Newsletter 3-29-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

March 29, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, March 30^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·        Thursday, April 5^th – Dismissal at 11:25 – Parent Conferences

·        Friday, April 6^th – Dismissal at 11:25 – Parent Conferences

Classroom News:

James: Last week we had Library. We listened to the directions from Ms. Patino. Then we used Google Earth on the computers. I liked it.

Brianna: This week in Math we learned about symmetry. We picked out half of a picture and glued it onto a piece of paper. After that we drew the rest of the picture on the other side of the paper. We had to make sure both sides were the same.

Samantha: We finished reading The Tale of Despereaux and started a new book called Stuart Little. The main character is Stuart, a very small mouse. He is only 2 inches tall and has a human family. We are on page 32. Stuart just got trapped in the window shade. His parents think he went down the mouse hole. I like the book so far.

Morgan: On Monday, people from the Concord Museum came to our class. They talked about the Colonial times. Rory and I got to dress up like the kids did in this time. I think we all learned a lot. I learned that they used clay pipes.

Kyleigh: Yesterday in Ms. Little’s class we did Writing Workshop in groups. Some kids worked with Ms. Little and some worked alone. Then we switched. The kids with Ms. Little moved to working alone and the kids who worked alone switched to Ms. Little’s group. My writing was about why you need sleep to be healthy. I wrote all the reasons why you need sleep and I kind of wrote it like a story! That’s why writing is fun.

Lindsey: Last Friday we finished our read aloud so we went to Mr. Mehigan’s class to watch The Tale of Despereaux movie. I liked the movie because it was a long, long, long movie.

Robbi: On Monday we had spelling. Some of us made our own words. Last week I got 6 words wrong, so I had to think of 4 new words to add to my list. This Friday we’re going to take a spelling test. I hope everybody gets their words right!

Aiden: This week and last week we did cursive. We learned how to write lowercase c, q, m, and n. Lowercase n looks like an m. Lowercase c looks like a regular c. Lowercase m has 3 bumps. Lowercase q looks like a regular q. I like cursive because the letters are different.

Cara: Last week we had MCAS. First we had snack and Ms. Little sent us in groups to the bathroom. Then we sat down and we were not allowed to get up until everyone was done. We sat for two and a half hours. We had to read a book while we waited for everyone to finish. MCAS is a big reading test.

Hannah: Last week was MCAS week and everybody was working very hard. There were only two days of MCAS but MCAS is over two hours long so it was still really tiring. Both days we were rewarded with an extra long recess. The extra recess was after second recess so first we had a normal lunch recess, then we had normal second recess with the second graders.  Then when recess was over, the second graders lined up and went inside, and the other half of the third graders came out. It is a good idea to have extra long recess because it refreshes our minds from MCAS.

Alonso: Last week we used tangram pieces to make pictures of animals. Tangrams are small, flat shapes that you can use to make other shapes. I made a whale. It was hard to make one. It was amazing what we could make. I loved all the work we all did!

Rory: Yesterday (3-27-12) we worked in new cursive packets. The letters inside are called downcurve letters. The letters in that packet are lowercase n, m, y, x, v, and z. It is our last packet of lowercase cursive letters.

Henry: Lately in Writing Workshop Ms. Little put sticky notes in our notebooks. My sticky note said to write 5 – 6 sentences about my thesis. I wrote 7 sentences. I am a step ahead of everyone because I was the first one to do my introduction. The introduction is just one sentence from each of your paragraphs to back up your thesis. On Wednesday everyone wrote their introduction and Ms. Little used mine to show the class.

Thomas: Yesterday we had Gym. At Gym we did rope climbing. I was the first one to climb because I was really quiet. I almost made it to the top. Then Ms. Little came in and we asked her to climb the rope but she said no.

Dorinda: On Monday we changed our desks. I sit with Kate, Graham, and Thomas. My table is near the Smartboard. I like it when my table is near the Smartboard because I can see the Smartboard really well.

Kate: You can earn a paw by helping someone, being kind, or being a learner. If you earn a paw then you get to put it in a bowl in the office. The paws get put on the bulletin board. The school is doing good so far. If you earn a paw you get to take a green tag home. The green tag is to remind you to tell your mom or dad how you earned it.

Reese: Last week in class we finished The Tale of Despereaux. It was about a mouse that was born with his eyes open. He also had humongous ears. He met a princess and they fell in love. My favorite character was Roscuro. He was a rat.

Graham: Last week in Art we painted our masks. The masks we were making were about what your first and last names mean. My first name means that I’m from a grand home so I painted a castle on my mask. My last name means that I was born in a gray house so I colored it gray. Then we went back to the classroom.

Hunter: This week our class did problem solving together because someone was not acting the right way at recess. We have a problem solving steps hanging up in our classroom that we use to help us solve our problems. We came up with a solution to the problem together.

David: We went to Music last week. We played the xylophone. Some people went outside right next to the music room to play recorders. Then we played a game. To play the game we had to hide the jump rope.

Ms. Little:  Spring conferences are next Thursday and Friday.  Reminders of your scheduled date and time were sent home in your child’s Thursday backpack folder. Please let me know as soon as possible if you need to reschedule. Enjoy the weekend.

Newsletter 3-22-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

March 22, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, March 23^rd – Dismissal at 12:30

Classroom News:

Brianna: In Math this week we learned about angles. Angles are made by two rays that have the same endpoint. We also learned about vertices. A vertex is the corner of the angle. An acute angle is less than a right angle, a right angle looks like an L, and an obtuse angle is greater than a right angle. I enjoyed learning about it and I think everyone else enjoyed it too.

Lindsey: Yesterday Ms. Little read us The Tale of Despereaux. In The Tale of Despereaux, Roscuro persuades Miggery Sow to think she can be a princess.  Miggery Sow is a girl who was traded for a red cloth. What just happened is Miggery and Roscuro kidnapped the princess and took her to the dungeon.

Kyle: Sometimes our class receives postcards from different places. Someone named Kyle received two postcards from Kentucky and one postcard from Washington D.C. One of the postcards from Kentucky is at Kyle’s house and the other two postcards are at school.

Robbi: In Writing Workshop we have been working with our essay partners. My essay partner is Kyleigh. We have been writing about staying healthy. I helped her by giving her an idea. For example, to stay healthy you should eat a lot of veggies and fruit.

Joseph: The last time we read Time for Kids we read two magazines. One of them was about snowy owls. I forget what the second one was about but it looked interesting.

Thomas: Last week we had Gym. First we warmed up by running, walking backwards, and galloping. We do 4 things when we warm up. Then we played Freedom Ball. How to play is there are a few taggers and when you get tagged you sit down. Someone can help you if they have a freedom ball.

Alonso: Last week we went to Mr. Mehigan’s class for their publishing party. I read a bunch of stories! We all gave specific comments and compliments for their stories. I didn’t read all of the stories but they were all good!

Kyleigh: Yesterday in Ms. Little’s class we were doing Writing Workshop in small groups. All of the groups worked with Ms. Little. My thesis is that exercising and staying healthy is important. Here are some of the ways you can write sentences to make your thesis make sense: “For example…” or “This makes me realize…” or “Another example is…” or “I used to think but now I realize…” or “The reason for this is…” There are more but I only listed five.

Dorinda: This week we have no homework because this week we have the MCAS test. If we had homework and the MCAS we would have a lot of work to do. Ms. Little said we should go to bed early, have a good breakfast, come to school on time, and read 15 minutes each night. That’s our only homework. 

Hannah: Lately in Math we have been studying congruent shapes. Congruent shapes are two shapes that are exactly the same no matter how much you slide them, flip them, or turn them. They are still the same shape, just slid, flipped, or turned. If you slide, flip, and turn a shape, it will be congruent, but if you shrink a shape is it not the same. It was interesting to learn about congruent shapes.

Henry: Lately in Writing Workshop we have been writing mini-stories about our thesis. I wrote a whole page for each of my mini-stories. The teacher already told me I was one step ahead. What I did was I filled up one page with the mini-stories but they were all little paragraphs.

Hunter: This week we did Math. We learned about flips, slides, and turns. Then we used flat shapes called tangrams to learn. A slide is when you have the shape and you slide it down, to the side, or forward and it’s congruent because it’s still the same shape and size.

James: Yesterday we used tangrams. We used them to make shapes. We read a story with tangram shapes in it. I thought it was exciting. We also tried using two shapes to make one shape. We used two triangles to make a square and we used two triangles and a square to make a rectangle.

Rory: Yesterday (3/20/12) we read a book called Grandfather Tang’s Story. We each got a set of tangrams. The people in Grandfather Tang’s Story could turn into animals. For example, a person turned into a fox. We tried to make all of the animals in the story out of tangrams.

Cara: This Monday in Art we were doing our masks. After we finished cutting, we used some scraps to make it pop out. You don’t have to make all of it pop out, just a little of it. I think we are going to paint and add feathers and maybe something else next time.

Samantha: Last Thursday we went to Mrs. Messina’s class for Kindergarten Buddies. When we were there we played a card game called War/More Than. My partner’s name was Silvia. Our whole class earned a paw for helping the kindergarteners learn and by not getting frustrated.

Aiden: Last week our class did Daily 5 Rotations. It is when you rotate in four groups. There’s read to self, there’s read to someone, there’s writing, and there’s word work/phonics/spelling. I liked writing the best out of all of them.

David: In Math we learned about quadrilaterals. Quadrilaterals are shapes that have 4 sides. Squares, rhombuses, and rectangles are all quadrilaterals.

Kate: Last week in Music we practiced on our recorders.  We played a game after. Someone hid a jump rope and the other person had to find it. Last time Kyle hid the jump rope and Kyleigh had to find it.

Reese: Yesterday we did an MCAS practice test. We have the real MCAS on Wednesday and Thursday. In the test, the story was called Henry Hikes to Fitchburg. The story was about two friends who want to go to Fitchburg, but they go different ways. They were both trying to get to Fitchburg the fastest. Henry walked and Henry’s friend worked for a train ticket. Henry’s friend got there first.

Morgan: This week we have new seats. No one sits next to anyone. I am in the back of the classroom. The reason we moved our desks like this is because of MCAS.

Vinny: Last week we went to the library and we checked out books. Mrs. Patino read us a story. The book was about leprechauns. After that, we all went on the computers.

Ms. Little:  Spring conference reminders were sent home in your child’s Thursday backpack folder last week. Please let me know as soon as possible if you need to reschedule. Enjoy the weekend.

Newsletter 3-15-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

March 15, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·         Friday, March 16^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·         Friday, March 16^th – Book orders due

·         Wednesday, March 21^st – MCAS testing

·         Thursday, March 22^nd – MCAS testing

·         Friday, March 23^rd – Dismissal at 12:30

Classroom News:

Hunter: Last week we had Library. I checked out a Star Wars book. It is good so far. We left the library after we checked out books.

Joseph: In Math we played a game! The game was about figuring out what shape our partner has. It’s a math game because it had to do with geometry. How to play the game: 1. Reach into the bag. 2. Describe the solid figure (explaining the number of faces, edges, and vertices) to your partner. 3. Guess the shape. 4. Keep the shape if the answer is right.

Morgan: In Math we are learning about lines. There are lines, line segments, rays, intersecting lines, parallel lines, and points. There are five types of lines and the point.

Thomas: Last week we learned about faces, edges, and vertices in Math. All the shapes have different names. A sphere is a shape that has no corners, no faces, and no edges. A cylinder has 2 faces and no edges or corners.

Alonso: Last week we read a book called The Big Orange Splot for an MCAS practice test. Next week we will take the real MCAS test. I hope I pass MCAS. I feel very ready and determined to pass.

Hannah: Lately in Math we have been studying polygons. Polygons are closed shapes that have three or more corners like a triangle or a pentagon. Some of the polygons we learned about are triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and octagons. We learned a lot about polygons in one day.

Samantha: On Monday, Mrs. Grundstrom (my mom) came in for Yoga. We made relaxation hands. To make them you wrote all the good things about you on your paper hand. We also did some yoga poses we already know. She taught us to take 5 breaths. That’s when you count down from 5 and you breathe.

Kate: We have been reading a book called The Tale of Despereaux. Despereaux is a mouse that has big ears and can read. So far Despereaux is in the dungeon for standing at the foot of the Princess Pea and the King and for letting the Princess Pea touch him. Right now the characters we have heard about are Despereaux, the princess, the king, Gregory, Botticelli, Roscuro, and the queen.

David: Last week we went to Ms. Burns’ room for Reading Buddies. My buddy and I read There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Snow. We also read a pirate book.  Then my buddy and I read a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book.

Vinny: Yesterday we went to Gym. We went bowling for healthy snacks and we played a warm up game. We also did our relays and played Rock Paper Scissors Fit.

Dorinda: Last week we read the book called Don’t Let the

Pigeon Drive

the Bus. When Ms. Little was done reading we told our writing workshop partner reasons why the pigeon should not drive the bus. I liked the book because it was funny.

Brianna: We filled up the marble jar! Then we got to have Friday Free Time. Friday Free Time is when we have extra recess inside. Some people played board games. It was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed it.

Aiden: This week in Cursive we learned lowercase g and o. Lowercase g looks like a plain g. Lowercase o looks like it has a tail. Now I know how to spell “go” in cursive.

Henry: Lately in Writing Workshop we have been doing theses. A thesis is something that you want to stand up for. It’s also about being persuasive. My thesis is that it’s important to be a good sport. Ms. Little had us write three good reasons why you should. My reasons were that you should be a good sport because it helps you make friends, being a good sport makes the game fun, and being a good sport will make you happy for being a kind person. The most important one I think I did was that if people see that you are being a good sport, people will tell their mom good things about you or bad things if you are a bad sport. And that’s what we’re doing in Writing Workshop.

James: Last week we created essay ideas in Writing Workshop. Mine was: “You should get a dog because…” It was exciting. I sort of liked it.

Lindsey: Last week our class had Music. We played Hide and Find. We used a jump rope for the game. How you play is a person hides the jump rope and another person finds it. My friend Henry begged the music teacher if he could jump rope.

Kyle: Sometimes our class receives postcards from different places. We have already received a postcard from each state, but we are still receiving them. The most recent postcards were from St. Croix and Honduras.

Graham: Last week in Art we made masks of what our name means. My name means I was from a grand home. I did a castle. Then we went back to the classroom.

Cara: We were at meeting when we got a phone call. When Ms. Little got off the phone she told us that we were going to have an assembly. The assembly was called Poetry in Motion. We heard some poetry. The guy also acted like a mime. It was cool.

Kyleigh: A couple weeks ago Lindsey and I went to Mrs. Messina’s room to read a story to her kindergarten class. It was called The Quilt Maker’s Gift. We only read our favorite page. Reading a story to kids made me feel so confident and proud because I helped them learn.

Rory: Last week we changed seats. We are in groups of four. I sit next to Lindsey. Joseph is diagonal from me, and Kyleigh is across from me. My table is in the middle of the room.

Reese: Last week Mrs. Copley came in from Middlesex Savings Bank to teach us about money. It’s called the “Savings Makes Cents” program. The first thing she taught us was how to open a bank account. Then she taught us about the “Fun Club.” It’s for 4 – 13 year olds. When you bring in money you could win a prize. Then she told us about the vault. The vault is a small room where they keep all the money. They have to keep enough money in the vault for all of the people who have accounts there. Say if I needed $2,000 and I had $2,000 in my bank account, they would need to have enough money in the vault to give it to me. Then she taught us about the ATM. When you use the ATM it gives you money, but you don’t get it for free. If you take money out of your bank account that means there will be less money for you for important things. Pretend I had $10,000 in my bank account. If I wanted to take out $11,000 I couldn’t. But if I want to take $5,000 out that’s ok. It’s like subtraction.

Ms. Little:  All third graders will be taking the English Language Arts MCAS test Wednesday and Thursday of next week. Please make sure your child goes to bed at a reasonable time, eats a good breakfast, and arrives at school on time each day next week. There will be no homework given next week; however, please encourage your child to continue reading each night for at least 15 minutes. Enjoy the weekend. J

1st Grade Reading Buddies

We have been visiting our first grade reading buddies since the beginning of the school year. Visiting Ms. Burns' students is a special activity we look forward to every other Thursday.

Newsletter 3-8-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

March 8, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, March 9^th – Dismissal at 12:30

Classroom News:

Lindsey: Last week it was Read Across America Day. Everyone in the whole school did D.E.A.R. For D.E.A.R. everyone has to be silent. You can sit anywhere in the room. I read the book Boohoo Bird.

Graham: In Writing Workshop we started working on essays. We talked about what we see, notice, or wonder. We practiced by looking at things in the classroom. For example, I saw somebody with a pink and purple polka dotted ruler. It made me wonder why she bought that one. It was fun because I like Writing Workshop and I hope we do more of our essays. 

Hannah: Lately in Science we have been working on physical and chemical changes. A physical change is when you do something like mix a salad. The vegetables are not any different than they used to be, except they are cut into pieces. A chemical change is a change where you can’t redo what happened. Let’s say you burn a piece of wood and you are left with ashes, you can’t turn those ashes back into wood. So in Science we were drawing pictures of physical and chemical changes. Let’s say you were drawing wood burning. You would draw the before, the process of how it changed, and the result. It was a great project.

Joseph: Last week we went to Library and we learned about Dr. Seuss.  We found out that Dr. Seuss’ real name is Theodor Geisel. Mrs. Patino read two books. One was Yurtle the Turtle. The other book was about a bird.

Cara: Last week we had Music. In Music we played the drums and sang a new song. We also got to play a game. We played Hop Old Squirrel. It was fun. We did a points round and an elimination round too.

Samantha: In Science we are learning about chemical changes. A chemical change is when you change something and can’t change it back. If you leave your bike out in the rain, it will rust. That’s a chemical change. Making pizza is a chemical change too. When you cook something it is always a chemical change. That’s what we learned in Science this week.

Dorinda: Last week we did our March calendars. I put Justin Bieber’s birthday on mine! We haven’t looked at our calendars yet. I think it’s a good idea to look at our calendars soon. We do the calendars to learn more about what the people in our class like and do.

Aiden: This week we finished Swindle. We started reading The Tale of Despereaux. It’s about a baby mouse that was born seeing, hearing, and reading. His mother said he was a disappointment to the family.

Kate: This week in Art we were trying to finish our drawings. We were drawing ourselves jumping, doing handstands, playing soccer, baseball, football, hockey, and more. I chose kicking a soccer ball. After we finished we went into a room and two mothers were in there. One of the mothers was ironing the pictures into fabric. The other one told us to put our initials on the fabric one. We got to keep the picture that wasn’t made out of fabric.

Robbi: Last Friday was Read Across America Day. The principal from the high school, Dr. Chesson, came to read to our class.  She read a book called The First Dog. I liked it because it was about how the first dog came from a wolf and I love dogs!

Thomas: Yesterday in Math we started geometry. We learned about 3-D shapes. They are shapes that pop up. We played a game on the Smartboard that we had to find and name the shape but you could only see part of it. Then we sorted pictures of geometric shapes into different boxes.

Kyle: We started to read a book called Swindle. It was about a person named Swindle and he gave two kids $100 for a 1 million dollar Babe Ruth baseball card. The story ends with Swindle’s store being closed. Neither Swindle nor Griffin gets the baseball card. At the very end, a different lady does.

Brianna: In Gym we played Lion and the Impala. Here is how you play: You get a lot of people and make a circle. Then you pick one lion and one impala. You put a blindfold on them and you spin them around. Then, the lion and impala are in the circle and they start to walk around. When the lion is close to the impala you would say “Moobay” loudly. And when the lion is far away you would say “Moobay” quietly. The lion tries to tag the impala.

Vinny: In Cursive we learned how to write a lowercase p. It’s kind of like a regular p only it has a line that’s straight with a loop. We practiced it in our cursive packet.

Henry: Lately in Science we have been doing physical and chemical changes. A physical change is a mixture or if you change an object’s shape or size. A chemical change is when you turn something into something else. Ms. Little had us draw a physical change or a chemical change. I did a physical change. I drew how to make Dorito salad, so I drew crunched up Doritos, taco meat, and French dressing mixed together.

Kyleigh: On Monday, March 5^th Ms. Little’s class went to an assembly about being kind, safe learners. The people who were acting it out for us were Mrs. Bator and other teachers and helpers. They showed us a way in sign language of saying that we are kind, safe learners. Then, when the assembly was done, we went back to class to have snack.

Rory: Last week in Reading Ms. Little asked if anyone wanted to be in a book club. If you were interested in reading one of the books you could start a club with other people who wanted to read that book too. I am in one with Reese and Robbi. We are reading The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl. In our book club we take turns reading. Ms. Little gave us bookmarks.

Alonso: A couple days ago we received two postcards. The postcards were from Idaho and Minnesota. I like to get postcards because I sometimes learn new things. That’s why I am writing about them.

David: This week we did MCAS practice for homework. We had two days to do it for homework. We had to read, then we answered the questions, and then we wrote the sentences. I thought it was easy.

Reese: This week in our class we are doing the Pledge of Allegiance over the loudspeaker. We do the Pledge every morning but each week there is a different class to do it in the office. This week is our week. Me and a couple other students did it at the assembly on Monday.

James: Yesterday we read a magazine called Time for Kids. It was about school kids having tablet computers, but the question was: does that improve learning? I enjoyed reading the magazine. I like reading books a lot, so I read it twice. P.S. it had a bit about presidents.

Morgan: Last week we had a snow day. That meant no school. I went sledding with my new pink sled. It also meant that at the end of the year, we will miss one day of summer.

Hunter: We made geometry pictures. We had shapes and our group’s was a cone. We had to go through magazines and cut shapes out that looked like cones. For example, I cut out a pencil tip.

Ms. Little:  We have been practicing for the Language Arts portion of MCAS at school as well as for homework.  The expectations for the assignments have been discussed in class; therefore, students should complete the MCAS homework independently. Please contact me with any questions or concerns. Enjoy your weekend. J

Newsletter 3-1-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

March 1, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, March 2^nd – Dismissal at 12:30

·        Friday, March 2^nd – Read Across America Day

Classroom News:

Morgan: In Art we were drawing ourselves doing some type of pose. I did cheerleading. We drew it on this clear piece of paper that you could melt the crayon wax onto. You could melt it onto a piece of paper or a piece of fabric. You could only use one type of crayon called a fabric crayon.

James: Yesterday we read How Matter Works booklets. It told us that everything is matter. But what about anti-matter? I enjoyed reading the booklets. They had 16 pages including the glossary. The glossary had 10 words. The booklets told us that atoms are tiny particles of the elements. I enjoyed learning some new facts.

Robbi: Last week we had a week-long vacation. I did a lot of things. When we got back to school we shared something we did over the vacation. People did some crazy fun things like rock climbing! I went to my cousin’s house and played Xbox 360 and PSP.

Hunter: In Math we took a test. It was a hard test. One of the questions on it was Bobby and his friend each had 9 bags of chips and there were 6 Boy Scouts. How many bags of chips did each Boy Scout get? So you had to add 9 + 9 = 18, and then do 18 divided by 6.

Kyle: In class we have book bags. At Literacy we can read the books in them to ourselves and we call it Read to Self. We can also read to a partner and we call it Read to Someone. If your partner wants to read one of their books they can, or you can read the same book together.

Lindsey: A couple weeks ago our class signed a heart card. We signed it to promise that we would follow the core values of our school. The three core values are safe, kind, and learners.  Then, the tiger came into our classroom and Aiden gave the card to the tiger. I liked when the tiger came in.

Vinny: On Monday we did spelling. I have ten spelling words. On Friday we will have a spelling test. Some of my words are fudge, smudge, and bridge.

Thomas: In Math we learned how to tell time to the minute. We looked at clocks on the Smartboard and we needed to tell the time to the nearest minute. 8:47 is the time to the minute right now.

Hannah: Yesterday we had MCAS practice for homework. We usually do MCAS practice at school but it takes up a lot of our time so we started doing some of it for homework. For the homework, we read about marine iguanas, answered some questions, and wrote about them in an open response question. Since we had two nights to do it, we could read and answer the questions one night and write the open response question the other night. It is a good idea to do MCAS practice at home instead of school.

Cara: Before vacation on Friday we had recess. When the whistle blew we lined up. Our class and Mr. Mehigan’s class were in line when Mr. Mehigan yelled, “Extra recess!” Then we had ten more minutes of recess.

Brianna: We worked really hard on Friday so Ms. Little let us have Friday Free Time. Friday Free Time is when we have extra recess inside at the end of the day. We could play games, build with blocks, or draw on our white boards.

Samantha: This week we read Swindle. We are on chapter 26.  Griffin, Ben, and the team stole the Babe Ruth card back out of Swindle’s house. I like the story so far.

Joseph: Once we went to first grade buddies. We read to them for half an hour. I have Judson and David in my group. One of the books we read was called Zack Power. At the end, we waved goodbye and went back to our classroom.

Kate: Yesterday in Gym we practiced holding a hockey stick. Then we got balls with holes in them. We pushed the balls a little bit from one side and then we pushed them to the other side. When you thought you were good at it you could start walking around doing it. Before we did that, we did some relay races.

Kyleigh: The week before vacation on Wednesday Ms. Little’s class went to Library. We went online to a website to learn about the Underground Railroad.  We read paragraphs about it. When I was done I went on Brainpop Jr. and watched the movie of the week about a woman who got hit in the face with metal. It was a sad story.

Aiden: This week in cursive we learned lowercase s and j. s looks like a ship. J looks like an i but with a loop. I like cursive because it is a different way to write.

Dorinda: Before February vacation some people went to the library to choose prizes for Reading Counts.  Only 4 or 5 people went down to the library. There are only 8 prizes. It’s fun doing Reading Counts because I like reading.

Rory: The week before vacation some of us read to Kindergarten classes. I read the book Happy Endings. I read by myself to Mrs. McPhail’s class. Some people read together.

Graham: Last week in Music we had choices to play different songs on our recorders. I forgot my recorder so I took an extra one from the basket that you couldn’t put your mouth on. I played Juba. Then we went back to the classroom.

Alonso: Yesterday we received two postcards from Texas and Canada. We already have postcards from those places. I think it’s been awhile since we filled up the United States map. I like getting postcards!

David: In Math we learned about elapsed time. It means how much time goes by. For example, if we come to school at 8:00 and it ends at 3:00, how much time went by? We practiced on the Smartboard with clocks.

Reese: Yesterday in our classroom we had a publishing party for our realistic fiction stories. Through the past few months we have been writing stories. After we finish our stories we have a publishing party! Mr. Mehigan’s class came in and read our stories. They wrote extraordinary comments.

Ms. Little:  We have been practicing for the Language Arts portion of MCAS at school as well as for homework.  The expectations for the assignments have been discussed in class; therefore, students should complete the MCAS homework independently. Please contact me with any questions or concerns. Enjoy your weekend. J