Weekly Update

Dear Families,
I wanted to share with you a story I tell the students over and over again.  It pertains to reading.  Many years ago, a second grade student said to me, "You know what, Mrs. McCormack?  Reading is like going to the beach."  I was surprised by the sudden announcement and asked, "What do you mean?"  The student said, "Well, some people take a plane, some people take a car and some people walk, but in the end, we all get there."  Such wisdom!  I share this story with you because at this point in the school year, we need to remember to encourage all of our students to "get to the beach".  It does not matter what your reading ability is, we all set personal goals, and we all need encouragement to make ourselves improve.  Thank you all for supporting your children at home.

Our Learning:
Reading: We continued working on finding character traits in our books this week.  The students learned how to "flag" their pages using post-it notes to easily find the pages that shows character traits.  We worked together as a class, using the Piggie and Elephant books written by Mo Willems.  Thank you Ms. Davison for letting us borrow them for a couple of weeks.

Writing: Our small moment stories are in full swing.  We discussed "good beginnings" and what makes "good beginnings".  The students also explored the use of dialogue in writing, speech bubbles and thinking bubbles.

Math: First grade mathematicians continued working on various addition strategies.  They also learned about graphing.  Please scroll down for more information and pictures.

Upcoming Events and Reminders:
We will start our science unit on "Creepy Crawlies" next week.  The students will participate in a series of workshops, visiting all the classrooms on Harmony, while learning about bats, snakes, spiders and the Venue Fly-trap.

We are going to the Book Fair at WCS on November 10th.  This is a change, as we were initially schedules for another date.  Please be advised that we are dismissing from WCS on Tuesday November 10th.  If your child will be picked up, please do that at the front office at WCS.  If your child attends "imagine After School at ABS", your child will ride a bus back to ABS.  All other children will board their normal buses.  Thank you!

Have a great weekend,
Maria

Classroom celebration with Mrs. Wentz

We filled our classroom buzzy jar and celebrated by visiting the library smartboard with Mrs Wentz.  She showed us the app "Don't let the Pigeon run this app" on her iPad (using airserver) and we got to create our own Pigeon books on the iPad.  We do not have this app on the iPods at school, but perhaps you do at home?

Graphing in first grade math

First grade mathematicians used goldfish crackers to graph how many they got of each color.  They also compared how many more, and how many fewer, they got of the different colors.  We used horizontal graphs.  Here are some pictures.

Pumpkin decorating

The students at ABS have been busy decorating pumpkins for our schoolwide celebration for filling the bee hive this month's.  Here are some pictures of our creative pumpkins.

Weekly Update

Dear Families,
My apologies for the late post, but I encountered some technical difficulties last week.  I hope you all had a great weekend.  The weather is certainly getting colder.  Thank you for sending your child in to school with warmer clothing.  We have outdoor recess every day, unless it is raining.

Our Learning:
Reading: The students continued work in our small guided reading groups.  In these groups, the children receive instruction targeted to their own unique reading needs and read book on their "just right" levels.  These books normally go home in our book bags on Mondays, unless we are reading a longer book that extends our learning over several weeks.  Thank you for supporting your child's reading at home.  daily practice is very important and reading out loud reinforces many skills and strategies worked on in class.  We are currently studying character traits as a class.  The students are learning how to find evidence of what characters say, do and think and how to use their own words to describe these characters.  

Writing; We started our small moment writing pieces a little while ago.  These are personal narratives which we extend over several pages.  We use mentor texts to help us write better.  We read books by published authors and find examples of how that particular author used his/her words to make the story more interesting and then we try to apply those skills and techniques ourselves.  In other words, we read as writers. When the children read, they are encouraged to think about if they read as writers (looking at the text features and the language), or if they read as readers (i.e. we think about the plot, the characters and setting).  To make this distinction as clear as possible, I wear different hats in class when we read our books.  Later this week, the students will make their own "Read as Writers" hats.  

Technology: The students started Typing Club on Friday.  I will send home the link so you can continue working on typing skills at home, if you wish.  This, of course, is voluntary, but the students seemed to really enjoy this program and the feedback it offered them as they mastered each section.  We encountered some problems with my classroom domain link, so I will share this Typing Club link later this week (after I have resolved the technical issues).

Reminders and Upcoming Events:
We will attend the Book Fair at WCS on November 11th.  The bus will take us there and then back again to ABS for regular dismissal from ABS.  Please look for more information as we get closer.

We will start our "Creepy Crawlies" science unit in Novemeber.  The students will participate in workshops and learn about bats, spiders, snakes and the Venue Fly-trap.  Stay tuned.

Our school-wide celebration for filling the beehive is in full swing.  Each classroom decorated a pumpkin and they are currently on display in our hallway, outside the gym and the cafeteria.  The pumpkins were donated to our school by "Foley & Fontaine Farm-stand" right here in Williston.  Thank you! Please stop by to see these creative pumpkins.  
Have a great week.

Best,
Maria

Harvest soup

We enjoyed our annual Harvest Soup last week.  The weather was beautiful so we could dine outside.  Harvest soup is created from vegetables grown in our school garden and from vegetables donated to us from families.  Thank you all for making this another scrumptious lunch.

4 winds

We had another engaging 4 winds class last week.  The students learned about trees and acted like scientists, observing tree bark and the inside of tree trunks.  They used magnifying glasses and were encouraged to use their senses to describe what we studied (no tasting!).  Here are some pictures.  Enjoy.

Character traits

The students are learning about different character traits in our reader's workshop.  We are exploring inside and outside characteristics using Mo Willem's Pigeon books and many other books in our classroom.  The children are encouraged to think about the characters in the books they read by themselves.  Here is a picture of our class poster.

Pumpkin decorating

I just wanted to share a picture of our class pumpkin that we started to decorate for our schoolkids celebration later this month.  Thank you to the parents who helped us start this project this week.  Our pumpkin is going to be a bat.  It is not done yet, so please stay tuned for more pictures.

Vermont science

This week, the students observed different types of soil found in Vermont.  The students were encouraged to act like scientists and use their senses to describe it (tasting was not allowed).  Then, the students were challenged to figure out what type of farming might occur on that soil.  Ask your child to explain what we learned about soil used for farming vegetables, corn and barley.  Also ask your child to explain what we learned about the soil used for hay, maple trees and dairy farms.

Weekly Update

Dear Families,
It is hard to believe that we are in October already.  The weather certainly has changed so thank you for sending your child in with warmer clothing for outdoor activities.  We have recess every day, except for when it is raining.  The students need sweatshirts or jackets for recess now.  Thank you!

Our Learning:
Reading: This week, the students continued to explore Mo Willem's books about Pigeon.  We learned that the setting is important to telling a story, but Mo Willems does not expand on the setting in his stories about Pigeon at all.  We discussed how the setting is important for the stories we read, and why.  The students were encouraged to develop a setting for pigeon.  Some children decided to place pigeon in outer space, while others placed him in cities with tall skyscrapers.  These settings will be particularly important later on when the students develop their own pigeon adventures.  In computer lab today, the students explored Mo Willem's web-sites, which I have linked on the wiki, under "Authors".  Please check it out at home.

Writing:  This week, the students finished their letters to a family member or a friend.  Some of them they were able to deliver, and some of them are inside this week's Friday folders.  We learned to re-read our own writing this week, checking COPS.  COPS stands for capitalization, organization, punctuation and spelling.  The children will eventually get editing partners who will help them reflect on their writing before we publish in class.

Math: This week, first grade mathematicians played different games learning about "ten and some more."  We explored the teen numbers and the components of teen numbers, while thinking about decade groups.  We also continued working on our number lines, numbers before and after as well as justifying our mathematical thinking.

Upcoming Events and Reminders:
 Next week, I am starting parent teacher conferences.  If you have not yet signed up for a lot, please do so by accessing our google doc.  Thank you.  I look forward to seeing you all again and share our elarning.

2nd grade students will visit WCS next week to meet Dav Pilkey, children's author.  This is a quick visit during the day and a teacher from Harmony will go with them.  First grade students will stay at ABS.

Next week, students at ABS will participate in our district-wide writing assessment, often referred to as "On-Demand."  All students in the same grade level get a topic to write about.  This topic is not known before the writing assessment.  This is a formative assessment and we ask that the students do the best they can.  This assessment will guide our instruction throughout the year and better serve the individual needs of our students.  The students will take the same assessment at the end of the school year so we can look at growth and progress.

There is no school on Friday, October 9th and 12th.  

I hope you have a great weekend and enjoy our fall weather:)

Best,
Maria