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Newsletter 11-17-11

The Green Meadow Gazette

November 17, 2011

Upcoming & Important Events:

·  November 18^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·   November 23^rd  – Dismissal at 11:25

·  November 24^th  – Thanksgiving (no school)

·  November 25^th – No school

·   December 1^st – Parent/Teacher Conferences

·   December 2^nd – Parent/Teacher Conferences

Classroom News:

Thomas: This week and last week we got D.E.A.R. spots.  A D.E.A.R. spot is where you would read by yourself.  My D.E.A.R. spot is by Ms. Little’s desk.

Morgan: In Social Studies we learned that Pilgrims only had a little bit of space in their houses.  The Pilgrims were lucky though because the Wampanoags only had beds made out of sticks.  I learned a lot about the Pilgrims.

James: Yesterday we talked about the Pilgrims.  We all read a packet titled “Home Sweet Home.” I learned about daub.  Daub was a thick paste made from water, sand, and straw. They used it to make houses. I liked the highlighting.

Hunter: Last week when we were at the Library we learned about atlases and used Google Earth. Then we lined up, and then we left.

Kate: This Monday in Art we put paper mache on our bowl.  We dipped pieces of newspaper into the bucket of mache.  We did it three different ways.  There is vertical, horizontal, and the inside of the bowl.  There were three buckets.  The mache was made out of water and wheat.  When you take the newspaper out, you have to squeegee it first.

Henry: In Writing Workshop we wrote stories that could happen in real life but didn’t really happen.  We took our seed stories from our notebook then used it to write the realistic fiction story on the next blank page.  I wrote two stories that I think are kind of funny.  One is about how my shoe got loose and hit someone in the shin, and then the soccer ball hit my face.  The other one is about me getting hit in the face by a ball, flying into the net, doing backflips, running into a soccer net post, and getting knocked out.

Brianna: This week we read Time for Kids.  I learned that there are bats called bumble bats.  I also learned that bats are mammals, have wings, and can fly. I enjoy reading Time for Kids. 

Vinny: Yesterday we read Time for Kids.  It was about bats.  I learned that bats aren’t blind.

Alonso: Last week we learned three ways to read a book.  One way is to read the pictures.  The second way is to read the words.  The third way is to retell the story.  It was interesting because I did not know that before.

Kyle: We read a story called Brave Irene.  In Brave Irene there was a snowstorm and Irene has to go through it to deliver a dress.  First we read the pictures together and then we read the words. Last, we retold the story.  To retell a story first you have to read the story. Last, you have to tell how it went without reading the words.

Hannah: Lately in Math we have been studying multiplication.  A few weeks ago we read a book called Sea Squares.  In the book there was a rhyme about an animal that lives in the sea, and with each animal there was a multiplication problem.  After we went through most of the book, we made our own sea squares page.

Kyleigh: Last week our class read the pictures from the story Brave Irene.  How you read the pictures is you look at them and think about what’s happening in the story. I bet we learned a lot from Brave Irene!

Joseph: Once our class read a book called Brave Irene.  First we read the pictures, and then we read the words.  When we read the words we checked to see if we had read the pictures right.  Then we went back to our seat and sat down for the next lesson.

Dorinda: Sunday was Morgan’s birthday.  So on Monday she brought a book to read.  It was a duck book.  It was about ducks who liked to skate.  It was a great story.

Cara: We have been reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  We are at the part where he gets a new name.  We’re also at the part where he gets another new owner.  The owner is very loving and caring.  Oh and I forgot to tell you that Edward’s new name is Jangles.  We predicted his new owner is about four years old.  I hope it never ends.

Lindsey: This week we made book bags.  We put 3, 4, or 5 books in it.  Some were chapter books and some were picture books.  I think we are good at picking out books.

Rory: Yesterday in Writing Workshop we made up our own characters.  For example, the character’s name might be Jane, and Jane might hate cows and love roller coasters.  We made lists in our notebooks of things like that except more.

Robbi: In Math this week we worked on multiplying by 5.  We played a game called Find the Sum x 5.  How you play is you roll the dice, then add up the numbers, then multiply the answer.  For example, if you roll a 3 and a 5, you would do 8 x 5 = 40 and color in the square about 40 on the game sheet.

Aiden: This week in Gym we played Crazy Tag.  How you play is you tag people with different things.  We also played a game that you kick a bowling pin down. I liked Gym because we get to run when we play crazy tag.

Samantha: On Thursday we went to Ms. Burns’ class for Reading Buddies.  My reading buddy was Prisca.  We listen to our buddy read until we hear a timer.  We sit elbow to elbow and knee to knee.

David: This week we learned how to Read to Self.  We read in our reading spots around the room.  During Read to Self the kids are reading quietly and the teacher is reading with the kids.

Reese: Last week we started multiplication and made books called Circles and Stars.  It helped us with our times facts.  We rolled the dice and then whatever numbers we rolled would be turned into a times sentence.  For example, if I rolled a 2 and an 8, it would be 2 x 8 = 16. So we would draw 2 circles with 8 stars in each circle.

Graham: Last week we were multiplying facts by 2.  The trick to multiply by 2 is to add the 1^st number to itself or to double the number.  I liked it because it was easy.  After we learned about it we played a game.  I lost.

Ms. Little: Parent/Teacher Conference reminders have been sent home in your child’s backpack folder.  Please contact me if you need to change your conference time and we can reschedule.  Have a great weekend. J

Math Games

For the past couple of weeks, we have been identifying patterns and learning new tricks to help us multiply numbers by 0, 1, 2, 5, and 10 in Math.  We have also learned several new dice games to play to help us practice.

First Grade Reading Buddies 11-10-11

We have been visiting Ms. Burns' first grade class for Reading Buddies every other Thursday.  We listen to our first grade buddy read, and then we help them check for understanding what they have read.  It has been a great way to read together and make new friends.

Newsletter 11-10

The Green Meadow Gazette

November 10, 2011

Upcoming & Important Events:

·      Friday, November 11^th – Veterans Day – No school

·      Friday, November 18 – Dismissal at 12:30

Classroom News:

Kyle: Last time at Music we played drums.  We play drums each time.  I am in a group with Joseph and Daniel.  On the drums we do the same beats each day.

Lindsey: Two weeks ago we had reading buddies with Ms. Burns’ class.  Elena was my buddy.  We read lots of books and I thought it was fun.

Thomas: This week in Math we did arrays with pictures of apples on the Smartboard.  An array is a way to show times (multiplication).  How you do it is if you have 2 x 3, you have to use the 3 two times.

Vinny: Yesterday at Gym we played dodge ball and crazy tag.  We threw balls at each other.  Crazy tag is tag but crazy.

Kate: On Monday we went to Plimoth Plantation.  At Plimoth Plantation we got to see a replica of the Wampanoag tribe houses and the Pilgrims’ houses.  We got to go to Plimoth Rock and the Mayflower II.  I thought it was really fun.

Morgan: We have been listening to Ms. Little read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  So far, we are at the part where Edward gets a new name.  I hope we get to the end.

Cara: On Tuesday we wrote thank you letters to our chaperones that took us to Plimoth Plantation.  We wrote them on paper with lines that were bolded.  All the chaperones were great!

Hannah: Lately in Math we took an addition math test.  After we finished the test we were able to start multiplication.  In the test, we reviewed graphs, rounding, and addition problems.  The day after the test we started multiplication.

Hunter: Last week we read Time for Kids about bullying.  My favorite part was a really big article about bullying.  It was interesting.

James: Last week we learned about bar graphs in Math.  We went around the class asking for kids to choose one choice out of 4, then filled in the corresponding box.  It was fun.

Dorinda: On Monday there was no school because the lights were out.  Halloween was cancelled too.  My mom and dad went to New York so I slept at my babysitter’s house and I had fun.

Joseph: Once Mrs. Small came to our class and she read a book called Just Kidding.  It was about a kid teasing another kid and he kept saying he was just kidding every time he got caught.  Then we learned a poem about stopping ourselves when people make us angry.

Brianna: This week we played a game about multiplication.  Here’s how to play: you get two dice and a blank piece of paper with little squares on it.  Let’s just say you rolled a 4 and a 2.  You would color in an array that goes down 4 and across 2.  Then your partner would write 4 x 2 = 8.

David: We went on the Mayflower when we went to Plimoth Plantation.  It was a big ship.  My favorite part was the beds.

Kyleigh: We had a publishing party when we finished our writing workshop stories.  We invited another class to come to our classroom.  They read our stories and wrote compliments about them.

Graham: Last Friday we had the Monster March.  I liked it because we got to dress up.  I dressed up as Harry Potter.  We walked around the school for our parents to see.

Henry: We switch seats each month.  When it was the month of November we switched seats.  Now I sit with Kate, Alonso, and Dorinda.

Samantha: On Monday we went to Plimoth Plantation and Plimoth Rock.  Plimoth Rock was a rock that had the date 1620 on it.  The rock was not big.  I was surprised.

Reese: Last week our class went to Mr. Mehigan’s publishing party.  Mr. Mehigan’s class wrote wonderful stories and we read them.  After we read them we wrote comments.  I think Mr. Mehigan’s class wrote really good stories!

Aiden: Last week in Art we made a bowl that tells you what day we were born on.  It tells you by the pictures.  We made it out of paper.

Alonso: Yesterday we wrote friendly letters.  We learned to make the greeting, the body, where to put the date, and the closing.  My opinion is that it was really neat.

Ms. Little: We had a successful and exciting field trip to Plimoth Plantation, the Mayflower II, and Plimoth Rock this past Monday.  Thank you to the parents who chaperoned the trip.  We appreciated and enjoyed having you with us!  Have a great weekend. J

Newsletter 11-10

Newsletter 10-27-11

The Green Meadow Gazette

October 26, 2011

Upcoming & Important Events:

·      Friday, October 28^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·      Monday, October 31^st – Monster March

·      Monday, November 7^th – Field Trip to Plimoth Plantation

Classroom News:

James: Last week we played a fact family game in Math.  We used fact family finders.  Say the string was between 3 and 4.  The fact family would be 3 + 7 = 10, 7 + 3 = 10, 10 – 7 = 3, 10 – 3 = 7.

Kyleigh: Yesterday in Social Studies we learned about the Pilgrims.  We learned about their voyage to the New World.  It seems interesting.  Next we are going to learn about the Wampanoags. 

Hannah: Lately in Math Ms. Little has been teaching us about mental math.  Then she put four or five math problems on the board for us to solve with mental math.  We were solving two digit addition problems, so we first broke apart the tens and then the ones, and then added them together to make it easier.  After we were done we went to lunch.

Vinny: Last week we played double the die plus one in Math.  We played with a partner.  My partner was Kyle.

Robbi: In Math we have been learning how to solve for X.  It is algebra.  Here is an example: 4 + 3 = 5 + X. First you add 4 + 3 together to get 7.  Then you have to think about what plus 5 equals 7, so X would equal 2.

David: This week in Social Studies we learned about New England.  There are six states in New England.  They are Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.

Lindsey & Samantha: Last week we all walked to the Maynard Public Library.  All the third grade classes went.  We went to see two storytellers.  Their names were John and Lisa.  John told two stories and Lisa told two stories.  After that, we all walked back to school.

Brianna: This week in Music we played the drums.  Everybody enjoyed playing the drums.  Our Music teacher, Ms. Lilley, also taught us what the music notes mean and she put it in a way us kids could understand.

Morgan: We played a game called Sparkle on Monday.  Sparkle is a spelling game.  We played in two groups.

Dorinda: On Tuesday we finished listening to Frindle.  It was about a fifth grader named Nick.  He made up a word called frindle.  It meant pen.  It was a good story.

Rory: Last week it was Hannah’s birthday.  She brought in a book called The Encyclopedia of Immaturity to read to us.  It’s just like an encyclopedia but more kid style.  The pictures were funny.

Kate: Last week in Math we made pumpkin glyphs.  Your pumpkin should either be tall and thin or short and fat depending if your age is even or odd.  You got to pick your eyes, nose, mouth, and stem, depending on whether you’ve eaten pumpkin seeds before, whether you like pumpkin pie, or what size pumpkins you like best.  Ms. Little hung them on the bulletin board.

Graham: Yesterday our class had Gym.  I liked it because we did throwing, jump roping, basketball, hula hooping, pedal scooters, and wiggle scooters.  We also practiced dribbling and tossing a ball.

Joseph: Last week in Spelling we worked with a partner to do our spelling tests.  First our partner would say our spelling words one at a time.  Then our partner would check our work.  Then we would do the same thing to our partner.

Kyle: We go to Library once a week.  Last time we went we read Wiley and the Hairy Man. Mrs. Patino read it to us.  Then we checked out books.

Aiden: This week in Art we made bowls.  We made them to tell people what day of the week we were born on.  I liked making the bowls because they were easy for me to make.

Henry: We are publishing our stories in Writing Workshop.  My story was about going to the Blue Man Group.  It was 6 pages long.  The Blue Man Group was awesome.  So many things went into the crowd.  Some jello went into the crowd.  Some people went up to the stage, too.

Alonso: We made fact family finders for Math.  A fact family finder is a piece of thick paper that has pictures of 10 things on it.  Then we put a string on it.  We moved the string to play a game where we had to make different fact families for 10.  Everyone did a good job.

Reese: Last week we had our last fire safety presentation.  We have been doing it since Kindergarten.  The firefighters teach all sorts of things about how to be safe if there is a fire, like stop, drop, and roll.  I like the goodie bags that we get at the end.

Cara: We went to the magazine drive kickoff last week.  If you bought a magazine, you would get to be in a raffle and you could win a stuffed animal.  It was fun.

Ms. Little: Our field trip to Plimoth Plantation is November 7^th.  The cost for each child is $24 and it would be appreciated if you could send in the payment as soon as possible.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about the trip.  Have a great weekend. J