Plant parts all have their own function and work together for the survival and reproduction of the plant. Today, students explored plant parts, and re-created a labelled plant parts diagram they made to show their understanding of our plant parts structure and function science learning. Children dissected a flower - ask your child about the names of the part of the plant, how they work and why?

Fun in Action!

As you are aware, students participate in a variety of fun movement breaks throughout our days of learning in grade one. Here's a fun one, you may have tried yourselves - The Limbo! Enjoy chatting with your child about this activity and the fun community involvement we all shared.

This week is UES Spirit Week! 
Today, students dressed and/or acted like someone who inspires them. This provided our class with a wonderful opportunity to explore the meaning of the word inspire, as well as a variety of well-known and inspiring figures such as scientist Marie Curie, runner Wilma Rudolph, the Wright Brothers and President Washington among others we learned about through literacy this morning. Also, talk with  your child about who inspires them, and why. We did a bit of writing on this topic today... 


Tomorrow, Wednesday is Mismatch Day
Thursday is Crazy Hair Day
Friday is Stripes vs. Polka Dots 
(wear one or the other but not both. We will see which is more popular at the assembly)

Delightful Dandelions

Monday's 4Winds lesson helped students learn many interesting facts about the common dandelion. Such as, did you know the dandelion actually has up to 300 individual flowers that make up it's blossom? 
Most importantly, students learned about the parts and characteristics of a dandelion that help it survive in Vermont. Ask your child about the dandelion leaves, its taste, how its seeds travel and root system. They're a tough plant, as those of us who keep and mow a lawn know! 

Seed Survival, Plant Parts Experiments Update

My, my all that students have been learning about seed parts. and how those parts help a seed survive and grow into a plant really is true! Here's an update on the latest plant science experiments happening in room 6: 



Our celery stalks did their job - the stems brought the colored water to the leaves and we witnessed the leaved turn either, red, blue or green

The sunflower seeds planted in the egg shells have germinated, and are beginning to sprout. Students have noticed new cracks in the bottom of the shells. We're wondering if the roots of the plant will be strong enough to crack through the shell?

The sunflower seeds planted in the soil cups have germinated, and are beginning to shed their seed coats














 The sunflower seeds planted in just water and a paper towel have grown roots and the seeds coats are just beginning to crack. Why do you think they are further behind the germination process than the other seeds?

Suffix

Students are learning more about word meaning, and how the meaning of a word can change when a consonant suffix (-s) is added or vowel consonant suffix is added (-es). Students are also learning the rules of spelling words with suffix, and when to use -s or -es. The suffix rule is: use -es at the end of a word when the word ends in ch, sh, x, s, or z. For example: watch - watches, dish - dishes, mix - mixes. We played a fun guessing game today where children needed to choose which suffix to add at the end of a word... we used reporter's notebooks to write our guesses, which was especially important since what the word looks like helps students remember the suffix rule! 

Planting Time!

Students have enjoyed learning a fun song by The Banana Slug Band, called Plants Have Six Parts (google it and enjoy singing it together at home!) to help them identify and label the parts of plants. Also, a group sorting activity helped students learn which parts of plants people eat, some were tricky like tomatoes - fruit or vegetable and do you eat the seeds?



Today, I introduced the class to a new service learning project. We will be planting a sunflower garden as part of the Harrison Field UES gardens - our garden will grow Mammoth Sunflowers. The best part of the project, students agreed, is the new Kindergarten class will visit the garden several times in the fall, and collect the flower heads for their first science unit on sunflowers. Students are very excited to give back, since they remember what it was like being a kindergartner and how much fun it was to collect and study the sunflower seeds! 


Students also became teachers today - 
running three science centers. 
1. Planting sunflower seeds in soil. 
2. Planting sunflower seeds in goose/chicken eggshells as an experiment to test the strength of plants' roots - will the roots crack the shells open? 
3. Planting sunflower seeds in a clear jar with only a wet paper towel - will they grow and will we be able to see the roots?

Grade One Independent Projects

We all enjoy the opportunity to learn what we are most interested in. This Friday marked the launch of Independent Learning Projects for students in our class. Based on what your child shared s/he was most interested in learning about for the remainder of the school year (yep, remember this discussion from waaaay back in March during our conference?) I have been able to rally up a variety of volunteers, community  members and resources to engage each child in his/her own independent learning project. Student interests range from robotics and legos to art and frogs. Please chat with your child about their area of interest and how they are going about learning more. We will continue to develop outcomes for this learning as students explore their subject area... enjoy! 

Learning about varieties, behaviors and unique dogs

Learning about interesting places in the world - Indonesia and the Kumodo Dragon

Checking in on the Tadpoles and doing Frog research

Art

Lego Robotics Teams

Our next Nature Adventure/ECO outing is coming

right up on MONDAY, May 14th.

We will be travelling along the waterways in our community to learn where our local rivers go for a whole day learning experience. (9:00-12:40) We will be spending most of the day outside Please make sure your child is prepared for the outdoors with the following:

· Sturdy Shoes- no flip flops

· Layers of clothing · A sun hat/sunscreen · Lunch

· Water bottle

We will be bringing backpacks with lunches from home (unless we hear you would like us to order a school lunch- let us know ASAP) Chaperones are welcome for the whole day, 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 through town between the rotary on Spring Street and the Rt. 2 footbridge, with a variety of stops along the way for some mapping and science activities. Lunch will be on the Statehouse lawn.

Ways to help:

Walk with class Lead a small group (bring or send your child in with a pedometer) Be a lunch angel Bring extra water Contact a downtown business owner who has been affected by the river - floods, Irene, etc. - who would be willing to share their experience with our class on this outing

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

Change Over Time

Our Test Tulip Garden, which students planted with tulip bulbs in the Fall, has been a wonderful opportunity for our class to observe, journal and think about how nature changes over time. In particular, our focus has been on seasonal changes, weather changes and changes in nature such as the plant lifecycle. Just two days ago students observed their tulips had not only emerged, but grown leaves, stalks and buds. "The red is showing through my tulip bud just a little, I wonder when it will open and blossom?" Enjoy a visit to our class garden to see the flowers, and talk with your child about the changes s/he has noticed in our small, special patch! 

Learning by Doing - Mr. Sprout helps us learn the parts of a seed

  

Seed science investigations

Students are also learning more about seeds and plants during science over the next several weeks. Today, the class learned the parts of a seed and why they are important to plant survival. We also looked closely at a soaked lima bean to see the parts close up. Did you know a seed has an embryo inside it, and wears a seed coat to protect it? It also stores all the food the embryo needs to germinate a root and sprout in it's cotyledon?

Teacher Appreciation - The special cards, flowers, yummy treats, UES parent's group gift and thank you's really made my day exceptionally wonderful. 
I am passionate about teaching and learning, and look forward to every day I have to work with and enjoy your children's growth & development, smiles & laughter, curiosity, discoveries & knowledge. Thank you for sharing them with me. 
-Emily

Boxes for Katje - Literacy Curriculum Unit of Study
We have wrapped up our study of Vermont animals, which included non-fiction reports and realistic fictions stories through which children learned how to write  complete sentences, introductions and closings, how to write a topic sentence, and how to write a paragraph with a clear focus. Now, it is time to focus on use these skills to practice response to text writing and compare and contrast writing. 
On Monday, our class began a unit of study using a special book called, Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming. It is based on a true story about a friendship that blossoms and two communities that grow between Rosie in Mayfield, Indiana and Katje and Olst, Holland following WWII through the relief efforts of The Children's Aid Society. Of course, the bonus is that tulips play a feature role in this story! 
Students will spend time reading and rereading this text, asking questions to support comprehension, sequencing the story, learning to synthesize and summarize events, use evidence from the text to describe a character, and compare/contrast the character's lives. Already, we have been introduced to new vocabulary, such as savour, generous, luxury, eager. Please enjoy conversations with your child about their learning through this rich text. Enjoy, it is a wonderful story for children about community, caring and survival. 

Bully Prevention

As part of our school's Responsive Classroom curriculum and the Vermont Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (VTPBiS) students have been learning strategies - stop visual signal, walk away, talk to an adult - to prevent bullying behaviors. Students have been role-playing a variety of plausible social scenarios that can take place on the playground, in the classroom, hallways, at specials, during lunch and recess, even off school grounds. Ask your child to share with you his/her learning, and talk about what they can do when someone may be making hurtful choices to them, or a friend. Also, you may consider discussing what your child would do if a peer asked them to stop a hurtful behavior? 


We have been enjoying learning how characters in a variety of stories use stop, walk away and talk to an adult as well, including those below among others. 

Thank you families for joining us at Wednesday evening's school board meeting here at UES to share our special Vermont animal CARES song: My Animal is my Guide. 

I am so proud of our class community!

A note from Mr. Bradley - Great job at the school board meeting on May 2. Your incorporation of  the  RC structure of CARES, music, science, literacy - fiction, reports and authorship - and so much more that I am probably overlooking. Please share with your students how proud I am of their hard work and courage to share their song in public and on TV! They are fantastic representatives of what excellence looks and sounds like at UES.

My Little Farm - Integrated Math Unit of Study

This week marks the launch of a new study focus in our Bridges Grade One math program. My Little Farm is the second of two integrated themes this year in which students will have the opportunity to make a paper model of a small family farm, use farm bucks to purchase cut out farm buildings, animals, and machinery along with land squares for pastures and building areas. The mathematics they are using to carry out this project involves place value and money, area and perimeter, mapping and computation. Students will also work with multiples using a number chart and story problems toward the end of the unit. Because this is an integrated unit involving literacy and social studies, students are reading and writing about farm operations and already, all have gotten so involved in the fantasy of setting up and running a farming operation. More exciting math learning to come! In the meantime, below are a few photos of our models beginning to take shape. 

 For a fun conversation with your child, ask him/her the cost of their farmhouse, barn, land, road, etc. and discuss the most efficient way they can use their farm bucks to pay. What if they  had farm bucks in larger bills, beyond 1s, 5s, 10s... what combinations could they use then?

Mapmaking and Treasure Hunting 
Our Nature Adventure outing on Monday was all about bringing geography, literacy and the study of our community to life in Hubbard Park. Students became map makers and treasure hunters for the day, exploring sites and mapping their way to a hidden treasure. Small groups then swapped maps and became treasure hunters, reading one another's maps to traverse varied landscapes in the park within the circumference of the soccer field and shelter to find hidden treasure. A fun word unscramble revealed the real treasure: We Like to Eat Warm Apples and Marshmallows! 

 Exploring the mouth of the river we found creatures, including water bugs and salamanders

Finding a treasure site and determining mapping strategies

Cooperating to map our way to the site, making sure the map was easy to read and accurate

Maps led us to many places in our designated areas, including shelters we built in the Fall

Yum - a sweet and warm reward at the end our adventure

  

Thanksgiving Circle - We were all thankful for the sunny warm day, mapping know-how