No Homework

Due to the shortened school week there will be no spelling or math homework this week!  Please enjoy the holidays!

Focused Workers!



Building numbers with Base-10 blocks



Top-It with a 'twist' (children had to use a greater than/less than/or equal to symbol to compare numbers)

More Top-It

Tangrams are a wonderful tool for building problem-solving skills!

He was determined to get this puzzle right.

 Math is a very busy and productive time in our room!  I feel as though I take more math photos than anything else, but it's so fun to watch first graders solve problems in a variety of ways with a variety of tools.

Learning About St. Lucia Day

Our theme of "Holidays around the World" continues... we started making "evergreen" crowns for St. Lucia Day...a  festival that takes place in Sweden, Italy, and many other European countries on Dec. 13th. It's also known as the "Festival of Lights" and is the beginning of Christmas celebrations. These crowns are traditionally worn in parades and other St. Lucia celebrations. 

Students cutting and riping paper for the leaves of their crowns

Almost done the first step! 

A finished crown (I forgot to get a group shot with everyone wearing a crown)

Safety Drill

As I am sure many of you have already heard we had our first, school-wide safety drill last Thursday.  During this drill the entire building is 'locked-down' and the children and I sat quietly in the classroom waiting for Officer B. to check on us.  The boys and girls did a terrific job!  I certainly hope that we never need to do more than a drill, but it is great to know that our students would be calm and safe!

B.E.A.R. Day

Guest Readers

As students become more confident readers they are enjoying the chance to read to the class.  We have only had three 'guest readers' so far, but anyone who wants a chance will be able to read to their friends.  Reading is even more fun when you have an audience!

Los Posadas



As a part of our study of holidays around the world we have learned a little bit about Los Posadas, a Hispanic Christmas celebration.  As a part of Los Posadas families light luminaries, have a pinata, decorate with poinsettias, and sometimes even set off fireworks!

Students hard at work creating beautiful paper poinsettias!

More poinsettias

Thank You!



I wanted to thank all of you who sent in a book or money for a book for Miss Siekman's 'thank you' present!  We were able to put together a beautiful basket full of wonderful books and other fun school supplies.  The boys and girls also worked to create an amazing piece of art that we hope Miss Siekman will be proud to display!

Each child created a self-portrait to add to our class illustration!

Books are an amazing gift!  Thank you Miss Siekman for all of your hard work.

Holidays Around the World

Last week we began our study of Holidays Around the World.  Hanukkah is the first holiday we are studying (the first full day of Hanukkah was last Thursday).  Some important facts we have been trying to learn are:  Hanukkah lasts eight days, it is also called the 'Festival of Lights', a menorah is used each night during Hanukkah, and the fact that the holiday is celebrated by people who are Jewish. 

Students working on their 'handmade' menorahs! 

Look for the menorahs to be hanging outside our classroom with many other fun projects from around the world!

The 'Wiz of Is'

As you know, we work very hard in first grade to learn many sight words.  Last week's word was 'is'.  To help students remember the correct spelling of the word 'is' students had a chance to be the 'wiz of is'.  We will have many more wizards this week (as well as some 'stars of are').  Who said spelling can't be fun?!

Just look at all of the 'wiz of is' kids!

Reading Comprehension

During reading last week we focused a lot on reading comprehension.  To help with this important skill students had to 'check for understanding' during partner reading time.  One child would read to their partner while the other held the check mark (a visual reminder of their job) and then retold parts of the story.

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B.E.A.R. Day

In case you did not see the notice sent home last week, this Thursday, December 9th is BEAR Day at UMS! Your child is invited to bring his/her favorite teddy bear to school for the day! This fun day is to celebrate our whole-school theme: B.E.A.R: Be Excited About Reading! We will have snack and lunch with our bears, bring our bears to a school-wide meeting, reading with our bears in the classroom, and more!

Customize a free digital scrapbook

Thanksgiving-Themed Activities

During our short, three day week students did a few Thanksgiving-Themed activities.  It is always nice when we can make a connection to our curriculum through special occasions that the children are looking forward to enjoying!

Students practiced measuring to the nearest inch with the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock.

More measuring

Making a fringe-cut turkey was a big hit for the whole class!

 

During math, students decided what foods they would like to have for their Thanksgiving dinner and then had to find out the value of their meal by totaling all food amounts.

More turkey art

Saying 'Goodbye'

We hate to have to say 'goodbye', but Miss Siekman's time at UMS is quickly drawing to a close.  Her last day will be this Friday, December 3rd.  Miss Siekman has been a true asset to our classroom and I know she will be a fabulous teacher with her own classroom soon!  Thank you for all of your hard work.  We have loved having you here at UMS!

Where is Mrs. Hughes

As you know from Miss Siekman's letter last week she is 'solo teaching' this week.  I've tried very hard to stay out of the classroom, but I do pop in and out throughout the day.  Miss Siekman has been keeping me up to date on how the boys and girls are doing and I miss them very much.  So, what have I been doing?

Miss Siekman's 'solo teaching' has allowed me the opportunity to do many assessments with the boys and girls in preparation for report cards and parent/teacher conferences.  I have being pulling students to give reading and math assessments (you will see the results soon). 

I will be back in the classroom next week and look forward to seeing you all soon for parent/teacher conferences!

Assessment

As you know we will be having our parent/teacher conferences in just a few short weeks.  In order to prepare for conferences and report cards I will be doing assessments with students over the next two weeks.  If your child mentions that they have been doing a 'different' type of reading with me this is probably what they are referring to.

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Spelling Groups

This week we have started a new system for our S.W.R. (spelling) time.  In an effort to meet all students' varying needs we are working in small groups during spelling.  The class has been broken into four groups (these are flexible groups and I will reassess them using daily writing samples and spelling 'check-ups').  Each group goes to one station a day (Monday - Thursday) with a whole-class 'check-up' on Friday.  The spelling stations are currently:  teacher station (differentiated skills), 'red' word practice, word family practice, and computers.  I can explain our system more at conferences, but I hope this gives you a general picture of how and why we have modified things a bit.

Rainbow words were a big hit!

I love seeing smiles during spelling!

One of our other stations is word building (practicing word family words).

Each spelling group will meet with me once a week (here Miss Siekman is leading the group while I snap photos).

Students always love time on the computer.  I am putting together an area on the blog where students will access appropriate games/activities for their computer time.

Spooky Math!

On Friday students really enjoyed some Halloween-themed math activities!  They practiced estimation with ghosts, popcorn, and pumpkins!  They also used a variety of measurements (height, weight) to learn about a real pumpkin. 

After estimating how many pieces of popcorn would fit inside the ghost students checked their estimates.

I think eating the popcorn after the math activity was the favorite part!

Miss Siekman helped the boys and girls fill out their 'pumpkin measurement' books.

A happy first grader!

More fun with popcorn

Students used a digital scale to measure the pumpkin's weight.

Halloween Fun!

Thank you to all families who helped make our Friday afternoon party so much fun! A special thanks to our class room parents who made my life very easy by organizing all of our tasty treats! Also, thank you Mrs. Sorenson for introducing me to this new scrapbooking feature! I hope you all like the new slideshow!

Create a digital scrapbooking design

Volunteer Information

This year in an effort to keep all Colchester students safe the district is requiring all volunteers to fill out a release form allowing a background check to be done.  There is no cost involved, but the paperwork does need to be completed and returned to the central office.  If you have more than one child in our district you still only need to fill the form out one time.  This is a new procedure this year and we appreciate your cooperation!  In addition to the release form Union Memorial School still requires that volunteers sign a confidentiality form.  If you need either of these forms please let me know.  If you have already completed the forms please disregard this message.  Thank you!

Lots of Field Trip Fun!

Fire Safety!

October is National Fire Safety Month.  Today we were fortunate enough to be able to visit our local fire department.  Students had the opportunity to see fire equipment, tour the fire station, sit in a fire truck, and learn about fire prevention.  Firefighter T.J. reminded us how important smoke detectors are and encouraged everyone to make a family meeting place outside their home in case of a real fire.

Boys and girls taking a look at tools inside the fire truck.

Students got a chance to hold different fire hoses.

Firefighter Patrick demonstrates the 60 pounds of gear required to protect himself.

It was fun to try the hoses!

Happy first graders

Children were able to sit in the back of the fire truck just like a real firefighter!