The Big Pumpkin

A big thank you goes out to Mr. Coon (high school drama coach) and his students!  We all enjoyed a short play that brought the book, The Big Pumpkin, to life on Friday!

Fun Math Stations

Students playing 'Pumpkin Jumble'.

Although the games is fun and looks like Halloween we still get some skill work in - tallies!

Addition practice with a 'spooky' twist.

Students had to estimate how many pieces of popcorn were necessary to fill the ghost's body.  Before they could eat they had to get an official count.

Spooky estimation

Harvest Party 2011

Digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox

It was a fun, busy party on Friday afternoon. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and to everyone who sent in goodies for our special snack. Our party began with a song, then students worked on art projects, and we ended our party with a great snack! For the project, students "ordered" their projects ahead of time. They were given a choice between two scratch art projects (pumpkin or bat) and making a foam pumpkin frame or a spider bracelet. I apologize for not getting photos of everyone and everything.

Thank You!

I just want to let all of you reading this blog know how appreciative and proud I was of my students on Friday!  The words 'thank you' may not seem like much, but when children use them genuinely and spontaneously it makes me happy!  Your children were so gracious before, during, and after our Harvest Party.  You should all be very proud!

                                                                     

First Grade Guest Reader

One component of our Reading Workshop is the 'share circle.'  This share time can be used for a variety of purposes (i.e. connect learning to mini-lesson, preteach something coming up soon), but last week we introduced 'guest readers'.  One way to reinforce the importance of fluency is to provide the reader with an audience.  Tyler was brave enough to be our first guest reader!  Over the course of the year any child who wants to read in front of the whole class will be given the opportunity.

Fire Station Field Trip!

Wow! I am really proud of how well our students represented UMS today when we visited the local fire station. They were a great audience and seemed very interested in learning about fire safety. October is Fire Prevention/Safety Month. What a great way to learn about how to stay safe and prevent fires! Thank you to the Colchester VOLUNTEER fire fighters (Jason and Jeff) for taking time out of your days to show us around and teach the children about fire safety. I know I learned new things during our trip--the saying is now, "Stop, Drop, COVER, and Roll." Ask your child why "Cover" was added and what it means.

This free scrapbooking design customized with Smilebox

Fire Station Field Trip

Tomorrow we will be walking to the fire station.  We talked about appropriate field trip behavior at school today, but if you have a chance to reinforce this talk at home it would be greatly appreciated!  We want to show our community how amazing our UMS kids can be!
                                                                       

Fun Photos from Today

These boys are working at the 'word work' station during literacy.  If you can't see they are using beans (a great tool) to spell 'red' words.

Close up of 'red' words spelled with beans

With Halloween less than a week away we've started to do some themed activities.  Here students are measuring (non-standard units) with candy corn.

Beans aren't just for words...Jared was counting large numbers of beans and deciding if he had an even or odd number.

We're wi-fi!!!!!  Now we can do a lot more with the laptops.  (As a side note...I love the student's face in the background - he had just gotten an answer correct!)

More candy corn measurement

No Reading Program on Tuesday

Due to the fire station field trip scheduled for this Tuesday, October 25th there will be no reading program that day.  However, parents are welcome to join us for the field trip.  We will begin our walk from UMS around 9:15 a.m. and should return to school by 10:45 a.m. Thank you!

                                                            

Burnham Memorial Library Trip

Did you know our local library is 110 years old? Did you know the first Colchester library had only 47 books? Did you know Mr. Antonicci's ties are on display at the library? We found out all these things and more when we visited the Burnham Memorial Library yesterday. We had a wonderful visit with librarians Hannah and Pam! The boys and girls were all very excited. One thing I learned from our trip was that we need to discuss 'field trip etiquette'. Our class is full of amazing listeners, but yesterday some children were so excited they forgot that our UMS school rules still apply even when we are not at UMS. We'll have another opportunity to practice these skills next week at the fire station.

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Morning Meeting Guest

That's one happy bunch of kids!

The boys and girls always love it when Mr. Antonicci stops by to visit.  They especially loved that he joined us for an entire morning meeting!  They would probably say their favorite part was the group photo - my favorite part was watching him sit right down on the carpet with the kids.  We are lucky to have such a caring and involved principal!

More From Math Time

Students used the large and small leaf to help them organize their number sentence.  We have been practicing say the larger number and then counting on.

More addition

Students loved using the Halloween objects to practice creating patterns!

Some patterns were had many parts.

Writing Celebration #1!

I hope you heard about our first writing celebration on Tuesday and that your child's collection of writing made it home safely. Remember, two of your child's self-selected best pieces are currently in their special writing binders in the classroom. I will continue to collect a sample or two per month of your child's writing throughout first grade. This special binder will come home in June as a keepsake of an amazing year of writing progress. Prepare to be AMAZED! Here are some photos of our writing celebration with Mrs. Sorenson's class.

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Library Trip Reminder

Just a quick reminder that we will be walking to the Burnham Memorial Library tomorrow (Wednesday).  We will be gone from UMS between 12-1p.m.  Parents are welcome to join us for this field trip.  We will be going rain or shine so please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately.  Thank you!

                                                                

All About Me - Wrap Up

As a culminating activity for our 'All About Me' unit students began to work with a partner on completing a venn diagram comparing one another this afternoon.  I was very impressed with the level of cooperation as well as the thought they put into their work!  We are going to use the venn diagrams as planning sheets to organize our thoughts before creating a student video.  We've already practiced a few lines which will be the opening to our video.  Be watching for the finished project in the days to come!

You can see they have already gotten a lot of work done!

It's fun to do a project with friends!

I was so impressed with each and every partnership!  This is just one close-up showing great student work.

Four Winds

If you would be willing/are able to help co-lead the Four Winds program in Mrs. Sorenson's class please let me know!  I will pass your name along to our classroom coordinator.  Thank you.
                                                            

Flynn Theater Trip - Success!!!

We had a wonderful field trip the Flynn Theater this morning!  The show was a fun combination of actors with masks, puppets, and cartoon animation.  Many children said that their favorite part was the dancing squirrels.  Ask your child what they enjoyed most about today's trip!

Boarded on the bus and ready to go!!!

Excited students wait for the performance to begin.

It's hard to tell, but we were up in the balcony.

When will the show start?!

The were ready to be excellent audience members.

Upcoming Field Trips

If you read the blog over the weekend you already know that we are going to be walking to the Burnham Memorial Library this Wednesday afternoon.  We are also planning another walking field trip for next week:  the fire station.  This trip will take place on either Monday or Tuesday morning from 9:30-10:30 a.m.  (we are still solidifying the details).  Parents are welcome to join us for either or both of the trips!  I will send home a notice with all details for both trips tomorrow in the green home/school folder. 

                                                            

Breaking News!

Hooray! It's going to be a two-field-trip-week! Our Flynn Theater trip is Monday, and we now have a trip to the Burnham Library planned for Wednesday!

Thank you to Hannah, the wonderful children's librarian at the Burnham Library, for being so flexible and accommodating! Mrs. Sorenson called her this morning and she was excited to arrange a time for our class and Mrs. Sorenson's class to visit. Our visit will take place this Wednesday, October 19th, from 12:00-1:00. We will leave soon after lunch recess ends at 11:45 and will walk to the library. We will walk rain or shine, so please help your child dress for the weather that day.

Currently, Mr. Antonicci's impressive tie collection is on display there, and we've been hoping to go visit to see the ties and to learn more about our wonderful public library. Children will view the tie collection, do a scavenger hunt, listen to Hannah read a story, take a library tour, and receive an application for a library card (which will be sent home that day).

I have not yet shared this information with students, since it was just arranged this morning. Feel free to tell your child! If you would like to join us for the walk and visit, please do! When we return to school, children will go right to Art class and we'll resume our day. Any and all are welcome, as long as you've completed the volunteer background check information which was sent home in August. Please let me know if you'd like to join us--you can send a note in the green folder OR send me an email: hughest@csdvt.org.  Thanks!

A permission slip for this trip will be sent home MONDAY. Please sign and return it ASAP. Thank you!

Tattle Tongue

Mrs. McCleary always teaches about grade-appropriate topics, but this lesson on 'tattle tongue' is always so helpful!  We learned that there is a difference between warning and tattling.  Warning is letting an adult know that someone is in danger of getting hurt.  Tattling is trying to get someone in trouble.  Ask your child about the tattle rules (if they can't remember MYOB stands for Mind Your Own Business).

Students colored their own copy of the tattling rules.  I hope you saw this come home in your child's green folder!

Mrs. McCleary's fancy tattling rules poster.

Four Winds - All About Leaves

This month's Four Winds topic was, Leaves.  Students watched a fun play, analyzed different types of leaves, and then went outside to collect their own leaf for leaf rubbing back in the classroom.  It was a gorgeous Vermont fall day and we all had a great time!  

First graders trying to find the right example of different leaf structures.

Everyone found the 'train track' veins on this leaf!

We love our Volunteers!

Our Volunteer Reading Program is officially underway!  This year I have more volunteers than I have ever had any other year (we are even fortunate enough to have three Grandmothers coming in)!!!  Thank you all so much for your time and talent.  I apologize for not taking more photos to include all of our fabulous volunteers, but reading is a very busy time in our classroom and I only had a moment to grab these two shots.

Students choose the book they would like to read to an adult.

Reading with an adult is always a special time!

Flynn Theater Field Trip

In order to arrive at the Flynn Theater in time for the show we are attending on
Monday, October 17th, we will need to board the bus by 8:35 a.m.  Please make sure that your child arrives at school on time.  Thank you!