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

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.

The Week of October 21-25

Chart: Find at least 5 sets of rhyming pictures

Literacy Workjobs

During our 90-minute literacy block your first grader independently completes various tasks throughout the classroom. We have a work board to help keep us organized and on task. On the work board there are 4 activities to complete. Each picture icon represents a different center around the room. These activities reinforce skills and concepts within our curriculum. Centers may include computer, journaling, a word sort, spelling, rhyming, listening center, reading around the room, buddy reading and many others. 

While learners are engaged in their individual jobs, I meet with reading groups to provide small group instruction. Students are encouraged to problem-solve or ask a friend if they need help before coming to a teacher. We encourage learners to talk with peers and utilize resources around the room (dictionary, word wall, posters etc.)

Here, you'll see some of the jobs that your child engages in.

Journal: Use quality handwriting, correct letter formation and quality, detailed illustrations. Write until you reach the bottom line.

ABC: Hearing Sounds in Sequence-choose a minimum of 5 picture cards.  Write the letter for each sound you hear. Then read it to a partner.

Spelling: Letter Stamps-practice making your spelling words using pencils, stamps and markers.

Math

On Wednesday our class learned a new activity called SCOOT! We had to "scoot" around the room to find different numbered cards with number lines on them. Each number line had 1 missing number. We had to count the numbers until we figured out which one was missing and then write it in the box for that numbered card. We had 24 cards to find. We thought this activity was fun, but hard. It was great learning about missing numbers. 

We also LOVED addition baseball. In honor of the Red Sox entering the World Series we played Addition Baseball on the IWB (Interactive White Board). We roled the dice on the computer. If we got a sum of 2 or 3, it was a strike. If the sum was 4, 5, or 6 it was a single so we ran to first base (Cassidy's coat on the floor). If the sum was 7, 8 or 9 it was a double and so on-you can see the rest in the picture below.

Our class kept score by using tally marks. We scored 12 runs! We thought it was great because we got to move our bodies around the room and run and we slid into home. We also got to practice our addition skills.

Addition Baseball