Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our class surpassed our goal of 99 food items to donate to the Rowe School food drive!  We collected 112 items, adding to Rowe's grand total of 745 items!
On Tuesday, students decorated our hallway with their completed symmetrical turkey projects!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break!

Friday, November 18, 2016

Week 11!

We've been studying Pilgrim families living at Plimoth Plantation this week!  Students have been comparing and contrasting our families with the Pilgrim families from the 1600's.
Check out your child's Seesaw blog for more!

In math we've been measuring everything in sight!

We started a Thanksgiving symmetry project in math on Friday.  Students created symmetrical designs with pattern blocks.  Next week they will turn their designs into symmetrical turkeys!

In writers workshop students have been fancying up their story endings by adding details to make the story come to life.

Thank you for all of the donations to the Rowe School Food Drive!  We are only 11 items away from meeting our class collection goal of 99 items!

Thursday, November 10, 2016

10 Weeks in First Grade!

We kicked off our Families: Comparison Through Cultural Traditions unit by learning more about each others' family structures.  Take a peek at your child's Seesaw account to view the family structures we created in class this week.

We completed unit 3 of Everyday Math this week! Unit 4 will focus on:
-measurement
-doubles math facts
-adding three numbers
-place value 

The annual Rowe School food drive begins next week!  The Ice Owls are trying to reach their goal of collecting     non perishable food and personal care items.  Please help out our local families in need by donating if you are able!

Friday, November 4, 2016

Week 9

We finished publishing our small moment stories and celebrated with a publishing party with Mrs. Lincoln's class!

Our next writing unit is realistic fiction!

In readers workshop we've been working on strategies to tackle tricky words in our reading.

We were lucky enough to have Chewonki visit our school to teach us more about owls.  They even brought a live screech owl, barred owl, and great horned owl with them!

Ozzy the Screech Owl

Byron the Barred Owl

Olivia the Great Horned Owl

Friday, October 28, 2016

Week 8!

In math we've been practicing adding and subtracting on a number line, solving number stories, and estimating and counting large quantities of objects.

On Wednesday we had our second  whole school community meeting!
In science we've started studying owls!  On Thursday we dissected barn owl pellets (sterilized) and determined what the owl ate for dinner!
Students have finished publishing their small moment stories!  Next week we will share them with the students in Mrs. Lincoln's class.

Students are now bringing home books to read from their independent reading levels.  Please remind your child to put completed books back in his/her purple folder to return to school. 

Some things to consider:

-The texts should be easy for your child to read.  If a book is too difficult, send it back in for a better fitting book.

-When your child comes to a difficult word (we call them trick words) encourage the use of one of these strategies:
Tap it out (sound it out)
Chunk it up into smaller parts
Skip the word and read the rest of the sentence
Reread the sentence
Ask “What word would make sense?”

-Ask your child to retell the story (fiction) or share three facts (nonfiction) after reading to strengthen comprehension.

Friday, October 21, 2016

Week 7!

We did an up close observation of the red wigglers in our compost bin this week!  Students worked with a partner observing a worm up close with a magnifying glass. We then wrote, drew, and recorded our thinking. 
We made cards for all of our amazing bus drivers for bus driver appreciation week.
We've started publishing our best small moment stories!  
On Tuesday we got to know our new kindergarten reading buddies!

On Thursday we walked to the police station to learn more about the people in our town who keep us safe.


Friday, October 14, 2016

Week 6!

We did a lot of worm work this week!  First, we made a worm contract together.  Students signed it promising to give the worms everything they need to live happy, healthy lives.
We have been learning about worm anatomy!

The traveling worm composting bin visited our class!  We observed worm movement in the worm bin, and each had a chance to use gentle hands to hold a red wiggler and describe how it felt.
In math we have been practicing change-to-more and change-to-less number stories.  We also practiced using calculators!

We celebrated fire safety week with a visit to the fire station and a chance to crawl through the smoke trailer.




On Friday Mrs. Webber came in to teach about germs and how to keep each other healthy during cold and flu season.