Week of January 27th

This week we finally got to go outside for recess on Thursday and Friday.  Let's hope this trend continues for them.  It's important that they get this time to be able to run and get their minds moving. 

In math we have learned about seven 3-dimensional shapes.  The cube, rectangular prism, cone, pyramid, triangular prism, sphere and cylinder.  We have talked about how we can identify each of these shapes.  For example a cube has 6 square faces, 8 vertices (corners), and 12 edges.  In our next modules we will be making paper quilts and talking about fractions. 
In Writer's workshop we looked at a rubric for our Informational writing to help us set goals to make our writing better.  Some examples of the goals students are working on are creating a better introduction or lead, making sure they capitalize letters at the beginning of sentences and for names, and remembering to put punctuation at the end of our sentences.

In Science we are reading a story about a girl in China who visits the Great Wall of China.  She has a problem where a bunny keeps coming and eating the vegetables in their school garden. She works with a friend to come up with a solution to keep the bunny from eating the vegetables.  We talked about the Engineering Design Process that she uses to come design a solution for their problem.  There are 5 steps in the Process.  There is the Asking step, Imagining, step, Planning, step, Creating step, and Improving step.  Students will become Material Engineers and eventually use this process to design their own walls. 

On Thursday, we had 2 CVU students come and read to us from the CVU Athletic Leadership group.  They each read a story to the class and shared their own experiences about reading.  They were both SCS Alumni.  The class enjoyed having them. 

Next week we will be celebrating our 100th Day of School on Thursday.  We will also be making our Valentine bags.  A letter went home with instructions and names for making Valentine cards in this week's Friday folder. 

Have a Wonderful Weekend,
Nancy

Week of January 20th

This week we talked about Martin Luther King, Jr. and how he changed our Country for the better.  We read a Scholastic News magazine about him and watched a few short videos.

In math we are learning about 2 dimensional shapes and how they compare to one another.  We have talked about rectangles, triangles, hexagons, trapezoids and rhombuses.  We talked about their various attributes and how some attributes are defining and some are non-defining.  Next week we will focus on 3 dimensional shapes.

In Reader's and Writer's Workshop we continue to talk about non-fiction.  In writing we talked about how we can utilize our writing partners to help us add to stories or take out information that is not pertinent to what we are teaching the reader about.

In Science this week we talked about what technology is and what an Engineer is.  Students and even some adults were surprised to learn that technology is anything that is human made and solves a problem or serves a desire.  We talked about the misconception that technology only electronics.  Ask your child to name some examples of technology for you.

On Friday, February 7th at 1:30 pm we are inviting families to come in to the classroom so that your child can share their portfolios of work they have done so far this year.  Invitations will go home this week in the Friday folders.  We hope you will be able to join us.

If you would like to meet with me to discuss your child's progress so far this year, don't forget to sign-up for a conference.  The link to sign-up can be found on this blog or our team web page.  If you have any problems signing up, please let me know.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

Week of January 13th

This week in math we began talking about penguins.  I introduced them to where Anartica is and how penguins live there.  We talked about how cold it is there and how we were going to measure ourselves to see what color snowsuit we would be wearing when we pretended to travel there.  The color of the snowsuit was based on our heights.  We then made a graph.  14 students would wear a blue snowsuit, 5 would wear a red snowsuit and no one would wear the green snowsuit.  We then learned about the King penguin and the Rockhopper penguin.  We read a poem about each, watched a video about Rockhopper penguins and penguins in general and filled out a data sheet about each of them.  We then compared the penguin heights and our height to one of the penguins.  We will learn about other types of penguins when we get to Unit 6.  Today we began Unit 5 which is on geometry.  We talked about 2-dimensional shapes and what an attribute was. 

In Reader's and Writer's workshop we continue to learn about non-fiction books and writing them.  Students are doing an amazing job writing their own non-fiction books.  They have great facts, and are drawing illustrations that teach the reader as well using close-ups, arrows and labels. 

We have finished our Geography unit for Social Studies.  Next week we will begin our Science unit called "A Sticky Situation: Designing Walls".  This is an engineering unit and we will be learning what an engineer is and what the engineer process is.  We will learn about different types of soil and materials that we can use to design the best wall.  It should be an exciting unit for students as it will be very hands on. 

I would like to remind families to please help your child remember their library books on Monday.  A lot of students are not bringing them in that day.  Also if books are overdue, students will not be allowed to take out more books even if you have returned 1 or 2 books.  Next week please have your child bring their books in on Tues. and I will find a day for them to check out new books because we do not have school on Monday. 

Also please remember to send your child to school each day with coat, hat, mittens, boots and snow pants.  Please do not assume that we will not go outside that day.

If you are interested in the International Pot Luck Dinner, a notice went home today with the information for this evening. 

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

PTO January Minutes

Fundraising Update                                                                                            

▪ Amazon – If you shop on AMAZON please take an extra step and enter the site through the link on the PTO page.  The PTO will earn up to 15% of your purchases!  Please remember that you need to use this link each time you shop for the PTO to benefit. 

▪ Red Barn Fundraiser - packets will be distributed January 21^st, orders due back February 3^rd and pick up on March 14. We earn $5 profit on each item sold.  If every family buys or sells 2 items, we will earn $5,000 for our spring grants program which funds things such as the visiting artist program, books, iPads, Kindles, classroom equipment and more!

▪ Red Wagon Plants Fundraiser - packets will be distributed March 28^th, orders due back April 11th and pick up on May 22nd

▪ Dynamic Dates – will take place March 7-14 with the winners being announced on March 17^th.

      
Help Wanted                                                                                                                     
▪ International Pot-Luck Dinner – January 24^th – help with set-up, clean-up and during the event. Contact Courtney Tharpe if you are able to help at ctharpe25@gmail.com

▪ Book Fair – February 10-14^th  - help needed during the school book fair.  Contact Kate Danforth if you are able to help at kate.danforth@gmail.com

▪ Get Out the Vote – March 3^rd - help e-mail/call SCS families reminding them to vote on March 4^th. Contact Courtney Tharpe if you are able to help at ctharpe25@gmail.com

▪ Bulletin Boards – help keep the boards updated with more information that is useful to the parents.  Contact Lisa Williams if you are interested in helping at lisawvt@hotmail.com 

Highlights from Principals Report

▪ Discussed the burst pipe right before the holiday break.  Great flexibility to move around class’s and great thanks to the maintenance crew
▪ GeoBee: Josh Gamble was the overall winner and Emma Rosenau was the runner up
▪ Kids are out running around the circle at mid-day due to excessive ice on the playground. Thanks again for flexibility until the ice melts
▪ New memorials are in place to commemorate Trish Alden
▪ Fiddler on the Roof rehearsing for February 19^th and 20^th performances.
▪ FEED conducted a taste test of some wonderful vegetable/turkey soup that was created by students and FEED volunteers.   

Mark Your Calendars                                                                                              

1/21 – Community Budget Forum @ 7:00 pm in Town Hall

1/22 – Speaker Series at Williston Central School - Parent in World of Computers, Video Games, Smartphones and Tablets from 6:30 – 8:00 pm

1/24 – International Pot-luck Dinner from 6:00 – 7:30 pm

1/29 – Parent Ed Night with Detective Nash - Keeping our Children Safe on the Internet @ 6:00 pm

2/3 – Red Barn Orders Due

Other Business                                                                                                  

▪ Winter Gear Drive – is still happening!  There is still a need for all sizes of winter gear.  Please drop off any gear you  may have in the bucket outside the front office

▪ Parent Survey – Last month to fill out the survey and the PTO needs your feedback! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5TSTHSL

▪ “Like” Shelburne Community School Facebook Page

We look forward to seeing you next month at the PTO meeting on February 11^th at 6:00 pm in the Alpha Space.  Pizza and Babysitting are provided!

February Conferences

The February conference sign-up is now available.  Please click on the link to the right of this page or go to our team page, click on First Grade Conferences and sign-up.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

Week of January 6th

My first Post of the New Year. Happy New Year everyone! I have everyone had a wonderful break.

In Social Studies we have been learning about maps and sharing our Flat Stanley's as they return to school.  The Flat Stanley's have been all over the country so far.  Some of them visited with relatives in places such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York City, Massachusetts and California.  They have come back with a wealth of information about these places that students have been able to share with the team.  They are really enjoying learning about other states.

In math we have finished up working with the open number line for now.  Today we are starting a week of lessons learning about two types of penguins, the rockhopper and the emperor.  We will be measuring ourselves, measuring out string to represent how tall these two penguins are and comparing our heights to them.  We will also be talking about Antarctica and what it would be like to visit there.  At the end of next week we will begin a unit 5 which is on Geometry.  In Unit 6 we will revisit penguins again. 

In both Reader's Workshop and Writer's workshop our focus is on non-fiction.  In Reader's Workshop we have been talking about how non-fiction books and resources teach us about things.  We have also begun looking at the different features of non-fiction.  In writing students are becoming teachers and writing books that teach their reader about a topic.  Some of the topics students are writing about are sharks, how to read, different animals, skiing, and how to build puzzles.  This is always a fun unit for students. 

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

SCS FEED Announcements

- There will be a winter, turkey-based soup taste test (with brown rice and veggies) on Monday, January 13th at lunchtime. Please encourage the parents to encourage their kids to try the soup! This is a tasty way for the kids to warm up during winter, while getting protein, fiber and veggies!

-Becky, the Food Services Director, really needs parent and student input concerning family's needs and wants from the breakfast and lunch program. There is a quick survey on the home page of the school's website. Here is the link. This is a chance for parents and students to express their opinion and contribute to a selection of food in which they will be more satisfied with!