Happy Halloween

Halloween Day Snack

On Friday we had a special spider snack. We learned about spider characteristics and how they are different from insects. The spider's head and cephalothorax were made from crackers and either cream cheese or peanut butter. They each had 8 pretzel legs and many mini chocolate chip eyes.

Rotten Pumpkin

This week our class read Rotten Pumpkin by David M. Schwartz. This was a great story told from 15 different points of view. It tells about the pumpkin life cycle and how animals, mold, insects and other things help decompose a pumpkin. After reading this story we made a list of all the things we learned just by listening.

• Earthworms eat pumpkins and poop out nutrients for the soil
• Fungi is on pumpkins
• Animals feed on pumpkins
• Pumpkin seeds can grow into pumpkins
• Pumpkins rot and leave seeds behind
• Yeast can help bread rise
• People can make medicine (penicillin) from mold (penicillium) which has saved lives
• Some molds keep other molds away/off

This is an interesting book and worth reading. It took us a couple of days and sparked many discussions. It is available at the Harold Martin School Library.

Lunchroom Etiquette

This week first graders were reminded about correct behavior during lunch. In 1S we brainstormed a list of behaviors that make eating more enjoyable and encourage us to fuel our bodies for the rest of the day. 

1. Keep your hands to yourself and your own food.
2. EAT!
3. Quiet time = Eating time. (First graders have 5-7 minutes at the beginning of lunch to just sit and eat. There are red signs placed at tables to remind students it is not a visiting time yet. We hope this encourages your child to eat more of their lunch first and then once the signs are taken off they continue to eat while they chat and visit with friends.)
4. Follow the 3B's.
5. Listen when the bell rings. (Mrs. Kilens rings a bell when an announcement needs to be made)
6. Sit on your bottom.
7. Chew with your mouth closed.
8. Clean up after yourself.
9. If you wouldn't do it at your dinner table, please don't do it at school.

The Week of October 14th

Exploring Pumpkins Using Our Five Senses

Pumpkins

Today we read our weekly Scholastic News: What's Orange and Bumpy? The students were thrilled to be discussing a favorite seasonal fruit! Once we read the article and identified the main idea & key details, we went back to find "juicy" adjectives throughout the text. The words squishy, creamy & reek made us curious to know what other describing words could be discovered using our senses with pumpkins. Then Mrs. Surrette, Owen & Alivia unveiled 2 freshly plucked pumpkins from her garden. We sliced them open and got busy! The students brainstormed a list of words that included slippery, slimy, wet, yucky, hard, smooth, shiny and more. Ask your child what adjectives they would use to describe a pumpkin!

Rekenreks

On Wednesdays Mrs. Jones, our Numeracy Specialist, comes to join our math lessons and usually brings some fun activities, math tools and games. This week she brought Rekenreks! They look similar to an abacus, but the Rekenrek has two strings of 10 beads each, strategically broken into two groups of 5 red and 5 white. This provides a visual model that encourages young learners to subitize or instantly see how many.

Here's a resource from www.therekenrek.com that shows how children use the rekenrek as a math tool:

For example, a child might view the number 7 as one group of 5 (red), and 2 more.

Similarly, 13 might be thought of as 10, and 3 more.

Brockway (written by 1S)

We went to Brockway Nature Preserve last week to learn more about beavers and how they live. We also learned about wetlands, the animals that live there and food chains. 

First, Mrs. Chapman came to school to introduce herself and tell us about Brockway. She showed us beavers skulls, teeth marks, beaver skin, beaver teeth and we made a mural of all the animals that live at Brockway. 

Next, we went to Brockway and we got to catch some of the animals. Rebecca and Lilly caught a crayfish. Aisling caught a tadpole and then fell into the pond! After, we got to see all the creatures that everyone caught. That includes bullfrog tadpoles, crayfish, water striders, water bugs, salamanders, water boatman and lots of dragonfly nymphs.

Then, we built beaver dams. We got to see a real-life beaver dam and lodge. Then our challenge was to build mini dams in plastic bins with sticks, mud and leaves. None of our dams passed the water test, but if we had more time I bet we could've made the dams work.

Finally, we went back to the busses and went back to school. We loved our field trip to Brockway. Thank you parents for helping. 

Roll, Say, Keep!

Here's a fun way for us to review and learn High Frequency words. The game board has 6 squares, one for each number on the dice. A word card is placed in each square. A student then rolls the die and selects the card in the corresponding square number. If the child reads the word, he/she keeps the card and replaces it with another word from the deck. If he/she is unable to read the word, the partner reads it and the card is put back in the square for more practice. 

Library Visits

Welcome to Our Blog!

Our website will grow as we collaborate together and decide which activities and links we'd like to share with you. Here's what we started...

Check out our IWB (Interactive Whiteboard)

Welcome Families!
Do you like our new blog? Your children helped to create this site! In fact, each week the children will reflect on our activities at school and work together to write the posts. Our class is very excited to share pictures and videos with you.

Be sure to check in at least once/week to view the Upcoming Events and other features on the right for some important updates and helpful links.

Let us know what you think about our blog. Please leave a comment below for us to view.

Library
Last Friday we had a library introduction with Mrs. Marino, the new HMS Library Media Specialist. She read a very funny book called Peanut Butter & Cupcake. Then we watched a video and we talked about how to take care of library books.







Nature Walk (told by 1S students)
We had a nature walk today. We learned about scientists by reading our Scholastic News this morning. Scientists investigate to learn more about animals, robots, computers, instruments, insects and other stuff. They use tools like magnifying glasses, pencils to record data, flashlights, magnets, rulers, thermometers and more. We began our own investigation about insects and butterflies. We hunted for caterpillars and insects with magnifying glasses. We found 3 caterpillars. We saw 2 japanese beetles, 2 grasshoppers, yellow jackets and a monarch caterpillar egg on a milkweed plant. We were happy and excited to learn about insects, but Mrs. Surrette forgot to bring her camera to take cool pictures!



Open House
It was so great to see you at Open House. It's helpful to put faces to the families that students share stories and pictures about.

I'm sorry that I didn't get photos of all of you, but I would like to have a family photograph for each student. If you don't see yourself pictured here please send me a photo of you and your family to keep in our class photo album!

The Last Week of School

Refund for Odiorne
The HMS office and SAU are currently working to refund your payments for the Odiorne field trip. The bus company is charging a minimum payment, but the remaining refund will be returned to you by mail.

Last 2 Days
Monday and Tuesday are our last 2 days of school. On Monday, first graders will meet their 2nd grade teachers in their new classrooms along with next year's classmates. They will spend about 40 minutes together in the morning. Then we will have a later outdoor picnic lunch at 12:15 with the whole school. After we enjoy lunch with everyone, we'll be splitting up into groups to enjoy an afternoon of field day activities. Each group will be made up of first, second and third graders. This is always a fun afternoon at HMS! Please be sure your child wears appropriate shoes and clothing. They are welcome to change before field day.

On Tuesday, students will be dismissed at 12:00. This means we will have an early lunch at 10:50. First graders will be helping me pack up and clean the room as I prepare to move to a second floor classroom. I will continue to teach first grade, but my classroom will be upstairs near the computer lab.

I want to let you all know that your children have been an absolute joy to work with this year. I have been blessed with a caring, enthusiastic, and silly group of students that has made my year so wonderful. As I reflect back on our curriculum and where the students have taken us, I am amazed that they are only 1st graders. We have learned about US and World History, Addition & Subtraction WITH REGROUPING, environmental and life sciences, bird calls & habitats, fiction and non-fiction text regarding The Medieval Ages and so much more. This class will be missed! Thank you for a fabulous year!

The Week of April 14th

Mr. Martin talking with 1S & 1N about how to care for our Earth

Birding At Brockway

On Friday, May 9th we went to Brockway Nature Preserve to observe birds. We split into 2 groups. One group learned about making bird nests. Some nests are different than others'.  Robin's nests are larger than black-capped chickadee's nests. Some were very fragile while other nests seemed unbreakable. There were some made out of hair. Some were made out of moss and lichen. An oriole's nest is shaped like a teardrop and hangs from a tree while other nests are shaped like circles and ovals and sit on top of a branch. After we learned about bird nests, we got to build our own nests. The test was to see if our nest would hold jellybeans. The nests that were shaped like circles could hold jellybeans.
While this group learned about nests, the other group went to a look-out over a wetland and used binoculars to watch ducks and birds. We saw 2 mallards, 2 geese, 2 wood ducks and 2 hooded mergansers. We saw a beaver dam too.
We liked going to Brockway to learn about birds. We want to go there again!

Leave It to Beavers!
On Friday, May 16th we watched a PBS movie called Leave It to Beavers. It taught us how beavers live in the wild. Sometimes they walk on two feet while they carry mud to make their lodge. Travis says, "If you want to see something funny, watch this movie."
Nolan learned that the beavers can live with their family from birth to two years. Then they go out to find a mate and make their own lodge so they can survive. Malcolm adds, "Or they find an empty lodge and build onto it."
Jake learned that beavers chop down trees within minutes. Joey learned that beavers like to eat the sugar under the bark of trees. Cassidy learned that beavers don't hibernate. They store trees for food and burry it in the mud so they have something to eat during the winter. Cody learned that beavers can scare away predators like bear and wolves and they can keep moose away from their food by splashing water with their tail.
This movie was terrific. It was real. It was a very good non-fiction movie. Take a look on the right side bar if you'd like to watch Leave It to Beavers. 

Upcoming Field Trips
On Monday you'll see a notice about our two spring field trips. We'll be heading to The Capital Center for the Arts on Tuesday, June 3rd and then to Odiorne State Park on Thursday, June 5th. We'll need chaperones for the Odiorne trip. Keep an eye out for the notice on Monday!

Growing Up WILD
Mrs. Surrette will be running a summer nature camp for the month of July. If you're interested in coming and you're willing to travel to Chester, NH, here is the link to the WILD CHILD blog.
growupwild.blogspot.com

The Week of March 31st

Seed Spitting on Opening Day!

This blog was written by the students of 1S (with very little help by Mrs. Surrette)

Red Sox Opening Day

On opening day for the Red Sox we did a lot of fun things like a math baseball game on the IWB (Interactive Whiteboard). It was fun doing the baseball games. We also did a seed spitting contest with two people on a team. You took the seed, put it in your mouth, and tried to spit it really far. You had to measure how far the seed went. Then you had to graph how far the seed went on a piece of paper. It was really fun. Did you like it when the Red Sox came back to play?

Digital Citizenship

We're going to tell you about Digital Citizens. Digital citizens don't tell anybody their password. They limit time on their devices and they are safe on the internet. We know that if something pops up on the computer and asks for your password, DON'T type it in because that is your private information. If someone emails you a mean message, go tell an adult. That is what a good digital citizen does.

Scoot

Last week our class played SCOOT! Scoot is a game where you walk around the classroom and find little task cards. Each card is numbered and has a different problem. Every student solves the problem and writes their answer in the number on their recording sheet that corresponds to the number on the task card. Click here to see an example of Contraction SCOOT! 
Our SCOOT game last week was about Facts vs. Opinions. Scoot is a fantastic game because you get to move around the classroom. It helps you practice reading and learn the difference between facts and opinions. We hope you get the chance to play a SCOOT game one day. 

Creative Doodles

Jake and Travis taught our class a fun hand-eye coordination activity. 

The Week of March 24th

Taffy on Snow!

Maple Snow
Sap time, sap time, coming around....
That's one of our songs we're learning by Steve Schuch. We've been talking about how maple syrup is made.
On Thursday Mrs. Damour and her daughter made us a special treat. They boiled the syrup to 236 degrees and then poured it over the snow. Sophia, Sydney and Abigail wrote about their experience:

"Hey Guys! We are going to learn about Taffy on Snow. Here is what we needed. We needed to boil maple syrup. Then we dropped the maple syrup on snow. Then we took a popsicle stick and spun it around. Then we ate it. Yum! Mmmmm!

Red Sox Opening Day
Red Sox Opening day at Fenway Park is on Friday, April 4th, but the season starter is Monday, March 31st! Wear your Red Sox or sports attire on Monday and we'll spend the day celebrating baseball and warmer weather. We'll be playing math baseball, spitting sunflower seeds and measuring the distance and having fun with other baseball themed activities.

The Week of March 17th

This blog was written in teams. Each team had the choice to write a narrative or informative paper. We hope you enjoy our blog this week!

Leprechauns By: Cole, Sydney, Cassidy, Will & Joey
On St. Patrick's Day we set traps to trap a leprechaun. They were fun to make. That night a leprechaun came.
He trashed our classroom. The leprechaun even wrote on the world wall! He left footprints everywhere (even the door)! He knocked the books off the bookshelf! It spilled our paint (green of course)!
That naughty leprechaun. He should be sorry.

Binoculars & Birds By: Paige & Brianna, Malcolm & Cody

On Wednesday Mrs Chapman came into our classroom to teach us about birds. 

First, Mrs. Chapman showed us a game. It was a matching game. We had to match a bird picture to its bird name. 

Next, she put us into groups. One group learned how to use binoculars. The other group was working on their bird guides. When you use binoculars you first put the strap around your neck. Then you hold them up to your eyes. If there is black on the lens, you need to hold on tighter. If it's blurry, you twist the knob on the top. 

Binoculars are good for watching birds. We liked using them. We are going to use them to see what kinds of birds come to our feeders. We hope we see birds.

On Wednesday we also had a mischievous squirrel eating our bird food! We tried to scare it away, but it wouldn't go away. So...Malcolm knocked on the window, but it still kept eating. The squirrel was staring right at Paige. Paige thought that the squirrel was in love with her. 

Celebrating Spring By: Nolan

The snow is melting... Birds are coming our way.... WHAT'S HAPPENING!!!?

"Spring is coming."

"Who? I've never heard of him. Let's go find him!"

"Spring is not a person. It's a season."

We know Spring is coming when snow melts, grass grows, weather is warmer, and we can see the buds on trees and plants. More birds come like robins, ducks, and red-winged blackbirds. Daylight is longer. It's light out until 7:00 p.m. Bears come out and other animals like chipmunks and skunks. Flowers like daffodils, tulips and crocus pop out of the ground. 

Spring is a fun season because the snow goes away and we can actually run around. Spring sounds a lot better too. Birds chirp, mourning doves coo and if you're an athlete you can mountain bike easier. I hope you get the chance to enjoy the spring.

How to Make a Flower Pencil By: Sophia & Abigail

1. Get white paper.

2. Color the front and back.

3. Make sure that you have no white spaces.

4. Fold the paper.

5. Cut half way up to the fold.

6. Tape the paper to a pencil.

7. If you want to curl the paper, you have to take another pencil and curl it up and hold it for 7 seconds.

Making flower pencils are fun. At the end they look really cool. We hope you have time to make one.

The Week of March 10th

This blog was written by 4 teams of writers. Each team was given a choice to write a narrative or informative story. We hope you enjoy our blog this week!

Cinderella Caterpillar By: Nolan, Sydney, Cassidy & Paige

On Friday we went on a field trip to St. Paul's school to see Cinderella Caterpillar! It was fun! First, we got on the bus. We were put into partners. Next, we watched the show. It was about following your dreams and being kind to people. The show was sooooo funny, especially when the cockroach ran around with bags on its head. We liked the whole entire play. Then when the play was over, we got to high-five the characters. Finally, we got back on the bus and went back to school.

Park Ranger Presentation By: Travis, Abigail & Brianna

On Wednesday, March 12th we went to Mrs. Pepper's room. The Elm Brook Park Rangers told us about animals and what they do in winter. They also brought mounted animals to show us. Here are some things we learned. They told us about coyotes. They have guard hair which keeps them dry. Underneath, they have insulating hair that keeps them warm.
We saw an otter. They eat fish and they can slide on snow. They live in tunnels in the side of riverbanks.
We saw an owl. Owls have really good hearing and good eyesight. They have sharp talons just like an osprey. The osprey can live in Hopkinton, but in the winter they might migrate to warm places like Florida. They also eat a lot of fish.
The bear mount they brought in was named Lulu. It died from a car crash. Bears can hibernate underground or in caves in winter. At the end, we got to touch all of the animals. We were excited. It was very fun.

Bird Feeders By: Will, Cole, Malcolm & Joey

On Thursday Mrs. Chapman came into the classroom to talk about birds and what they eat. First, we played a True or False game. She would say a sentence about birds and if we thought it was true we jumped up into the air. If we thought it was false we laid down on the floor. We learned that not all birds can fly, but all birds do have wings and feathers. 

Next, we split into 2 groups. One of the groups made a pine cone bird feeder. We spread peanut butter on the pine cone and rolled it in birdseed. The other group made a bird guide. We colored the birds the right colors. Some of the birds were a mourning dove, a black-capped chickadee, a blue jay and a cardinal. Then the groups switched so everyone got to do the same thing. 

Finally, we got to make one more feeder. We put peanuts in a slinky to see if anymore birds would come to our feeders. We liked making the bird feeders. It was fun doing these projects. We hope these bird feeders will finally attract the birds to our class feeder.

Snowshoeing By: Jake, Cody, Sophia & Joey

The class went snowshoeing on Thursday. First, we went to the MPR. We put on the snowshoes. It was hard to put them on. It was cold outside. You have to pull as hard as you can so the straps get tight so your foot doesn't slip out. Some of our feet slipped out!
Next, we walked beside the school and hung up the pine cone bird feeders on some trees and outside our classroom window. Then we walked back to the MPR.
Finally, we took the snowshoes off and put them back where they belong. It was time for lunch, we were so hungry and our faces were freezing. It felt like we had icicles hanging from our noses.
Even though putting on the snowshoes was hard we still had fun. Hopefully next time we can go out in the woods, stay longer and look for tracks.