The Week of November 18th

Fire Prevention Week

On Monday the Hopkinton Firefighters came to HMS to talk about fire safety. We learned a lot about what to do if there is a fire at our house. If we're in our room and there's a fire and your bedroom door is hot, then put a blanket under the crack so smoke will stay out, then go to your window and yell out anything you want, including "HELP"' or "SPONGEBOB SQUARE PANTS!" As long as you are yelling for help, the firefighters will come and help you. 

If your clothing is on fire, you cover your face and STOP, DROP, and ROLL to put the fire out. 

When we went outside we explored the fire engines. Joey saw the chainsaw that can cut through concrete and metal. The engines are full of 500 and 1,000 gallons of water. They also have a ladder that goes really high (75 feet) which Malcolm discovered could reach about a 3 or 4 story building.

Our homework from the fire department was to ask mom and dad to find a meeting place at home in case there's a fire. A meeting place should be somewhere away from the house where all family members meet so incase you can't go out of the house together you'll know everyone is out and safe. 

Thankful Trees

We made trees that showed what were are thankful for. We traced our hands out of paper and wrote 5 things we were thankful for. These will make great Thanksgiving displays! Keep an eye out for them on Monday.

Library

Did you hear? It was a tie for first place for the Ladybug Book Award at Harold Martin School. The two books that won were Stuck by Oliver Jeffers and Little Dog Lost: The True Story of a Brave Dog Named Baltic.  More students in our class voted for Stuck than any other Ladybug book. Mrs. Alibrandi said we'll probably find the official winner in December or January. 

Today in the library we read 3 books today about bunnies. One book was called The Snatchabook. We liked that book the best. 

Native American Play

The majority of our class shared that their favorite part of our week was learning about the Pilgrim's Journey. To reinforce our leaning about the hardships and struggles as well as the success the Pilgrims experienced,  we're working on a Thanksgiving play in our class. Be on the lookout next week and maybe we can make a video of our dramatic play!

Elements of a Story

Speaking of videos, take a look at the rap we've been singing to help us understand the 5 parts of a short story. The video is posted on the right sidebar. Be careful....it's a catchy tune!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends and a Happy Hanukkah too!

The Week of November 5th

1S with the Artist in Residence

(This post was written by the first graders with very little of Mrs. Surrette's help.)

This week was exciting because we saw it snow outside!


Thank you Veterans!
On Friday we went to the MPR to thank veterans in the morning. Veterans are people who served the country by fighting in the military. Some of the veterans we met today fought in WWII. We thank veterans because they risked their lives to make our country free. Monday is Veteran's Day. We can thank them in our hearts or write a letter to a veteran.

Fun Loom Bracelets
Mrs. Surrette bought our class Loom elastics. We used them to make Fun Loom bracelets. This helped us practice our fine motor skills (which makes us better writers), math (color patterns) and our communication skills.
Will said, "It was really fun!"
For 9 of us, this was the first time we had ever made a bracelet. The other classmates helped us make them and showed us all kinds of ways to do it. We were persistent (a new math word) and were very proud of ourselves!



Turkeys in Disguise
We read the book Turkey Trouble. The turkey tried to disguise himself as other animals so that he wouldn't be eaten for Thanksgiving. At the end, he disguised himself as a Pizza Delivery Man and Farmer Jake fell for it. So they ate pizza instead of turkey. It was Turkey's best Thanksgiving ever!

You can help disguise your turkeys too! In your Home Folder you'll see a fun, family activity to complete together. Turkey needs your help to blend in with your family so he doesn't end up on a platter for Thanksgiving day. Check out the packet and have fun!

Sink or Float
We put objects in water to see if they sink or float. We were testing our hypothesis: Heavy things sink and lighter things float, but it was not true. We discovered objects that were hollow floated.

1S with Mrs. Alibrandi

Our Week in Library with Mrs. Alibrandi

Every other Friday we meet with Mrs. Alibrandi for a lesson in the library. This week we read about Ladybug books from years past. Today we read a book and then watched the movie. It was pretty good.

Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

In the beginning, there was a big tornado and a man lost his memoir. He had to start his book all over again. It was like The Wizard of Oz, where he gets sucked up in the storm. He goes to a library where the books are alive. He gives other people books and they turn to color.
In the end, it made Cassidy cry because the man left the library with all of the books left behind. The books were very sad, but then another character comes to the library and the story starts all over again. It's like a circle story.

This was a good book/movie.