Friday, September 30, 2011
Friday, September 30th
It's hard to believe that today is the last day of the month. We had a fun filled week. We spent our last day at the imagination playground on Wednesday. We finished reading almost all of the Red Clover books. We have one left. We had Fire Safety Day on Wednesday. Lastly we had a wonderful field trip today at Shelburne Farms.
We have one last Red Clover book to read on Monday and we will vote on our favorite. This week we read "Bink & Gollie" by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee which was about two friends that do things together but sometimes have conflicts. We each began writing our own story of something we've done with a friend or family member. Then we read "Art & Max" by David Wiesner which was about a friend, Max who wants to paint like Arthur but makes him disappear and has to repaint him back. We went to the Computer lab and signed on to David Wiesner's site and saw the process for making one of the illustrations in his book. Then we got to color some of the illustrations on the computer. The site is http://www.hmhbooks.com/wiesner/, if you would like to go on and check it out. On Thursday we read "Wonder Horse" by Emily Arnold McCully which is a true story about the World's Smartest Horse. We then drew pictures of our special pets(if we have one) or a pet we would like to have and what special thing it would do. On Monday we will read "Nabeel's New Pants" by Fawzia Gilani-Williams and then vote on our favorite Red Clover book.
On Wednesday was Fire Prevention Day. We had Firemen come to the school to talk to the children in the Kiva about Fire Safety and they demonstrated all of the gear that Firemen wear. Then they went out to the Breezeway and got to practice "Stop, Drop and Roll", crawled through a smokehouse and got to sit in the new Town Firetruck. Hopefully they shared this fun experience with you.
Today we went to Shelburne Farms. The weather turned out to be beautiful. We went on a scavenger hunt looking for life under logs. There were 15 items we were looking for in all. We found most of them. We saw lots of Red Backed Salamanders and leopard slugs. Some of the other forms of life we saw were worms, harvestmen (Daddy Long Legs), centipedes, sow bugs, carpenter ants, turkey tail, and even an American toad. I think we could have spent hours looking on the trails. We finished up going back to the Farm barn and visiting with the animals. Check out our pictures.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy
We have one last Red Clover book to read on Monday and we will vote on our favorite. This week we read "Bink & Gollie" by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee which was about two friends that do things together but sometimes have conflicts. We each began writing our own story of something we've done with a friend or family member. Then we read "Art & Max" by David Wiesner which was about a friend, Max who wants to paint like Arthur but makes him disappear and has to repaint him back. We went to the Computer lab and signed on to David Wiesner's site and saw the process for making one of the illustrations in his book. Then we got to color some of the illustrations on the computer. The site is http://www.hmhbooks.com/wiesner/, if you would like to go on and check it out. On Thursday we read "Wonder Horse" by Emily Arnold McCully which is a true story about the World's Smartest Horse. We then drew pictures of our special pets(if we have one) or a pet we would like to have and what special thing it would do. On Monday we will read "Nabeel's New Pants" by Fawzia Gilani-Williams and then vote on our favorite Red Clover book.
On Wednesday was Fire Prevention Day. We had Firemen come to the school to talk to the children in the Kiva about Fire Safety and they demonstrated all of the gear that Firemen wear. Then they went out to the Breezeway and got to practice "Stop, Drop and Roll", crawled through a smokehouse and got to sit in the new Town Firetruck. Hopefully they shared this fun experience with you.
Today we went to Shelburne Farms. The weather turned out to be beautiful. We went on a scavenger hunt looking for life under logs. There were 15 items we were looking for in all. We found most of them. We saw lots of Red Backed Salamanders and leopard slugs. Some of the other forms of life we saw were worms, harvestmen (Daddy Long Legs), centipedes, sow bugs, carpenter ants, turkey tail, and even an American toad. I think we could have spent hours looking on the trails. We finished up going back to the Farm barn and visiting with the animals. Check out our pictures.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy
Friday, September 23, 2011
Imagination Playground
This week we went to the Imagination Playground twice. We were very imaginative and worked well together. Today we worked together to build a house with a pool. It was a lot of fun!!! Check out the photos of our house....
Monday, September 19, 2011
Picture Day
Just a reminder that Picture Day is on Wednesday. If you would like to buy pictures, please send in payment with your child on or before Wednesday.
Week of Sept. 12th
We had another Great week. We have now read 4 of the Red Clover books. We have read "Stand Straight, Ella Kate", "Who Stole the Mona Lisa", "I Know Here", and "A Pig Parade is a Terrible Idea". After reading the stories we have created songs, dances, books, and illustrations. We will continue to read the other 6 books throughout the rest of the month.
In math we have worked on solving some bug problems this week and took what we learned and have now created our own Ladybug problems. Next week we will solve each others problems. A lot of the problems are trying to find out how many ladybugs are hiding, some are looking for the number of antennae on all of the ladybugs, and others are finding out how many ladybugs have flown away. Your children made wonderful problems. I can't wait to see them solve their classmates problems.
During Number Corner we continue to look at patterns in our calendar, figuring out number sentences to represent our days this month, writing the date in short form (9-12-11), working on coin patterns, and matching number sentences to visual models. I love watching their math minds work.
On Wednesday we went to the Imagination Playground which is located in one of the modular classrooms. It was wonderful to watch your children work together, create and use there imagination. There are big blue foam pieces that they can connect together to make a place to roll a ball through, build structures to play in or just to walk around with a few pieces and roll play. We will be going again next week for 2 days on Tuesday and Friday. Ask your child all about it.
On Friday we were fortunate to have some parent volunteers come in to our classroom and help us make salsa. We cut up tomatoes, onions, peppers, cilantro, and basil. Everyone helped. We then put our cut-up vegetables into the food processor to mix and added cider vinegar to make our salsa. They all turned out delicious. Everyone was trying each others masterpiece. Thank-you to everyone for sending in the vegetables and chips. Also I'd like to thank Amy C. and Sheryl T. for coming in and helping out. It was a fun experience!!! Here's the recipe we used courtesy of Stony Loam Farm for those of you who would like to make it at home:
4 large ripe tomatoes, diced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 peppers or 1 hot pepper seeded and diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
4 tablespoons chopped cilantro/ and or chopped parsley
salt to taste
juice of 1-2 limes or 3-4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Combine the tomatoes with their juice, garlic, peppers, onion, cilantro/parsley and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Add the lime juice or apple cider vinegar and taste for salt.
Here is a picture of our salsa all mixed together.....
In math we have worked on solving some bug problems this week and took what we learned and have now created our own Ladybug problems. Next week we will solve each others problems. A lot of the problems are trying to find out how many ladybugs are hiding, some are looking for the number of antennae on all of the ladybugs, and others are finding out how many ladybugs have flown away. Your children made wonderful problems. I can't wait to see them solve their classmates problems.
During Number Corner we continue to look at patterns in our calendar, figuring out number sentences to represent our days this month, writing the date in short form (9-12-11), working on coin patterns, and matching number sentences to visual models. I love watching their math minds work.
On Wednesday we went to the Imagination Playground which is located in one of the modular classrooms. It was wonderful to watch your children work together, create and use there imagination. There are big blue foam pieces that they can connect together to make a place to roll a ball through, build structures to play in or just to walk around with a few pieces and roll play. We will be going again next week for 2 days on Tuesday and Friday. Ask your child all about it.
On Friday we were fortunate to have some parent volunteers come in to our classroom and help us make salsa. We cut up tomatoes, onions, peppers, cilantro, and basil. Everyone helped. We then put our cut-up vegetables into the food processor to mix and added cider vinegar to make our salsa. They all turned out delicious. Everyone was trying each others masterpiece. Thank-you to everyone for sending in the vegetables and chips. Also I'd like to thank Amy C. and Sheryl T. for coming in and helping out. It was a fun experience!!! Here's the recipe we used courtesy of Stony Loam Farm for those of you who would like to make it at home:
4 large ripe tomatoes, diced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 peppers or 1 hot pepper seeded and diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
4 tablespoons chopped cilantro/ and or chopped parsley
salt to taste
juice of 1-2 limes or 3-4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Combine the tomatoes with their juice, garlic, peppers, onion, cilantro/parsley and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Add the lime juice or apple cider vinegar and taste for salt.
Here is a picture of our salsa all mixed together.....
Friday, September 9, 2011
Second Week
I wanted to start off by saying thanks to those who were able to come to the Curriculum night last night. For those who were unable to come, your packets went home in Friday folders today. If you have any questions about anything, feel free to give me a call or send an e-mail.
This week was a great week. You're children settled into there routine really well. We started math, fundations, and writing this week. We began talking about what reading is and what readers do. We read 2 of the 10 Red Clover books. The first one we read was "Stand Tall, Ella Kate" which is a true story of a woman who was considered a real life Giant. She made money standing at museums, fairs, and at the circus. The end pages of the book showed a true size outline of one of her gloves which the students thought was really cool! On Thursday we created a dance to represent the story in which Ella Kate grew from a baby to 8' 4" and went from being happy to sad and back to being happy again. It was a lot of fun! Today we read "Who Stole the Mona Lisa". The class was so enthralled with this story and had super questions throughout. This story is told from the perspective of the " Mona Lisa" painting and is about it being stolen 100 years ago and how it was found. Next week we will try some acting to go along with this story.
In math this week we made clocks, looked at patterns using our calendar, explored manipulatives in work places, and talked about ways to make numbers using number sentences (equations). We also sung some songs to learn about life cycles of the butterfly, beetle, and praying mantis. In writing we began stories about our summer vacation. Some stories are real things they did and some children chose to use their imagination to come up with things they would like to do.
Information was sent home today about an imagination playground that our school has access to for the next 3 weeks. The consent forms need to be returned on Monday in order for your child to participate.
Also please remember to return the Emergency forms back to the school. We have a Field trip to Shelburne Farms on the 30th and need the permission for field trips signed.
This week was a great week. You're children settled into there routine really well. We started math, fundations, and writing this week. We began talking about what reading is and what readers do. We read 2 of the 10 Red Clover books. The first one we read was "Stand Tall, Ella Kate" which is a true story of a woman who was considered a real life Giant. She made money standing at museums, fairs, and at the circus. The end pages of the book showed a true size outline of one of her gloves which the students thought was really cool! On Thursday we created a dance to represent the story in which Ella Kate grew from a baby to 8' 4" and went from being happy to sad and back to being happy again. It was a lot of fun! Today we read "Who Stole the Mona Lisa". The class was so enthralled with this story and had super questions throughout. This story is told from the perspective of the " Mona Lisa" painting and is about it being stolen 100 years ago and how it was found. Next week we will try some acting to go along with this story.
In math this week we made clocks, looked at patterns using our calendar, explored manipulatives in work places, and talked about ways to make numbers using number sentences (equations). We also sung some songs to learn about life cycles of the butterfly, beetle, and praying mantis. In writing we began stories about our summer vacation. Some stories are real things they did and some children chose to use their imagination to come up with things they would like to do.
Information was sent home today about an imagination playground that our school has access to for the next 3 weeks. The consent forms need to be returned on Monday in order for your child to participate.
Also please remember to return the Emergency forms back to the school. We have a Field trip to Shelburne Farms on the 30th and need the permission for field trips signed.
Friday, September 2, 2011
First Week
We had a wonderful first week of school! I am enjoying getting to know your children. They are a great group.
As well as our Hopes and Dreams we did self portraits this week. We had team time with the 2nd graders everyday outside to work on getting to know each other so they feel more comfortable being mixed during choice time and science/social studies. We created class rules and learned where various objects were in the room. We also began Number Corner this week which is in addition to math and works on number sense skills as well at time, temperature and money. Next week we will continue to get to know each other but will begin our regular schedule of math, fundations, literacy and science/social studies.
I want to remind you that our Curriculum Night is next Thursday, September 8th at 5 pm in the team space. I hope to see you there.
Have a wonderful long weekend,
Nancy
As well as our Hopes and Dreams we did self portraits this week. We had team time with the 2nd graders everyday outside to work on getting to know each other so they feel more comfortable being mixed during choice time and science/social studies. We created class rules and learned where various objects were in the room. We also began Number Corner this week which is in addition to math and works on number sense skills as well at time, temperature and money. Next week we will continue to get to know each other but will begin our regular schedule of math, fundations, literacy and science/social studies.
I want to remind you that our Curriculum Night is next Thursday, September 8th at 5 pm in the team space. I hope to see you there.
Have a wonderful long weekend,
Nancy
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