We're Ready for Vacation!

Thank you all for the wonderful cards, candy, gifts, and gift certificates.  I will certainly enjoy a well rested break with family and friends - hopefully skiing, but if not, a great amount of relaxation.  Our students  are too! Here are some thoughts on what they all are looking forward to over vacation.  Safe travels, and enjoy a week with your children! I'll see you in 2016!


"I am looking forward to spending time with my family and opening some presents!" -LM

"I am looking forward to going to the mall, playing with my new toys, and seeing my grandma and uncle!" -CC

"I am going to spend some time at my house and  gaze up at my tree from below."  NM

"I am excited to learn more about sharks when I read my shark tooth book and play on my sister's IPAD." CB

"I hope to go skiing with my family in my backyard....maybe." LE

"I'm hoping it snows and I can have a snowball fight with my dad." DJ

"I am looking forward to getting new video games and maybe some snow."  RC

"I am looking forward to seeing my cousin when he comes to my house and my grandparents - they will all sleepover." ZK

"I look forward to resting on the couch and play in the snow." WC

"I am excited to be with my family - it will be really fun to have them over." I also get to go visit with my dad." CG

"I am excited to spend time at Poppys and Ami's."  AF

"I look forward to opening presents, and eating Christmas dinner."  ON

"I am excited for Christmas and visiting with my relatives."  IR

PJ's

Along with Day in the Dark, students are invited to wear their PJ's to school tomorrow!

Spelling/Handwriting

During our literacy block in the classroom, students have been focusing on a number of different spelling rules that come up in both our reading and writing. As we practice words following this pattern, we continue to increase our fine motor and handwriting skills using the plane, sky, grass, and worm lines. Here is a brief overview of what we covered in December and will continue practicing in January. 

Students have learned about the floss rule and have learned that when we come to a one syllable word with a short vowel sound in the middle, and the word ends with f, l, or s, we have to double it. We call this letter a bonus letter. Some common words that follow this pattern are miss, cuff, hill, puff, bill, kiss.

The class has also been introduced to suffixes, and in particular the suffix that creates a plural word. After learning about base words, students began to spell words and understand the meaning of the -s at the end of a word. Examples include: chicks, bells, bats, ships, etc.

In January we will look closely at s"ilent -e" pattern words in one syllable and then multisyllabic words and review consonant blends in the beginning and ends of words.  

As we continue to learn new spelling rules, students are being expected to carry through this learning to their own writing. Legibility and neatness are continuously enforced throughout the day.
 

Student Posts

During our computer lab time each Wednesday, students volunteer their time to do some "blogging." The writing done is completed with their best guess spelling and is entirely student created. I hope you've been enjoying the students reflection on what they are doing and learning at school.  Feel free to share your thoughts on the poll to the right!

Reader's Workshop

Readers continue reviewing good habits to apply to new books, and learning how to extend their learning as they read. A focus on keywords, and using these expert words in our conversations has been a focus these last few weeks.  What do readers do when they stumble upon a word they've never heard of? INQUIRE with your child what they can do when this happens to them! 

Winter Solstice

Lots of learning is happening in our classroom to get ready for the winter solstice.  We have been noticing the dark days leading up to the solstice, and learning about how the earth's patterns around the sun cause day and night, and also about the tilt of the earth and how that relates to the pattern of seasons.  Students are working hard to understand more about these patterns in the sky, including a little bit about the moon's rotation around earth and the patterns it creates. 

Teacher Read-Aloud?

Students have been working so hard on developing voracious reading habits that they have now earned the privilege of sitting in "cozy" spots around the classroom.  Our classroom offers a variety of seating options during reading time.  As you can see from the picture above, this child has been working hard on rereading to smooth out her voice, as she practices reading aloud to an imaginary group of listeners....perhaps she practicing to be the next Ms. Closter! 

Inside Out

Way to go UES!  All classes earned a special celebration today for showing such great responsibility in the month of December.  Make sure you congratulate them on a job well done! 

Teaching Books

Students have continued working on teaching books in writer's workshop. Using mentor texts has been helpful for first grade writers to get ideas and see how writers use a variety of nonfiction features. From photographs and captions to finding examples of comparisons and close ups, students have learned about what features would help their writing become an expert teaching book. With the goal of their books being to teach others, students have experimented with using a variety of features in their writing. Planning continues to be an important step in the process of writing.

Much time was spent on looking at table of contents. As writers begin to write longer chapter books, it was helpful to break apart their books into separate sections. Students learned how this is helpful to a reader and began experimenting with interesting chapter titles for their table of contents.

Over the last few weeks, students spent a lot of time looking at expected first grade writing. In reflecting on what objectives each student was really good at, students then looked at areas they wanted to improve on. All first graders should be editing for punctuation, upper case letters, and meaning. Students should be elaborating on their writing and including details. This should look like 3-4 sentences on each page. Students are learning and should be trying out interesting opening and closings, using the word wall and spelling rules that have been introduced, and trying out new and interesting words (expert words) that are multisyllabic. In teaching books, students are spending equal time on their pictures, where they not only draw but include descriptions, captions, labels, comparisons, and diagrams.

Friendly 10

This past month in math has focused on finding ways to increase our fluency with math facts beyond 10, in particular when one of the addends is an 8 or 9.  Students have learned a more efficient way of solving these problems by finding ways to make a 'friendly number.' All students can quickly add on with 10, so we have been learning how to turn the 8 and 9 into a 10 to restate the number sentence in a more friendly way. INQUIRE with your child how this process works!  This underlying theme of finding friendly numbers will continue to help your child increase their number sense in many ways!

Every day, we continue to practice our counting - by 2's, 5's 10's - both forward the backward, increase fluency with all math facts by doing "sprints" and challenging ourselves to think outside the box and explain with mathematical terms what the process each person takes to solve different problems.  A few times a week, students work with partners to play math games that help strengthen skills taught during the week.  INQUIRE with your child how to write a number sentence the vertical way - can they tell you how many pennies makes $1?  Take some dimes, nickels, and pennies out of your pocket - can your child count how much you have?  

Day in the Dark Reminder

On Tuesday, December 22nd all first grade classes will be having a “Day in the Dark” to reinforce learning about day and night, including solstice the shortest day and longest night of the year!  If you have anything at home that would light up in the dark we would appreciate it if you could send it to school.  Here are some suggestions:

• Flashlights
• Headlamps
• Lite Brites
• Black Lights
• Glow in the dark markers/paint
• Lava Lamps
• Glow Sticks
• Glow in the dark stickers/beads
• Disco Balls

We will return your items that day. Please label all items sent to school. If you have any questions, just let us know.

Snowboarding at School

we had  a special PE brten snobording with mrs bates class for 30 mistns.

We learned how too stand on bord and how too moov and how too pic  up our bords.

by: Lizzy

Burton Comes to UES

evrewun wrkt hrd snobording. we had fun.

by: Rowan

Solar System

earth rotates on its axis as it rotates around the sun.

we are lrnnig abut this and why we have day and night and also why we have seasons.

 we will have day in the dark on Tuesday, December 22nd.  More info to come!

by: Miles

New Playground Plans (just ideas)

we  went  to  see  the  new playground  and  we   pict our favorite plans. 

by: Colt

Reflection

There's always so much to reflect on after a morning of ECO.  Each time we come back from traveling, students spend about 15 minutes reflecting in their community journals. We even do this after a morning in the woods - and how relaxing that can be! Check out how focused and reflective these students are as they journal about what they did, and jot down questions they have about their natural world.

Songs around the Fire

Birthday Breakfast

Birthday Breakfast is this Friday! If you've volunteered to help supply food items, look for an email soon. As always, anybody is welcome to join us for the celebration, whether or not you have a child with a December Birthday! Please let me know if you think you can attend. It will be for morning meeting 8:30-9:00!

Birds Nests and Animal Homes

We looked for  nests and mad homs  with ms doste class at ECO.

by: Lizzy

Prints at the Library

When  I  went  to  Kelog  huberd  library  I  had  a  partnr.  When I went to Kelog huberd  library I saw my print on the wall.  

by: Lily

3-D Shapes

We have ben lrning about 3d shaps and vrtaex edge and face during numbr cornre.  it was inpresive. 

by: Zoe

Crazy Month

Our class has a lot of zig zag days in december as you can see on our calendar.

by: Ason

New from MJ

Your children have just finished a dance unit in Physical Education class. Throughout the past four weeks, the entire school learned and practiced a variety of modern/social dances. You might have even seen a few of their dance moves at home! The upper grades worked tirelessly to create and choreograph their own dance routines, which they performed in front of their classmates. We had a fantastic, creative dance unit with all the students, and are looking forward to the upcoming unit.

Beginning in the month of December, we will start a Gymnastics unit (tumbling, stunts and balance) for grades K-1.

The K-2 grades will be introduced to gymnastics fundamentals in tumbling such as: log roll, forward roll, egg roll, and static and dynamic balance routines; as well as stunts activities including jumping and landing on one foot or two feet.  While participating in these activities, your child will understand the importance of safety, respect, and staying focused. Your child will also develop spatial and body awareness, coordination, muscle strength, endurance and flexibility.  This unit aligns with the PE National Standards and Grade-Level Outcomes, which say, “students will be able to demonstrate competency in motor skills and selected combinations of skills used in Gymnastics.”

Thank you again for helping us to have successful Physical Education classes. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

ECO- FRIDAY

ECO Science Outing!

We will have ECO on FRIDAY this week (RESCHEDULED FROM THURSDAY)

Please make sure that your child is prepared with:

• walking/hiking shoes or boots
• sweatshirt or fleece layer
• coat or hooded jacket (if needed, weather dependant)
• water bottle (if your child doesn’t have one at school)
• backpack
• rainpants/snowpants( the forest can be very damp- even in afternoons)
• hat, mittens, etc
• extra pair of mittens/gloves

Please check the weather and use your discretion on what best to outfit your child with!

Thanks!

News From Parents Group

Our fall fundraiser orders will arrive Wednesday Dec. 9th. They will be available for pick up between 3-6pm at UES in either the cafeteria or the auditorium stage(a sign will direct you where to pick up as you enter the building). If you are unable to pick your order at this time please contact the coordinators. For Elementary students contact Kristin Darcy at kristindarcy@hotmail.com for 5th grade students contact Jen Matthews at jennifermues@hotmail.com . All orders not picked up will be sent to your child's class room. Orders will not be sent home with your child on the bus.

We are also looking for volunteers, Wed Dec. 9th between 2pm-6pm. Even if you only have an hour to help it would be greatly appreciated. Please click on the link below for details and to sign up.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0A45ABA623A5FE3-fall
 

Artwork Displayed at Kellogg Hubbard

The Kellogg Hubbard Library is transforming the Children's Library into a Winter Wonderland for an annual library event this coming weekend. Our class was invited to bring artwork created with Mrs. Kane to display so all of our students have a piece up on the walls!  

The first grade project was "Winter Prints" inspired by Vermont woodcut printmaker and illustrator Mary Azarian.  There is also some work shown by Kindergarten artists who each made a "House in the Night" collage, inspired by the award-winning book of the same title illustrated by artist Beth Krommes. The artwork should be up for the month of December.  

Make sure you stop by the library in the next few weeks to check this out. I hope to take a walking field trip this week or early next week for the students to see their art displayed as well.  Enjoy!

Kevin Henkes

This past month, our class read a variety of Kevin Henkes classic read alouds.  With a focus on reviewing our CARES, children thought about how Henkes main characters, often young mice, show cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self control during the story. After each book read aloud and discussed, students focus on what Henkes message was. What can your child tell you about all these books? What did the books teach them? 

Missing Teeth

Each day, someone new is losing their tooth! If we counted up all the teeth lost during a first grade year, it'd take hours!  If you thought your child is the only one with missing front teeth, you're mistaken.  "All we want for........is our 2 front teeth!" Not many of our friends have been biting into whole apples lately!

Grateful

We are SO thankful in our classroom. I hope you're child shared all the ways and people who they are grateful for. I am SO grateful for all these little munchkins! They bring so much joy to each other's learning each day - and mine too!!

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple.....

We continue using shared reading in the way of poems and songs to begin each day.  Some poems are worked on for a week, others just a day.  These past weeks, we've been reading color poems, working on reading fluency, and the importance of knowing how to spell all our color words.  Students love putting a copy of these poems inside their poem folders each week to practice reading on their own.  

Thanksgiving Lunch

 

Thanksgiving lunch always comes with full bellies, lots of of love, and tables of laughter. Thanks for taking time to join us on this day!

Reader's Workshop

These past few weeks during our reader's workshop have focused not only on reviewing and adding more good habits for solving tricky words, but strengthening our ability to become "super smart" when reading nonfiction! Before Thanksgiving break, we focused on looking closely at pictures, captions, drawings, and text and thinking about what more we can learn, retelling information while thinking about the importance of why the author wanted us to learn this information (inquire with you child how they can get a "three scoop" cone, and also on finding key words and using these key words to learn more about a topic.  Nonfiction text can be more challenging for first grade readers, and finding ways to teach them to dig for deeper understanding is our focus. First graders have been spending a lot of time reading to learn - and having so much fun with it. INQUIRE with your child how they practice being a "news reporter!"

PJ's- tomorrow!

YEA! Students earned another 200 hoots, making our grand total 1,000 for the year. We will celebrate tomorrow with Pajama and Stuff day. Please help your child remember to pack a smaller sized stuffy- one that will easily fit in their backpacks would be perfect!

Congrats!

We were all excited to welcome Governor Shumlin to our school on Tuesday to celebrate and honor VT Teacher of the Year, Susan Koch.  What great listeners we had sitting through the hour long ceremony.  Students participated by sharing with the State Board of Education the learning they do here at UES. Throughout the ceremony, our first graders participated in a number of songs. INQUIRE with them how they sing/sign the VT song. Do they remember all the words?