The Week of Jan 21

*Written by the students in 1S (with a little help from Mrs. Surrette)

Beaver

We have a beaver in our classroom now, but it is stuffed. It was alive at one point. We don't know how it died, but we do know that it was not hunted. It came from Elm Brook Park. Ms. Nichols had it in her room and now we get to have it. 

We are learning that beavers build dens and in the winter they can go into their space and can get sticks under the water. Sophia and Cassidy made signs so people will only look at it instead of touching it. The beaver has a split toe. We are curious to know what it is used for. Please help us discover why beavers have a split toe. We will come back to school next week and share our thoughts.

Library

Last week you read about our class learning the difference between fiction and nonfiction stories. This week, in library, we continued that discussion with Musical Books and nonfiction I Can Read books.  

In the library there is a whole section for the I Can Read books. These are great for 1st graders because there are a lot of words we can read. There are fiction and nonfiction books. To become more familiar with these stories we played musical books. This is like musical chairs except on the chairs there are books and when the music stops, you find a seat and read the book that is sitting on the chair. As the chairs get taken away, students have to squeeze onto a chair with a friend and buddy read. It was fun, but Mrs. Surrette forgot to take a picture. We'll play again in our classroom and take pictures this time. 

Scholastic News

Check out our Scholastic News this week. Every year In China they make an ice city with ice slides, ice restaurants and ice castles. This celebration is called the Ice Festival. We made paintings of our own ice castles. Nolan and Malcolm created an ice roller coaster in their paintings!

Did you notice this issue talks about a glossary? This is another part of nonfiction books! We learned that a glossary is where you look up key words in a book. A glossary tells you what the words means and how you pronounce it.

Check out next week's blog post! Here are some topics we'll be writing about:

Pop to Win

Chp 5 Test: Shapes & Patterns

Olive came to school on Tuesday

WIN

The Week of January 13th

1S working on a digital version of Scholastic News

MLK, Jr. 

On Monday we are not going to be at school because it is Martin Luther King, Jr Day. It is a day to celebrate his ideas and how he saved the world from the "white only" signs. When the laws were changed the "white only" signs were taken down. He changed the world with peace. We learned through our Read Aloud today that when he was young he was no longer allowed to play with his friends because of his skin color. Today, we can make all kinds of friends!

Mrs. Maynard
Mrs. Maynard came to our class last week. It is such a special treat to have her come in to read to us because she finds some great books for us. We've recently come to enjoy an author named Olivier Dunrea. He wrote A Christmas Tree for Pyn and Hanne's Quest. On Monday Mrs. Maynard brought us some of his small picture books about Gossie. Cole thinks that Olive will LOVE them!

Check out the Hopkinton Library website here to see the exciting and upcoming Library Events.

Fiction vs. Non-Fiction
We spent last Friday learning how to identify fiction stories and non-fiction stories. One trick is to think about the beginning sound of fiction-it starts like fake. Fiction=Fake. Fiction is not real. Non-fiction means that it is not fake or real. We can tell that a story is a fiction book because most times it has illustrations or drawings or paintings and we know that animals can't talk or walk on 2 feet so that makes it a fiction book.

A non-fiction story usually has pictures or photographs that looks like real stuff. Most times it has a table of contents and has factual information.

Math: Geometry
In Kindergarten children have learned to identify and describe plane shapes such as circles, rectangles, squares and triangles as well as recognize solid figures like a sphere, cube and pyramid. This year in chapter 5 children will extend that knowledge to compare shapes and determine how they are alike and different by describing the shape's attributes and properties.

Next week you'll see a math practice packet come home with more details and objectives and how you can help reinforce these concepts at home. Here's what the class wanted to share with you on the blog:

Cody has learned that a square has 4 equal sides. Sophia knows that a circle has 0 sides and 0 corners. Cassidy shares that regular (or plane) shapes are flat and solid figures are objects you can hold. Nolan knows that rectangular prisms have rectangles in them. Cole has observed that a diamond (or rhombus) looks like a square, but just flipped around. And a big reminder for all: a triangle has 3 sides.


Nice work everyone! Keep up the great work. And thank you everyone for making it such a special day for my birthday today.

The Week of January 6th

Happy New Year

Welcome back to school! On Tuesday our class rang in the New Year. Every hour (on the hour) our timer would alert us. We shouted "HAPPY NEW YEAR" and opened a surprise bag. Each hourly celebration was connected to our curriculum (graphing for math, new pencils for writing) or sparked a discussion about traditions throughout the world. Here are some of our celebrations throughout our day:

9:00 Start the New Year off "Write"

The new year is all about making good choices and thinking about change. Choose the pencil you would like best to help you start the new year off "write". Then write a resolution. Think about what would make you a better person in 2014. Choose something you would like to start doing and something you would like to stop doing.

10:00 Eat 12 Grapes

The Spanish eat 12 grapes so they will have 12 months of good luck in the new year.

(We were out of the room for 11:00 and 12:00)

1:00 New Year's Calendars

Getting organized is a wonderful way to start a new year. Try to get everyone's birthday recorded on your calendar before time runs out. Then you'll be able to think of our class for the whole year and remember our friends on their special day!

2:00 New Year's Toast

Fill your glass and toast the new year. Be sure to wish those near you the best of luck in 2014! If you can't reach their glass, you can look them in the eye and nod your head.

A Native American Welcome
For Thanksgiving our class created a quick 3 day play performance about the Natives and Pilgrims. I've had trouble loading the video onto our blog, but hopefully you can now view our exceptional dramatic skills. Check it out on the right sidebar.



December Holidays Around the World

Holiday Concert

1S making gingerbread houses for Holidays Around the World: Germany

George Washington's Breakfast

Mmmm.... Cassidy and Nolan cooked up this grand idea to share their reading group story with the class by feeding their friends.

In George Washington's Breakfast a young boy named George Washington Allen wants to find out more about his namesake. He already knows so many interesting facts about our first president, but he doesn't know what he ate for breakfast. Well, we now know he enjoyed 3 indian hoecakes swimming in butter and honey and as many cups of tea.

Cassidy and Nolan have researched just what an indian hoecake is and made them for everyone in our class to try. Check out the recipes here. There's also a quick video about 4 chefs recreating this tasty breakfast on the right sidebar. Mmmmm...I love reading group!

The Week of December 9th