Giving Thanks!

While learning about the First Thanksgiving, each child made their own Pilgrim village. Each was excited to bring this special project home...as you can see in their faces! I loved reading their writing telling what each was thankful for...moms, dads, siblings and a dog! I love the pictures of them hard at work!

A Visit to our Police Department

On Wednesday we walked to the Hinesburg Police Department! What a beautiful day for a walk! And what a beautiful, new building! We were a few minutes early so I took a class photo!

Chief Frank showed us the security system...

...and the locker room...

...and the holding cell! There was just a bench, a sink and a stainless steel toilet. It was as if they'd never seen a toilet!

Check out these cute jailbirds!

Future police officer?

Bats and Moons

The week before Halloween kids are abuzz with the anticipation of trick or treating and costumes and candy! It seemed the perfect time to learn about...bats! I read several books about bats and asked the question: Do you think bats are cute or creepy? Before learning about bats I was surprised at how many children thought bats were creepy and they were afraid of bats! Ask your child to tell you about the Bumblebee bat! It is the smallest bat in the world with its body measuring approximately 1 inch long and a wing span of only 6 inches.

I read this book about the Bumblebee bat...

...and showed them pictures of the Bumblebee bat...







...and by the time we took a vote, more children thought bats were cute and not creepy! And they all thought bats were beneficial! They learned that the little brown bat (found here in Vermont!) can eat as many as 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour!

Each child voted and then tallied the results and created a graph to show the class results. Then they made a bat to attach to their graph!

In addition to studying bats, your children created the most beautiful moon paintings-each with a bat! They are hanging in the hall outside the classroom, but when they come home I bet you'll want to hang them in a very special place! They were so serious while mixing the shades of blue and I think each and every painting is a work of art! Bravo!

Voting Day!

While Tuesday was voting day all around the country, kids were busy voting here at HCS as well! Each class that chose to participate visited the library which had been transformed into a polling place...complete with "I voted!" stickers! Each child had to state their name when entering the polling place and was given a ballot. Then they went to their private polling station voted for the candidate of their choice by choosing his picture. Then they deposited their ballots into the box. First graders voted for governor and lieutenant governor.  You'll see in the pictures that we had some pretty proud voters when all was said and done!

FUN-O-Ween!

Fun-O-Ween was just that...FUN! As you'll see in the pictures, there were lots of smiles and laughs! Our class began the afternoon with the bean bag toss! You'll see the targets (which were almost as much fun as the actual tossing!) and smiling, costumed faces as they waited for a turn. After bean bag toss, we headed to "Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin." Children were given a nose, a quick spin, and then they marched up to pin a nose. Then we marched down to Mrs. Fay's music room where the beginning band played music for freeze dance. The first graders danced so quickly that many of my pictures were a blur! After freeze dance, we headed to the library story corner where Ms. Stanley read us two spooky stories-in the dark! Yikes! Next our class played Ghost In the Graveyard...which is just a fancy name for Red Light/Green Light. They are very speedy on their knees! After that we went to play musical chairs. It turns out that our class didn't even need to take away any chairs to make this game fun! Our last station was right back in our room coloring Halloween pictures! While they colored we used the fish and underwater explorer props to take some pictures! The last picture is a group shot of the first grade teachers in our book character costumes! I hope you had as much fun that night trick-or-treating! BOO!