IMPORTANT DATES
Thursday, February 9th: 100th day of School! We will celebrate 100 days of school on this day. If we have more snow days, this day will get bumped back.
Tuesday, February 14th: Valentine’s Day.
Friday, February 17th: School Vacation begins at 2:20. School resumes at 8 am on Monday February, 27th. If you will be away for additional dates before or after vacation, please let us know so we can plan accordingly.
WEATHER
We will go outside for recess every afternoon unless it is raining, extremely icy, or below 18 degrees F. Please send your child to school with adequate winter gear. Extra layers, boots, snow pants, mittens, hats, scarves, and gloves make a world of difference on these chilly days. Also, this is the season for chapped lips and dry skin. Feel free to send your child with chapstick or lotion in their backpack to apply during the day.
MORNINGS
School starts promptly at 8am. The classroom doors open at 7:55 to ensure that students are ready to begin work and learning at 8 am. Students arriving after 8:05 will be marked tardy and should report to the main office to sign in
HUNDREDTH DAY
We will celebrate 100 days of learning on Thursday, February 9th. We will do a number of centers to work with the amount of 100 and to reflect on the things we have learned these past 100 days. Part of our homework this weekend will be to count and bring in 100 objects. These items can be small and will be returned after our day on Thursday. In the past, children have brought in 100 paperclips, 100 cheerios, 100 Legos, etc. The goal of the homework part of this assignment is to count to 100, or better yet, to find an efficient way to count 100 objects (making groups of 10, counting by 2’s, etc.) During our centers next Thursday, your child will work with his or her objects to make groups of different amounts and make observations about these groupings.
COMMUNITY
Moving into February, we are focusing on Friendship and continuing to build our classroom community. Valentine’s is a great opportunity to think about our friends and the way we treat each other. WE have been talking about many of the qualities that good friends possess. We are also looking at ways people have been good friends to us, and likewise, ways we can be good friends to others. We will talk about how are words and actions might affect our friends and ways we can help to solve problems. We will continue working on these skills all year, but really focus and practice them this month.
VALENTINE’S DAY
We will have a small celebration and the opportunity to share valentine cards with the class. It is not a requirement to bring Valentines, but if your child would like to share valentines, please be sure there is one for each child in the class so no one is left out.
Here is our class list; we have 21 students.
Ada, Audrey, Benedikt, Benjamin, Ben K., DJ, Dor. Ellery, Eve, Joel, Kate, Lior, Lucas, Maya, Mika, Netta, Omri, Shaanti, Vince, Yonatan, Yuval
Early in February, we will decorate bags to collect our Valentines. We would love any donations of stickers, colored papers, doilies, or any other crafty articles to decorate with.
SCIENCE
Continuing our study of light and shadows, we are emphasizing how shadows take the shape of the object that is blocking the light source. To emphasize this, and practice our shadow observing skills, I traced the shadow of every child’s face. Children wrote clues about themselves to hang up with the silhouettes. Watch for these to hang in our hallway soon!
We also spent some time learning about Groundhog Day, groundhogs, and the origins of this holiday. We’ll see if our guesses are right tomorrow morning! We will also see if a groundhog’s shadow can really predict the weather!
WORD WALL WORDS: use, here, make, ride
This week’s Word Wall Words all have a “Sneaky” or “Silent” E. The e at the end of each word makes the vowel say its name or make a long vowel sound. We’ve also observed how a silent e can change a word from a short vowel word to a long vowel word (man to mane, us to use, etc.)
MATH
This week, we are beginning chapter 7 of Think Math. This chapter explores number lines and larger numbers. We’ll look at rules and strategies for adding and subtracting, paying special attention to the place values of tens and ones. We will begin using a “Number Line Hotel” which is a version of a Hundreds Chart. I will send some more information about this tool next week.
SNACK
Please check in with your child about lunch and snack. Maybe it’s a growth spurt, or the weather, but many children are still feeling hungry after they have eaten their entire snack and/ or lunch. We are thrilled that the children are taking time to eat all of their food, rather than talking so much they forget to eat.
FIRST GRADE WISH LIST
We welcome donations of the following items for our classroom:
• Clorox Wipes, or Cleaning Spray to wash the tables
• Crafty items to decorate Valentine’s bags
• Glue Sticks
ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
• What is a kind thing you could say to a friend?
• What did you predict would happen when the groundhog comes out of his burrow on February 2nd?
• What math game did you play this week?
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Weekly News
IMPORTANT DATES
• Thursday, January 19th: Caldecott Night, Devotion Library
WEATHER
We will go outside for recess every afternoon unless it is raining, extremely icy, or below 18 degrees F. Please send your child to school with adequate winter gear. Extra layers, boots, snow pants, mittens, hats, scarves, and gloves make a world of difference on these chilly days. Also, this is the season for chapped lips and dry skin. Feel free to send your child with chapstick or lotion in their backpack to apply during the day.
FAMILY BREAKFAST
Thank you so much for a wonderful family breakfast! Thank you for the delicious food and party staples. Your children were so proud to show you their classroom, activities and great work. It was so great to come together as our 1MC community. Afterwards, we shared our favorite parts of the breakfast. Many students wished families could stay longer, so thank you for joining us and being part of our school day.
We will do another breakfast in the spring, near the end of the school year. In the meantime, you are welcome to take portfolios home for a weekend to look more carefully, or to share with someone that wasn’t able to join us at our breakfast. Just let me know.
WORD WALL WORDS: last week: off, tell, all, call, for
This week: thank, drink, me, we
CALDECOTT NIGHT
Every year, Devotion School hosts an event to celebrate the Caldecott book awards. This national award is given out yearly to exceptional childrens’ books. In preparation for this competition, our librarian, Ms. McDonnell, makes all of the nominated books available to teachers. She coordinates the event in which Devotion families come to school, eat pizza, read the books, and vote for their favorites. We’ll tally the results and announce the Devotion winner around the same time that the National winner is announced. The event will be held on Thursday evening, January 19th (Details on the attached orange paper). Ms. McDonnell is also planning to make voting available to students that are not able to attend Caldecott night. We’ll keep you posted of that process. We have already read over 20 of the books up to win this award. Students have some favorites and are eager to read more!
COMMUNITY
Last week, we read many books about and discussed the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We learned about some of the ways life was different for Americans during MLK’s life. We read about Ruby Bridges, one of the first Black children to go to an all-white school. We talked about how things how things have changed, as well as ways that we can continue to help work towards Martin Luther King, Jr’s dream come true. We defined the words include and exclude, and we thought about ways that we can include peers instead of excluding.
This week we will begin our unit on China and Chinese New Year. We will start by finding China on maps and learning a bit about China and Chinese culture. Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dragon begin on January 23rd. As we move closer to the 23rd, we will read many stories and do projects related to this holiday.
SCIENCE
This week, we will begin our Shadows unit. Throughout the unit, we will work with the following big ideas:
• Light can come from different sources.
• Light can cause shadows.
• Light an other things (like movement and time) can cause shadows to change.
LITERACY
We continued using our new Centers this week, including Buddy Reading and Listening Center. In our Reading groups, we are beginning to read non-fiction books and discuss some of the characteristics of these types of books.
MATH
We wrapped up Chapter 5 last week. This week, we will begin Chapter 6 which will focus on data, graphing and probability. We will observe and make a number of graphs including bar graphs, picture graphs, picto-graphs, and tally charts. We will collect data from classmates to create our own graphs. We will also describe events using the terms “certain, likely, unlikely, and impossible.”
SNACK
Please check in with your child about lunch and snack. Maybe it’s a growth spurt, or the weather, but many children are still feeling hungry after they have eaten their entire snack and/ or lunch. We are thrilled that the children are taking time to eat all of their food, rather than talking so much they forget to eat.
HEAD LICE
There have been a few cases of lice reported across the first grade classes. Please check your child’s head regularly, especially during hat and scarf season. While lice will not make us sick, it can be time consuming to treat and it spreads easily and to other students and family members. We will do our best in school to keep hats and jackets in cubbies and avoid close contact of heads. If you need additional resources or information, please check in with Ms. Campbell, our school nurse.
ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
• What was your favorite part of our family breakfast
• What new math game did you learn this week?
• What did you enjoy about the Martin Luther King, Jr. play we saw in 2L?
• What new book did you read with your reading group this week?
• Thursday, January 19th: Caldecott Night, Devotion Library
WEATHER
We will go outside for recess every afternoon unless it is raining, extremely icy, or below 18 degrees F. Please send your child to school with adequate winter gear. Extra layers, boots, snow pants, mittens, hats, scarves, and gloves make a world of difference on these chilly days. Also, this is the season for chapped lips and dry skin. Feel free to send your child with chapstick or lotion in their backpack to apply during the day.
FAMILY BREAKFAST
Thank you so much for a wonderful family breakfast! Thank you for the delicious food and party staples. Your children were so proud to show you their classroom, activities and great work. It was so great to come together as our 1MC community. Afterwards, we shared our favorite parts of the breakfast. Many students wished families could stay longer, so thank you for joining us and being part of our school day.
We will do another breakfast in the spring, near the end of the school year. In the meantime, you are welcome to take portfolios home for a weekend to look more carefully, or to share with someone that wasn’t able to join us at our breakfast. Just let me know.
WORD WALL WORDS: last week: off, tell, all, call, for
This week: thank, drink, me, we
CALDECOTT NIGHT
Every year, Devotion School hosts an event to celebrate the Caldecott book awards. This national award is given out yearly to exceptional childrens’ books. In preparation for this competition, our librarian, Ms. McDonnell, makes all of the nominated books available to teachers. She coordinates the event in which Devotion families come to school, eat pizza, read the books, and vote for their favorites. We’ll tally the results and announce the Devotion winner around the same time that the National winner is announced. The event will be held on Thursday evening, January 19th (Details on the attached orange paper). Ms. McDonnell is also planning to make voting available to students that are not able to attend Caldecott night. We’ll keep you posted of that process. We have already read over 20 of the books up to win this award. Students have some favorites and are eager to read more!
COMMUNITY
Last week, we read many books about and discussed the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We learned about some of the ways life was different for Americans during MLK’s life. We read about Ruby Bridges, one of the first Black children to go to an all-white school. We talked about how things how things have changed, as well as ways that we can continue to help work towards Martin Luther King, Jr’s dream come true. We defined the words include and exclude, and we thought about ways that we can include peers instead of excluding.
This week we will begin our unit on China and Chinese New Year. We will start by finding China on maps and learning a bit about China and Chinese culture. Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dragon begin on January 23rd. As we move closer to the 23rd, we will read many stories and do projects related to this holiday.
SCIENCE
This week, we will begin our Shadows unit. Throughout the unit, we will work with the following big ideas:
• Light can come from different sources.
• Light can cause shadows.
• Light an other things (like movement and time) can cause shadows to change.
LITERACY
We continued using our new Centers this week, including Buddy Reading and Listening Center. In our Reading groups, we are beginning to read non-fiction books and discuss some of the characteristics of these types of books.
MATH
We wrapped up Chapter 5 last week. This week, we will begin Chapter 6 which will focus on data, graphing and probability. We will observe and make a number of graphs including bar graphs, picture graphs, picto-graphs, and tally charts. We will collect data from classmates to create our own graphs. We will also describe events using the terms “certain, likely, unlikely, and impossible.”
SNACK
Please check in with your child about lunch and snack. Maybe it’s a growth spurt, or the weather, but many children are still feeling hungry after they have eaten their entire snack and/ or lunch. We are thrilled that the children are taking time to eat all of their food, rather than talking so much they forget to eat.
HEAD LICE
There have been a few cases of lice reported across the first grade classes. Please check your child’s head regularly, especially during hat and scarf season. While lice will not make us sick, it can be time consuming to treat and it spreads easily and to other students and family members. We will do our best in school to keep hats and jackets in cubbies and avoid close contact of heads. If you need additional resources or information, please check in with Ms. Campbell, our school nurse.
ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
• What was your favorite part of our family breakfast
• What new math game did you learn this week?
• What did you enjoy about the Martin Luther King, Jr. play we saw in 2L?
• What new book did you read with your reading group this week?
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Weekly News
IMPORTANT DATES
• Thursday, January 12th: 1MC family breakfast, 8-8:45 am
• Monday, January 16th: Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. No School
• Thursday, January 19th: Caldecott Night, Devotion Library
WEATHER
We will go outside for recess every afternoon unless it is raining, extremely icy, or below 18 degrees F. Please send your child to school with adequate winter gear. Extra layers, boots, snow pants, mittens, hats, scarves, and gloves make a world of difference on these chilly days. Also, this is the season for chapped lips and dry skin. Feel free to send your child with chapstick or lotion in their backpack to apply during the day.
Lastly, there has been lots of fluctuation with the temperature in our classroom. It can get very hot at times and then pretty chilly at other times. We have no control of the heat in our room. Mr. Silvestri is looking into this issue and is trying to help us find some consistency with the room temperature. In the meantime, your child may wish to bring an extra sweatshirt to school in case it gets chilly.
FAMILY BREAKFAST
We are planning a family breakfast for Thursday, January 12, 2012 from 8-8:45 am. Parents, grandparents, siblings, and other important family members or friends are invited. This will be an opportunity for your child to show you around our classroom room, read to you, and share their portfolios and journals with you. The children are so proud of their work and our community. Hopefully, you’ll be able to join us. We will post a sign-up sheet soon for foods, drinks, and paper products.
BLOG
There have been some questions about the blog and access. I will retry to add families that are not currently receiving it. If you have trouble accessing it, or wish to be removed from the list, please let me know.
CALDECOTT NIGHT
Every year, Devotion School hosts an event to celebrate the Caldecott book awards. This national award is given out yearly to exceptional childrens’ books. In preparation for this competition, our librarian, Ms. McDonnell, makes all of the nominated books available to teachers. She coordinates the event in which Devotion families come to school, eat pizza, read the books, and vote for their favorites. We’ll tally the results and announce the Devotion winner around the same time that the National winner is announced. The event will be held on Thursday evening, January 19th (Details on the attached orange paper). Ms. McDonnell is also planning to make voting available to students that are not able to attend Caldecott night. We’ll keep you posted of that process. We have already read over 20 of the books up to win this award. Students have some favorites and are eager to read more!
COMMUNITY
This week we focused on getting back into our routines after vacation. Next week will talk about Marin Luther King and Civil right, focusing on his life and what her believed in (treating people fairly and equally). Following MLK day, we will begin our unit on China by studying Chinese New Year.
LITERACY
Thanks to the PTO we were able to purchase headphones and multiple headphone jacks for our Listening Center. Thank you also to the family of Lucas who donated a stereo to our classroom to complete the Listening Center. We are now able to offer children the choice of listening to books on tapes or CDs during literacy centers. This is a great experience for all levels of readers. Beginning readers can follow along as more challenging texts are read by fluent readers (sometimes even celebrities!). And stronger readers can practice reading along and reading with expression as they listen to the books. This is also an opportunity for children to really engage with the stories; since they don’t have to focus as intensely on figuring out words, they can think a little deeper about and make connections with the story.
We’ve also added a Buddy Reading Center, and a few more Literacy Games. As children are becoming more independent readers and workers, Stephanie and I are able to use even more time to work with small groups on specific reading and writing skills.
MATH
This week, we began exploring telling time to the half hour. We carefully watched the hands on the analog clog, noticing that it takes 60 minutes or an hour for the minute hand to move all the way around the clock. In this same amount of time, the hour hand moves from one number to the next (from 2 to 3). Similarly, we noticed that when the minute hand moves halfway around the clock (from 12 to 6), it covers 30 minutes. During this movement, the hour hand moves half-way between two numbers (from 2 to half-way between 2 and 3). We could call this time half past 2, or 2:30 since its 2 o’clock plus 30 minutes. This gets to be tricky to remember that its 2:30 and not 3:30, and to remember to look carefully at which hand is pointing to which number (long minute hand or short hour hand).
We will also continue to work with 10s and some more, breaking down larger numbers into groups of 10’s and ones, and practicing counting money including dimes.
SNACK
Please check in with your child about lunch and snack. Maybe it’s a growth spurt, or the weather, but many children are still feeling hungry after they have eaten their entire snack and/ or lunch. We are thrilled that the children are taking time to eat all of their food, rather than talking so much they forget to eat.
ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
• What did you notice about the how the hands of the clock move?
• What are some of your favorite Caldecott Contender books that we have read?
• What new literacy center did you try this week?
• Thursday, January 12th: 1MC family breakfast, 8-8:45 am
• Monday, January 16th: Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. No School
• Thursday, January 19th: Caldecott Night, Devotion Library
WEATHER
We will go outside for recess every afternoon unless it is raining, extremely icy, or below 18 degrees F. Please send your child to school with adequate winter gear. Extra layers, boots, snow pants, mittens, hats, scarves, and gloves make a world of difference on these chilly days. Also, this is the season for chapped lips and dry skin. Feel free to send your child with chapstick or lotion in their backpack to apply during the day.
Lastly, there has been lots of fluctuation with the temperature in our classroom. It can get very hot at times and then pretty chilly at other times. We have no control of the heat in our room. Mr. Silvestri is looking into this issue and is trying to help us find some consistency with the room temperature. In the meantime, your child may wish to bring an extra sweatshirt to school in case it gets chilly.
FAMILY BREAKFAST
We are planning a family breakfast for Thursday, January 12, 2012 from 8-8:45 am. Parents, grandparents, siblings, and other important family members or friends are invited. This will be an opportunity for your child to show you around our classroom room, read to you, and share their portfolios and journals with you. The children are so proud of their work and our community. Hopefully, you’ll be able to join us. We will post a sign-up sheet soon for foods, drinks, and paper products.
BLOG
There have been some questions about the blog and access. I will retry to add families that are not currently receiving it. If you have trouble accessing it, or wish to be removed from the list, please let me know.
CALDECOTT NIGHT
Every year, Devotion School hosts an event to celebrate the Caldecott book awards. This national award is given out yearly to exceptional childrens’ books. In preparation for this competition, our librarian, Ms. McDonnell, makes all of the nominated books available to teachers. She coordinates the event in which Devotion families come to school, eat pizza, read the books, and vote for their favorites. We’ll tally the results and announce the Devotion winner around the same time that the National winner is announced. The event will be held on Thursday evening, January 19th (Details on the attached orange paper). Ms. McDonnell is also planning to make voting available to students that are not able to attend Caldecott night. We’ll keep you posted of that process. We have already read over 20 of the books up to win this award. Students have some favorites and are eager to read more!
COMMUNITY
This week we focused on getting back into our routines after vacation. Next week will talk about Marin Luther King and Civil right, focusing on his life and what her believed in (treating people fairly and equally). Following MLK day, we will begin our unit on China by studying Chinese New Year.
LITERACY
Thanks to the PTO we were able to purchase headphones and multiple headphone jacks for our Listening Center. Thank you also to the family of Lucas who donated a stereo to our classroom to complete the Listening Center. We are now able to offer children the choice of listening to books on tapes or CDs during literacy centers. This is a great experience for all levels of readers. Beginning readers can follow along as more challenging texts are read by fluent readers (sometimes even celebrities!). And stronger readers can practice reading along and reading with expression as they listen to the books. This is also an opportunity for children to really engage with the stories; since they don’t have to focus as intensely on figuring out words, they can think a little deeper about and make connections with the story.
We’ve also added a Buddy Reading Center, and a few more Literacy Games. As children are becoming more independent readers and workers, Stephanie and I are able to use even more time to work with small groups on specific reading and writing skills.
MATH
This week, we began exploring telling time to the half hour. We carefully watched the hands on the analog clog, noticing that it takes 60 minutes or an hour for the minute hand to move all the way around the clock. In this same amount of time, the hour hand moves from one number to the next (from 2 to 3). Similarly, we noticed that when the minute hand moves halfway around the clock (from 12 to 6), it covers 30 minutes. During this movement, the hour hand moves half-way between two numbers (from 2 to half-way between 2 and 3). We could call this time half past 2, or 2:30 since its 2 o’clock plus 30 minutes. This gets to be tricky to remember that its 2:30 and not 3:30, and to remember to look carefully at which hand is pointing to which number (long minute hand or short hour hand).
We will also continue to work with 10s and some more, breaking down larger numbers into groups of 10’s and ones, and practicing counting money including dimes.
SNACK
Please check in with your child about lunch and snack. Maybe it’s a growth spurt, or the weather, but many children are still feeling hungry after they have eaten their entire snack and/ or lunch. We are thrilled that the children are taking time to eat all of their food, rather than talking so much they forget to eat.
ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
• What did you notice about the how the hands of the clock move?
• What are some of your favorite Caldecott Contender books that we have read?
• What new literacy center did you try this week?
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Weekly News
IMPORTANT DATES
• Friday, December 23rd: Winter Vacation begins at 2:20 pm. This is a full school day. Lunch is served. See you in 2012!
• Tuesday, January 3rd: School resumes. Full day.
• Thursday, January 12th: 1MC family breakfast, 8-8:45 am,
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you all so much for your extremely generous gift to the class. We are thrilled to have these new supplies and are excited to begin using the magnetic letters and magnet boards! We are also quite excited to choose some new books and puzzles for the classroom from the Booksmith. Thank you so much for all of the support and smiles you share with us daily. We are truly honored to work with your children and your families. We love coming to school everyday!
MARBLE JAR CELEBRATION!
We are so proud of everyone in the class and the community we’ve built (and continue to develop). We filled our marble jar and celebrated with an extra special party today. We have emptied the marble jar and are beginning to fill it again. We are continuing to work on helping our community, but this time around, we are placing a special focus on transition times. We will work to follow directions and rules as we line up, move to different areas in the classroom or different parts of the school.
ANOTHER THANK YOU
This has been quite a celebratory week! Thank you to the families of Dor, Lior, and Yonaton for coming in to share with us some stories about Hanukkah. We learned about the holiday, some traditions, and even got to try some delicious home-made jelly-filled doughnuts! It was great for the class to have that personal connection with our community and the holiday.
We love having parents come in and share with the class. If your family celebrates a particular holiday, or if you have experience with a particular topic that relates to the curriculum, please let me know. It’s wonderful to have a different perspective and fresh face in the classroom. And the children are so excited and proud to have their families in the class.
FAMILY BREAKFAST
We are planning a family breakfast for Thursday, January 12, 2012 from 8-8:45 am. Parents, grandparents, siblings, and other important family members or friends are invited. This will be an opportunity for your child to show you around our classroom room, read to you, and share their portfolios and journals with you. The children are so proud of their work and our community. Hopefully, you’ll be able to join us. Please let us know if you plan to be out of town or have an appointment already scheduled. After winter break, we will post a list for families to sign-up to brings items or food for the breakfast.
CRYSTAL Recipe
We had so much fun making crystals this week. Many families were interested in the recipe. I tripled this recipe for each child to make sure we fully submerged the pipe cleaners.
* 1 cup boiling water
* 3 tablespoons Borax powder (sold in the laundry detergent aisle of most grocery stores)
* Glass Jar (with a mouth wide enough to fit your pipe cleaner shape)
* Pipe cleaners
* String
* Pencil (or popsicle stick)
1. Mix 3 tablespoons (one at a time, making sure each tablespoon is dissolved before adding the next) of borax to 1 cup of boiling water and stir until dissolved. (Some Borax will settle at the bottom of the jar, but solution should appear cloudy at first)
2.Bend a pipe cleaner into the desired shape, then tie a string to the pipe cleaner and tie the other end to the middle of a pencil.
3. Immerse the pipe cleaner in the borax solution and then place the pencil across the top of the glass or cup. Remove any slack from the string by twisting the pencil. The pipe cleaner should be suspended in the middle of the cup without touching the sides or bottom.
4. Allow the solution to sit overnight. Within 24 hours, a thick layer of "snow" crystals will have formed on the pipe cleaner.
Variations~ use colored pipe cleaners or add food coloring to Borax/ water solution
ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
• What was your favorite part of our Marble Jar party?
• What are some of the Caldecott Contender books we have read?
• Did you know any of the songs that were sung in the Holiday concert on Friday morning?
We wish you and your family a safe, relaxing and enjoyable winter vacation. We are very excited for the new milestones, learning, and adventures that await us in 2012!
Happy Holidays.
---- Katrina and Stephanie
• Friday, December 23rd: Winter Vacation begins at 2:20 pm. This is a full school day. Lunch is served. See you in 2012!
• Tuesday, January 3rd: School resumes. Full day.
• Thursday, January 12th: 1MC family breakfast, 8-8:45 am,
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you all so much for your extremely generous gift to the class. We are thrilled to have these new supplies and are excited to begin using the magnetic letters and magnet boards! We are also quite excited to choose some new books and puzzles for the classroom from the Booksmith. Thank you so much for all of the support and smiles you share with us daily. We are truly honored to work with your children and your families. We love coming to school everyday!
MARBLE JAR CELEBRATION!
We are so proud of everyone in the class and the community we’ve built (and continue to develop). We filled our marble jar and celebrated with an extra special party today. We have emptied the marble jar and are beginning to fill it again. We are continuing to work on helping our community, but this time around, we are placing a special focus on transition times. We will work to follow directions and rules as we line up, move to different areas in the classroom or different parts of the school.
ANOTHER THANK YOU
This has been quite a celebratory week! Thank you to the families of Dor, Lior, and Yonaton for coming in to share with us some stories about Hanukkah. We learned about the holiday, some traditions, and even got to try some delicious home-made jelly-filled doughnuts! It was great for the class to have that personal connection with our community and the holiday.
We love having parents come in and share with the class. If your family celebrates a particular holiday, or if you have experience with a particular topic that relates to the curriculum, please let me know. It’s wonderful to have a different perspective and fresh face in the classroom. And the children are so excited and proud to have their families in the class.
FAMILY BREAKFAST
We are planning a family breakfast for Thursday, January 12, 2012 from 8-8:45 am. Parents, grandparents, siblings, and other important family members or friends are invited. This will be an opportunity for your child to show you around our classroom room, read to you, and share their portfolios and journals with you. The children are so proud of their work and our community. Hopefully, you’ll be able to join us. Please let us know if you plan to be out of town or have an appointment already scheduled. After winter break, we will post a list for families to sign-up to brings items or food for the breakfast.
CRYSTAL Recipe
We had so much fun making crystals this week. Many families were interested in the recipe. I tripled this recipe for each child to make sure we fully submerged the pipe cleaners.
* 1 cup boiling water
* 3 tablespoons Borax powder (sold in the laundry detergent aisle of most grocery stores)
* Glass Jar (with a mouth wide enough to fit your pipe cleaner shape)
* Pipe cleaners
* String
* Pencil (or popsicle stick)
1. Mix 3 tablespoons (one at a time, making sure each tablespoon is dissolved before adding the next) of borax to 1 cup of boiling water and stir until dissolved. (Some Borax will settle at the bottom of the jar, but solution should appear cloudy at first)
2.Bend a pipe cleaner into the desired shape, then tie a string to the pipe cleaner and tie the other end to the middle of a pencil.
3. Immerse the pipe cleaner in the borax solution and then place the pencil across the top of the glass or cup. Remove any slack from the string by twisting the pencil. The pipe cleaner should be suspended in the middle of the cup without touching the sides or bottom.
4. Allow the solution to sit overnight. Within 24 hours, a thick layer of "snow" crystals will have formed on the pipe cleaner.
Variations~ use colored pipe cleaners or add food coloring to Borax/ water solution
ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
• What was your favorite part of our Marble Jar party?
• What are some of the Caldecott Contender books we have read?
• Did you know any of the songs that were sung in the Holiday concert on Friday morning?
We wish you and your family a safe, relaxing and enjoyable winter vacation. We are very excited for the new milestones, learning, and adventures that await us in 2012!
Happy Holidays.
---- Katrina and Stephanie
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Party!
We are a great community!
Families,
As you know, we have a community marble jar in our classroom. Its only December and we filled our jar! As a class, we plan to celebrate this accomplishment this
Thursday, December 22nd!
We have voted and out party will be a pajama party, including a movie, ice cream and limbo! We will begin celebrating at noon. We will eat regular lunch (school lunch or packed lunch from home) but we will eat it in our classroom. We will share ice cream after lunch for dessert.
Your child may wear pajamas to school all day. We will still have PE, so please send your child with sneakers! You child may also bring a pillow and/or a stuffed animal to cuddle with while we watch the movie.
*I will purchase ice cream from Trader Joe’s. It will be nut free and kosher. Please let us know if you would like us to be aware of any other dietary concerns when purchasing the ice cream.
Thank you for all your support of our community and our celebration!
Families,
As you know, we have a community marble jar in our classroom. Its only December and we filled our jar! As a class, we plan to celebrate this accomplishment this
Thursday, December 22nd!
We have voted and out party will be a pajama party, including a movie, ice cream and limbo! We will begin celebrating at noon. We will eat regular lunch (school lunch or packed lunch from home) but we will eat it in our classroom. We will share ice cream after lunch for dessert.
Your child may wear pajamas to school all day. We will still have PE, so please send your child with sneakers! You child may also bring a pillow and/or a stuffed animal to cuddle with while we watch the movie.
*I will purchase ice cream from Trader Joe’s. It will be nut free and kosher. Please let us know if you would like us to be aware of any other dietary concerns when purchasing the ice cream.
Thank you for all your support of our community and our celebration!
Friday, December 16, 2011
1MC WEEKLY NEWS ~
IMPORTANT DATES
• Friday, December 23rd: Winter Vacation begins at 2:20 pm. This is a full school day. Lunch is served. See you in 2012!
• Tuesday, January 3rd: School resumes. Full day.
• Thursday, January 12th: (tentative) 1MC family breakfast, 8-8:45 am,
MARBLE JAR CELEBRATION!
We are very close to filling our Community Marble Jar. Children have been able to put marbles in the jar following smooth transitions, positive group work, and group teamwork. This is a huge accomplishment that we have been working towards since October. The class has really worked hard at building a caring community. In celebration of this, we will have a celebration, likely on Tuesday or Thursday. We will talk about ideas for this celebration once we fill the jar. Celebrations in the past have included pajama days, movies, pizza party, extra choice time or recess…. We will talk as a class about these options and vote on 2-3 ways to celebrate. More information to follow. We will start fresh filling a new marble jar after vacation.
MATH
This week wrapped up chapter 4 of the Think Math curriculum and we began chapter 5. In chapter 5 his chapter, we will explore the concept of “tens and some ones,” so we will use manipulatives to explore the actual amount that numbers represent and so make numbers in a variety of ways. We will also practice using and counting dimes, and we will learn about telling time to the half hour.
FAMILY BREAKFAST
We are tentatively planning a family breakfast for Thursday, January 12, 2012 from 8-8:45 am. Parents, grandparents, siblings, and other important family members or friends are invited. This will be an opportunity for your child to show you around our classroom room, read to you, and share their portfolios and journals with you. The children are so proud of their work and our community. Hopefully, you’ll be able to join us. Please let us know if you plan to be out of town or have an appointment already scheduled. After winter break, we will post a list for families to sign-up to bring items or food for the breakfast.
WRITING
This week, we finished out Gingerbread stories. We also continued our Weekly Writing and journal writing. We began using a 10 minute sand timer to have a visual for our writing time. During writing, we focus on writing for the full time. We try our best with spelling, and if we think we finish before the 10 minutes is up, we go back and find places to add details to our writing or illustration.
COMMUNITY
This week we looked at map of Coolidge Corner. We searched for stores, restaurants, and streets. We also looked at a map of Coolidge Corner in 1888 and compared it to a present day map of Coolidge Corner. We noticed streets that we’re the same and streets that have changed. We speculated reasons why Coolidge Corned has changed over time. Some ideas included: more people moved here, we needed more ways to get around, we needed more space to build houses and stores, and more people use cars now.
We will talk a lot our Winter Holidays next week. We will begin our China and Chinese New Year unit following winter break!
ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
• What was one of the places you found on the Brookline Map?
• What are some things the class has done to earn marbles?
• What are some of the rules for Writing Time?
• Friday, December 23rd: Winter Vacation begins at 2:20 pm. This is a full school day. Lunch is served. See you in 2012!
• Tuesday, January 3rd: School resumes. Full day.
• Thursday, January 12th: (tentative) 1MC family breakfast, 8-8:45 am,
MARBLE JAR CELEBRATION!
We are very close to filling our Community Marble Jar. Children have been able to put marbles in the jar following smooth transitions, positive group work, and group teamwork. This is a huge accomplishment that we have been working towards since October. The class has really worked hard at building a caring community. In celebration of this, we will have a celebration, likely on Tuesday or Thursday. We will talk about ideas for this celebration once we fill the jar. Celebrations in the past have included pajama days, movies, pizza party, extra choice time or recess…. We will talk as a class about these options and vote on 2-3 ways to celebrate. More information to follow. We will start fresh filling a new marble jar after vacation.
MATH
This week wrapped up chapter 4 of the Think Math curriculum and we began chapter 5. In chapter 5 his chapter, we will explore the concept of “tens and some ones,” so we will use manipulatives to explore the actual amount that numbers represent and so make numbers in a variety of ways. We will also practice using and counting dimes, and we will learn about telling time to the half hour.
FAMILY BREAKFAST
We are tentatively planning a family breakfast for Thursday, January 12, 2012 from 8-8:45 am. Parents, grandparents, siblings, and other important family members or friends are invited. This will be an opportunity for your child to show you around our classroom room, read to you, and share their portfolios and journals with you. The children are so proud of their work and our community. Hopefully, you’ll be able to join us. Please let us know if you plan to be out of town or have an appointment already scheduled. After winter break, we will post a list for families to sign-up to bring items or food for the breakfast.
WRITING
This week, we finished out Gingerbread stories. We also continued our Weekly Writing and journal writing. We began using a 10 minute sand timer to have a visual for our writing time. During writing, we focus on writing for the full time. We try our best with spelling, and if we think we finish before the 10 minutes is up, we go back and find places to add details to our writing or illustration.
COMMUNITY
This week we looked at map of Coolidge Corner. We searched for stores, restaurants, and streets. We also looked at a map of Coolidge Corner in 1888 and compared it to a present day map of Coolidge Corner. We noticed streets that we’re the same and streets that have changed. We speculated reasons why Coolidge Corned has changed over time. Some ideas included: more people moved here, we needed more ways to get around, we needed more space to build houses and stores, and more people use cars now.
We will talk a lot our Winter Holidays next week. We will begin our China and Chinese New Year unit following winter break!
ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
• What was one of the places you found on the Brookline Map?
• What are some things the class has done to earn marbles?
• What are some of the rules for Writing Time?
Friday, December 2, 2011
Weekly News
IMPORTANT DATES
• Thursday. December 8th: Early Release Day, School ends at 12:30,
Lunch is served.
• Wednesday. December 14th: Early Release Day, School ends at 12:30,
Lunch is served.
• Friday, December 23rd: Winter Vacation begins at 2:20 pm. This is a full school day. Lunch is served.
COLD WEATHER and SLIPPERS
We will go outside for recess every day, unless it is raining. As the weather gets colder, please be sure to send appropriate outdoor clothing. This currently includes sweatshirts, jackets, and sometimes rain boots. In the winter, this will include heavy winter coats, hats, gloves, scarves, boots and snow pants.
Also, during the chilly boot-weather months, it is an option to bring slippers (with rubber, non-slip soles) to school. This will make foe easy indoor-outdoor transitions, and give a warm and cozy feeling to the day. Your child is welcome to bring slippers (labeled with his or her name) and leave them in the classroom rather than take them home every day. We will have a place in the clasrroom to store slippers instead of leaving them in cubbies overnight.
If your child is missing a jacket or sweatshirt, please check the school Lost and Found, across the hall from the Main office.
MATH
We began chapter 4 of Think Math this. This chapter focuses on addition and subtraction. We are starting by reviewing the stories and what they mean in real life. Then we will move into more practice of facts. Stories that are particularly tricky to understand and figure out are ones with a missing addend (There are 10 apples in the tree 4 are red, some are green. How many are green?) and “How many more?” questions ( John has 4 books. Beth has 7. How many more books does Beth have than John?). We will do lots of acting out and drawing of these types of problems.
WORD WALL WORDS: no, come, kick, black, clock
This week, three of our Word Wall Words have a ck at the end. We learned that these two letters stick together to make the “k” sound.
SCIENCE
This week, we read a funny story called Mr . Archimedes’ Bath about a man who tried to figure out how the water always spilled out of his tub when lots of animals came in. This was a great introduction to our water displacement experiment. We started with jars of water. We observed what happened when we placed one marble in the jar and when we placed 12 marbles in the jar. We discussed the concept of displacement
WRITING
This week, we discussed the difference between capital letters and lower case letters. We identified types of words that begin with capital letters (names, the word I, names of cities and places, and the first letter of the first word of a sentence).
COMMUNITY
The Devotion Calendars, featuring your child’s artwork, went to print last week. Green Devotion Calendar order forms were sent home this week. We are selling the calendars for $5 each and all profits will be donated to Heifer International. Order forms can be turned in to the classroom or the main office. If you need additional order forms, just let us know.
Last week, we discussed the idea of needs vs. wants. We defined needs as things that everyone should have to live (food, shelter, rest, water, warmth, etc.) and wants as extra things that are nice to have but you can live without them (toys, dessert, tv’s, etc.). We also read Beatrice’s Goat, which illustrates how giving one goat to one family can impact a whole town! We discussed the ways that Heifer International helps people all over the world. For more information on this organization, please read the attached letter from Beatrice, the actual girl featured in Beatrice’s Goat, or check out their website: www.heifer.org
SNACK and SNUNCH
On Early Release (conference days that end at 12:30pm), we will eat lunch but will not have snack. Our lunch is scheduled for 10:30am on these days, followed by recess. This is a different schedule to get used to, and children might still be hungry after school. Your child might need to eat a bigger breakfast on these days, since our Snunch (Lunch at Snack time) is a little bit later then they are used to having snack. We have 3 more of these days in the fall and we will have four of these days in the spring.
ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
• What happened to the water level when we placed 12 marbles in the jar of water?
• What math game did you play with your partner this week?
• What is one way that the goat (Mugisa) helped Beatrice and her family?
• Thursday. December 8th: Early Release Day, School ends at 12:30,
Lunch is served.
• Wednesday. December 14th: Early Release Day, School ends at 12:30,
Lunch is served.
• Friday, December 23rd: Winter Vacation begins at 2:20 pm. This is a full school day. Lunch is served.
COLD WEATHER and SLIPPERS
We will go outside for recess every day, unless it is raining. As the weather gets colder, please be sure to send appropriate outdoor clothing. This currently includes sweatshirts, jackets, and sometimes rain boots. In the winter, this will include heavy winter coats, hats, gloves, scarves, boots and snow pants.
Also, during the chilly boot-weather months, it is an option to bring slippers (with rubber, non-slip soles) to school. This will make foe easy indoor-outdoor transitions, and give a warm and cozy feeling to the day. Your child is welcome to bring slippers (labeled with his or her name) and leave them in the classroom rather than take them home every day. We will have a place in the clasrroom to store slippers instead of leaving them in cubbies overnight.
If your child is missing a jacket or sweatshirt, please check the school Lost and Found, across the hall from the Main office.
MATH
We began chapter 4 of Think Math this. This chapter focuses on addition and subtraction. We are starting by reviewing the stories and what they mean in real life. Then we will move into more practice of facts. Stories that are particularly tricky to understand and figure out are ones with a missing addend (There are 10 apples in the tree 4 are red, some are green. How many are green?) and “How many more?” questions ( John has 4 books. Beth has 7. How many more books does Beth have than John?). We will do lots of acting out and drawing of these types of problems.
WORD WALL WORDS: no, come, kick, black, clock
This week, three of our Word Wall Words have a ck at the end. We learned that these two letters stick together to make the “k” sound.
SCIENCE
This week, we read a funny story called Mr . Archimedes’ Bath about a man who tried to figure out how the water always spilled out of his tub when lots of animals came in. This was a great introduction to our water displacement experiment. We started with jars of water. We observed what happened when we placed one marble in the jar and when we placed 12 marbles in the jar. We discussed the concept of displacement
WRITING
This week, we discussed the difference between capital letters and lower case letters. We identified types of words that begin with capital letters (names, the word I, names of cities and places, and the first letter of the first word of a sentence).
COMMUNITY
The Devotion Calendars, featuring your child’s artwork, went to print last week. Green Devotion Calendar order forms were sent home this week. We are selling the calendars for $5 each and all profits will be donated to Heifer International. Order forms can be turned in to the classroom or the main office. If you need additional order forms, just let us know.
Last week, we discussed the idea of needs vs. wants. We defined needs as things that everyone should have to live (food, shelter, rest, water, warmth, etc.) and wants as extra things that are nice to have but you can live without them (toys, dessert, tv’s, etc.). We also read Beatrice’s Goat, which illustrates how giving one goat to one family can impact a whole town! We discussed the ways that Heifer International helps people all over the world. For more information on this organization, please read the attached letter from Beatrice, the actual girl featured in Beatrice’s Goat, or check out their website: www.heifer.org
SNACK and SNUNCH
On Early Release (conference days that end at 12:30pm), we will eat lunch but will not have snack. Our lunch is scheduled for 10:30am on these days, followed by recess. This is a different schedule to get used to, and children might still be hungry after school. Your child might need to eat a bigger breakfast on these days, since our Snunch (Lunch at Snack time) is a little bit later then they are used to having snack. We have 3 more of these days in the fall and we will have four of these days in the spring.
ASK YOUR CHILD…
These questions can be conversation starters to discuss the week in school.
• What happened to the water level when we placed 12 marbles in the jar of water?
• What math game did you play with your partner this week?
• What is one way that the goat (Mugisa) helped Beatrice and her family?
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