Pictures from our week

We Give Books

Really Wonderful Website to Check Out with Your Family:

www.wegivebooks.org

About the website:

We Give Books is a new digital initiative that enables anyone with access to the Internet to put books in the hands of children who don't have them, simply by reading online.

We Give Books combines the joy of reading with the power of helping others, providing a platform for caregivers and educators to inspire children to become lifelong readers and lifelong givers.

All of the books available for online reading are children's picture books appropriate for children through age ten. There is a mix of fiction and nonfiction, a range of authors, and an equal balance between read-aloud and books for independent readers. 

The books are free to read so I encourage your family to check it out!

I forgot to share some technology news...

1. In computer lab this week, the children visited the Starfall site.  This can be accessed from the SMS home page. (They loved using this site in computer class) The children had the opportunity to practice their reading and phonics skills.  This is  great indoor activity if you are looking for something to keep your little Starfish busy on these cold days!

2. If you haven't had a chance to get onto spelling city, I encourage you and your child to try this website to practice the weekly spelling words.  I have had some positive feedback from 1st graders and their parents about the website.  A few weeks ago, your child came home with a username and password. Please contact me if you need more information or have lost your child's information in the paper shuffle!

3. Some IPAD apps that I would like to recommend to you that we are using in the classroom are: 

1. SPIT (a free card game that practices one more one less)
2. Motion Math: Hungry Fish (There is a free and paid version) This is great to build stronger number sense
3. IZEN (a free app that I introduced to the starfish to use in our relaxation center)
4. Everyday Mathematics: Tric Trac.  A great math app to practice addition and math strategy. This app costs $1.99
5. 1st Grade Math: Splash Math: (There is a free and paid version) This app covers every common core standard of 1st grade math.  There are 13 chapters covering 185 math skills. The app costs $9.99 but it might be something to consider to reinforce math concepts at home. 

More app ideas to come soon!! 



4. Each week I receive an updated report on our students using the IXL website.  I am overwhelmed by the success our 1st grade math brains! Congratulations to our 1st grade starfish.  In my most recent IXL report, our class has completed 17, 328 math problems. Way to go Starfish!  Keep up the fantastic math work!  I am so proud of you!

Starfish Gazette-January 26, 2014

Dear Starfish Families,

It has been a busy couple of weeks in the starfish classroom! I can't believe we are quickly approaching February!

Did you know the starfish have been working on?

• Learning about magic e words
• Learning about the 3 states of matter: Solid, liquid, and gas
• Building stronger classroom community through our starfish of the week celebrations
• Learned how to put a list of items in ABC order. This takes a lot of 1st grade organization! 
• Learning how numbers are related (we refer to these numbers as fact families). The students are learning to to write addition and subtraction sentences with these number families. 
• Reading non-fiction books and identifying important facts from these texts
• Writing persuasive letters using 3-5 reasons to support the writer's opinion 
• Learning to make our writing have Superhero S.W.A.G (S=starts with a capital, W=written neatly, A=a space between each word, G=given punctuation at the end).
• Learning to read people's facial expressions with our social detectives program
• During OT: we are learning about the Zones for Learning.  We learned new relaxation strategies to best support our learning in the classroom. (A copy of the relaxation book is coming home to you this week.  The kids wanted a copy for their house)
• Read about one of our favorite children's book authors in the Scholastic News: Mo Willems.  Some of his books show great examples of Persuasive Writing!
• Made magic e wands to reinforce the spelling pattern

This week we will:

• Learn how to 'fix up' our persuasive writing 
• Learn more about the 3 states of matter.  We will complete a science experiment to observe melting snow in the classroom
• Continue with our number scrolls.  
• Learn about Kidblogs: a site where kids have their very own kid friendly blog site!
• Explore more IXL on the school's IPADS
• Learn helpful strategies to write in response to their reading 
• Celebrate Maya and Caelum as Starfish of the Week
• Play Place Value Bingo

Hundreds Day Homework

The “Hundredth Day of School” is coming!!!  

Tomorrow will be day 93!  

We are planning a big celebration and this homework assignment is in preparation for the giant event.

Here’s what you need to do:

§  Brainstorm things that you and your family could easily collect in quantities of 100.

§  Choose something from your list and gather 100 of that item.  It may be a collection that you already have or a new collection.  (Stickers, cheerios, raisins, etc.)

§  Design a poster to display your collection.  (Poster paper is supplied for your convenience.)

§  Be sure that you have exactly 100 of your chosen items on your poster.

§  Bring your poster to school on Monday, February 3rd.

Starfish Valentine Shop:

We will be opening a valentine card making shop in the classroom, during the second week in February.  I am asking all students to bring in $1.00 in change.  (Please use a variety of coins-Pennies,Nickels, and Dimes are best.)  The money is due by February 7th and should arrive in a sandwich bag with the student’s name written on the outside.  They can purchase cards, envelopes, stickers, etc for loved ones.  The money collected will be donated to the SPCA and will be a fun way to reinforce coin recognition and value.  Thank you!

Valentine Monster Boxes: 

Inspired by:

We are making monster valentine boxes.  Please bring in one shoe box for your child to decorate for Valentine's Day.  Please bring in the shoe box by Friday, February 7th.  (Please contact me if you need help finding a shoe box). 

Wish List:

1. We are looking for donations for our Valentine's Writing Center coming up in February.  This can include envelopes, stickers, old cards, etc.

2. Cans of Tuna for End 68 Hours of Hunger Drive

To Promote a School-Home Connection, here are some questions you can ask your child...

1. Who do you like to sit near at lunch?

2. What have you been playing during indoor recess?

3. What project are you working on in art class?

4. Can you name 6 different shapes?

5. What is your favorite learning app on the IPAD to use at school?

6. Who has been the starfish of the week?  What did you learn about them?

7. What is a fact family?  Can you draw me one?

8. What is your favorite song in the poem and song journal?

9. Can you tell me about your favorite brain break?

10.  What is a transition?  

Upcoming Dates:

1. Wednesday, January 29th: School Early Release at 12:50

2. Friday, January 31st: Progress Reports will be sent home

3. Friday, February 7th: Scholastic News Book Orders are due

Penguin Blubber Glove Science Experiment

The starfish learned that some animals can survive in freezing air and water temperatures. We learned that penguins and other marine animals have body fat (blubber) that cover 50% of their bodies.




The starfish did a science experiment this afternoon using simple materials: water, ice, zip lock bags, and Crisco to learn more how it feels to be a penguin diving down into frigid water temperatures.








This is helpful video to explain the materials used for the blubber glove:


Blubber Glove Video










Here are photos of our Starfish being Scientists in our Classroom:

Happy New Year-January 6, 2014

Dear Starfish Families,

Happy 2014!  I hope your family had a fun and relaxing vacation.  Over vacation I was able to visit my family in Connecticut for Christmas, spend quality time with good friends, Ryan and I  had an engagement dinner party with both of our families, read books simply for enjoyment, and spent quality time with my one year old puppy!

We had a great day back today.  The kids were very excited to see their 1st grade friends.   We set goals for our year together in 2014.  The starfish came up with a wonderful list of ideas on how we can come together to improve as learners in our classroom.  We also created a class book today for for our wishes for 2014!

This week in math, we will begin a unit on two dimensional shapes.  The starfish will learn about the attributes of each shape.  The kids will begin to identify sides and vertices of shapes.  We played a game called Guess My Rule today with shape attribute blocks.  We also read The Greedy Triangle.  This math picture book provides concrete examples of shapes in our everyday world.  (Examples: Pentagons on a soccer ball, Triangles on sails, Rectangles on movie screens)  It also introduced some important math vocabulary: polygon, quadrilateral, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, octagon. 

Teaching Tip: Around the house, encourage your 1st grader to point out two dimensional shapes in their everyday life.  

In January, the starfish will begin to learn how to write persuasive letters.  (You may notice that your 1st grader will become more persuasive than they already are!)  We will launch the writing unit with the book I Wanna Iguana.  It's a great mentor text to model persuasive writing for the kids.  We will begin by coming up with a a persuasive idea for Mr. Fosher and/or Mrs. Ruel.  We will write a letter as a class to one of them persuading something we want for our school.  As the starfish start to become more confident, they will begin writing persuasive letters of their own to their family, teachers, and friends.  Last year my students really got into this unit and it was the first time they started to become motivated to generate volumes of ideas and writing.  I'm hoping it will be equally as successful with this group! We may even make mailboxes for each classroom so that the kids can write persuasive letters to other kids in the 1st grade.  

Math Volunteering Opportunities for 2014: 

In the fall, we began to incorporate more math centers into our math schedule.  This was very successful for our kids to be working in small groups to learn 1st grade math concepts.  I would like to have parent volunteers on Day 5 of our schedule to run a math center from 9:15-10:15.  

Please email me at mrochford@sau16.org if you are interested in signing up to volunteer with mathematics.  

Dates Available: (We will start with scheduling January-March and add more dates as they approach)

January 8, 16, 

February 4, 12, 20

March 7, 18, 26

Starfish of the Week 

 Starting next week, our class will begin Starfish of the Week.  Each week one student from our class will have their opportunity to shine!  They will also have the opportunity to bring home Sully and Spotty, our class mascots home with them for the week. The week leading up to the starfish of the week, your child will bring home a poster to decorate.  I will put a detailed description about starfish of the week and a schedule in your child's blue folder tomorrow! 

Here is Sully and Spotty!

To promote Home-School Connection:

1. What is your school job this week?

2. Who are the friends that sit at your table (we will get new seats on Tuesday)

3. Tell me about the Greedy Triangle?

4. What science experiment did you do this week? (we are doing a science experiment about penguin blubber on Wednesday) 

5. What's are some of your school goals for 2014?  goals for home?

6. What is your new chapter read aloud?  

Parent Volunteers For This Week:

Center Volunteer : Erica Shaw- Tuesday, January 7 at 1:30

Mystery Reader Volunteer: Matt Gunn- Wednesday, January 8 at 2:30 

Reading Volunteers: Tracy Sharrocks- Thursday, January 9 at 11:00

Upcoming Dates:

1. January 20- No School

2. January 29- Early Release 


** Please email me if you would like to volunteer as a center volunteer, mystery reader, or reading volunteer that has not signed up.  I know a few parents expressed interest before Christmas break but I failed to write down your names.  Thank you!

Have a great week,

Megan