Birthdays

Each month we have a birthday breakfast to celebrate those born in that month. Today we had two friends with November birthdays.We enjoyed, Rice Krispees with berries, fresh Manghis rolls, and some muffins, juice and fruit. What a lovely way to celebrate such special people.

Last month we only had one person with an October birthday!

Please join us for our December birthday breakfast on the 23rd.All families are invited to attend.

Something to ponder

A great article about toys- click here

Publishing Party

Before our Thanksgiving break, students from Ms. Closter's class and our class celebrated the end of their 2nd writing unit.  Students shared their published small moments with peers from the opposite class and enjoyed a snack prepared by our class.  After the publishing party, students had choice time together.  INQUIRE with your child who their partner was and what their published writing piece was about. These are located in our classroom library for all to enjoy!

Our next writing unit is focused on learning how to write letters. We are integrating this with a focus on feeling thankful and will continue to explore small moments within this unit. This month, all students will be thinking of a special person in their community, home, or school that deserve to be thanked. In this letter, students will be encouraged to add a, "small moment" they've experience with the chosen person.

This week, we will be exploring a range of texts that include letters in them and taking notice of what is included in these letters.  We will also be doing some interactive and shared writing as a whole class to help us practice the language used in creating a powerful thank-you!  

We Welcome a New Friend

Our class welcomes a new student named Maddox. He has spent several days with the class and already has "tons of new friends". The room 7 gang has been extremely kind and helpful to Maddox as he adjusts to his new classroom. We now have a class total of 17 first graders. Woo-hoo!

Giving Thanks at School

We enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving Dinner together at school. Many families were able to join in too. We practiced good manners, and appropriate types of conversation as we dined in our classroom. The cafeteria
reported serving 495 lunches! Wow! We have so much to be thankful for.


 
 

 

A Shelter for Mr. Whiskers and Lorraine



Mr. Whiskers and Lorraine



The message

As we began our NAP lesson on debris shelters, we constructed some "first graders" to sleep in the shelters in Hubbard Park for two weeks. The teams creating these "first graders" decide to name them "Mr. Whiskers" and "Lorraine". The class is hoping to build shelters that are protective enough to keep our first graders dry for a two week period in November. This presents quite a challenge.

 

All that is left is a stump.

On our way in to the park, we spotted the park caretaker and his crew in the middle of a tree removal project. They invited us to watch as the top of a dead tree is removed. The class is offered some "debris"( branches) to use for shelter building.On our way back from the park we got to see the stump that remains.

The class worked together to build cooperatively. At one point teams formed spontaneously to help load leaves onto partners arms. Aftert the shelter was complete, we did a water test to see if it would be waterproof. We learned that more layers were needed. We also learned that a debris shelter could protect a person who was lost and needed to overnight in the woods.Here are some images and videos of our debris shelter building.


Building the frame



Mr. Whiskers and Lorraine go in to the shelter. We'll check on them in 2 weeks.

Rowan,Mya and Molly made some videos of shelter building!

Walking Trip to Positive Pie 2

Our class will get a  first -hand look at how pizza is made. Max has invited our whole class to Positive Pie 2 for a special visit and morning snack. We would love some parents to join us for this short trip. If you are free on Thursday, November  17th at 10:15, please meet us at our classroom. We will walk over to Positive Pie, and have a tour and a snack.We hope to return back to school by 11:30 at the latest. Thanks so much Max!

Eleven

We spent some time on 11/11/11 exploring the number 11. We made combinations of 11, did an 11 workout, read about 11, and wrote sentences with exactly 11 words. Later we had an 11 scavenger hunt(thanks to all of the parents who helped with this) and a special snack. What an excellent date.

A Lego flag with 11 stripes!

A unique 11 project. A person born on Novemebr 11. He was able to appear live for the presentation.




 

Thanks to Deborah, Tiffany and Jennifer for helping with snacks.

A lucky number!

Veteran's Day 2011

 

We spent some time making cards to honor Veterans. We learned that each person in the class knew at least one veteran! The cards were handed out at the VFW after the parade.

We also made flags and marched in the parade through downtown Montpelier.Many first graders were excited to spot Veterans in the parade, and along the route. Family and friends along the route were an added surprise.

 

Some gigantic leaves were found on the way back from the parade!

Fifth Grade Buddies

Free picture slideshow generated with Smilebox

11/11/11

We will be making flags to carry in the parade- like these Union School kids did!

We will have a busy and exciting day on Friday. In the morning, we will join the 5th graders as they honor veteran's by marching in the Montpelier Veteran's Day Parade. We will begin at the rotary and march a portion of the parade route.Please join us, or stand among the route to honor veterans.Kellogg Hubbard library would be a good place to spot us!

Upon returning to school, we will have an action packed day in celebration of the number 11. Please contact me if you would like to assist our class on this day, or would like to send in a tasty treat, or plan an "11" craft project!

Thanks so much.

Reminders

1. The scholastic book fair is coming to UES. It will be open on Thursday, November 3, from 8-3:30.It will also be open on Friday, November 4, from 8-3:30 and again from 5:30-9:00. (during the family movie night)

Our class will be going on Thursday at 11:30. We will be browsing, and children with money will purchase at this time. Please let me know if you would rather make a purchase with your child, or will attend at a different time.

2. The family movie night is coming up! "A Bug's Life " will be shown on Friday, Novemeber 4th in the UES auditorium. Tickets are $1.50 and popcorn is 50 cents.Donations are appreciated for the bake sale. Parents must accompany children to this event.

3. Homework packets are due each Monday.

4. Labeled outdoor clothing is easier to return to owners.