Have the Merriest Christmas of all!

We've had a lovely week! We were busy like Santa's elves!  I've never used so much glitter in one week!  This group of children LOVE glitter!  And they used it to make such beautiful cards and gifts!  I loved the ornaments and hope you do, too!  They each worked really hard to make them beautiful for you!

One of their favorite things to do this week were making the beautiful gingerbread houses!  You saw them when they came home (I hope) but the pictures tell the real story!  They were so intent on their designs that our classroom was calm for an entire hour!  Check out the pictures!




On Friday we had a classroom full of pajamas for our trip on the Polar Express!  In the morning, we opened presents.  I purchased some new art materials that I knew the kiddos would love...new markers and twist up crayons.  I also bought some new Matchbox cars for the classroom collection!  In the afternoon, our class joined Mrs. Branch's class and Mrs. Twarog's class for the movie.  We passed out hot cocoa part way through the movie...at the end we headed back to our classroom to pack up!  It was an amazing day!  Such a sweet group of children...they were happy and so excited for Christmas! Here are some more pictures!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Next week is our first long vacation and I'm really going to miss your children! They're such a fun bunch! Our week began Tuesday with a morning learning about the Indian holiday Divali. Nisha and her mom, Tia, shared the traditions of the Indian holiday by wearing Saris and bringing one for me to wear! They learned about the holiday, which includes the lighting and burning of oil lamps, as well as learning some simple phrases in Bengali. They learn to greet each other by saying, "Namaste." Nisha gave each of us a bindi to wear on each of our foreheads. Tia brought some traditional treats to eat...they wear sort of like fudge...very sweet! YUM! Thank you, Tia and Nisha!



 We've had a lot of fun learning about Thanksgiving together. Today we made butter and ate it on crackers with a little taste of beef jerky...the butter was yummy! The beef jerky was a little too spicy for first grade palates!



Finally, the math homework tonight is a game that was played in class. It's called 50 or Bust and the following movie explains how to play the game with help from Danny and Gracie! Enjoy!

Bugs In the House Subtraction

I'm a little late getting this video out and I'm sure Greta and Cole have forgotten they helped out, but will be thrilled to see their "movie" online! 
The last homework, Bugs In the House Subtraction, was another memory game.  In this movie you'll see Greta and Cole demonstrate how the game is played!
Enjoy!

A Mouse In the House...

What a funny week! You probably heard about our dead mouse! Yes, it was true! Ugh! There was a dead mouse in our lunch bin! You can imagine my delight when I heard a child scream, "There's a rat!" Thankfully, no rat! And yes, we all check the bin each morning as the lunchboxes are loaded!

Another Fundations assessment this morning...today's assessment was of the -an and -am chunks. So words may have included: fan, can, man, ham, Pam, Sam and so on. The trick words were: or, have and from...very tricky indeed!

I sent an email about the latest PiE fundraising opportunity!  By ordering holiday cards through www.cardraising.com you can help earn  money for HCS and you get holiday cards!  AND by registering you have the chance to win a $2,000 cash prize!  You can register without ordering!

We began learning about the Pilgrims and their voyage today.  Quite and exciting story!  The crossing of the Atlantic was quite dangerous at times and quite smelly, too!  Wouldn't a field trip to Plymouth Plantation be fun?  You might consider making it a summer field trip...it's a great experience!

Bouncy House

All thing2:s considered, this was a fantastic week! We DIDN'T have a hurricane and we DID have Halloween! Wednesday was a really fun day and it made Thursday feel a little long! The kids were really great all day and it wasn't until around 2:00 that they started to be cranky with each other so we watched an episode of Arthur. They were SO quiet and several children nearly fell asleep! Time for some rest was needed! Friday was a whole new day and we began with a Fundations assessment. Unit 4 taught about "bonus letters" and the chunk -all. Words for this unit included tall, call, ball, miss, toss, puff, bell, will, buzz and fuzz. Bonus letters are used at the end of words ending with letters f, l, s and z. However, we studies several "outlaw" words that do NOT have bonus letters: bus, quiz, gas, and pal. I've been sharing the assessment folder for Fundations at conferences. You'll be able to see growth over time and at the end of the year, you can have the folder. Everyone did really well on this assessment!

Friday was a fairly ordinary day...except for the bouncy house!!! The middle school students had an after school event planned which included a bouncy house. It was set up during the middle of the day and they offered the k-2 classes the opportunity to try it out! We went down for about half an hour and it was so much fun! The pictures show several of our students thoroughly enjoying the bouncy house! Because it was so muddy around the bouncy house, you may have seen some very muddy shoes come home! Sorry about that! I forgot to bring a camera out, so Mrs. Lasher took some pics before she went inside with her class! Enjoy...we sure did!

Fun-O-Ween!

Today was a super day! I'm SO happy that our hurricane was so tame and we had power and school today! This afternoon everyone dressed up and we had our very entertaining Fun-O-Ween! We rotated through 9 stations. Bean bag toss, Ghosts In the Graveyard, Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin, freeze dance, limbo, coloring, bowling and musical chairs! Well...I thought there were 9, but I guess it was only 8! Maybe it felt like 9! We had a great time and the sixth graders who traveled with us were so helpful! Happy Halloween!

Writing Share October

Here are some pictures from the sharing practice in our classroom. We practiced before visiting our kindergarten buddies! Look carefully at their faces...they are engaged and excited about sharing their work! They are actually listening to each other and asking questions and giving comments.

 

These are our kindergarten buddies listening to first grade authors! I'm not sure they are as excited but they get cookies at the end...maybe that's motivation enough! Most did seem to enjoy hearing the "big kids" read their books!

Writing Sharing!

Last week every child in our class chose a "best piece" of writing to share. We spent some time practicing how to share. The first step was to have a circle share where each student chose one line from his/her story to tempt the listeners into wanting to hear more. It was a lot of fun! I suggested that they could "pass" their turn by looking at the next friend in the circle. In the first video clip you'll hear me whisper, "Pass your turn" after almost every child! They were each so pleased to have successfully read a sentence and were abuzz with excitement! They seemed to forget someone else was waiting to go next! Later we went to Mrs. Johnson's kindergarten room to share with kindergarten buddies. Our class sat in an inner circle while Mrs. Johnson's class sat around our class. They were so quiet while reading that you can barely hear some of them on camera! I also didn't do a very good job recording...I was trying not to step on those cute little kindergarteners! Afterward, Mrs. Johnson chose buddy partners and each first grader read their entire story to a kindergartener. Then we shared Tang orange drink and Nilla wafers to celebrate!  I have pictures of most, if not all, partnerships reading and listening that I'll share in a later post! I think the first video is the most fun because you get a sense of how proud they are while sharing! The second video was taken with an "audience" of other teachers and students so they are quiet and shy...still proud, just less "showy" about it!

Firefighters Visit

Today, two of our local volunteer firefighters visited the kindergarten, first and second grade classes.  As one big group we reviewed fire safety tips and one of the firefighters put on all his gear.  He crawled on the floor and reminded the kids that firefighters are our friends in the event of a fire!  While the equipment can be scary to see if you don't know what to expect, children should not "hide" from firefighters.  Our firefighters reminded the children that in the event of a fire at home the most important thing to do is...get out!  Make a plan with your family to meet outside!

Afterward, each class went outside to visit the fire truck.  Our class had read several books about fire trucks and they were excited to see the gold leaf lettering on the truck doors, the hoses and the tools!  You'll see the huge saw that is used to cut holes through wood or metal!  They showed us all the dials and knobs used to regulate the water...and the places where they keep air packs!  It was very interesting!  I think the kids were most excited when they loaded up on the truck and had their picture taken!  Then they each got their own fire hat to take home!  Back in the classroom I took their picture twice...first as silly first graders and then with their "serious" firefighter faces!

Latest Homework-Bugs In the Garden!

Here's Brady and Kate to help explain Friday night's homework!  Games like Bugs In the Garden are meant to be played and then kept at home!  Play as often as you like!


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Capture the Coin! New homework!

Happy Friday! Here is a short video with directions on how to play Capture the Coin...tonight's new math homework! Nisha is helping me demonstrate how to play the game! And there's a clip of Oliver and I playing mid-way through the game.

All students need practice with coins.I am trying very hard not to jump in when they are unsure about coins. I am trying in each clip to wait...to give them each time to figure it out on their own. You can hear several times where Nisha says the correct answers then changes her mind to an incorrect answer and I wait while she once again changes her mind to the correct answer. Try really hard to wait and see what your child says and does with some wait time! Listen, too, as I ask a lot of questions! "What coin is this?" "What is it worth?" I say this over and over so they have many opportunities to name each coin and say its value.




Next is a short clip with Oliver and I playing the same game. Pay special attention to his counting strategies for coins!

Sharing, Wrist Bands and Open House!

Happy Monday! This week has a lot happening...today the fundraising orders were due! If you have an order at home, please send it along tomorrow! As part of the fundraising program, there were some "power of one" wrist bands given to children who turned in coupons for certain numbers of items sold OR (and here is where I come in)for doing good deeds! I filled out a coupon for each child because of all the wonderful things they do! Each child received a wrist band in their color of choice! Take a look!

Power of One

Today during snack our sharing included a bulls eye from Cole's weekend and Greta's favorite book collection!

From October Sharing

From October Sharing

This week is the start of a new month and October happens to be Fire Safety month! We have a visit from a local fire fighter planned! He'll bring a fire truck and show the various fire equipment on a truck. He will put on all his fire gear and explain the use of each piece of special equipment. Hopefully, each child will have a chance to sit inside the fire truck! Yippee! I've begun reading fire safety books and we'll talk about some plans each family might consider putting in place. Today our discussion was about fire extinguishers. If your family has a fire extinguisher, please show your child where it is kept and talk about how and when it might be used. If you don't have a fire extinguisher, you might consider purchasing one! We talked about how a fire extinguisher can keep a small fire from becoming a BIG fire! We've begun planning a few surprises for you for our annual Open House on October 3rd! The dinner begins at 5:00. Classrooms open at 5:45 and stay open until 7:00. Hope to see you all there!

First Math Homework!

Reading groups are well underway and children are bringing home books each night.  On Thursday one group read a book called Making Salsa.  Of course...we made salsa!  We put in some tomato, green pepper, jalapeno (very little!), cilantro and onion.  With a dash of lemon juice, salt and pepper, we were done!  Everyone tried just a bite, but could have plain chips if the salsa was not to their liking!  To their own amazement, they loved the salsa!  Check out the pics of the very busy cooks at work!


This week  your child is bringing home the very first math homework.  This task is one which your child should be very familiar with.  We've played the game together in class and we spent some time practicing how to teach you to play at home.  The underlying math concepts are graphing and probability along with some coin recognition...you could also spend time talking about the value of each coin and the cumulative value as you play.  I'm not a movie maker, but with the help of Hannah and Peter, we've created a little video to show you how we play this game in the classroom.  (It's very strange to hear your own voice on tape...do I really sound like that?)




Enjoy your weekend and the math game!!!

Fantastic Fig Friday!

I bet you're asking, "What's 'Fantastic Fig Friday'? Well, this week one of the spelling words was 'fig.' It turns out no one knew what a fig was, although a few had eaten Fig Newtons! I went to look for figs! We decided we'd call Friday "Fantastic Fig Friday!" I never did find any fresh figs, but I found dried figs and Fig Newton cookies. At snack today everyone tried a bit of dried fig (not a big hit!) and the cookies (a much bigger hit). I think the texture was a bit of a turn off...lots of crunchy seeds!

Then, when we were in the middle of spelling, the fire alarm went off!  OK, I knew it was going to happen today, but I didn't want anyone spending time worrying.  We had had a long discussion right after Number Corner about what a nice day it was and how it would be a good day for a fire drill!  I explained to them that the alarm is very loud for a reason...to make sure EVERYONE hears it!  We discussed adrenaline and how it makes you feel very excited inside and helps you get out of situations that can become dangerous...and how that's very important!  So, when the alarm went off, every single one of us jumped from the noise and then got in line and walked out!  Not a tear was shed and no one was even nervous!  Off we went without a hitch!

Here's a silly picture of Oliver in one of the cubbies...he wasn't sure about coming out of the cubby and getting started with his day, but didn't mind having his picture taken!

During a discussion about "sharing", Ethan and Gracie modeled for our class what sharing sounds like between friends!  Way to go, Ethan and Gracie!

It seems I've shared our week in reverse...on Monday, Mr. O'Hara came to read to us!  He shared three short books that his four-year-old daughter really enjoys!  The class did, too!!!

Kids Love Writing!

I wish I could show you all the wonderful moments that happen during writing...when I share the schedule in the morning, children exclaim, "I love writing!" If we've missed writing for some reason, I hear a chorus of groans! They are wonderful little writers, too!

 Our writing unit is currently focusing on routines and writing focused on personal experiences we call "small moments." Each child writes about something that has happened to him or to her. Now, we have some budding fiction and non-fiction writers who just can't help writing about things they "know a lot about." I'm not in the business of squashing anyone's hopes and dreams and right now I'm focusing on developing a love for the written word! So far, so good!

 Every 4-6 weeks, their writing will come home for you to see! We'll also look at their work at conferences. I've kept some samples and will continue to do so as the year progresses!

Here are some comments from the end of writing when I asked to collect the folders to read at night..."I've got a really long story-I hope you have time to read it!" and "Mine is kind of sad, but don't worry, the ending is happy!" and "Be careful! Mine is scary!" (I promised not to read his story before bed!

Thai Teacher Teaches Games!

This week our class was lucky enough to meet twice with "Kru Nina", the visiting teacher from Thailand. On Monday, she met with our class along with Mrs. Branch's and Mrs. McGuire's first grades. On Monday, we met in the flex space next to the cafeteria to learn a game called "Rabbit On One Leg." In a small space several children were chosen to be the rabbits. The rabbits had to jump on ONE leg (no small feat) to try and catch the runners running about the space! What a way to end the day...they were pooped when done jumping!!!

On Wednesday, we met outside. The first game she taught was called...well, I don't remember what it was called, but it was a running/chase game. It was actually quite a bit of fun and required some listening on the part of the players! The second game was called the "Monkey Game" but was really just Monkey in the Middle from our own childhoods! Oddly enough, most of them had never played this game! The "twist" is that we had TWO balls going...luckily they were soft, as several kids were hit in the head when they weren't watching the balls!

 Thanks, Kru Nina! We'll see her again next week for some storytelling!

Snack Time Sharing

Here's a little look into sharing in our class...Henry shared about attending golf camp! He was kind enough to demonstrate a golf swing for those of us who know very little about golf! And Brady shared some of his favorite snakes during his share time...he knows his teacher is somewhat afraid of snakes and still chose to share them! I can feel the love!

A new year begins...

Hello to a new crop of viewers! I will try to update this blog as often as I can! I will share pictures of your kiddos to give you a view into our classroom during our day! This first slideshow includes pictures from our "extra recess" time and from writing and math. The last two slides show the insect that we've been watching for three days. The hornet keeps coming back to our thermometer-on the OUTside of the window! I took a photo of three books I read this week that were particularly interesting to the class. I tried to get at least one picture of each child, however, some of your children are somewhat camera shy! I will work at it a little harder next week! Enjoy!

End of year approaching fast!

So much is happening in the next few weeks! We have been practicing our play, E-I-E-I-Oops! The kids are very excited! The songs are short and easy to learn, so it's going very well! I think we've made our final adjustments to the parts and so your child will bring home a slip of paper next week with his/her assigned part and costume suggestions. No worries, though! The costumes are easy: all animals will wear jeans and a colored shirt. Chicks will wear yellow shirts, pigs will wear pink shirts and sheep will wear white shirts. We're making headbands here at school for each animal. The farmer parts should wear denim overalls, jeans, or skirts and plaid shirts. Maybe a straw hat? They'll look great! We plan to have dress rehearsal during the day with an evening performance for families on June 7th at 6:00 in the gym! If your child will NOT be able to attend the evening performance, please let me know! We have set dates for end of the year events! Move Up Day (where students visit their assigned class for the following year) is scheduled for June 8th. June 11th we'll have our annual field day! That morning students will participate in a variety of events like balloon toss, tug-o-war, and the water slide. For lunch we'll have our school picnic with a concert on the green to follow. June 13th is the last day of school! Our last math unit is well under way and students are learning about Farms! The math topics are area and perimeter, but in an informal way. While children buy fencing for their animals, they are actually calculating the perimeter of their field. We don't use the words perimeter and area, but when the children are formally taught about area and perimeter, they will have a deeper understanding! And they're also learning to count money! The farmhouse they bought this week cost $30 which was easy to calculate using ten dollar bills. However, the silo cost $27 and the goats cost $8 each. Each time they buy something for their farm, they have to "pay" using the Farm Bucks they cut out on the first day. They even pay for land! They really want to buy everything TODAY, but we'll finish the year with this unit! We are assessing students for the very last time this year! We'll have a reading level by the end of the month and each child will take the end of year math assessment before the end of May. I also have to give them an end-of-year spelling assessment as well. This information helps us with placement and also with forming instructional groupings for the beginning of the following year. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Busy, busy, busy...

Such a busy time of year right now and until the end of first grade! Right now we're meeting to talk about report cards and accomplishments! Such wonderful little children you have shared with me! They are reading anything they can get their hands on! They love to hear stories, too! Today we read some books about sheep in preparation for our field trip to Shelburne Farms on Wednesday! Our writing unit is "fictional narrative" which is very appealing to youngsters with vivid imaginations! Our geometry math unit is short and coming to an end...the big farm unit will begin not long after vacation. The spring is full of science...properties, states of matter, plants...lots to do and learn!

The farm unit also brings with it the first grade production of "E-I-E-I-Oops", a play about some farm animals. I've introduced the play to the class and they've heard a CD of the entire production to give them a sense of what to expect. There are some talking parts and some singing/dancing parts. All four first grade classes are participating so we've split the parts amongst four classes. We have tentatively assigned parts and will send home the speaking parts to be learned over vacation. (No part is more than a few lines!) NO COSTUMES ARE NEEDED YET! Some confusion on Friday led a few students to ask, "Do I need my costume for Monday?" NO! When it gets closer to the actual event, we will ask for your help finding costume parts (for example, farmers will need denim overalls and even if your child isn't a farmer, you may have overalls to lend) and making props. We're hoping to perform for you the first week in June...still confirming with Mrs. Cianciola and Mrs. Fay (music teachers).

Don't forget our field trip Wednesday...kids need a lunch and outdoor gear appropriate to the weather-warm or cold or rainy! Have a wonderful week!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Rumor has it a leprechaun visited our classroom? It's true! A little, green fellow came by...well, not so little! In case you don't recognize him...that's Mr. O'Hara!

Reading Celebration and Assembly

Today was the end of our school wide reading celebration. A number of activities took place during this very special week. All students were invited to make a bookmark and enter the bookmark contest. Every child in our class made a bookmark and they were BEAUTIFUL! When we went to the afternoon assembly, Ms. Stanley (school librarian) announced the winners...our very own Shaunna won for all first graders! Yeah, Shaunna! All week children were encouraged to fill out a reading graph and enter into a drawing to win prizes! Our class read for nearly 2,000 minutes! Wow! While I can't remember the name of the duo who performed at today's assembly, they were very funny using physical comedy to make us laugh! At the end they invited our very own Mr. Lasher to play the part of their evil enemy...you may not recognize him in the blaze orange "tuque" and the bushy, black moustache!

Poetry and Reading Celebrations!

We've had a surprisingly busy week! Our math penguin unit is coming to a close and this week everyone drew, painted and cut out a life-size penguin! Many are hanging in the hall outside our classroom and several are hanging in our classroom. Ask your child to tell you about his/her penguin!

Today we had a school-wide assembly to kick off our "I Love to Read" reading celebration. February is "I Love to Read" month and HCS has an annual celebration with a variety of activities. Today I sent home a reading log to be filled in each day until the 24th when all forms are due back at school. During an afternoon assembly, all entries will be in a huge box and a winner will be chosen and given a prize! Each day next week, a book trivia question will be asked during morning announcements and students may enter their answer and a winner will be chosen from all correct answers. As well, each child will have the opportunity to design a bookmark. The winning bookmark at each grade level will be copied and distributed in the library! It's a very exciting week to celebrate books and reading!

One special highlight from our week was a Thursday visit from a group of public speaking students at CVU. Their first assignment was to learn a poem and then perform it for our class! The poems were silly, children's poems and our class LOVED them! They loved them so much, that after a little encouragement from me, several students memorized a poem to perform for our class! I will videotape them and then post them for you to see! The first poet performance is Griffin and his video link is below! Very exciting!



Have a great weekend!

Happy Valentines Day!

What a loving, happy Valentines we had in our classroom! First thing in the morning as children arrived they filled each other's collection envelopes with love...and valentines and candy! They had to wait until the end of the day to open the treats and declarations of friendship and love! Knowing there would likely be candy to eat, I made each child one sugar cookie! You'd be happy to hear that the words heard most frequently that afternoon were "Thank you" as children opened valentines!

100th Day of School!

Wow! What a great day we had on the 100th day of school! Our day began when we put 100 children and a few adults in the conference with the principal...who was having a "public safety" meeting! Hee! Not sure how "safe" it was, but it sure was fun! Later, we shared our 100th day projects and then we took a walk around the wing checking out projects by kindergarten, first and second graders! Fun, fun, fun! 100 days of fun!

Happy Valentines Day (Almost!)

I'm sending an email with the class list so your child can fill out Valentines for the class! We will not have a big party. I'll make cookies and we'll open Valentines and just...feel the love!

Weighing Penguins

During this penguin unit, children have had the opportunity to experiment with weight. Several of the penguins weight less than 30 pounds. We have two bathroom scales and many, many cans and boxes of food with letters on them...in small groups, students put cans and boxes of food on the scale until it equals the penguins weight. They were very serious about the weighing and so curious that they spent their before school free time experimenting with the scales.

Writing Sharing

As we finished a writing unit called "Small Moments", each child chose a piece of writing to fancy up and share! Our kindergarten buddies from Mrs. Johnson's class joined us in celebrating several weeks of learning and work! Before their arrival, first graders spent a few minutes practicing on each other. They brainstormed ways to help make this event fun for their kindergarten buddies! Then...they arrived! Mrs. Johnson chose partners and they began! Each first grader read to their kindergarten buddy and then we had a ginger ale toast. Check out the pictures below!

Report Cards!

It's that time of year again...report card time! I'm happy to report on your child's successes and hope you're eager to find out how your child operates at school! The first and second grade classes are sending home report cards on Monday so you should be looking in your child's homework bag for this quarter's report. With all of the wonderful things your child can now do, I hope that reading is still a priority each night. It's easy to skip, but the best way to skills fresh. Read, read, read!

I have to say, it was a very strange thing to be using an UMBRELLA today as I made my way into school on January 27th! The class is hoping for snow and frankly, so am I!

Our penguin unit is well under way and the class is very excited to learn about each penguin. So far they've learned about the king penguin and the rockhopper. Ask you child to tell you about each penguin.

Today the class took the unit 6 Fundations assessment. Even though the class did pretty well overall, there were several skills which need more work and we'll be reviewing unit 6 again this week. At this point in the year, children should be using capitals at the beginning of most sentences and punctuation at the end of sentences. Even during this very controlled situation, many kids are forgetting to use capitals and punctuation. So we'll...practice, practice, practice!

On the subject of spelling...the trick words are getting trickier and trickier! And each week there are three new words to learn! Eek! So I found a website which I think your children might like to use at home and may help with spelling, especially the trick words. The site is called "Spelling City". I'm able to make spelling lists for each unit and by need. Click here to go to Spelling City. Once on their site, you'll see blue tabs...the first says "Home" and the second says "Find a list". Click on "Find a list." A red label says "Find a list" and below that it says "advanced search." Enter the name "Miss Lass" and it is set to look for teacher's name. Once you find me, click on my name. Now you can scroll down and should see the four lists I've made so far. Where is says "Unit 6 List 1" you will find phonetically regular words for this unit. List 2 simply has more words to practice. None of these are "the" spelling words for the week. Kids learn a skill, not a list of words. The list called "Trick Words Cumulative" includes ALL trick words taught this year. The list titled "Trick Words Unit 6" only has the nine words taught this unit. If you only allow a certain amount of time online for your child, I'd try the trick word lists first. They're the hardest to learn! We only have access to the free activities but the kids don't seem to mind! Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

January Cold! Brrr!

Wow! What a chilling week! Thank you for making sure your children had all the cold weather gear they needed for this frosty week! Wednesday they came in from recess early...not because of the cold, but because the playground was blanketed by a sheet of ice! (Much like my driveway!) Luckily, that didn't last long!

The marking period is coming to a close and so we're hurrying to finish up our assessments to report progress. I'm happy with the reading progress and the kids love books! What more can you ask for!

I was out Thursday to attend a math class here at HCS. It's the third seminar held this year where all first and second grade teachers along with one of our kindergarten teachers, a special educator, one tutor, our math coordinator and Mr. Goudreau meet with math specialist Clare Earley to learn about best practices in math. We spent a week together this summer and now we meet every few months to reflect and observe a lesson. It's very informative and I come back to math the next day with new ideas! I miss being with the class, but I stopped in to see them and check on them!

Speaking of math...this week we began the penguin math unit! They've made the first game, Journey to Antarctica, and played it several times. They are thrilled to think the games will come home at the end of the unit. They were so excited that they asked to use their choice time in the morning to color the game folder! Today's activity was a measurement task. Students were given a cup and a thermometer and access to cold water, hot water and ice. The task was to put water in the cup that was 60 degrees. The sheer determination on their faces shows how seriously they took the challenge! Perseverance was the word of the day!



Have a great weekend!

A New Year Begins...

Hi Folks,

I'm looking out at the dreary day and thinking how lucky I am to spend my days with such sunshine-y little friends! It's bright in our classroom! We've had a wonderful week! I love this time of year! They can do so much more than they could even last week!

It's been a very busy week...I've begun the January assessments of reading and math. I've been meeting with each child one at a time to read and talk about books. It's so exciting to see them unraveling the mystery of reading! They are so proud to do what everyone else can do! Such big kids already!

Our current Fundations unit is about suffix -s. They are learning how to add -s to words to mean more than one. When I dictate words with suffix -s, they say the base word and then say the entire word with suffix -s. For example, if the word is "pins", they say "pin-pins". This way they learn to think about spelling the base word first. It really, really matters when spelling words like "gifts". You don't hear the "t" sound and often kids spell "gifs". Obviously, that's a problem! By thinking about the base word first, kids avoid this common confusion!

We are just finishing up unit 3 in math and will be starting unit 4 on Tuesday. This is our big penguins unit! The focus of the unit is measurement. They will be studying penguins as a medium for measuring length, weight and temperature. There are a series of games that the kids learn to play and make in class. At the end of the unit, the games come home to keep! Very exciting! They will each draw and paint a life size penguin!

Our current writing unit (small moments with mini-lessons on good beginnings and partnerships) is drawing to a close. We will have an in-class celebration with kindergarten buddies and then beginning a study of non-fiction writing.

Remember...no school on Monday! Have a great long weekend!