Getting ready for Reading Restaurant and Equality in math

We are busy getting ready for Reading Restaurant in our classroom.  The students are decorating and painting ocean creatures for our decor.  They are so excited.

In first grade math, we are currently learning about concepts of equality, such as 4+3=5+2.  Before break, we had the opportunity to work with students from Ms. Fisher's classroom and use jellybeans as math manipulatives to show our understanding.

Welcome back and Shelburne Farms information

Dear Families,

Welcome back to school!  I hope everyone had a nice and relaxing break from school.  The students had wonderful stories to share about their adventures last week, but they also seemed ready to be back in school, learning and playing with their friends again.

Friday is Ms. Sam's last day with us.  She will return to New Jersey for the summer and work.  She hopes to come back to Vermont in the fall to teach again.  We will miss her so much and wish her all the best in her future endeavors.

I wanted to remind you that we have our day-long field-trip to Shelburne Farms on Friday.  The bus will leave ABS around 8:30-8:40am.  If you are chaperoning this event, please consider riding the bus with us and meet up with us in the classroom right before departure time.  Parking at Shelburne Farms will be tricky.

The weather is not looking too good.  It looks like it will rain all day Friday.  We will still be outside, so please make sure your child is properly dressed for outdoor activities.  It will be muddy too since we have already gotten so much rain so please make sure your child has some sort of water/rain boots, or even winter boots.  Please encourage your child to dress in layers.  If he/she gets hot, a layer of clothing can easily be removed.

Your child will need a snack and a packed cold lunch for this field-trip.  If you already indicated on the permission slip that your child wants a bagged lunch from our school, we will pack that before departure.

We will return to ABS before regular dismissal time.

Maria

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Maria McCormack

Classroom Blog

Class Wiki

Family Newsletter

Dear Families,
We love this warmer weather!  The kids are so excited to play outside and it is nice to see the sun again.  Ms. Sam is completing her second solo week and she has done a great job as the "main"teacher.  Her last official day with us at ABS is on May 3rd, the day we're going to Shelburne Farms for the day.  After that, she plans on returning to her home-state NJ and look for a job.  We will miss her but hope to stay connected online or via postcards!  Ms. Amanda's last day

Reading:
The students continue to participate in small groups, receiving guided reading instruction and practicing various skills and strategies.  I hope that they read at home as well.  We are focusing upon book reviews and recommendations in class now, and I will attach a few of these reading response sheets to next's weeks reading log for kids who would like to challenge themselves at home.  This is not a requirement; rather it is a tool for your child to use to link reading and writing in yet another way.

Writing:
Our ocean animal reports are done!  The kids did an amazing job researching their respective topics.  We are currently publishing these books online in BookCreator, which the students will link on SeeSaw.  Please visit SeeSaw to see these books!  We will share the actual reports at Reading Restaurant, on May 16th.

Science:
We started our new science unit on habitats and animal structures/processes.  Earlier this week, the students explored how polar bears survive in the cold Arctic waters with blubber.  We practiced making reasonable estimates, tested different scenarios then collected data.

Reading Buddies:
Ms. Davison's class came down to our classroom again for their weekly visits.  We had so much fun reading together.

Hat Day:
Our school-wide celebration was another huge success!  Here are some pictures to enjoy:

Math:
First grade mathematicians continued their work on 2D and 3D shapes last week.  They are exploring the various attributes of the different shapes. They are getting familiar with concepts like line, vertex, corner, edge and face.  They are also continuing their work on being efficient mathematicians, bridging to 5s and 10s.  On Fridays, we use ipads and MobyMax to practice these understandings.