The Week of May 11th

Building a zoo together

Butterflies

We have 5 painted lady caterpillars that are in their chrysalis. On Friday we came to school and saw two butterflies were out and ready to be released. A parent was able to capture our release just before parent pick-up.

Home Book Club

This will be the last week we send books home for our Book Club. We will be happy to continue to collect minutes each week and I will still send home a recording sheet up until June 12th, but I will not be sending books or bags home. As the school year comes to a close we will continue to celebrate learning at home and reflect on our achievements throughout the year. This includes reading for 500 minutes and beyond.

The Week of May 4th

Choice Time

Recently our class has created a Pet Shop during Choice Time. Students can be observed building shops, barns and animal pens as well as showing others how to care for pets. We have stuffed animals that act as pets and also students that enjoy pretending to be dogs and cats that escape and disobey their owner. The pet shop has a cash register where owners go to buy animals and supplies. We even have homemade leashes that are for sale! Ask your child what he or she likes to do during Choice Time.

Tick Alert

Now that the weather is nice, please be sure to do a nightly tick check on your child. Anytime we head outdoors we return to do a quick tick check, but we can't be as thorough as you can at home. For long hair, it is better to have it pulled back into a braid, ponytail or some kind of clip. 

Here are some tips from the CDC to STOP TICKS.

Mrs. Maynard

Every other month Mrs. Maynard visits our class and brings some great books to share. She also has a chance to give us more information on Hopkinton Library events. Here's a link to the Children's Home Page

Join the Staff of the Hopkinton Town Library

In a Sestercentennial Reading Challenge!!

FOR ALL AGES!!!

Read 25.0 (that’s TWENTY FIVE!)  books by December 31^st to honor

Hopkinton’s  250^th Anniversary and be entered into a Raffle to

Win a Gift Certificate to one of our

Wonderful Local Businesses!!

The Week of March 30th

Quiet Time with various Magic Tree House Chapter Books!

Read Aloud & Quiet Time

In the afternoons after the children come back from lunch and recess we have about 30 minutes for a read aloud and then some time to explore through books. I usually select the read aloud to inspire an interest in a genre or author or a collection of books from our classroom library. Recently we started the chapter book series The Magic Tree House. These fictional adventure stories are filled with world of adventure. Amazon describes them nicely. Jack and his little sister Annie are just two regular kids from Frog Creek, Pennsylvania. Then they discover a mysterious tree house packed with all sorts of books...and their lives are never the same! Soon they are traveling through time and space in the magic tree house and having amazing adventures. Whether it's watching baby dinosaurs hatch, finding a secret passage in a castle, helping a ghost queen in an Egyptian pyramid, or finding pirate treasure, readers won't want to miss a single story!

Some of the stories even have a companion book which provides a non-fiction background for several of the topics discussed in the fiction chapter books. 

Enjoy reading!

Choice Time

Our bakery has closed! Although we enjoyed ordering, cooking, serving and eating many foods the restaurant turned out to unprofitable and the students are now onto creating a pet shop!

Baking in Class

When our bakery was open we were able to make some delicious treats. Last week we made banana bread. This week we made pumpkin muffins with Mrs. Chodosh! Students were able to read and follow a recipe, measure ingredients and mix and pour before going into the oven. Thank you Mrs. Chodosh for coming back to our class. We've missed you!

Once the treats were ready to be eaten, we practiced our table manners together. Sometimes in the lunch room our table manners have been forgotten so we reviewed lunch room expectations and then some children shared what your rules are at home for dinner time. 

Thank you to the families who donated materials for our bakery. Please let me know if you are missing something. 

The Week of March 16th & 23rd

Reading Rods

Thank you to Mrs. Chodosh for donating our new reading rods! Each cube has a word (noun, adjective, verb, etc) and we have had a fun week making sentences. Then when we turn it over it may have a silly sentence on the other side. Oh, it's so much fun!

Math: Numbers to 20

This week we began a new chapter in math. We're working closely with numbers to 20. In this chapter, children will learn how to count, read and write numbers within 20. This involves counting on from 10. They will learn to recognize the numbers 11-20 as 1 group of teen and particular numbers of ones (place value). This is key as we set the foundation for developing the idea of tens and ones and being able to make sense of two-digit numbers. Children will need to be confident in their understanding of place value in order to handle the arithmetic operations of addition and subtraction, which will require children to recognize two-digit numbers as groups of tens and ones.

Throughout the week we compared more than 2 numbers using the concepts of greatest and least. Children also learned to recognize and make increasing and decreasing number patterns which involve a difference of 1 or 2 between consecutive steps in the pattern. For example, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 1, 6 or 2, 4, 6, 8, 10

Choice

Weather!

You'll notice our Scholastic News this week is titled Hold On, It's Windy Out! This sparked our study of different types of weather. We introduced this topic of spring weather by watching the video "In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb". We discussed what our spring weather was like and found other states on our U.S. map that might have weather like us. 

After reading through the issue we pointed out the sections on hail, tornadoes and rainbows. Students turned to a neighbor and explained how those kinds of weather happen. Students did a great job retelling what they learned.

On Thursday morning we reviewed what we learned about weather, especially about rainbows.  Then each student was able to make a rainbow made of tissue paper inside wax paper. The children thought the activity had 3 objectives:

1. Create a rainbow using the 7 colors

2. Strengthen our fine motor skills by tearing small pieces of paper

3. Practicing how to do something neatly

Boy, these kids are fun!

On Friday we'll be talking more about the 3 different types of clouds. White, fluffy clouds are called cumulus clouds. They mean good weather. Thin, wispy clouds are called cirrus clouds. And flat, gray clouds are called stratus clouds. Those bring rain. 

Week of March 9th

Goldilocks and the Three Pigs!

Bakery Preparations

STEM

Mrs. Surrette is Back

Greetings from Mrs. Surrette

Hello Everyone! It's great to be back with the class. As we finish our first week together I am reminded how wonderful these children really are. Although it's hard for me to leave my little girls, this class has made my transition back to school easy and smooth. As I get back into the swing of things I would love to have the chance to speak with you all regarding these last few months of first grade. Within the next few weeks I'll be contacting your family to chat about our goals as we move toward the end of the year.

Thank you to Mrs. Chodosh for taking such great care of this group of children. She will be missed!

Math with Mrs. Jones

This week when Mrs. Jones came into our class we worked on our 120 boards. The focus of our lesson is to move by 10s and 1s on the board. Children are solving addition and subtraction problems using this tool. We are able to show 56+32=88, 74- ?  =25 and so on.

We encourage students to count by 10s first, then 1s. Using the first example from above it would sound like 56, 66, 76, 86..87,88! Doing this with a visual is helpful, but you can also try this in the car or anywhere for quick mental math practice.

Choice Time

In first grade playing and learning are not separate. We have choice time where students are able to choose an activity and who they interact with. This is a great time to monitor conversations, model appropriate social skills and observe children's interests and curiosities. Last week I saw a group of students using the play-doh to create a "bakery". They served cinnamon hot cocoa with marshmallows, chocolate cakes with strawberry frosting, pizzas with extra cheese and pepperoni and so much more.

I could tell this was a "feel good" center for our class and we are going to run with it! We will create a bakery in our room as a new choice time area. The students are thrilled to welcome this to our curriculum. I will integrate writing, table manners, money and other subject areas into our play. If you have something that you would be willing to donate to our class please let us know. We are looking for pans, baking utensils, a cash register or anything else one might connect to a bakery. If you would like us to return the items, please mark your donation with your child's name so we are sure to return it to the correct place.

Have a great week and I look forward to speaking with you!

Sarah Surrette

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2015! 

I hope you've had a wonderful holiday break. Mr. Surrette, the girls and I have been enjoying the nice weather and being home together for the holidays. 

I just want to say a quick hi and Happy New Year!

Love, 

Mrs. Surrette

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