We Need Your Help at HOME!

                         

Bird Research

Optional Independent Project

This spring, students will be engaged in an integrated bird research project.  We will be studying a variety of Vermont birds and their habitats in the classroom and while outside for ECO.  Students will be immersed in reading and writing about bird survival, and designing bird homes.  All students will be looking closely at how birds are unique and will compare and contrast characteristics of particular bird species.

Each student in the first grade has chosen a Vermont bird to study in depth.  We are also extending their learning to home.  We would like you to help your child get started with this project at home. Please refer to the bird your child has chosen and help them research facts about their animal. They can use the web, books, and magazines to begin their research.  Please help them find information about these topics and any other interesting facts particular to their bird:

• habitat
• diet
• movement
• protection
• physical characteristics

We will be doing the majority of these projects at school. Help with the research portion of the project is greatly appreciated. Please help your child find information from the web, book stores, homes, and libraries.  Any materials collected can be used in the classroom as well. A web is provided to help you and your child organize the information.  Please make sure to label your resources to ensure they are returned to you.  Projects will be due Monday, May 1st but if you finish earlier, please send it in!

Swoop

Sabins Pasture

First Grade bird lovers had an amazing day in Sabin's Pasture identifying birds, making nests, and playing a variety of hawk and bird games.  It was a beautiful day for outdoor learning! 

Reading Workshop

Students are continuing to practice and learn strategies to read books of higher complexity. As both words and topics become more in depth, students are making sure to take control of their decoding and word power work, at the same time they think about the text. Meaning can easily be lost when tackling tricky words, so children are taught explicit strategies to help them decipher the world of comprehension. As your child reads to you at home, ask questions about the text, make connections and engage them in conversation about the hidden content and messages the book is telling.  Please continue to make time for your child to read to you, and remember to let me know if you need books at their just right level!

Kicking off Green Up Day

The first grade classes enjoyed another community visit this past week, traveling to the state house to help Governor Scott kick off the Green Up Festivities in Vermont.  INQUIRE with your child what they can do do help our state stay healthy, clean, and beautiful.  

Twin Day!

Home Connection

Calling All Scientists!

  Optional Independent Project

We hope you enjoyed completing the 100th day project at home last month.  As a class, we enjoyed taking a museum walk around all the first grade classrooms to see every child’s creative way to show 100!  There was so much creativity and effort put into each project.  Thank you for your support.

We have launched a new science unit this past month.  Students are learning about the scientific method and have become scientists in the classroom as they explore light and sound waves.  This inquiry based unit allows children to ask questions and investigate answers on their own.  Students are learning to follow specific steps in the process:

1. Ask A Question
2. Make a Prediction
3. Make a Plan and Follow It
4. Observe
5. Record Results
6. Draw A Conclusion

Students have been very engaged in this unit and we’d love for them to share their learning at home.  This home connection project will give students an opportunity to explore a question of their own, and develop a plan to investigate.  This project is also optional and can be done as a family or individual.

We would like you to do the experiment at home and help your child share the results with their classmates.  Your child can present it any way they would like, but we would like to see students demonstrate the steps in the scientific method (worksheet attached).  Feel free to send pictures, videos, slideshows, make posters, or a write a journal entry about what they did and learned.

Check these websites for ideas for first grade projects  https://www.education.com/science-fair/first-grade/

http://www.icanteachmychild.com/science-fair-projects/

If you have any questions about this project, please send us an email.  Remember, be creative and allow your child to use their sense of wonder to learn.

Have Fun!

The First Grade Team

**Please note that projects are due by Friday, April 7th, but if finished sooner, please send it in.

We will accept them anytime in APRIL!