By Gall-y Galls are Cool!

Had you any idea the round shape you find in the stems of many plants (oak leaves, goldenrod, and others) on your nature adventures is called a Gall? Not only that, but inside that sphere-shaped part of the plant is an egg that hatches into a tiny insect larva who feasts on the plant material and grows bigger until it finally hatches out as a full-grown fly. Ask your child to tell you more about what s/he learned from our 4Winds lesson about Galls and the insects that use them to reproduce, maybe not during dinner though!  Our learning included sequencing the fly/gall lifecycle, gall disection and journalling about what we learned, and what questions we still have. 

You're Invited! 

Please join our class for a book dedication to the UES school library and Author's Tea on Thursday, March 29th 2-2:30 p.m. We will celebrate the publishing of student's

All About non-fiction books with a partner reading among friends and family. 

We will also have a special "shelving" ceremony to include them as additional resource books for K-5 students to use in our school library. Please RSVP if you are planning to attend so we are sure to have ample tea and cookies for all. Parents are welcome to bring their children  home in lieu of regular dismissal plans. 

We hope you can make time in your busy schedule to attend. 

Most sincerely, 

Mrs. Wrigley

 Class 6 First Graders

 Quilting to Learn Geometry and Practice Addition Facts

Students are getting some interesting reinforcement of their math facts by learning about the connection of geometry and patterns in quilts. Today, we read a story by Tommie De Paola about a special quilt, then created our own 9-block quilt square using two colors. Each color represents a number students use to create a number sentence that adds up to nine. Tomorrow, the class will sort all squares to identify patterns and make connections. This learning will help students replicate and extend the geometric patterns on a larger quilt square to show 
four connected 9-block quilt squares. We also learned many families have special quilts, and that many family members enjoy making quilts too! 

Psst... what's the password?
Beginning our first day back from Winter break students have been practicing reading and writing words via our daily class password system. Each morning begins with children reading the password - oh, no you cannot say the word aloud for the entire day (very exciting!) - then signing in and writing the password. Students are challenged to spell the word if they want to use it, and write it during Work on Writing at Daily 5, Fundations or Writer's Workshop. At the end of the day we celebrate with each other by saying the word aloud in a sentence. Just another fun, integrated way to build language skills and a rich vocabulary. Try this at home too!  

What has changed?

We headed outdoors to do some science this afternoon with a question in mind. What has changed about our tulip garden and what has stayed the same? Students took several minutes to make observations about the site - there is no more snow or ice, the plants look dead, there are no signs of tulips. Then, did some thinking and journaling about what did and did not change about the site, as well as why the tulips have not sprouted or bloomed yet. 
Ask your child to tell you more about our garden site, and why our class thinks the bulbs and other plants may begin greening- up later than the landscape on the Playground side of our building... hmmm, clue: We used a compass to determine our site is on the South/East side of the building. Warm or Cold? Light or Dark? How do answers to these questions change your child's thinking about the timing of the tulip bloom? Should we expect to see tulips poking up by Friday?

ALL About...

Students are beginning to wrap up their All About books. Topics have ranged from snakes and penguins, to electricity and computers. Each demonstrates the writer/illustrators understanding of the subject, and approach to writing in a way that teaches the reader something new, including offers background information, interesting facts and how to do something. Students used mentor text - a published book from our classroom or school library - to further inform their thinking, and help them make connections between their ideas and factual information. 
Look for these published pieces in our library soon! 

If you have a few minutes, take them to read the Burlington Free Press newspaper article (www.burlingtonfreepress.com) about NBNC Naturalist Amy Butler who was recently named a VT Environmental Leader. She was interviewed about her work with Kindergarten and Grade 1 children doing hands-on science with teachers in an outdoor classroom. Our UES ECO program also shares the spotlight. As always, thanks so much for all the support you offer your children and our teaching team for this program. It's wonderful! -Emily

Visions of Spring During NAP at Hubbard Park
Today, we took some time for thinking and making art. One way I am helping students prepare for an upcoming realistic fiction writing/illustrating project is by teaching a variety of art media and techniques they will use. Our project began with taking time to place ourselves as Nature Investigators in the park - what did each student see, hear, smell and what does that picture look like in your brain? (we heard a little bird called, The Brown Creeper, and woodpeckers, saw chipmunks and sprouts of grass...)
Prepared with a vision, children sketched their thinking then traced over the pencil lines darkly with crayon. Then each student carefully chose colors to match their nature experience from a watercolor palette, and did a watercolor wash. We watched the color fade from the crayon - why? Enjoy a chat with your first grader about this project, and be sure to visit our hallway next week during conferences to admire their work.  

Friday All School Assembly
We celebrated our UES student olympians today for their hard work at the VT State Winter Modified Sports Games. Events included, snow shoeing and other fun activities. 
Way to go team UES - we so proud of you! 

Nature Investigations Inspired

 Student learning in our Hubbard Park classroom about waterways, making water move, and how/why water moves has inspired children in our class to cooperate and apply what they know to our very own UES playground... please keep sending kiddos to school with mud boots!! 

Non-Fiction Features Study

Our learning about how non-fiction works is not limited to writing non-fiction! By studying the features of non-fiction text we are learning what readers need to know so they understand what they are reading. 
With help from our Grade 4 Buddies, each day students are being introduced to a different feature of non-fiction. Ask  your kiddo about why the table of contents is an important feature of any non-fiction book, ex. a book about knights and dragons or a book about butterflies. 
After the lesson, students are asked to research the feature by exploring a variety of non-fiction text (books, magazines, newspapers, etc.) to locate and record examples of this feature in their very own Non-Fiction Conventions Notebook. They write and sketch what they've found as part of their study, then report on what they have learned about the feature to the class or a partner. Learn about the purpose of diagrams and labels in non-fiction by doing a bit of research in a non-fiction text with your kiddo... bet you'll make some fun discoveries! Just how much can you learn together about something (and/or about how something works) when it is drawn and labelled accurately! 

Spring Parent, Student & Teacher Conferences
I would like to schedule a Spring conference time to meet with you and your child to discuss social and academic progress in First Grade. These conferences will be Student-Led (with lots of teacher support) and scheduled between 3/22 and 3/23. There will be no school for students on Friday, March 23rd.  Please look for a conference sign up sheet in your child's red folder this week. Let me know your first three choices of meeting times. I will try to find the best time to meet, and will send you a confirmation.

Grade 3 Puppet Residency

Today, we watched a marionette puppet show performed by the No Strings Marionette Company. It was a wonderful  foreshadow of the puppet residency grade three students will begin on Monday. The show, entitled Handsome & Gretel was a spoof on the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale. Students had a chance to sing along with the puppetiers, ask and have their questions answered. We are looking forward to the show our very own UES third graders will perform for us later this month - many students in our class family have siblings participating in the residency this year so it is particularly exciting! 

Animal Research

Animal Research

This month, students will be engaged in an integrated animal research project. We will be studying a variety of Vermont animals and their habitats in the classroom and while outside for Nature Adventure. Students will be immersed in writing nonfiction reports and will be completing a realistic fiction story.
Each student in the first grade has chosen a Vermont animal 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 animal 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 peculiar to their animal: 

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. Please make sure to label your resources to ensure they are returned to you. Projects will be due March 26th. If you have any questions, please email or call me!

Students are already exploring the collection of non-fiction animal books in our classroom library to learn more about their special VT Animal

Owen - Red Fox      Maeve - Bobcat    Avery - Chipmunk    Juliet - Red Squirrel

Maddison - Chick-a-dee    Ava - Porcupine    Noah - White-tailed Deer    

Nora - Coyote    Kate - Snowshoe Hare     Syrus - Yellow-Spotted Salamander

Anja - Moose    Charlie - Barred Owl    Max - River Otter    Jahsiah - Black Bear      Ethan - Monarch Butterfly

Monday, 3/12 is Outdoor Classroom

Our next Nature Adventure/ECO outing in Hubbard Park is this Monday, 3/12. We will be merging Mrs. Wrigley’s and Mrs. Koch’s first grade classes for a ¾ day learning experience. (9 a.m. – 12:40 p.m.) and returning to school in time for our integrated arts special class.

We will be spending most of the day outside, and we anticipate getting wet from damp forest materials and some mud. Please be sure your child is prepared for the outdoors with the following:

Boots

Snow Pants/Rain Pants (we have extras of both at school)

Wool socks

A warm coat (wear a sweatshirt or fleece underneath for layering)

Hat

Mittens

Water Bottle

We will be bringing backpacks with lunches from home (children who usually eat school lunch will receive a bag school lunch). Chaperones are welcome for the entire outing, or even a portion. Please let us know if you are planning to join us for this adventure. We will be in a variety of locations, with a variety of stations.

Ways to help:

Donate firewood

Walk with the class

Help with a group

Be a lunch angel

Bring extra water

Tend the fire

Thanks for all you do to support this outdoor learning experience!

Yoga... now dance?

Energizers that get children up and physically active several times in the school day are great ways to boost brain power, build strong bodies and have fun! There's data to prove it... 

Our class added "the bird" (which reminded us of the Gluskabe The Giant story about the Snow Bird) to our Yoga repretoire just before the break, and today we started a program called Fit Kids in the Classroom. Ask your child about our 5-minute dance workout - hint, s/he can teach you the Latin samba or cha-cha now... One of the best discoveries is learning that we each have our own dance style! 

Mathy Shapes - Learning Geometry

For the next 5-6 weeks students will use polydrons, pattern blocks, geoboards, paper shapes and computer activities to explore a number of 2 and 3-dimensional shapes. The thrurst behind much of the work is to help students develop a comfort and familiarity with common shapes: to be able to recognize and name them, to begin to describe them in terms of their properties (number of sides, number of angles, types of angles, symmetry or lack thereof), to realize that there are many different kinds of triangles and quadrilaterals, and to understand that figures retain their shape and size even when slid, turned, or flipped. 


Ask your child about the discoveries s/he made today about the shapes we are using to track the days of the month for March? Stay tuned for more geometric news coming home soon... 

Two of Three Ways to Make 50 - Double Digit Addition

Pattern Block Reflections - Multiplying Shapes and Constructing Polygons

Class Six Students Love Literacy Learning at Daily 5

While reflecting on student learning over the Winter break, I recalled many students in our class wrote in their self-reports about Daily 5 as one of their very favorite things to do at school. Students continue to build stamina, independence and a voracity for reading, writing and spelling every day! Here's a peek into our Daily 5 learning... 

Work on Writing - students choose their own 

topics for free-writing

Read to Someone - students share reading & listening, sharpening 

comprehension skills along the way

Read to Self - students enjoy choosing a book from their 

book basket and settling down to read

Listen to Reading - students actively engage in 

One More Story online reading program on NetBooks in the classroom

Word Work - Students learn new words and play with them in a 

variety of activities, including literature response, word building 

Publishing Party! 


Photos from our publishing party show how much fun it is to be a writer - notice how many students were able to build the product of their How-To book, each step was included so it was fun and easy! Friends, parents and siblings listened to books and when finished, we carefully added them to our "Published Class Books" bin in our classroom library.