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? 

Choice Time Learning

During our choice time on M, T, and Th, kids are creating and extending their own learning. Here, students reenacted the village built by Pilgrims who sailed over on the Mayflower.

Number Corner

During number corner (calendar) time this month, we have been learning about time and fractions.  Children are learning how to break something into parts - or a fraction of the whole.  They are identifying 1 whole, 1/2, and 1/4.  We are also learning about clocks- and how to tell time to the hour. We will move on to half hours later in the year. We are also trying to understand 24 hours a day, am/pm, and what time of day we do certain activities.

We continue to count each day in school. We are so excited there are less than 50 days until day 100!  Today marked the 57th day (picture taken earlier).  Students are learning about groups of ten and ones in double digit numbers, and learning to add these together as we approach the 100th day!

Writing

we are lrnig to ritig  non fichin stores. 

I am ritig ubout tigrs.

ROAR!

Computer Lab Free Choice

we rnd a free chus day at the cumputr lab.  we rnd it by geting  20 tale marks by showing lisning bodys. we whrkt on rasing awr hands and not intrrupting. good job first grsdrs!

Responsibility

This month's assembly focused on RESPONSIBILITY.  As a whole school, our community spends one morning meeting a week, focusing on one component of CARES.  This week, students thought about how they can show responsibility by taking care of their clothing, lunch boxes, water bottles, etc.  Students enjoyed a "fashion show" starring many UES adults/kids wearing many pieces of lost and found clothing. Did you know, last month, a team counted how many pieces were "lost" and counted 383 pieces of your child's belongings. WOW! Each day, our class works to show responsibility by keeping track of our clothing.  INQUIRE with your child each day about whether they came home with everything they left with that morning!

Veterans Day Parade

The rain did not keep us away from thanking all those veterans out there.  Although a little wet, students enjoyed marching in the parade yesterday! 

(I tried to keep dry by keeping my camera away!)

Deadline Near

If you have not already signed up and sent in $ for your thanksgiving lunch, please do so by TOMORROW, Friday, November 13th if you plan to attend.  The cafeteria will not accept any late registers!  Thanks!

How Police help our community!

Corporal Kniseley toured us around the Montpelier Police Station this afternoon. Students learned about the holding cells, fingerprinting, locked entries, dispatch, the cruisers and so much more! We learned all about how police officers help our community and keep us safe. Police officers ensure that all people follow rules and help community members that have a hard time doing so. One police officer we visited with shared how he had just got back from a traffic accident and how sometimes they help with the traffic - especially in Montpelier these days! Through a day long conversations, we even heard from many children about the times their parents were pulled over for speeding after learning about how police can track how fast cars are traveling! Students loved hearing about how the police have a dog who helps them in the evenings.  For some, this was surprising - that dogs can be more like people and be so helpful.  Students even met the dispatchers who would answer their call if they needed to call 911!  INQUIRE with your child what they enjoyed at the police station.

Thank You, Community Helpers!

4 winds

Royce and Melanie joined us this morning to teach our first 4 Winds lesson. Students strengthened their understanding of leaves and their function in the world.  Students focused on learning about different types of leaves and their differences, how leaves help a plant make food, and why leaves change color and some don't.  Students thought during the morning of how plants and animals work together while watching an AMAZING puppet show (complete with a spectacular song ;) observing, and then sorting leaves.  We finished the lesson by using our creative skills and made animal pictures out of leaves!  Thanks Melanie and Royce. We look forward to next month learning about conifers!  

Sharing

In Kindergarten, a daily occurrence during morning meeting was for children to share special things from home, talk about them, and answer questions from their friends.  This year, we focus on just news, sharing about these special things, or events from our lives that we are excited about. We continue to do this during morning meeting, but without the actual item.  There are times, when children are super excited to share items with their friends - special projects, postcards, photos, etc. I invite these children to do less formal shares - either at snack or during their choice time and take this time to share these items with their friends and use them to engage in conversation with their friends!

Where in the World Project

 Where in the World?

Optional Independent Project

Thank you for supporting your first grader’s interest learning through independent projects this school year. We will continue to explore the concept of place through our social studies unit about community. We have been to walking to different places in our community and students are making connections and learning about point of view. We are beginning to identify important landmarks, and key features of our school community and our downtown community. Students are mapping their local world!

Our new independent project will give your child an opportunity to think about maps, and the places they’ve visited, or wish to visit someday. This project is also optional and can be done as a family or individual.

Here’s what we would like to have included in the final project. Your child can present it any way they choose. We would like to see students demonstrate the following components:

1. Choose any place you have been, or wish to visit, that can be found on a map (Montpelier, Hubbard Park, Montreal, your house/backyard, office building or structure, waterway, vacation destination, etc.)

2. Get a map of the location or make a map of the location  (print from the internet, Chamber of Commerce, photos, etc.)

3. Label the place or places on the map, include landmarks.

4. Include why you visited, who you saw or what you did, and some interesting facts about the place (photos, drawings, labels, fact bullets or charts)

5. Recall, then retell the visit with your family so you can share your story with the classmates

6. Have fun!

If you have any questions about this project, please send us an e-mail! Enjoy learning with your child.

The First Grade Team

*Projects are due by Tuesday, December 1st , but if finished sooner, please send it in.              

Mapping

As we continue to explore our school and larger community of Montpelier, students are thinking about their place in the world - what they do to contribute, as to where this place is. This weeks ECO focus was about mapping and exploring where Harrison Forest/Field are in location to our school.  Our group traveled up the back side of the forest, passing Heaton Woods nursing home, and scaling the ridge line. Along the way, students got a birds eye view of Montpelier, and stopped for to sing the Vermont Song, as we looked out towards the golden dome! While in the forest, students sat from above, making maps of the forest, as well as mapping their sit spot location. A fun game of "Owl's Eye" was played - a camouflage outdoor version of hide and seek. Can you believe in 10 seconds, 40 first graders can camouflage themselves in the woods, and not be spotted from a stationary spot in the forest meeting area!  Thanks to our volunteer grandpa for lending us a helping hand on this trip!