Beginning Bloggers

This past week the second graders created poems about peace using our five senses as inspiration. We integrated technology into this writing project by typing up our poems using Microsoft Word. The students practiced their typing and formatting and reviewed how to save their documents into their personal folder. Then they created a picture that represented their poem using the Paint program and learned how to copy and paste a picture into a word document for a beautiful finished product. These are now hanging in the hallway outside of Synergy House. Lastly, they learned how to copy and paste their word document into their Kid Blog account so that others can read and comment on their work. The students would love for you to visit their blog page and comment on their writing piece. You can get to the Kid Blogs below underneath the wonderful websites. Then you can log on as user name: Family and password:family (lowercase). Then you can find your child's name under the Blog Directory on the right hand side of the page. You can leave them a comment underneath their writing piece.


In Reader's Workshop we are continuing to learn about story elements in fiction books. We have now learned about the main character, setting, problem and solution. During the student's independent reading time they are using the context clues that we have identified during the read aloud to find these elements in their own reading. At the end of Reader's Workshop the readers share out which of the elements they came across in their own books. The students have been able to take what they have been learning about story elements in Reader's Workshop and apply it to their writing pieces in Writer's Workshop as we have been writing creative story responses to the prompt, "If I lived in a snow globe..." which was inspired by the story The Snow Globe Family by Jane O'Connor. Each of the student's interpretations of this assignment have been unique, fun and so exciting to read. There is nothing better than hearing a student come in first thing in the morning and say, "Can I work on my writing!" It makes my teacher heart grow three sizes!!!

Wishing you all a peaceful holiday season.

Chores for Change

The students of Synergy are very excited to be a part of a house wide fundraising effort for Heifer International. To kick off this service learning project we read Beatrice's Goat, the true story of a young girl from Uganda, whose family benefitted from donations through Heifer International. Then we went onto the organization's webpage to see how much the different animals cost. This was all it took for the students to begin setting goals and strategizing how they would work to earn money for children like Beatrice. Look for a blue information sheet about this project in your child's Friday folder. For more information on Heifer International visit www.heifer.org

Winter has officially arrived, so please be sure that your child has appropriate clothing for recess. Students must have snow pants and boots if they want to go off of the blacktop at recess. If it is possible, you might want to keep a spare pair here at school in your child's locker. This is also the time of year that we see the lost and found begin to get inundated with gear. Please remember to mark your child's name inside their belongings to insure that they make it back home to you.

Celebrating Our Differences

We all returned from our Thanksgiving Break rested, relaxed and well fed! This week we began a new theme unit called A World Of Difference. During this theme unit we will be joining up with Ms. Roger's class to learn about how we can celebrate our differences individually and culturally to create a more peaceful world for us all to live in. We started by practicing listening to each other as we shared where are names came from. The students all had very interesting things to share and we learned a lot about each other from this brief exercise. The next day, we discussed how we all have different physical characteristics and had fun thinking about our unique fingerprints using a website from NOVA. I have included this site in the Wonderful Website section.

In Math we have started a new unit based around strategies for addition, subtraction and probability. We will be working on strategies for fact fluency and getting an introduction to fractions using probability in Number Corner and Work Places.

In Reader's Workshop we celebrated the end of our November unit of study by creating a puppet of the character that we chose to study throughout the unit. The students then created a list of the inside and outside character traits that described their character. In the month of December we will be learning about different story elements (setting, characters, problem, solution) and how they help us to comprehend our reading.

I can't believe that 2011 is coming to an end. Here's to a peaceful holiday season.

City/Country Skype Date

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As we were studying the regions of the United States we discovered that it is easy to go from an urban environment to a rural environment in just a matter of hours. This is especially true here in the Northeast. We are just a matter of hours from cities like Boston, Montreal, New York, and Philadelphia where life is very different from the quiet pace of Vermont.

Our class decided to take a closer look at what life is like in a city. We chose Philadelphia because Mrs. Eaton used to live and teach there before moving to Vermont. We read books, looked at pictures and watched a video about life in Philadelphia. Then we developed questions that we were wondering about Philly and sent them to a second grade teacher at the school where Mrs. Eaton used to teach. St. Peter's School is a small private school in the heart of downtown Philadelphia. The second graders at SPS also had questions for us to answer about what it is like to live in Vermont. All of the students spent time answering the questions and them we got to hear the answers live on Skype on Thursday morning!

We found out that there are many differences in our lives. The students at St. Peter's School wear uniforms and eat lunch in their classroom because they don't have a cafeteria. They play in parks because their yards are very small and they couldn't imagine having a snow day because it was too cold! We also had a lot of similarities like what we are learning about in school and especially the types of games that we like to play at recess.

As the students said, it was "awesome" to be able to see the students live in front of us with the help of Skype. What an amazing learning tool for the students and teachers too! We can't wait to chat with more people near and far in the months to come!

Team Explorations and Events

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This week was the start of a new Synergy Tradition-The Morning Mixer. As the winter months begin to set in we have set aside two mornings a week for students to explore in the four different classrooms of our team. These mornings are an opportunity for the students to engage in different activities with not just our classmates, but our teammates as well. As you can see from the photo collage it was a great way to start off the morning.

With this same idea in mind, we are also designating the third Thursday of each month as a Synergy Spirit Day. Each month will have a different theme. We have added each spirit day to the Synergy Calendar on the webpage. Next Thursday will be our first one and the theme is Hat Day!

On Tuesday we got down and dirty as we investigated animals that live in the dirt in our Four Winds Nature Workshop. The students got to learn about worms and other dirt dwellers and even got the chance to handled some of them up close. It was amazing to see just how many of these critters are right in our garden at school.

On Friday we had a once in a lifetime celebration for one minute when it was 11:11 am on 11/11/11! Check out the photo in the collage. We had to pose very quickly before the moment was gone and it was on to 11:12. :)

Crafty Kids

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We began the week with a bang by celebrating the end of our October Unit of Study in Writing with Miss Kate's class. We told them all about the components of a Small Moment story and shared our writing pieces with them. Then we enjoyed a fun afternoon of crafts brought to us by our awesome parent volunteers. It was a great way to start the week off!

With the new month comes new units of study in literacy. In Reading this month we have all chosen a character in a series to study. We will be looking at character traits and developing theories about characters that help us to understand our books more deeply. In Writers Workshop we are learning about the art of revision and how we can add to our writing pieces to make them even stronger through the use of powerful words, dialogue and peer editing.

We ended the week with our first Friday Workshops in Synergy House. We gathered together to hear students recognize each other for being safe, kind and responsible and then headed off to create art, build with blocks, explore with IPads and get our bodies moving outside. A great end to a busy week!

Reading Strategy Celebration

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We celebrated the end of our October Unit of Study in Readers Workshop by sharing all of the reading strategies that we've learned with our Kindergarten friends from Miss Davison's room. We shared the books that we created highlighting the strategies that we use the most and then shared a just right book with them. We hope that they learned some new strategies that will help them to read LONG and STRONG!

Next week we will begin a new unit of study in Readers Workshop where we will learn about Character Traits in the books that we read.

In Math we have been learning about lots of different kinds of ants. We have been practicing taking notes and highlighting the most important information in a piece of informational text. We then created spreadsheets to organize the information that we read about. Next week, we will use our new found knowledge to create addition and subtraction story problems for our fellow mathematicians to solve. The focus will be on showing our problem solving with numbers, pictures and words because strong mathematicians use multiple representations to show their thinking.

In Number Corner we have been practicing many mathematical skills that we use every day in the world that we live in. For example, telling time to the nearest five minutes, finding multiple ways to combine coins to show a certain amount of money and finding patterns in the monthly calendar and days in school hundreds chart. These are simple things that you can reinforce when you see them occur in daily life. Your young mathematician may be surprised at how many ways we use math in a single day!

Celebrating the Harvest!

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On Tuesday the students at Allen Brook School celebrated the harvest season by contributing to a delicious Stone Soup. It was a perfect day to enjoy our creation as we ate together huddled by the hearth in the garden. Our class also read one of the many versions of the book, Stone Soup, and were reminded of the story's timeless message of generosity and kindness.

This week during out theme time the Synergy students split into five different groups and began a five week journey around the United States. The focus of this unit is to learn about mapping skills, geography and the different characteristics that make each region of our country so unique. In each of the workshops the students are locating and labeling the different states, learning about how to use a compass rose to describe location and are learning interesting facts about that region. To culminate the week, each child is creating a post card with an interesting fact from that region. I can't wait to learn from them each week as they become experts on America!

We have also begun a new unit in Math. In Unit 2 we will be learning about ants and using the insects to investigate the basic operations of addition and subtraction. The students will be combining what they learn about ants with their problem solving skills to create story problems about them. The students will then get a chance to solve each other's story problems practicing representing their problem solving with pictures, numbers and words to show their strategies. This unit gives students a chance to review and extend their understanding of the basic operations before heading into learning about strategies for "the basic facts" in Unit 3.

In Fundations we are learning about five sounds that break the rules of closed syllables because they do not always have a short vowel sound. (ild, ind, ost, old, olt). We are also beginning to practice the trick words for Level 2. These words came home to practice with the Unit 3 introduction letter in the Friday folder. Also, a reminder that you can find the current unit (and past unit) words on the Parent Information Wiki on the Synergy Site.

If you have not already signed up for your parent teacher conference please use the link on the right hand side of the page to secure your time. If none of the times work for your schedule, please contact me and I would be happy to arrange an alternate time that is more convenient.

Fire Safety Week

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This past week was fire prevention week at school. All of the second graders have a lot of knowledge about how to keep themselves safe in the event of a fire. At the end of the week we had the opportunity to have two of Williston's own brave firefighters come into Synergy to show us their gear, answer our questions and we even got an up close look at one of their engines. Enjoy the photo collage of their visit above.

This week we said good bye to the continent of Africa as we concluded our study of African Animals. The students had a great time traveling from workshop to workshop and learned a lot about the four main habitats of the animals. They created a lift the flap book and researched one animal during our technology time. Our travels will continue next week as we dive into a new theme unit on mapping. The workshops will focus on the five different regions of the United States. Each week your child will be heading to a new region of our country. Off we go!

Time flies and it is already time to sign up for our fall conferences. We tried to provide a few different choices of days and times to work with your schedules. If you look on the Important Dates sidebar to the right you will see the link that will bring you to the wiki where you can sign up. If none of the times work for you please let me know and we can work something else out.

See you soon!

Life Is Full Of Small Moments

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This week in Writers Workshop we began a new unit of study. This month we will be learning how to zoom in on a small moment in time and stretch it out across a story. We have been getting inspired by reading several examples of small moment stories by famous authors like Donald Crews. We have also been helping each other to understand what a small moment is by using the analogy of a watermelon and a seed. A watermelon (or big idea) story might be one about a camping trip. The seed (or small moment) might be roasting the perfect marshmallow over a crackling fire. The young authors are creating some beautiful pieces and are beginning to understand how to create a strong picture in their readers mind by using details.

In Readers Workshop this week we began to meet in our guided reading groups. In these groups we read lots of different genres, do word work and learn comprehension skills that help us to understand what we are reading. The students also have their own reading journals where they respond to their reading. In our new unit of study we are learning about the different strategies that strong readers use to figure out tricky words. So far, we have learned that readers get their mind ready by looking at the front and back cover, they slide through the whole tricky word from beginning to end, they try different pronunciations and they use all that they know about the story. At the end of readers workshop the readers share about how they used the strategy to figure out a tricky word in their independent reading.

In math we continued to look at patterns that grow in a predictable way. We practiced discussing our mathematical observations with our dyad partners using structured math talk. The dyads are an incredible way for everyone to have their math ideas heard. Through these dyads we have realized that when it comes to patterns there may not be just one way of thinking about how they change. The dyad partners have been doing an amazing job of respecting the ideas of their fellow mathematicians and are coming up with some impressive conjectures about growing patterns.

Lastly, this week we got the opportunity to join together with Miss Kate's class of first graders for our first Four Winds Science Workshop of the year. After learning about leaf eating insects and how they are connected to the web of life, we looked closely at patterns that these animals create in the leaves that they eat. We also got an opportunity to search for some examples of these leaves on the ground at Allen Brook School. We look forward to learning more about the earth's many ecosystems throughout the year in Four Winds.

The slide show above is from our Writing Celebration with Ms. Roger's class last week. Please enjoy the photos.

Happy Fall!

Folktale Fanatics!

To accompany our study of African animals, we have been reading an assortment of African Folktales and the second graders are loving this new found genre. The fun thing about folktales from Africa is that they usually tell about how something came to be in a fun way. Anansi stories from West Africa seem to be the favorite amongst the class. Anansi is a trickster who gets people and animals to do things for him by being cunning and clever. Anansi is a fantastic way for us to segue into our next unit of study in reader's workshop where we will be learning about character traits. Check out our Shelfari widget to the left to see some of the other books that we've read aloud in class.

On Friday, we celebrated the end of our first unit of study in writing by sharing our published pieces with the students in Ms. Rogers class. The students loved listening to each other's writing and showing off their first published pieces. In our next unit of study in writing we will be zooming in on small moments and stretching the moment into a story. We will use examples of small moment stories from authors like Donald Crews, Audrey Penn and Ezra Jack Keats to inspire us.

This week we will also be beginning our guided reading groups. In these groups we practice reading skills and focus on comprehension strategies through discussion and writing. Your child will be bringing these books home to read once we have read them through once together. By rereading them at home they are building fluency and working on reading it smoothly with expression.

Ready, Set, Read!

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Our First Unit of Study in Reader's Workshop reviews expectations for the workshop and teaches strategies for reading with stamina, fluency and meaning. This week we reviewed how to choose a Just Right book and the students were interviewed and photographed with their Just Right book using the iPad. They told me many different strategies that they used to choose a book that was just right for them. Some of these included, looking at the font and pictures to see if it looks just right, reading two or three pages and seeing if they have less than five tricky words per page, choosing a familiar book that is part of a series that they have read before, like Frog and Toad or Franklin books. Most importantly they asked themselves if it felt just right and if they were able to understand what they were reading. Some of the readers were really excited to discover that books that felt too challenging last year were now Just Right books. What a great feeling!

In Writer's Workshop we have begun writing personal narratives about events from our lives. We have reviewed that a story must have three parts and that the most important part is the middle. The writers have been challenging themselves to make sure that they have details in the middle and that they create a picture in their reader's mind. We end the workshop with Author's Share where the students read their writing pieces and receive constructive feedback from their peers. It is amazing to hear the thoughtful compliments and suggestions that they are able to give each other.

So far in our study of African Animals the class has been to two out of the four habitat workshops. Students are returning to class with new information each afternoon. We have a lot of naturalists and animal lovers and they are truly enjoying this in depth look at animals. During our time in the tech lab this week we went onto our school research data base KidInfo Bits and were able to listen and read about an African animal of our choice. We are going to be typing up the fascinating facts that we learned and creating a mural to display our new found knowledge and artistic representations of these incredible animals.

The highlight of the week was on Wednesday, when we got to explore the brand new iPads as a class. The students are so technologically savvy and they were able to teach me a thing or two as we explored applications for literacy, math and science. I can't wait to use these amazing tools throughout the year! Enjoy the slide show of our exploration!

We are completing our first unit in Fundations, our phonics based spelling program. For more information on the concepts that we are learning about during this time, visit the Synergy Parent Wiki on our team web page. You can click on the link for Grade 2 Fundations and get a list of words to practice at home with your child as well as an explanation of the spelling concept that we are covering.

Happy Fall!

Up, Up and Away

For the past week we have been working to create our hopes and dreams for the school year. To get inspired about creating these yearlong goals we read the book, Nobody Owns The Sky, which tells the story of Bessie Coleman, the first African American aviator. She set a goal and took small steps to make it happen. The second graders then thought about their own goals and stated what they would do to make that goal a reality in the year to come. To go along with the idea of flight, we all created hot air balloons which will hold our hopes and dreams and float above us as a constant reminder to reach for our dreams and do our best.

We also began our first unit in Bridges Mathematics. The second graders are looking at ways to sort and analyze patterns and are being introduced to the Mathematical Habit of Mind of making Conjectures and Generalizations. This is one of the effective mathematical learning experiences that the teachers have been learning about in our Best Practices in Mathematics studio days brought to us by the Teachers Development Group. In addition the students have been exploring math materials in the Bridges Work Places. You can see what amazing inventions and explorations they have been coming up with by viewing the video. I shot the footage with our new iPad!

To celebrate Dot Daywe made crowns that we wore to our first Swarm Party as a whole school in the gym on Wednesday morning. We sang our new school song and celebrated how we all help to make our school a great place to be by being safe, kind and responsible.

The students began a month long unit of study on African Animals this week. Each week they will head to a different workshop in one of the four Synergy classrooms where they will learn about animals that live in the ground, water, bush and trees and create their own lift-the-flap animal book as they travel through Africa!

We are off to a great start and look forward to a fantastic year in Synergy!

Welcome Back!

Our class of sensational second graders got off to a great start during our fist "mini" week of school. As a looping class we have the advantage of already knowing each other so we were able to hit the ground running. We are all enjoying having a new and improved and much bigger classroom space to work and play in.

We spent much of the week sharing about our summers and reviewing the rules of the school- Be Safe, Be Kind and Be Responsible. As part of the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports) system we will earn "warm buzzies" when we are caught demonstrating these behaviors. The buzzies are collected in the classroom and students earn a celebration when we have filled up our "Honey Jar." These are also collected as a whole school in the front office. When the big jar is full we have a school wide celebration. For more information about PBIS please visit our blog at http://abspbis.blogspot.com

We have also been reviewing the letters in the acronym C.A.R.E.S. (Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy and Self-Control) which is part of the Responsive Classroom model of character development. I spent much of the summer writing a children's book in which the characters (my own cat and dog!) learn about what these letters mean. The students have loved hearing my writing and have such thoughtful insights about how these words look and sound in our classroom, school and community. To learn more about Responsive Classroom visit, http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/

Next week we will begin Bridges Mathematics and Fundations and spend time during our literacy block creating our Hopes and Dreams for the school year.

I encourage all of you to sign up to receive email updates for new blog posts. There is a lot happening in our classroom as "Leaders of the School" and we want you to be a part of it all!

Avoiding the Summer Slide

As summer approaches we all have visions of floating in the lake, taking road trips, and slurping up melting creemees. Amidst all of that summertime fun I have encouraged all of my students to set summer reading goals for themselves to avoid what I call the "summer slide" in their literacy skills.

On the last day of school your child will be coming home with a summer reading calendar that they have already been logging into everyday in the month of June. They are encouraged to continue logging the minutes that they read each day. At the end of the month they can add up the minutes and then at the end of the summer bring their reading calendar back to school with the total number of minutes that they've spent reading. Everyone who participates and returns a calendar will earn a small prize and the five readers who accumulate the most minutes will earn an extra prize. The minutes that they record can be from independent reading, being read to, or even listening to an audio book.

I will also be sending home a handwriting packet for your child and a handy letter formation guide for you to help them to practice their letter formation over the summer. Research shows that by mastering proper letter formation students are able to write with greater ease and in turn produce writing pieces of greater quality.

Lastly, I encourage students to practice fact fluency for addition and subtraction in any way that they find fun. This could be on a website, adding dice together, making flashcards or playing card games.

I would also like to provide you with a few resources about reading that you may find interesting and helpful over the summer. I hope that amidst the business of this time of year you all find some time to curl up in a hammock and enjoy some summer reading yourselves.

Reading Resources
Summer Reading Tips for Parents of Second Graders
2011 Summer Reading Lists
Top Ten Summer Reading Resources

See you in August!

Barnyard Banter

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As you can see from the slideshow, the first graders of Synergy had an awesome trip to Shelburne Farms on Tuesday, June 7th. The weather was spectacular and we enjoyed an afternoon of chasing chickens, brushing cows, tasting yummy cheeses, and even getting an up close look at some adorable new piglets as they slept soundly.

During our study of farms over the past few weeks we have learned that farming has many rewards but is also a lot of work that takes careful planning and dedication. Please comment with us on whether or not you think you would like to be a farmer and why. The students will be learning how to comment on the blog and you can read their opinions in the comment section as well.

Thanks!

Powerful Poets

Bravo to all of the Synergy Poets for a job well done at the poetry jam on Wednesday night. They put so much hard work into their practices, even in the hot weather and it showed. I hope that you all enjoyed seeing them perform.

As the year comes to a close I just wanted to let you know about a few important dates that are coming up and give you some details about them.

June 7th- The first graders will be taking a trip to Shelburne Farms in the afternoon to culminate their Farm unit. We will be eating an early lunch at school, so there is no need to plan differently for lunch. Please have your child wear sneakers that day as I'm sure that the farm has their fair share of mud. We're hoping for sunshine and can't wait to see some of the animals that we've been learning about up close and personal.

June 9th- Field Day- We will head over to WCS in the morning for field day. I have already sent home an email about this, but just a reminder that your child should have sneakers,sun protection and a bottle of water. We will return to ABS for lunch and our regular afternoon schedule. The rain date for field day is Friday, June 10th.

June 15th-Synergy "Stay"cation at WCS- We will walk over to WCS as a team and spend the day doing different events from sandcastle building to kickball. All families are welcome to join us for any amount of time on that day. More information to come next week about the events.

June 17th- Last Half Day for students.

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What a busy week we've had! As we lead up to the poetry jam next week the students have been hard at work preparing their poems to recite and putting the final touches on poems that they have written that will be on display.

It was nice to be able to take a break from poetry practice as we listened to writing pieces by fifth and sixth graders who came over from WCS for the afternoon. The students were captivated by the "big kids" and were inspired by their beautifully written fairy tales.

In math it was "Pay Day" on the farm and the students used their earnings to purchase chickens and chicken coops. I am so impressed with the way that they have been working together as cooperative groups to make decisions about purchasing land, animals and equipment.

Enjoy the slideshow from the past week!

Our Family Book

Earlier in the year we did a unit on families where we learned about different kinds of families, families in different places and shared about our own families. After reading Todd Parr's Family Book we were inspired to create a class book about our own families. Instead of putting our book on paper we decided to use technology to create a book that could be shared in a more interactive way. We used Parr's unique illustration techniques as a model and created our own illustrations using the Paint program. Then we created text to go with the illustration and narrated the text using a voice thread program. We hope that you enjoy our book.

That's A Fact!

In addition to becoming farmers in math. The class has also been practicing to increase their fact fluency by completing a mad minute fact challenge every day. Fact practice is something that you can easily practice at home by making flashcards, practicing with the completed fact sheets that come home or by going online to a fact practice website. I have included a great one here.

If you see that your child is still using the finger counting method starting from 1 encourage them to count on by putting the biggest number in their head and then counting up the remaining number. For example, 5+3 would be 5,6,7,8. This is a much faster method and with consistent practice these facts will come with automaticity.

We are still working hard at reading poems as we prepare for our Poetry Jam. After a poet recites their poem his/her classmates provide the reader with thoughtful feedback telling them what they did well and what they can work on next time. This is a very powerful tool and the students are so receptive to the constructive criticism that comes from their peers.

In Writer's Workshop we have been learning about using our five senses to create color poems. The students are dong such a beautiful job of thinking creatively to describe a color in a way that is unusual and creates a descriptive image in the readers mind.

Even as we are ending the year it is still so important for your fist grader to be reading at home. The only way that I have to record this reading is through the reading logs that go home. I have noticed that many of them aren't getting returned to school. If I could have your help is making sure that your child keeps up with this responsibility as we close the year it would be greatly appreciated.

Happy Spring!

Poetry Jam Date Change

I just wanted to let everyone know that the Poetry Jam that was scheduled for Wednesday, May 25th has been changed to the next week on Wednesday, June 1st from 6:30-7:30. When setting up the date we didn't look at the events at WCS and there is a band concert that night that many of our student's middle school siblings are participating in. We apologize for the glitch and look forward to showing off the students hard work on their poetry unit and hope to see you all there.

Thanks!

Friendly Farmers

As I'm sure you may have heard at home our Farm Unit in math is off and running and boy are we having fun! The students are working in teams of four or five to create a model farm. So far, they have had to work together to make decisions on what to call their far and how to spend their money on a road,farmhouse, barn, silo and tractor. This has taken a lot of cooperation and the students were introduced to what the word compromise means! Next week we will begin to buy fencing and think about what animals we will purchase for our farms while learning about what contributions each animal makes. We are all learning so much about farms, math and teamwork while having fun at the same time.

In Reader's Workshop the students continue to practice reciting poetry as they begin to prepare for our Synergy Poetry Jam which is being held on May 25th from 6:30-7:30. The students have also learned about how poets add juicy words to their poems by using similes; that is when you compare one thing to another by using the words like or as. (Ex. The mom was as busy as a bee, the tired first grader slept like a baby)I have told the class to be on the lookout for this type of figurative language in poetry books, fiction books and in conversations because we use them all the time! In Writers Workshop the class has learned how to write acrostic poems and created a special one for all of our moms. Next week we will write poems about our favorite color using our five senses.

We were fortunate enough to be able to end the week with a sneak preview of the middle school spring play, Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. The students loved the play and were very respectful audience members. I even heard some of them aspiring to be on the stage when they reached middle school!

I hope that everyone had a restful Mother's Day and got a chance to enjoy this much deserved spring weather.

Spring Has Sprung!

It was so nice to return to the class this week and see that just like the daffodils and crocuses outside, my first graders are blossoming into second graders right before my eyes!

We are hard at work exploring the genre of poetry in Readers Workshop. The class has been learning about different kinds of poems and are reciting poems to the class in their most fluent reading. They know that this means that they are paying attention to punctuation, reading at a good pace with clear volume and using expression in their voices. Some students have been practicing poems to read solo while others have been teaming up and practicing in groups of two and three. I can't wait for you to see them preform some of their poems at the poetry jam later on this month.

In Writers Workshop we are also exploring poetry. Last week we learned about how strong poets get ideas for their poems by using their five senses to write about an object. We practiced this skill by describing a mystery object from nature. Poets also use their five senses to come up with "juicy" words instead of "tired" words. We had fun practicing this skill while describing a chocolate chip. Of course, the sense of taste was the most fun!

In math we have wrapped up our unit on geometry. The class has learned about congruent and similar shapes during number corner. In our work places we've looked at the attributes of three dimensional shapes using polygons and played several games looking at the attributes of two dimensional shapes. Next week we will jump into the last unit for the year, an integrated study of Farms. Students will work in teams to create their own little farm where they will have to make decisions around spending money and land use planning as they purchase animals and farm equipment. We will also be reading many great books about life on a farm and writing about farms. It promises to be a fun and interactive way to end the year in math.

I am so glad to be back and can't believe that it is already May! Be sure to check the important dates widget as we have many things happening at this time of year.

Happy Spring!

First Grade Community Quilt

The students had a great last week before vacation. The first graders wrapped up their Community Unit with the creation of a Community Quilt. Each student was responsible for making a square. The students illustrated their square with a picture of Community Helpers working together. The quilt is hanging in our Kiva for the entire team to enjoy!

In Readers' Workshop the students continued to work on their reading of poetry. This unit will continue when the students get back from vacation. The students have been enjoying poetry and have been really using great skills to learn how to interpret the poetry they are reading.

In Math, the students continue their study of Geometry. The students created their own Mini Quilts this week that went home in their Friday Folders. Also, the students continue to look at shape attributes when describing shapes. We want the students to be able to talk about what a shape looks like as well as the attributes that give a shape a certain name. The students practiced this skill through a game called, What Shape is in my Pocket.

In Fundations, the students continue to build their skills on using the suffix /s/. The students created their own books this week titled Jack's Bag. The children developed their own illustrations to go with the words. Those books were sent home in their Friday Folders.

This was my last week in the classroom. I just want to say thank you for all the support while I have been filling in for Mrs. Eaton. It has been wonderful working with your children and helping them develop as learners!

Thanks again,
Jamie St. John

Red Clover Reading

The students have had a busy week! To start, Mrs. Eaton and Marcus came to visit the classroom this week. The students were so excited and came up with lots of questions to ask Mrs. Eaton about being a mom! They were able to share with her some of what they have been working on while she has been away.

The class also voted for the Red Clover Book Award. I was lucky enough to get to read two of the books to the class. The students really enjoyed hearing both Redwoods and Moonshot. Red Clover books are selected by a committee for quality literature. Then the books are read to the students by different adults and we vote on our favorite. This award is statewide; all the votes are combined and one book is awarded years best picture book.

In Readers' Workshop the students are continuing to explore poetry. They are really enjoying being able to read poems they find with partners. They also are enjoying being able to add illustrations to poetry based on the mental image they develop while listening.

In Math, the students were introduced to solid figures this week. The children explored and learned the names of numerous three dimensional shapes. The students used polydrons to help them build both a cube and a pyramid. Students are still building their understanding of what is the difference between a solid figure and a 1 or 2 dimensional shape. To help with that we learned some new math vocabulary; faces, vertex or vertecies, and edges. In Number Corner, we are continuing our work on shapes and also just starting to discuss congruent shapes (same shape/same size) as well as similar shapes (same shape/different size).

Ms. Steins' class and ours has been continuing to learn about community. The students focused this week on places in the community that are important. They also worked really hard to write about their community members using their best penmanship. It was great to see how excited they got when they took their time and saw the end result. Next week, we will conclude this part of our Community Unit by talking about how community helpers work together and making a large community quilt of our discoveries!

Hope you all enjoy this beautiful weekend! I can't wait to get outside and enjoy the sun!

First Grade Poets!

Wow...it is starting to feel like Spring is here! The students have been enjoying their time outside this week. I hope you all have been enjoying this beautiful weekend.

We had a great week in our classroom. In Readers' Workshop, the students started engaging in a Poetry Unit. The class was excited to start this unit and share and learn more about poetry. The students are creating a their own poetry books. We are currently reading lots of different poems. This week we discussed what poetry is and made a list of things that we know about poetry. The students also practiced choosing "just right" poems, how to use the words of a poem to understand the meaning, and making metal pictures while reading poems. We set up a Poetry Share sign-up sheet. When students practice a poem and feel that they are wanting to share it with the class, they can sign-up have a chance to practice reading their favorite poems aloud.
The students are enjoying listening and sharing their "just right" poems.

In Math, we are continuing our study of Geometry. The students are having a great time exploring shapes through the use of manipulatives. We have been focusing on using hexagons, triangles, trapezoids and rhombus. We have been looking at shape attributes. The students are learning great geometric vocabulary and are learning about how to describe shapes. I was able to share one of my favorite books with the class, The Greedy Triangle, by Marilyn Burns. This book does a great job talking about different shapes and is a fun way to practice the names of different shapes.

This week we started a unit on Community. Both First Grade classrooms have been talking about Community Helpers or people in the community. The students were able to create their own Community Helpers with construction paper. The students are making some great connections with what their family members do to help out in the community as well as recognizing other jobs that people have in the community. We have been focusing on the importance of being a Community Helper. Next week, we are going to shift our focus to places that are important in the community.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and were able to enjoy the sunshine!

Exploring Shapes!

We had a great half day on Friday. Students who took part in Jump Rope for Heart were very excited to share their experiences with the class. The other students did a great job organizing our book areas in the classroom as well as their book boxes. It was great meeting with some of you for conferences and I look forward to meeting with the rest of you this Friday.

The students had a busy week at school. We started a Geometry Unit in math. Students will be exploring shapes to learn about their attributes through a variety of hands-on-activities and new Math Workplace Stations. The students had a great time using mirrors and pattern blocks to see what reflections are made when looking at shapes in a two way mirror. I am excited to see what discoveries the students will continue to make throughout the unit. Also, we will be starting to do Mad Minutes daily in our classroom. These are exercises to build fact fluency with addition and subtraction. The students will be challenging themselves to move quickly and carefully when solving these equations.

We completed our study of Non-Fiction books in Readers' Workshop. The students were able to share their favorite aspect of reading Non-Fiction. They shared facts they learned, text features that they enjoyed, and certain topics they enjoyed learning more about. It was great to see the culmination of such an intensive unit of study. In Writers' Workshop the students finished up their writing on Small Moments. We spent last week revising our writing. Students were learning about the importance of looking back at writing and making sure they are ready to share. On Tuesday, the children will be sharing their favorite Small Moment Piece with in a small group.

In Fundations, the class is starting a unit on the suffix /s/. We have discussed the idea of a base word and then adding a suffix. The students discovered that adding the suffix /s/ changes the word to mean that there is now more than one. The students also are practicing that the suffix /s/ can make both a /s/ and a /z/ sound at the end of a word. We will continue this study for three weeks. I will be sending home the newsletter from Fundations in the Friday Folders this week.

Hope you all had a terrific weekend.

Dissecting Owl Pellets

We had quite an exciting week in our classroom! We were able to go to WCS and watch the Sterling House put on the play Pinocchio. The students did an excellent job being a supportive audience. St. Patrick's Day was quite exciting in the classroom. A leprechaun came to visit us. He changed things around in our classroom and made a mess. The students then worked in small groups to build Leprechaun traps. We left them up over night. Although we did not catch any sneaky leprechauns he did leave us some gold nuggets from his pot of gold!

Thanks to all the Four Winds volunteers. The students had a blast learning about Owls. They were able to dissect owl pellets and find the different bones of the animals that the owl had eaten. It was so interesting to be able to pull out skulls and rib bones and put them together. The students had a great time! Also, the students were able to listen to owl sounds and get some general information about owls and how they fly silently. At our afternoon Kiva, the students enjoyed sharing what they had learn.

We have had lots of hard work going on in the classroom as well. In Readers' Workshop the students are continuing to learn about how to read non-fiction books. This week we learned about pictures and captions and how to use them when reading non-fiction books. We will be wrapping this unit up next week. The students are really growing as independent readers. They really seem to look forward to their independent reading time.

In Math we worked on solving Penguin Word Problems. The students worked on the concepts such as addition and subtraction, counting by two's, and finding twice as many. The students are now putting their knowledge into practice and creating their own penguin problems. Also, this week we did some comparative measurement. Students used their life-sized penguins to measure what part of their body the penguin came up to. The students really have a interesting understanding of measurement and are able to put these skills into action!

In Writers' Workshop, we continue to work on our small moments pieces. This week we tried adding details to our stories, using descriptive language, and creating captivating beginnings! Our small moments stories are stories that focus on one part of an event. The students have enjoyed writing these kinds of narratives.

That wraps up our week! If you still need to sign up for a conference, please contact me by school phone or email. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Life-Size Penguins

WOW...what a quick week. The students had a busy 3 days at school! The big excitement was the creation of their life-size penguins. We have learned about six different types of penguins over the last month! We have spent time thinking about what they weight, measuring their height, and comparing them. Last week, the students made a choice of which penguin they would like to create. This week they used measuring tape to measure the height of their penguins. The students then set out to draw their penguins. The students had to think about spacial relationships and proportions to get their drawings to look realistic. The students then spent time painting them. The penguins came out FANTASTIC! I will find a place to display them up for conferences!

In Readers' Workshop this week we continued to look at non-fiction text features. This week we talked about how to use headings and pictures in non-fiction books. The students are expected to be able to find these features and then use the strategies we come up with as a class on how to use these text features. The students are really building reading stamina. This week our Readers' Workshop has been so focused because the students are loving their independent reading time!

In Writers' Workshop, the students worked on their small moment writing. We worked on adding description to our pictures and our words so that the reader feels like they are in the story. We are reading The Dragon and the Prince during snack; the author and illustrator uses a lot of description throughout the book. It is a great example of what they are expected to try on their own.

In Fundations, the students are still focused on glued sounds (all, am, an). The students spent time creating words using glued sounds. Also, the class was able to take time and write some trick words using their best writing! These papers will go home in their Friday Folders!

On another note, the students filled the marble jar again this week. We celebrated on Thursday by making birthday cards for Mrs. Eaton. We were able to enjoy a Toot and Puddle book and then spend some time making cards. The students earn the Success Jar from having expected behaviors throughout the day.

Just a reminder, I sent the sign up sheet out for conferences. If you are having trouble signing up let me know what time you would like and I will sign up for you! Conferences with be March 25th and April 1st! I hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy this snow!

PJ's and Green Eggs and Ham!

Wow, this week has gone fast. The students settled right back into the routine this week after the vacation. It was great to see how easily they jumped right back into the schedule!

This week we celebrated the Birthday of Dr. Seuss on Wednesday. We started the morning off with Green Eggs and Ham in our Kiva. Later in the day we were able to enjoy stories about Dr. Seuss as well as how he got his fabulous pen name! The student had fun engaging in making door holders to take home. To top it all off, we did this in our pajamas!

In Number Corner, we have started new calendar for the month of March. The students are looking and learning the names of 3-dimensional shapes. As the pattern grows, it is great to listen to the discoveries being made. We are continuing with creating number sentences for our number of days in school. We are now at 109! The students number sense is building and they are creating some really advanced addition and subtraction equations.

In Fundations, we started a new unit. This unit will be working on glued sounds like an and am. I have sent a letter home in the Friday Folders about this unit. It should last about two weeks. The letter is supplied by Fundations. It goes into good detail of explaining so that you have an understanding of what they are working on! If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

Readers' Workshop has gone off to a great start this week. We are starting to look at Non-fiction books. The children are learning about how to read non-fiction texts. We spent some time this week exploring non-fiction books with partners. We also learned about the Table of Contents and the Index and were able to come up with an explanation of how to use them!

This week in Math the students took time to show what they have learned about penguins and Antarctica through writing a letter home. The students really took their time and were able to share some of the interesting facts they have learned through these letters. I sent them home in your child's Friday Folder. I hope you enjoy reading them. Our other focus for Math has been skip counting by 2's. The students created two of their own penguins this week. We made this into a big chart and were able to look at strategies for counting by 2's. The students had some really interesting discoveries!

For Writers' Workshop, the children continue to write Small Moment Stories. The students learned about ordered language (first, next, then, finally) this week and how to use it in their writing. I'm learning so much about the students through their writing!

Hope you have a fantastic Weekend!

100th Day of School

What an exciting week we had! Thanks to all that attended our International Breakfast on Monday. It was such a success! The students really loved sharing their projects. Thanks for traveling around to each child and checking in on their research. It really allowed the children to share all their hard work. Also, thanks for taking the time to create a dish that represents that country. It really brought this project to the next level.

During Readers' Workshop we have been doing a character study. As a class, we have been reading Franklin books and looking at internal and external character traits. Internal character traits are what the character feels like on the inside. We can use the story and sometimes the pictures to help us identify those traits. External is what the character looks like on the outside. The children have been learning the meaning of these words and applying them to their "just right" books.

In Fundations, we have been working on the Bonus Letter Rule. Words that have one vowel and end with the letter s, l, f, and sometimes z follow the Bonus Letter Rule. When a one syllable word ends with one of these letters the letter is doubled (examples; miss, buff, tell, and fuzz). We have talked about how their are exceptions to this rule with words like yes and bus. The students this week got the chance to come up with their own words that follow the Bonus Letter Rule. Those sheets went home in our Friday Folders.

During Writers' Workshop we are starting our Small Moments Unit. We started by creating lists of possible story ideas. The students then started writing. I have challenged the students to write their stories using only three to four pages. As the unit continues students will be taught strategies to write about one small moment of an event. For example, if the student was writing about their birthday party they may focus on writing about opening one present or blowing out the candles of their birthday cake.

Our Penguin Unit is still the focus of our Math time! The students learned about Little Blue Penguins and Gentoo Penguins this week. The students filled out a Data Sheet about the height and weight of these penguins as well as their physical characteristics. They worked with partners to measure with string and a measuring tape the height of these penguins. The students also compared the height of these penguins to themselves and to the other penguins we have been studying. At the end of this unit the students will be taking home all the work they have done to show you.

Our 100th Day Celebration was a success. The students had a great time sharing their 100th day of school collections and engaging in 100 day of school activities. Also, on Friday the class celebrated the earning of their Success Jar. The children have been working hard on expected behavior in the classroom and working to fill a jar with gems! They earned the Success Jar on Thursday. We celebrated Friday with sometime playing 4 Corners and having a special treat that I brought for all their hard work.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

First Grade Researchers

Wow! What a snowy week! The students seemed to enjoy their Snow Day on Wednesday. They did a great job coming back on Thursday and getting right back into their learning!

The students have been working so hard on their country research. They have been focusing on getting their final copies finished up to share with guests at the World Wide Breakfast on Monday, February, 7th! The students have been such fantastic researchers. For this challenging project they have created world maps, a research page about a country of their choice, and some illustrations to go along with the information they have discovered! The children have been practicing writing down information they get from resources in their own words. This skill is so valuable and it is great to see children at this young of age be such great researchers!

Our math time is still spent focusing on the Penguin Unit! This week we learned about King Penguins. The students measured the length of a King Penguin (36 inches) and were able to compare their height to that of the penguin. The students also learned about a new bird this week called a Skua (pronounced skew-a). We learned that this bird is a threat to penguins and their eggs!

The class did a great job focusing on expected behaviors in a whole group this week. The class has been working really hard on showing expected behaviors in our classroom. Ask your child what one expected behavior would be in our classroom!

Hopefully I will get to see many of you on Monday morning for our Breakfast Celebration. Just a reminder that this breakfast is not like ones in the past. The students should eat before they arrive because they will be required to stay at their tables and talk to the guests about the country that they have been learning about. Also, we have plenty of volunteers for Valentine's Day goodies. Thanks so much to those who volunteered! Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Kindness and Justice Challenge

Our classroom has been taking time to talk about the words kindness and justice. The conversation started as we discussed Martin Luther King Jr. He was such a believer in these words, that our group decided to take part in the KJ Challenge. For this challenge, the students have pledged to act both kindly and justly. Our class is also taking the time to talk about just and kind acts that we see in our classroom. The Kindness and Justice Jar has been added to our classroom. Each day the students have the opportunity to recognize another member of our classroom who they see acting either kindly or justly. Along with the challenge, we are taking time as a class to talk about words such as caring, respect, honesty, and responsibility. Through these conversations, we are connecting these words to our classroom and school day!

We have started a new math unit! Our class is taking trips to Antarctica to study penguins. This unit is very hands on and incorporates many learning styles. On Friday, the students had a wonderful time using thermometers along with ice, warm water, and cold water to make different temperatures. The students were working in small groups using math, science, and social skills (to name a few) to reach different temperatures of the ocean waters in January.

I am sure many of the children have told you; Mrs. Eaton had her baby on January 13th. His name is Marcus Elon Eaton! The Eaton family is doing great and enjoying time with baby Marcus!

Teaming Up

Our class has spent this week having a chance to team up with both Second Grade classes. It has been great to see them working together and demonstrating teamwork and collaboration. In Readers' Workshop this week, the students have been able to spend some time reading with a student from Mrs. Rogers class. The students in both classes are able to take turns reading their "just right" books to each other. It is great to watch the connections being built and the students getting together and sharing their love of reading.

We started a new Geography study this week. Our class is teaming up with Ms. Kate's class to explore a computer program called Culture Grams. This program is letting the students explore different parts of the world and learn about other cultures. Each team has picked a country to focus and research. The students are working together to write down facts about what they are learning. The teamwork is great to watch in action!