Bounce, Bounce, Bounce or...

Class 6 students know so many things about balls, including what makes a ball a ball and why! Today's lesson on Force & Motion had students create their own balls using a variety of materials. After exploring our collection of classroom balls and discussing their specific qualities (smooth, rough, smooshy, hard, dense, filled with air, lightweight), we got to work creating balls that can bounce, role, be thrown and hit. Talk with your first grader to learn more about how they made their ball, ask what materials they chose and why? How do they think it will bounce, role, go through the air when thrown?

Writing Letters

Our writer's workshop focus between now and December 23rd is on writing letters, particularly the format, purpose (what do I want to say?) and punctuation. We will create several letters together. For example, we wrote a thank you letter to Amy Butler, our NBNC Naturalist, who gave our class a worm composter! We are excited to begin using it in the Spring and wanted to tell her all about it as well as say, thanks! 
By the close of this unit each child will have written a collection of letters to members of our school community to communicate gratitude for the number of and variety of ways they help our class. The optional grade one December home/school learning project will focus on writing letters too - look for more information in your child's red folder soon! 

Rules of Punctuation

This very fun book is teaching students so much about what reading and writing would be like if punctuation ever took a vacation. Our class decided it would make our work on writing, efforts during writers' workshop, letter writing and phonics instruction really tricky! Whether your child is learning about periods, exclamation points, colons, question marks, quotation marks, commas, or apostrophes, students are learning not to leave these important parts of writing out.  Ask your first grader how their work would sound and look if those marks, "took a vacation."

Author Judith Viorst entertained students and got our class thinking about subtraction this week. In her book Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday we learned how the main character started the week with a whole $1.00 given to him by his grandparents on Sunday and had $0.00 by the next Sunday. Ask your child to tell you about the many different ways he lost his money, and how our class kept track using subtraction! 

The fifth grade teachers and students would like to invite each classroom  to visit the fifth grade wing on Friday, December 9.  The fifth grade students will be hosting a craft fair/bake sale.  Items to be sold will include, (but not limited to), baked goods, popsicle stick baskets, t-shirts, earrings, necklaces, pencil holders, rose pens, duct tape wallets, ribbon barrettes, crayon discs, bookmarks and a used book sale.  Some students will even play their instruments as you shop!  Items will range in price from about 25 cents to $3.50.  All proceeds will go to their Boston trip in the spring. Thanks, The fifth grade teachers and students

Leaving It Better Than We Found It

Our outdoor adventure morning was a wet one! To prepare, students used rain pants, raincoats and boots from our wonderful K-1 NAP collection of donated outdoor gear. It is all stored in the 4Winds classroom... one problem, it was incredibly challenging to find the gear we needed! The coats were mixed up with the hats/mittens, the boots with the scarves and ear warmers, the rain pants with the winter coats. 
So the students of Class 6 decided to make a change to help all K-1 classes find what they need when they need it for future NAP outings. Children decided first: sort all the clothing, second: decide the categories, third: label the baskets, fourth: organize the clothing into each basket, fifth: write a class letter to the K-1 classes to communicate the change and ask students/teachers to keep the clothing organized and neat for all to use! 

Talk with your child tonight about this activity, and discuss how/why it is important to take care of materials, and our school community!

Debris Shelter Finale!

Today, just in time before the rain, we completed our class' two debris survival shelters at Hubbard Park. Students used logs, sticks, bark from dead trees, pine needles and moss for materials. To test the protection students think they will provide in any kind of weather - snow, sleet, rain, wind and heat - we created two paper "people" and placed one inside each shelter. We'll check on them when we visit the shelters for future NAP outings! 

Measuring & Comparing Bounciness

Students are learning more about motion by comparing and measuring the bounciness of four different balls in partners. 


We used rulers and determined a "same height" drop as well as three tries for each ball would create a fair test. 


Ask your child which ball they found was the bounciest ball and which was not? Why?

Library Special Begins Next Week

Library special with Mrs. Frey will begin on Thursday, December 1st. Library will be every Thursday 1-1:40 p.m.
Today we read a story called Manners in the Library by Carrie Finn to begin thinking about how students will use the library, care for books, read & listen to stories and take responsibility for checking out/returning their books. Your children will still check out two books a week. I strongly encourage one of those books be a "just right" story they can read independently to themselves and you at home. 
Fun Fact: Did you know the first known public library was in Egypt more than 2,000 years ago, in about 300 B.C.?

 Enjoy your Thanksgiving! See you on Monday, November 28th. 

*NAP on Monday so please dress warmly since we will be at Hubbard Park 
8:30 - 11:30 a.m.
*Please remember to bring a canned food item to school next week (if you haven't already) to help us celebrate "giving back" to our community at our next all school celebration, December 2nd.

Hooray! Today we celebrated earning 500 hoots 

with a visit from the MSD mascot, Screech. 

Capturing Words

In first grade we learn so many new words! We want students to expand their collection of sight words, weekly spelling words and "interesting words" generated from integrated literacy learning lessons. 
To capture these important words, your children record them in their personal spelling books for reference when writing and reading independently. Ask  your child if s/he would like to make a word book to keep at home, or a word collector for the whole family! 

Happy Birthday - Congrats Writers

Thanks families for the wonderful breakfast goodies to help us celebrate November birthday this morning - happy birthday to Charlie & Kathleen!

 

Students shared their finished and published stories with families, 4th grade buddies and peers, too! They also had an opportunity to share what they've been learning, then show "their stuff" in their writing. All student writing was Easy to Read. Ask your child what they did as a writer to make their story easy to read? What writing tools did they use?

Finishing Touches!

The final fixes and "fancy'ing up" touches went into our stories today... students are ready and stories are prepared for the Class #6 Publishing Event tomorrow morning following our November Birthday Breakfast! 

Thanks parent volunteers for helping bind student stories, and run the "boo-boo" tape for correcting last little fixes on word sequence, spelling errors and general tidying up. 

Giving Back

The PBiS Team is excited to announce that, once every class reaches 500 hoots, our next all-school celebration will focus on giving back to our community. 


Beginning on Tuesday, Nov. 15th each class will begin collecting non-perishable items that will be donated to the Montpelier Food Shelf. We will collect items until the morning of Friday, December 2nd. This celebration will help us be mindful of our school rules, which we identify with the CARES acronym: 
Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy & Self Control. 


Thank you for helping your children demonstrate CARES in our community!

Just thought I would pass this along a little early in the event you have or know children in this age group!

Zach and Amy Butler will be holding an afterschool program this winter for 8 to 12 year olds!

In the same spirit of Nature Adventure Program, we will create a space for children to explore and unwind afterschool, one day a week, for 8 sessions.

 

WINGS  is an afterschool program for children 8 to 12 years old who love to be outdoors. Every WINGS session we will spend time exploring the wintery landscape at NBNC while learning how to take care of ourselves and others! We will also learn how to build and tend fires, construct winter shelters, track animals, eat food we have prepared, sing songs and tell stories. Sounds like fun? We think so too!

For more information please contact NBNC at 229-6206.

www.NorthBranchNatureCenter.org

Author & Illustrator

We continue reading some great books written by Cynthia Rylant as part of our November author study. Did know she is a prolific author, but not an illustrator? Also, we have noticed all of the books we've read in her collection so far feature a different illustrator!
A few grade one authors in our class thought to try this author/illustrator partnership out with their own writing. Some students have teamed up to help one another "fancy up" their book illustrations this week as we are in the final phases of publishing. 

Exploring Science Concepts

Force & Motion


Mr. McDonald, one of our P.E. teachers, joined us for a special Morning Meeting activity today focused on science learning about force and motion. He helped us explore the properties of a basketball and how it behaves when we apply force. Ask your child what makes a basketball a basketball, and how we use it differently (degree of force) when we want to throw it, roll it or dribble it?

Spelling

Students are learning many spelling rules and "tricks!" Learning how to use visual memory, and apply rules of spelling help children improve their writing and reading skills. This week we are focused on the double f, l, s ending in words and the -all glued sound. Ask your child to show you how they tap out to spell and write words like: off, fluff, bluff, class, grass, mis, small, mall and hall. Even with the double f, s or l at the end of the word the letter still says its own sound. How many syllables do you hear in these types of words? Hint: clap them out to find out! 

Next Week: Reminder

UES Thanksgiving Lunch on 

Wednesday, November 16th at 12 pm

Class #6 Birthday Breakfast & Publishing Event on 

Friday, November 18th 8 - 8:55 a.m. 

First Grade Veteran's Day Parade Marchers

Our class marched with excitement and pride in today's Montpelier Veteran's Day parade. The children made American flags for waving and American flag ribbons this morning, and brought along the thank you letters each wrote to share with veterans. We also learned the words to the song, America the Beautiful. A few photos below. 

The fun continued with 11/11/11 activities this afternoon. Your child brought home their 11 Day learning packet. Ask them to share it with you, and tell you all about the things we did to celebrate 11. 

Children can finish up the activities at home over the weekend if they like!  

Show 11 all together

Use 11 stickers to create an art piece

Read 11 Books in 11 Minutes

Number 11 scavenger hunt

Make 11 artful

Hanging Around and Hanging Up in the Halls

Look who I caught "just hanging around" the first floor halls today... Ms. Schultz, our art teacher. I had a chance to talk with her about the learning about color, nature, emotions, design and art mediums your children are doing in art. I also took a closer look at the watercolor paint and ink nature-inspired art pieces they are producing that adorn UES hallways. I hope you have a chance to soon as well!  

Sharing "The Funnies"

At morning meeting today, a student shared with the class his love for reading the comics in the Sunday newspaper. 
It was a fun and cooperative experience to "dive into" comic reading as a class too!! 

Getting to Know Cynthia Rylant

One way students are learning to become better and better and better readers & writers is by studying (reading and re-reading together and independently) the writing of important authors. Our visit to the Flynn Theatre to see Henry & Mudge served as the launch of an author study about Cynthia Rylant. Ask your child what they have learned about Ms. Rylant and her writing so far... a few hints: Is she a fiction writer or non-fiction writer, or both? What topics does she like to write about? Does she write books with humor and feelings? Can she write picture books only, or does she also write chapter books? 
This week her work is helping us notice how she makes her writing easy to read, and how she writes story endings so we can finish our own stories and prepare them for publishing soon! If you and your child would like to learn more about Cynthia Rylant together on the Web visit: http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/au-rylant-cynthia.asp

11/11/11

We will have a busy and exciting day on Friday. In the morning, we will join the 5th graders as they honor veteran's by marching in the Montpelier Veteran's Day Parade. We will begin at the rotary and march a portion of the parade route. Please join us, or stand among the route to honor veterans. Kellogg Hubbard library would be a good place to spot us!

Upon returning to school, we will celebrate the number 11. Please contact me if you would like to send in a tasty treat, or plan an "11" craft project! 

Thanks so much.

Number Sequence 0-100

Cathy Clements, UES Math Coach, joined our class today to teach us a new game. The learning objectives were less than, more than, number sequence and place value. These skills help children build a strong foundation in number sense. You can re-inforce these skills at home by counting up and counting back with your first grader anytime, doing practically anything kind of number game with a deck of number cards or playing cards. Looking at the numbers (and writing the numbers) to determine accurate sequence is important. For example, by looking at a card labelled 97, and a collection of three cards that may be 79, 16 and 96 ask your child which number is one less/comes before the number 97? If you would like a copy of number cards 0-100 please let me know, and I'll gladly send one home for you to use to create and play number games with your child at home.

NAP Today

We visited our sit spots in Hubbard Park today, and began working on a debris shelter in our small groups. Students used cooperation and took responsibility for themselves and each other to build shelters that would be able to protect a person from cold, and weather for survival in the woods. We will return to this lesson and small group work at our next NAP outing. Ask your child what our class stick tee-pee looked like and what the description read? Also, learn from your first grader the materials necessary to make a debris shelter, and why... they may tell your a story we learned from our Naturalist Amy, today about lessons learned. Stay tuned for photos from our adventure... ask your child to join you as you look at the photos. S/he can be the photojournalist for you and describe what is happening in each picture. Have fun together!