Birthday Breakfast and Four Winds

On Monday morning, we will celebrate all April birthdays with a birthday breakfast. At 9:00 we will have our Four Winds lesson on Birds, Bird Calls, and Sound Mapping. What a lovely way to return to school after a vacation week!



We found each other on the bike path on Sanibel Island in Florida! What a coincidence!



Thanking Mr. Keller

Union School appreciates all of the hard work done by Mr. Keller. At Friday's assembly, Mr. Keller is honored by the school! Click on this photo for a larger version. Our class has many reasons to be thankful to Mr. Keller.

A Visit from an Author

Jessie visited our class today to share a draft of a book she has been working on. She was able to describe the process she uses in developing a story. We all enjoyed listening to her story, told from the perspective of her grandchild, Ian! The story is realistic fiction because it is based on Jessie's house sitting experiences, and Ian's visits with her. We all tried to determine which parts were fiction though. The class listened to create images in their heads, and used their schema to create illustrations for Jessie's story. 

 The class listened to create images in their heads, and used their schema to create illustrations for Jessie's story. Everyone shared their illustrations, and we got to hear another story about Azair and her Hair.

Thanks so much to Jessie for a wonderful morning which inspired the first graders to spend the afternoon writing!

Pre- Kindergarten Screening Days

Several days this week will be devoted to pre-kindergarten screening. On these days, Tuesday, April 17th and Wednesday, April 18th I will be working with all first grade teachers to conduct these screenings for each incoming child (we will all be K teachers again next year). While we are 
working with these pre-k students, the current K team will be the guest 
teachers for the first graders (K's have 2 days off).Our class will have a guest teacher since we have an uneven number of classes.  The guest teacher  will be working with our class, following the routines of the day and continuing our study of geometry, reading groups, writer's workshop, etc.  
I will check in periodically throughout the day.
If you are willing to volunteer for an hour or 2 to answer 
questions, chat, help ease the stress of new Kindergarten 
families during these days, please contact me. We are looking 
for parent volunteers to guide discussions/answer questions 
while their children work with us. 
If you'd like to help, please let me know ASAP!

NAP/ ECO in Hubbard Park on Monday

We will be using MAPS to navigate our way to new parts of Hubbard Park. We will create sound maps, have a quest, and will also explore new sections of the park. Please help your child to wear sturdy shoes(no sandals or flip flops) and to dress in layers. We will bring lunches and water bottles with us. We plan to leave UES  with MS. Dostie's class around 9:00 and return by 12:50 to make it to music class. Please let me know if you would like to join us. We will be moving throughout the park, and will have lunch at the shelter. We will be taking the Course street route into the park.

Updates from Room 7

1. We are visiting the Scholastic book fair at 2:00 tomorrow.(Thursday) Your child may browse or shop at this time. The book fair will also be open on Friday, but we will not be going as a class. Families can visit on Friday evening as well.

2. I AM IN NEED  OF HELPERS FOR NAP/ECO on Monday the 16th. We have an excellent lesson involving mapping, and a  mystery quest. I will need some help with small groups in Hubbard Park on that day. Please let me know if you can join us.

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The "Power of Three" and" Vermont Strong"

We had an "All School Assembly" on Friday morning. We learned how Casella Waste management and Foley are closing the loop with paper recycling. We will recycle paper towels, which will then be made into new paper towels.Mrs. Pierces class accepted a national award on behalf of UES, for excellence in recycling efforts.For more information click here :

Union Elementary School’s power of three: Times Argus Online

We also met our State Commissioner of Education, Armando Vilasec. He complimented our school on our recycling efforts, and great assembly behavior too.

We ended the assembly with a song written by our own third graders. What a catchy tune!

Click the link below to hear "Vermont Strong".

Vermont Strong c by Kid Pan Alley

Sight Word Practice

Click here for first  set of 100 words.

Click here for second set of 100 words.

Click here for third set of 100 words.

Click here for fourth set of  100 words.

A Bird's Eye View

As we continue to learn about maps, we are exploring different points of view. Here is a "Bird's Eye View" of the class on the lower playground. The photo was taken by Mr. Koch, who works up the hill at VEDA. He is not a bird.

Please Don't Tiptoe through the Tulips

We went out this morning to search for emerging buds in the gardens surrounding UES. Imagine the dismay upon finding footprints in our tulip bed. Of course the fabulous first graders went right to work to solve the problem. After consulting with Mr. Keller, a blockade was created using caution tape. Signs were created to inform readers. Most importantly, emerging tulips were protected.

At North Branch Nature Center

AMPHIBIAN MONITORING PROGRAM
Free Training Session, Wed., April 4     

 

Wednesday, April 4, 6:30 p.m. at the North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier 

Learn how you can assist amphibians on their annual migration as they attempt to cross roads from overwintering sites to breeding pools. In addition to saving frogs and salamanders from oncoming traffic, volunteers will be trained to monitor their populations.

It's been a strange migration season so far, with some amphibian movements during our March heat wave - but there's likely more to come. Please come get involved! 

Bridges- Unit 5- Shapes, Reflections. and Fractions

We have been learning about shapes this month. Our geometry unit has led to some deeper thinking about dimensions, reflections, sides, bases and angles. We have expored  spheres, cubes, rectangular prisms, pyramids, and triangular prisms. We have been enjoying the work places with this unit.Today, we talked about sharing pizzas. It was interesting to see the creative strategies that first graders used to share 3 pizzas between 2 friends. Most groups chopped up each pizza before sharing!