Russian Stars

Today we read Uncle Vova's Tree written by Patricia Polacco.  This is the story of a young girl and her family who visits her Uncle Vladimir and Aunt Svetlana every year to celebrate Christmas in the Russian tradition.  One of their favorite family customs is to decorate the evergreen in the front yard with popcorn and cranberries strings and paper stars.  Then we made our very own paper stars!  Check out the beautiful stars that will soon be coming home for you to display!

St. Nicholas Day!

December 6th is St. Nicholas Day in many European countries. The tradition seems to have begun in the Netherlands and Belgium where boys and girls put shoes out on the windowsill and hope to find goodies and gifts there in the morning. The modern day Santa Claus is derived from this early "Sinterklaas". Making wooden shoes seemed like a daunting task for first graders, so instead they made paper shoes which they set out for Sinterklaas in the hopes that he'd bring these American children a special treat. I left him a special message assuring him that these lovely American children would not ask for treats again next year, but they'd appreciate a little something this one time! When they arrived the morning of the 6th they were somewhat surprised to find clementines and a few candy treats!

Flynn Theater Companion Workshop

We had the pleasure of working with a Flynn Theater residence teacher this week! The plan was to do this work prior to our field trip to see The Teacher of the Black Lagoon, but the Flynn resident teacher was sick. Better late then never and it was a really fun experience! We all participated in the hour-long workshop where creativity was the word of the day. As you'll see in the pictures, the children were asked to express themselves through movement! I love their facial expressions!

Four Winds Science

This week we had our very first experience with Four Winds! This program is brought to our class by parent volunteers and this year we're lucky to have two moms willing to visit each month! Thanks to Heather and Tammy for bringing the first workshop about erosion!

They began with a puppet show designed to teach the class about "agents of erosion"-air, water and gravity. Then we split the class into three groups for the three experiments. Heather had them pump air into a tray filled with beans, seeds and flour to see how even little puffs of air can move the items just like wind moves sand. Tammy had a tray with a little pile of flour and children took turns dropping straws filled with water over the flour to see how water can move and shape the land. My experiment had children shake a plastic jar with rocks and water as hard as they could! The shaking mimicked both gravity and water and their effects on rock. You'll see children looking into the bottom of the jar to see the tiny bits of rock they "broke" off when shaking! Thanks to Heather and Tammy and we look forward to future workshops!

Hanukkah Headbands and Gelt

December is a time for many holidays and celebrations! We will learn about many of these. The first study is of the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah. I read a storybook that explained how the Jews in Syria were told by their King that they must pray to his gods and how a band of farmers fought against the King's army and won! But when they were making their temple holy again, they found only enough oil to burn for one day. The miracle of Hanukkah is that the oil burned for 8 days! That's why Hanukkah lasts for 8 days. After learning about how "bossy" the King of Syria was, they decided it was a lot like the King of England and that Kings are "bossy."

They each made a Hanukkah headband with a menorah on it. I taught them the dreidel game and they each got one piece of gelt...well, it was a chocolate coin, not real gold! Although, some were really hoping for gold!

The First Thanksgiving!

We began the unit by learning a bit about life in England. This meant a look at the globe and out position on the planet in relation to England. It can be very difficult for young children to have a real sense of the magnitude of our planet, but many understand that you can't see across the ocean like you can Lake Champlain and that's a beginning!

After studying the Pilgrims and their long voyage and their reasons for making it, the class had the opportunity to try some food that was similar to what the Pilgrims ate on board. Saltines and beef jerky are not quite the same as the "hard tack" and dried meat that the Pilgrims ate day in and day out, but it gave them an idea of the types of food the Pilgrims ate. They quickly learned how very difficult life is when you don't have any stores for ANYthing you might otherwise buy here now. We read many books and visited the Plimoth Plantation website to take some virtual tours. It was almost like taking a field trip! Each child made a paper Pilgrim house and a Wampanoag (the Native Americans of the area) home called a Wetu. Then we recreated the Pilgrim village and neighboring Native American village. You'll see in the slide show, some very proud children...they wanted to keep the villages intact, but instead they each made a smaller replica to bring home! I hope you asked all about the project!

Saying Goodbye to Miss Knox

Today we said goodbye to Miss Knox, our student intern from UVM. Although she was only with us two days each week, we grew fond of her and will miss her! She was here for our study of Dr. Seuss so we gave her a copy of Yertle the Turtle! She read to us one last time! Good luck, Miss Knox!

Fantastic Friday!

The weather was so beautiful on Friday that we celebrated with "Fantastic Friday" extra recess! It was warm enough that jackets were not needed! As you'll see in the pictures, the kids had fun running around, playing soccer, practicing cartwheels and playing on the playground. All in the warm sunshine! What a great way to end a busy week!


Thinking about this warm weather it reminds me that it won't last! We'll be getting snow soon and for recess children need to be prepared for snow with boots and snow pants as well as jackets, hats and mittens. They leave their boots out in the hall so please try to remember to include shoes for the day. If you'd like to have your child leave a pair of shoes at school, that might be a good way to make sure your child has inside shoes every day!

Our current math unit has math "games" that reinforce the memorization of math facts. One of the games is similar to the one you played this weekend for homework. The following pictures show some children playing a few of the games they've learned in this unit!


On Wednesday there will be another Fundations unit test. This time the unit will assess words with the welded sounds -all, -an, and -am. Just like I shared at our parent/teacher conferences, the assessment also includes sentence dictations. I think they're nearly ready and should do well on this assessment, too!

Spririt Week and Fun-O-Ween!

Whew! I have to admit that our week seemed much longer than usual! Although I really tried to keep things as "normal" as possible, spirit week added some excitement to our week! Monday was shades day and this was the coolest group of kids ever!

Hat day was a huge success and lots of fun hats made their way to school!

Halloween finally arrived and our classroom was invaded by a chimney sweep, a princess or two, a skeleton, a goddess, a gymnast and even Santa! Here they are before Fun-O-Ween begins!

Despite the excitement that Halloween normally brings, they were incredibly well-behaved and we had a lot of fun at Fun-O-Ween! The following slide show is from Fun-O-Ween and shows a number of the activities. You'll see kids tossing bean bags, playing Ghost in the Graveyard, pinning a nose on the Jack-o-lantern, trying to limbo under the stick, coloring, bowling and playing musical chairs! Through it all...lots of smiles!



All day long, we were on the lookout for Waldo, from the book Where's Waldo.

We even saw a girl with a "bad case of stripes"!!!

All in all, it was a busy, but fun week!

Police Chief Koss Visits!

Today we had a visit from our police chief, Frank Koss. He told us about all of the tools he uses as a police officer...handcuffs, pepper spray, a walkie-talkie and a computer! He talked about how his job is to keep people safe and he told us about ways he can do that. He also shared about the new police station which will hopefully be done in February. The children asked him about how much training a police officer needs and what is his favorite thing to do as a police officer! We had a short discussion about his gun...he's never had to fire it which made his gun much less appealing! Many were hoping for an exciting story about shooting his gun, but he explained that the only police who shoot guns a lot are those you see on TV...fake police! You may not know this, but Chief Koss was a California Highway Patrolman for many years before coming to Vermont! Thanks to Chief Koss for visiting first grade today!

Local Firefighters Visit!

This was a very exciting week! On Tuesday, two Hinesburg Firefighters came to visit AND they brought a fire truck! Our visit began in the cafeteria where Firefighter Jim demonstrated the fire equipment worn by firefighters. He was wearing the protective pants and boots, but added the protective hood, jacket and helmet. Then Jim put on the air pack and talked through the mouthpiece. A few children were scared by his gear, but he kept emphasizing how important it is to yell to a firefighter if they're ever in a burning house and NOT to hide!

Then we went outside where Firefighter Eric showed us the fire and rescue trucks. They saw inside all of the compartments and talked about the saws and hoses and axes! They even got a chance to hop inside the fire truck!

Check out these future firefighters!

Walking Program

Students at HCS in grades k-2 are participating in a walking program to promote exercise and a healthy lifestyle. For every mile they walk, they receive a small foot charm to put on a necklace. The necklace is kept here at school so that it doesn't become lost. We walk together as a class and they've earned one foot so far! Here they are on a lap around the school this week! It was a beautiful week for walking!

Pirate Day and popsicle sticks!

Argh, Matey! We jumped on board when our kindergarten friends asked us to join them in dressing up like pirates! Great fun!

Our math lessons have children measuring with non-conventional objects such as unifix cubes and popsicle sticks. They've measured tables, chairs, windows, bookshelves, and each other!



It's so much fun to be a first grader!

A glimpse into our day!

Our days seem to go by so quickly! Each day is similar to all the other days. We have math in the morning (Number Corner) and a lesson in the afternoon. The following pictures show students creating patterns and pictures with pattern blocks.


Each day they have some time for writing. Here are some pictures of a few students completely engrossed in writing!



Reading is a big part of first grade and I read to the class several times each day! Students also have time each day to enjoy books on their own!

Lots of days have moments that are just FUN!

And so it begins!

Another year is off to a start!  This year's group arrived happy and eager to learn!  Our first few days seemed to go by quickly despite the heat!  For the first week or so, we'll be having "extra recess" to break up what can seem like a long morning for new first graders.  Here are some pictures of those happy little people on the playground!

Where Does the Story of Cheese Begin?

That was the big question all day on our field trip to Shelburne Farms!  Our day began down at the dairy barn.  This part of Shelburne Farms isn't normally open to the public with the level of access we had that day.  We met our group leaders, Christine and Matt.  They started by asking our group a question...where does the story of cheese begin?  At each stop they asked again...does the story of cheese begin here? 
 

Our group started in the heifer barn.  Here the children helped push hay closer to the cow stalls.  They were able to pet the cows and see them up close and personal!  Then we walked over the the part of the barn where they keep cows who are almost ready to freshen.  One cow in particular was apart from the others and we were told that it often means they're getting ready to calve.  We couldn't quite identify the ear tag so we'll never know if our cow had her calf that day! 

Then we moved to the feed barn where the smell of silage had kids plugging their noses!  They used shovels to push the silage closer to where the cows would stand to eat...thus began their understanding of how hard farmers work.  The shovels and silage were heavy and hard to move!

Then we went to a small courtyard where a lonely cow stood alone...waiting to be milked and brushed!  Children took turns milking the cow!  Even I tried...it wasn't as hard as you might think BUT so little milk comes out with each squirt, that it's hard to imagine making a living as a dairy farmer when milking was done by hand!
 

Then we moved into the milk house.  We met Farmer Renee who was looking at the breeding chart and moving the cows' numbers to the correct places on the chart.  Our group leader Christine did an amazing job of making a breeding chart seem incredibly interesting!  Then we walked into the milking parlor where they can milk 24 cows at one time.  She showed us the milking machines and explained that farmers get up at 4:00 in the morning...further proof that farmers work hard! 

Then we made our way to the calf barn...we could have stopped and started here!  It was a huge hit!  All those cute calves with the big eyes and long eyelashes!  The calves were just as interested in the kids and kept licking and nuzzling and rushing to the side of their fences to meet them!  Kate fell in love with the calf that had just been born that morning...he was quiet and still and didn't even have a name yet!  Greta and Hannah wouldn't leave the side of Skittles!  Zagnut tried to eat my shirttail!  They were very sweet!  Finally, we washed our hands and then they sprayed our shoes or boots and we got on the bus to head up to the big barn to the education center for lunch. 

Many of us ate outside on the lawn.  When lunch was over, our group headed up the hill... and then up the hill again to the peak where you can look out over the fields and part of Shelburne Bay.  Did I mention how nice it was?  Blue sky, green grass, gentle breeze and cows grazing...ah!  After sampling some cheddar cheese made right at Shelburne Farms, we headed down the hill to the cheese room and saw how cheese is made.  Our last stop was right in the courtyard where we talked again about the story of cheese...where does cheese begin?  Finally, we decided that like many things, making cheese is part of a cycle...grass, cow, calf, milk, cheese...and you can start anywhere in that big cycle!

Many thanks to the chaperones who came with us and to the staff at Shelburne Farms!  It was a truly wonderful day!

A Play, Field Trip, Babies and More!

Hello! It's starting to get really busy around here! As we fill in the "How Many Days Have We Been in School" chart, the sea of faces is mixed with excitement and panic! One child blurted out this morning, "First grade is going really fast!" And it sure is going quickly! Today we counted only 33 days left of school...eek!

 We began the farm unit in math this week and today I announced the parts for the play E-I-E-I- Oops. It's about a farm where the cow won't moo and how the farmers and farm animals fix that problem...very cute. The tentative date and time is June 6th from 6-6:30. Deb Lavalette is absent for the rest of this week and she's the keeper of the calendar. Unless there's something else going on at school that night, we should be safe! On Friday I will send home a script (or just a page of script) for your child if he/she has a speaking part. I will highlight the part and ask that you help your child memorize the lines. For most parts it's only 2 lines to memorize. Some parts have a few more lines. I looked into a few panicked faces, but I didn't offer the parts as a choice. I would like to see how it goes and ask that if your child seems worried to be as encouraging as you can and assure him/her that with lots of practice it will get easier. The week before vacation they performed "readers theater" stories for a second grade class...they acted like I was asking them to bungee jump off the Eiffel Tower, but everyone made it through and they even had fun! I think the play seems terrifying to some right now because they don't know their parts yet, but as we move along and it all gets clearer, it will go off without a hitch! I'm really excited to see it on June 6th!

The field trip to Shelburne Farms is Monday, May 6th. We leave at 9:00 and I'm asking all chaperones to be in the classroom by 8:45. You may ride the bus with us, or drive yourself. If you choose to drive, you may want to follow the bus as I believe we start at the dairy barn which is not the same barn where most field trips begin! I've never been to the dairy barn so I'm excited to do something new! All children need a snack and lunch that day and all garbage comes home in your child's lunch bag. Shelburne Farms will collect anything that can be composted or recycled. We plan to be back at school by 1:30/1:45. As of now, my list of chaperones includes a parent for: Nate, Peter, Ethan, Brady, Nisha, Linni and Danny, Cassidy, Greta, and Henry. If you don't see your name on the list and you'd like to join us, please let me know! The more the merrier, as the saying goes! Remember...we go rain or shine!!!

We have exciting news to report...Cole's mom had a baby girl during vacation! She brought baby Nora to visit on Monday! Nora's beautiful! Congratulations to big brother Cole!

The last bit of news for the day is that the middle school student council is sponsoring a K-2 activity night on Friday May 10th from 5-8:30 pm. It will take place at the school in the flex space. I hear there are flyers up in the school but I haven't seen one and don't know if there's a charge! I'll let you know what I find out! Have a great week...love this weather!!! Michelle

Science, Field Trips and Concussions!

Our weeks are very, very busy lately! Lots of things happening right now! I really love conference time! It's so much fun to sit down and talk with you about your amazing child! This is such a fun class and I love that they're so excited to come to school and learn new things!

That's why I'm excited to take our show on the road on Tuesday! We have a fun day planned. Uno Pizzeria for lunch...they get to make their own pizzas and pour their own drinks while they wait for the pizza to cook. After they finish eating their pizzas made with extra love, we'll get back on the bus to go to see a show at the Flynn Theater! If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is a childhood favorite and the shows at the Flynn are always great!

We began a science unit this week that is a "stand alone" unit. It isn't part of any other time in our day although it links well with our geometry unit in math. Our science unit is called "Properties" and children learn to describe and sort items based on their properties. Our first lesson was called "What Am I?" They had a tray of science materials and we used their unique properties to describe each without naming them. Then using the descriptions, they had to "guess" which item I was describing. It's very hard for young children NOT to use words that imply a judgement...they want to say something is "pretty" or "nice" or "fun." They are so excited to be scientist while also disappointed that we aren't using fire, chemicals or materials that require safety glasses!

Our Fundations unit is really interesting because it's the first unit where the words are more than one syllable! The routine for spelling these words is to clap the syllables. So, the word "dentist" gets two claps. I ask, "What's the first syllable?" and they answer, "Den." They spell it and then I ask, "What's the second syllable?" and they say, "Tist." They spell that as well. After the word is complete they "scoop" the syllables. Two syllables...two scoops!

Our dear Cassidy had an unfortunate accident while in the ski lodge this weekend! She fell and bumped her head hard enough to have a concussion. Because her brain is still vulnerable to another bump right now, she's been staying in at recess and inviting a friend to stay with her! She's going to be completely fine (if I can keep her still while at school!) and is thankfully expecting a full recovery!

Reading Celebration...part 2!

On Friday, February 22nd, our entire school met in the gym at the end of the day to celebrate reading at HCS!

Ms. Stanley began by announcing the winners of the bookmark contest. There was a kindergarten winner, a grades one and two winner, and two winners for grades three through five. Our very own Hannah won the award for students in grades one and two! Yeah, Hannah!





Then Ms. Stanley began choosing winners from the big box full of Reading Logs! Children who returned their Reading Logs were entered to win prizes and awards. Our very own Linni won an award when Ms. Stanley drew her log from the big box of Reading Logs!



After all of the reading celebration excitement, we had a chance to see a wonderful performer! Stephen Grotto is a juggler and he rides a unicycle and is silly to watch! The kids loved him! He invited members from the audience to participate! Mrs. Johnson found herself up on stage holding flaming juggling sticks. A kindergarten friend found herself in a lawn chair balanced on his chin! Wow! And at the end, he created a tight rope of sorts and balanced on it while putting on a suit coat and juggling flaming sticks!



It was a very exciting assembly! I hope you all had a fabulous week! I heard lots of fun stories about your adventures! Play dates, lost teeth, Jay Peak, aquariums with penguins, visits to grandparents, Mardi Gras, dinners out, and even one trip to the ER! Sounds fun! Welcome back!

Pretzels With Mini

Today we had a special visitor! Brady's grandmother came today to make pretzels with us all! Even though her name is Janne Giles, we all called her "Mini" just like Brady. She had children help her make dough using yeast, water, salt, honey and flour. Then they took turns cranking the dough hook in the special bucket made for kneading dough. We set that dough aside and Mini took out a bowl of dough she'd made earlier (it had already risen) and each child was given a chunk of dough to mold into a shape. Most were shaped like their first initials! Then Mini helped each child brush on an egg wash and sprinkle either sugar and cinnamon or salt. Fifteen short minutes later they were out of the oven and toasty warm! Because of this special late morning snack, your child may not have eaten all of his or her lunch! Boy were those pretzels yummy! Thank you, Mini!

The slide show starts with Mini showing her dough bucket and greasing it so the dough wouldn't stick. Then you'll see children helping her add ingredients! At the end you'll see some colorful dough...Mini made each child a baggie of play-doh to take home! Boy, Mini was a big hit in our classroom!

More Presidential Speeches!

I promised you more and here they are...more Presidential speeches! Enjoy!

This is Alexis and how she'll run our country! I hope you like horses!



And now we have Stanley...he really likes P.E.!



Here is Greta! You'll be happy to know if you vote for Greta you'll be able to have a horse! (I sense a theme?)



If you elect Ethan, every Tuesday will be a stay home day!



If you vote for Oliver, you'll be having Halloween every Monday and Christmas every Friday! Better start saving for all those toys!



Cassidy plans to take care of cats and dogs but only have school 4 days a week! That might be how she fits in all of those field trips! I'm happy to hear about the ice cream each week!

Presidents Day Videos

Here's a short video of Cole reading his campaign speech! Listen carefully to hear what he'd do "If I was president..."



And here's Kate with her campaign speech! Short and sweet!



Danny has some great ideas...if he were president!



Hannah has many great ideas...would you vote for a president that wants "everyone to have a horse?"



I'll try to add more videos...they love to see themselves on the Smartboard! This was quite a learning curve for me! I had to create a YouTube account, learn how to upload videos and then share them! Yikes!

Chinese New Year, 100th Day, Valentines and Books!

This may have been the very busiest week so far this year! On Monday we celebrated Chinese New Year. Each child made a red envelope in the Chinese tradition. Children are given red envelopes with money in them. However, the odd numbers and the number 4 are considered bad luck. When the children made money to go in their envelopes, they tried to make an even amount of money not equaling 4 or 14 or 24! On the front, with gold glitter, is the Chinese symbol for luck!

On Tuesday, we celebrated the 100th day of school! What a fun day! I sent pictures Tuesday night of the really cool projects and their self-portraits! They'll be on the wall in the hallway for a while for you to see, but they will come home in a few weeks for you to frame and hang!

Wednesday was fairly calm, but then on Thursday we had a day of friendship and love! My favorite time of the day is when they're opening their Valentine cards and there's a chorus of "Thank you, ___" as they open and read each Valentine! Robert brought ring pops which were a huge hit, but they look like pacifiers in the pics! Actually, they looked like pacifiers in real life, too!



Finally, on Friday we kicked off "I Love To Read" week! February is "I Love to Read" month and each year HCS has a week-long celebration of books and reading. In tonight's Home/School bag you'll find a reading log. If you help your child fill in the form and then return it, we'll have a school-wide drawing on Friday, February 22nd! During our kick-off today, the entire school read for 10 minutes in the gym! Here are some pics from before the quiet reading time and during the quiet reading time! Very powerful to have an entire school quiet reading in the gym!



I hope you'll find time to read and fill out the forms! Happy reading!

100th Day of School!

Wow! What a wild day! In addition to all of the projects coming in, we had a lot of work to do today! Each child made a picture of themselves at 100...along with a bucket list of things they plan to do before they are 100. Check out some of the pictures and future plans...

This young lady plans to own a horse farm and design clothing for animals! She's going to college and plans to be a model. She'll be famous and study penguins. She plans to go to high school and get a dog!

This young lady plans to own a horse and be famous. She'll have two kids and go to high school. Then she'll go to college! She's going to see real penguins and design clothes. She'll go to Florida and get married. Then she'll go to Hawaii!

This gentleman plans to go to college and buy a house. He will also act out Star Wars! He's going to get a car and two kids! He's going to get a job, a bike, and get married. He's also planning to go to Jay Peak!

This gentleman plans to go to college and get a job! He's going to be a Lego designer. He's going to get a home and a car. Then he's going to get a dog. I guess he's going to be hungry because he's also getting a lot of food!

This young lady plans to go to Florida and get a barn because she will own a horse farm. She's going to get a dog and go to Maine. She'll have two kids and get a car. She'll be a clothes designer and get a house!

These wonderful pictures and their bucket lists are hanging outside our classroom! Stop by to check them out!

Thank you for helping your children with their projects! They were really excited and proud to share them. In the morning the kindergarten classes came through while the first graders sat at their seats to answer questions about the projects! The kindergarteners were impressed! When we had snack, Oliver proudly showed us his lunch which consisted of a variety of foods that could be made into the number 100! Way to go, mom! At the end of the day, the first and second grade classes went room to room to see projects from other rooms. There were many projects involving food and Star Wars...both big hits in our room! In the morning I gave each child in our room six stickers and asked them to be on the lookout for kind and respectful comments they heard from each other or around the school. Each time they heard a compliment (or kind words) they could put a sticker on a special poster in our room. I challenged them to fill the poster with 100 stickers to represent 100 compliments! You'll see our poster covered with stickers in the picture slideshow! Enjoy!