday, we'll get to visit a first grade classroom and try out what it feels like to sit in desks. At this time, we will welcome 2 new girls who will be joining us for first grade! 

Tough Decision

I think that postponing the cookout was one of the toughest decisions I've had all year!  With the thunder rumbling and torrential downpour last night and this afternoon, on top of an emergency weather alert on NPR at 230, I felt as though I had to take precaution.  I apologize for having to cancel as I know the kids were really looking forward to a great evening. Right now at 540 pm, the thunder has started again and the rain is pounding, so I believe I made the right call.  I am planning on postponing to Monday evening...same time, same place.  If you signed up for something for tonight and are unable to do the same for Monday evening, please let me know over the weekend via email - jillc@mpsvt.org

Marble Celebration...

For filling the marble jar, our friends chose to have "costume day."  I am so proud of how far this class has come. Check out how just about the whole class can spend an entire choice time helping one another, playing together, and having fun!

 

Oh, and of course, check out a few of our costumes!

Fairy Houses

Many students in our class have been working hard on building a fairy house outside our classroom window. (I think they're NAP deprived.)  Today, we re-read Fairy Houses that was written by Tracy Kane.  We read this book earlier in the year when Alanna shared with us a visit she had with Tracy.  We also made plans to build our own fairy houses in Harrison Field next week.  We prepared for this by sketching on paper what we wanted it to look like as well as writing a description of how we will go about this.  Next week, we will watch a documentary movie entitled: Kristen's Fairy Houses about a child who travels with her aunt, an artist, to Monhegan Island, ME to learn about the forest, its creatures and the magic of the island's tradition of fairy house building.

If you and your child have any books about fairies or gnomes, fairy houses or information about the traditions of fairy house and gnome home building on Monhegan Island or anywhere, please go ahead and send it in.

REMINDER

Benefit for the Union Elementary School 

Nature Adventure Program

Have extra perennials in your garden? Please  consider donating them to the sale! 

For those of you unable to contribute plants, please consider sending in to school or 

bringing with you to NBNC a baked good for our sale.

 

June 3, 2011

 North Branch Nature Center

5:00 pm

Join other families for a picnic dinner and live music by Dave and Blue!

Plant Parts

Today we looked closely at the different parts that make up a flower and learned about what each part does to help it grow. After singing a song about the plant parts to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus" Autumn and Alanna read us two great books about plants.  They have been practicing reading these books together during daily 5.  I also read, "Planting a Rainbow" by Lois Ehlert before designing our own flowers for a rainbow garden for the hallway.  Our flowers resembled Lois Ehlert illustrations, as she is known for her collage style.  Next to our flowers, we made sure to label each part.

End of the Year Assessments....

It's that time of year again.  My class has been doing an extraordinary job doing their best work on a number of literacy and math assessments.  Many times during the next week we will be completing a variety of assessments.  Can you believe that 12 out of 13 children today voted they LOVED assessments!  I'm hoping this belief stays true for them when they are in high school! 

NO SNACK FAIRY ON JUNE 14th!  The last day for snack fairy is JUNE 13th.  If a family would like to donate a class snack for our last day, please let me know.  Also, school will be dismissed at 11:30 on the 14th. 

COSTUME CELEBRATION!

Our class has filled the marble jar once again. The children have voted on having a costume party to celebrate.  We will do this on Friday, June 3rd.  Please, no masks!

Plant Life Cycle

My class has started learning about another important part to our planet....plants!  We are not only learning the importance of them to people and animals who live on Earth, but also about their life cycle.  We are looking at what stages plants go through during their life, what each plant is made up of and the role each part plays, and the idea that they are living and need certain environmental factors present in order to grow.

We looked closely at a bean seed, noticing the seed coat that is protecting the embryo inside.  We asked ourselves many questions about the dormant seed and made predictions about how long it would take to germinate.  To see this process, we wrapped bean seeds in a moist paper towel and placed them in a plastic bag in the window. We hope to observe the process of germination and watch the seedling develop.  We started documenting our observations in our plant journals.

This afternoon we also looked closely at sunflower seeds.  We planted these seeds in soil and will transfer them to the school gardens at harrison field.  We also planted one to bring home!