Happy Thanksgiving

Today was another Mix-It Up Day.  Our 5th Grade friends joined us in our classroom at the end of the day to participate in some fun Red Ribbon Week activities.  It's such a beautiful thing to see first graders and fifth graders building friendships and having fun together!  We colored sneakers which will be spread around the school and pledged how we can be kind to others.  Next time you are in the school look for the sneakers.  Everyone who was in school on Friday made one.  

Please make sure you read the note that came home in your child's Friday folder. It has information about the first week we are back at school and information about the craft fair.  I want to thank parents who made donations for the craft fair and who have volunteered to help out on the day.  Also students will need to bring lunches from home on Wed. and Thur. the week after break.  We are also looking for parents to help out on our Field trip to Shelburne Farms on Thurs, Dec. 4th from 9:15-1:45.  

There will be no share in December because it is a short month.  Also there is no homework going home this week because of the holiday so there won't be any due the first week in December.  

A note from Miss Blair on our team:
There is a family on our team who is going through a difficult time and could use our support. I've seen how powerful this SCS community can be in rallying together to bring people in need faith. After much discussion with the whole staff, we feel the most appropriate way to give this particular family what they need right now is through visa gift cards/grocery store gift cards/gas cards. If you can, please help us to show this remarkable family what it's like to feel the love and support I know we're capable of. Thank you in advance for your kindness.


I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and a nice long break!!

Nancy

Week of November 10th

On Tuesday we had Hands on Nature.  The focus this month was; From standing snags to lying logs, dead wood is essential in a forest, though its importance is often overlooked. As wood decays, a succession of plants, animals, fungi and bacteria come and go, each furthering its decomposition. At every stage, snags and logs are hubs of activity, providing food, shelter, perches, travel corridors and many other functions in the forest ecosystem.  We watched a puppet show where we met some inhabitants of standing snags and rotting logs and learned how they contribute to the process of change and decay.  We had a visit from Dr. VanRottinglog and her time machine and witnessed what happens to a snag and log over a period of time.  We then got to go outside to investigate rotting logs and look for evidence of living things - plants, animals and fungi - that live on or in it.  We then recorded our observations in drawings and words in our Hands on Nature Science Journals.  I'd like to thank Janet, Marcella and Kate for helping us to learn all of this wonderful science.  Check out the photos from Hands on Nature.  

On Tuesday we also had a visitor from CVU's Sport's Leadership group who read some books to the class.  They loved hearing her read.  

This week we have begun to create ebooks with our Small moment stories on ipads. Students are using a program called "Book Creator" to do this.  They are doing a wonderful job!!

In math we continue to focus on adding subtracting and using number stories to help us determine the difference between numbers.  

In Reader's Workshop we are reading lots of Mo Willems books, looking at characters, settings and story order.  

We are looking for help with the Craft Fair for our team.  Please check your child's Friday folder for information about this event.  

Just a reminder that Book orders are due next week.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy






 

Make your own picture slideshow

Week of November 3rd

This week we began a unit of study on Mo Willems.  He is the author of the "Knuffle Bunny" series, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" series, the Piggy and Elephant series and many more.  We learned how he has only been an author for 10 years and was originally a screen writer for film as well as a Stand-up Comedian.  He was inspired by the "Peanuts" comic scrip when he was a kid.  He writes wonderful children's stories that are very humorous.  We will be reading lots of his books and doing various activities.  Below are some of these that we have done so far:

 In math we learned some new games that can be played over and over again in our work places.  This unit is helping us strengthen our strategies for adding and subtracting math facts.

In Writing we are working on editing our Small Moments and will be publishing one next week using an app called "Book Creator" on the ipads.  We will publish another of our small moment stories in December and will pick a date to share both of these with families.  Stay tuned for that invitation at the beginning of December.

In Fundations we finished Unit 4 on bonus letters.  Next week we will begin Unit 5 and be learning about the glued sounds "am" and "an".

I sent home our first Scholastic book order forms today.  You can use the link on the blog to order on-line or order from the paper order forms that went home in Friday folders.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy