Newsletter 1-26-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

January 26, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·      Friday, January 27^th – Dismissal at 12:30

Classroom News:

Cara: In Math we made a snowman glyph. This is how you make one. Ms. Little makes this list and, for example, a girl would put a ski hat on their snowman but if you are a boy then you would put a top hat on your snowman. It goes on with tons of different things like that. That is how you make a snowman glyph.

James: We had Gym last week. We were working on gymnastics. I thought it was lots of fun working on points of balance and things like that.

Kyleigh: In Math we are working on subtracting across zero. Subtracting across zero is not so easy. Let’s just say you had 706 – 99. You can’t subtract   6 – 9 so you’d go to the zero in the tens place. Since there’s a zero there you’d go to the 7 in the hundreds place. You’d cross out the 7 and change it into a 6, change the 0 in the tens place into a 10, then change the 10 into a 9, and then go back to the ones place and make the 6 into a 16 so you can solve your problem.

Lindsey: Two weeks ago our class had kindergarten buddies. We played a game called “More Than” with cards. It’s the same game as War. I liked playing More Than.

Hunter: This week in Science we learned about matter. Solids, liquids, and gases are matter. We looked for pictures that had different properties in magazines. We found pictures of things that were shiny, hard, rough, flexible, and smooth.

Kyle: Sometimes our class looks at a magazine called Time for Kids. It is a magazine that has a lot of information in it. Last week there was a story about a twister that happened recently. There are a lot of Time for Kids magazines.

Henry: On Monday the 23^rd of January we were learning about homonyms and homophones. We were mostly learning about homophones but we were still learning about homonyms. Homophones are like these: dear and deer. They are words that sound the same but have different meanings. Then Ms. Little had us draw pictures of homophones. My homophones were the mane on a horse and the main character, like Spongebob.  I used a lot of detail.

Kate: Two weeks ago we learned how to write the letters i and t in cursive. We have cursive booklets with letters that have all the same strokes. We just did u and w. We already did i and t.

Aiden: Last week in cursive we wrote the word “it” in cursive and we made the “it” into a picture. For example, I made a bunch of “its” into the laces on a football. I like cursive because it is a different way to write.

Samantha: Last week we learned cursive w and u. Everyone in our class has a cursive packet and folder. We learned that w, u, i, and t all have the same stroke. It is called the undercurve stroke.

Thomas: Yesterday we learned how to round and subtract (estimate differences) in Math. We played a game with dice. We rolled to make 2 three digit numbers, then rounded them to the nearest 10 or 100 and then we subtracted.

Alonso: Last week we read the book Martin’s Big Words. It’s about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and how he grew up. I think his life was hard.

Robbi: Last Thursday we found out who our new 1^st grade reading buddies were. My new buddy was Rose. She read a poem book but I forgot what it was called. I had a really fun time and I want to go back!

Rory: Last week in Writing Workshop we started typing our realistic fiction stories on Netbooks. Netbooks are pretty much a small laptop. Before we started typing our stories we practiced logging on and typing in Microsoft Word because it was our first time.

Dorinda: On Monday we watched the BFG movie. I learned that Sophie and the BFG caught the giants and put them in a big hole so they wouldn’t get out. The movie was funny, that’s why I liked it.

David: In Music we played our recorders. We learned a new song so we played Merrily We Roll Along. Then we played a game called Stella Ella Olla.

Graham: Last week in Library we went on the computers. We watched videos of animals. I liked the shark video.

Reese: Last week in class we learned about MCAS. It’s a test we take. We practiced reading. The book was called Little House in the Big Woods. It was a short version of the book. After we read the book we answered questions. It was fun!

Morgan: In Art class we are making book homes. I have never done this kind of craft before. I like this craft because you get to put in towels for the bathroom.

Hannah: Lately for read aloud we have finished the BFG and started a new book called Swindle. So far it’s about two kids named Griffin and Ben who go to a sleepover in an old house that will be destroyed the next morning. At night when Ben is sleeping, Griffin finds a big desk and when he opens the drawer he finds an old Babe Ruth baseball card that he thinks will solve his family’s money problems. The next morning they escape as quickly as possible and when Ben asks what the point was of staying there Griffin shows him the baseball card and told him they should trade it for some money. So they walk over to a store where you could trade valuable things for money. The owner of the store said the card was not the original and he would only pay $120 for it. The boys took the money and Griffin gave half of it to Ben for staying at the house with him. But when he got home and turned on the TV he saw the man from the store on the news holding the baseball card! He quickly went back to the store and told him to give back his baseball card. But the store owner said he sold it even though he really didn’t. Griffin knew he was lying and wasn’t happy.

Ms. Little:  Thank you for contributing so many useful items to our classroom supply at the beginning of the year. We are running low on plastic spoons, disinfecting wipes, and dry-erase markers.  Any donations would be greatly appreciated! Enjoy the weekend. J

Newsletter 1-12-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

January 12, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·      Friday, January 13^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·      Monday, January 16^th – Martin Luther King Jr. Day (no school)

·      Tuesday, January 17^th – Professional Day (no school)

·      Friday, January 20^th – Book orders due

Classroom News:

Aiden: This week we started reading Swindle.  Swindle means to cheat, trick, steal, lie, rob, or backstab.  I think I will like Swindle because it sounds devious.

Hannah: Lately in Spelling we are trying a new thing where you have a paper covered with blank squares. The blank squares are for us to write our spelling words letter by letter.  After we are done, we cut the letters out and put them in order.  Then we get a colored piece of paper and glue the letters on to make our spelling words.  Last, we put the paper in the finished work bin.

Lindsey: Last week we read Time for Kids.  Cara and I were partners.  We only got to the 2^nd page.  It was two times the regular magazine size.  It was about 2011.

Kyleigh: In Math, Ms. Little’s class practiced subtracting with two digit numbers. First, you start in the ones place. I would subtract if I could. If I can’t subtract then I regroup. You regroup from the tens place so you can solve the problem.

Samantha: In Writing Workshop Ms. Little taught us to show, not tell.  We read A Weekend with Wendell and did a retell of it.  Then we tried to retell it by playing it like a movie in our mind.  I could picture it better when we tried to tell it like we were watching a movie in our mind.

Brianna: Last week in writing we wrote a sloppy copy about what we did over vacation and I wrote about Christmas.  We wrote details and used sequencing words.  Then we wrote our final copy as a paragraph.

James: Last week we received two postcards. One was from Oklahoma, and the other was from Rhode Island.  Now we only have five states left.

Kyle: Sometimes we play multiplication around the world.  The rules are that someone holds up a card that has a math problem on it. He or she shows it to two people and whoever answers it first moves on to another person.  If someone beats his or her whole class in a row then that person gets a prize.

Robbi: Last Thursday we read A Weekend with Wendell and talked about character. The book was about how Wendell went to his friend Sophie’s house. When Sophie played with Wendell he was very rude because he kept telling Sophie what to do. Then, when they played firefighter, Sophie made the rules and after that no one cared who was what. At the end they were friends and Sophie wanted him to come back.

Kate: In Art we worked on book houses.  They are books that we’re making into houses by writing rooms on sticky notes. Most people are on gluing their pages together.

Morgan: We read The Quiltmaker’s Gift. It was about a king who wanted a quilt, but the lady who made the quilts said he had to be poor in order to get a quilt.  He had to give away all his belongings.  The lesson was to not be greedy and not have two birthdays in a year.

Dorinda: At the beginning of each month we make a calendar. We write down the dates in that month, the days of the week, and the month’s name, like January.  I like doing our calendars.  We do it to learn more about people.

Thomas: Yesterday we learned to regroup three digit numbers.  It was a lot of fun playing the math game.  You roll the dice to make your numbers and if you regroup you get a point. If you don’t regroup then you don’t get a point.

Graham: Last week in Science we watched Brainpop.  It was about matter. I learned that people are made out of liquids, solids, and gases, but I’m not sure about plasma.

Alonso: Last week we finished listening to the BFG.  It was a fascinating book. I liked the author’s work. It really sucked me in!

Rory: Last week we filled our marble jar so we celebrated. Ms Little chose this time because we take turns.  She chose that we would watch a movie, so we voted on which one. We all voted to watch The Muppet Show 3.

Joseph: In Spelling we are making cards. We write our spelling words on the cards. Then we do this: put them in ABC (alphabetical) order, practice spelling words with a partner, or write every spelling word three times.

Cara: We had 1^st grade reading buddies! We read a couple of books. We only see them every other week. When we were all lined up the teachers said that we would have different buddies next time. I liked my first grade buddy but I can’t wait to find my new one!

David: In Music we played our recorders and we played games. We practiced Hot Cross Buns. It goes B-A-G. B-A-G and then G-G-G-G-A-A-A-A, B-A-G.

Hunter: Last week we went to Library. We listened to idiom stories and we got to check out a book. The book I checked out was about sign language. And then we left.

Vinny: In Gym we did stations.  They were balance stations because we did gymnastics.  We did the donkey kick at one of the stations.

Reese: Yesterday in Phonics we started to work on long u words. For example, unicorn is a long u word because you can hear the u in the word.  We read by ourselves or with a partner and looked for long u words in our books. Then we wrote lots of long u words down. I thought it was fun!

Henry: Yesterday the teacher gave me, Samantha, Brianna, and Rory cards. Each card had a quality on it.  We had to act the quality out to help us learn about character. She called on me first but I could not think of anything so she gave me a second to think by calling someone else.  Then she picked Rory. He was on the ground wailing, complaining, asking for popcorn, and acting like he was watching TV. His character’s quality was lazy. Brianna’s quality was mean.  Samantha’s quality was silly.  When it was my turn, I asked for Alonso’s help.  He dropped a dictionary and I helped him by picking it up. My quality was kind.

Ms. Little:  Thank you for contributing so many useful items to our classroom supply at the beginning of the year. We are running low on disinfecting wipes and extra snacks (goldfish, pretzels, etc.).  Any donations would be greatly appreciated! Have a great weekend. J

Newsletter 12-22-11

The Green Meadow Gazette

December 22, 2011

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, December 23^rd – Winter Break begins at the end of the day

·        Monday, January 2^nd – No school

Classroom News:

Hannah: Last week was the 5^th time we’ve gone to reading buddies. What we do when we go to reading buddies is we go to Ms. Burns’ room and sit on the rug.  Then we find our reading buddies. Our buddies have a box of books that they pick from, so what books are in the book box are what books we read!

Thomas: Yesterday we learned how to multiply by 8. We did a problem that was really hard.  When we solved that problem we played a game. How you multiply by 8 is, say you have 8 x 4. You could make an array and you make it 8 down and 4 across to get 32.

Graham: Last week in Music we worked on our recorders. I liked it because we got to put our mouths on it. The week before last week I didn’t get to because I didn’t bring mine.

Joseph: This week we made a list in phonics. The list had long i words on it.  We made our list and we all put tons of long i words. We looked for long i words in our books and we looked around the classroom.

Morgan: We read a poem called “We’ll Win Tonight.”  This poem has 3 paragraphs in it.  I liked the poem because it rhymed.

Robbi: Yesterday we used 3 factors to multiply. For example: 3 x 4 x 5 = 60. First you’d multiply 4 x 5 = 20, then 20 x 3 = 60, so 3 x 4 x 5 = 60.  For another example: 8 x 2 x 3 = 48. First, I did 8 x 3 = 24, then 24 + 24 (or 24 x 2) = 48.

Aiden: Last week in Library we read a book.  The book was about a rabbit that turned into a nail. I liked the book because turning into a nail might come in handy.

Kyleigh: Last week in Ms. Little’s class we did Writing Workshop. In Writing Workshop we made draft booklets. First we drew it on a storyboard, then we drew it and wrote the whole story on little draft papers.

Kyle: Sometimes Samantha’s mom, Mrs. Grundstrom, comes in to teach us yoga. Last time she taught us the poses for cat, turtle, mouse, crocodile, donkey, and more.  It is to help us multiply by 4.

Hunter: In Math, we solved multiplication word problems.  For example, Vinny has 1 pet snake and Hunter has twice as many. The way you’d solve it is 1 x 2 = 2 pet snakes.

Dorinda: Yesterday during Reading we worked on reading to a partner.  The teacher gave us coaching sheets and it helped us with reading to our partner because we would know what to do if we didn’t know a word. It also helped us help our partner if they didn’t know a word.

Lindsey: On Monday we had an assembly. We sang a lot of songs. My favorite song was Yuki A Kong Kong. I liked it because it was creative.

Henry: 5 days ago we were writing statements, exclamations, questions, and commands. We were having a contest to see who could make the most of each type of sentence with at least one long a word in each sentence.  I wrote thirty three last time.  We started phonics about a month ago.

Cara: In Writing Workshop we are doing something different. We are writing stories about people we appreciate.  We are writing to people that we will see around the winter break.  It can be a friend or family member. We will have to do it fast because we only have a couple days. I hope we get it down!

Rory: Last week we received postcards from Mississippi and South Australia.  I received the one from South Australia and Kate received the one from Mississippi.  We hadn’t received a postcard from Mississippi yet so we colored it in on our map.

Vinny: Yesterday we went to Gym. We did the set shot and dribbled around cones.  There’s little cones and I did all of them five times and I shot 100 hoops. I lost my ball so I chased it. I got so many hoops that I was proud.

Kate: In Art we worked on our houses. We took sticky notes and wrote what room we wanted it to be.  Some of us are on gluing and some of us are on the wallpaper.

Alonso: Last week we read about the BFG and Sophie.  Sophie told the BFG to mix dreams so he can blow one into the Queen of England’s ear so that she will get rid of the giants.  I think it’s a good book and I hope we read more of it.

David: In Math we learned about multiplying by 7. We played a game called sum of the dice x 7.  Some of us count by 7s with our fingers to figure out the math problem.

Samantha: In Reading we are working on read to someone. That is when you get a partner and read to your partner. You can choose to read to yourself or read to someone. When we read to someone, we sit EEKK, read calmly and quietly, stay in one spot, get started right away, and check for understanding.

Reese: Last week in class we worked on long a words. For example, bait is a long a word. It’s a long a word because in the word you hear the “a.” We all thought of lots of long a words.  Happy holidays!

Ms. Little:  Thank you for contributing so many useful items to our classroom supply at the beginning of the year. We are running low on disinfecting wipes and extra snacks (goldfish, pretzels, etc.).  Any donations would be greatly appreciated! Enjoy the winter break. J

Newsletter 12-22

Newsletter 12-15-11

The Green Meadow Gazette

December 15, 2011

Upcoming & Important Events:

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

·        Friday, December 23^rd – Winter Break begins at the end of the day

Classroom News:

Joseph: Once our class did this thing when you write sentences with periods, question marks, and exclamation points.  So what we did was make sentences for each type. For example, “Are you blind?” is a question. “Wow, that’s cool!” is an exclamation. “I have a bruise.” is a statement.

Robbi: Yesterday we made a multiply by 8 book.  The first page was 8x2=16, then 8x3=24, 8x4=32, and 8x5=40. That’s what we have in our booklets so far. We broke the x8 facts into 4s. For example 8x2 would be 4x2 + 4x2 = 8 + 8 = 16. We broke apart the 8s for each page.

Graham: Two days ago we made story mountains in writing workshop.  Story mountains are the order you want your story to go in.  I liked it because I like mountains.  You make a story mountain by drawing a mountain in your notebook and writing the problem, the ways the character tries to solve the problem, and the way the story ends.  My story was about a boy named Walter.

Aiden: This week in Art we made a house out of a book.  First we picked out what color book we wanted for what color house we want. Then we picked out rooms in our houses.

Dorinda: Last week we received postcards from Montana, Alabama, and Delaware. The people that received a postcard read it for the class to hear.  I liked the one from Montana the most because of the picture on it.

Hannah: Lately in Reading, a few weeks ago we have started phonics. This week we learned about long o antonyms and synonyms. When we started working we had a choice: to list long o antonyms or long o synonyms.  When I started I chose to list antonyms.  I already had a long list of long o words so I had a bunch of ideas for antonyms. So did everyone else!

Kate: Last week in Library we got to play on a new program called Brain Pop Jr. On Brain Pop Jr. we watched a movie and then either wrote about it or drew about it. It was about how characters memorized their lines. The setting was a farm but it was supposed to be a planet because there were aliens. Then we got to write or draw about another movie.

Henry: Last Friday we had Spelling. Spelling is when you partner up with someone. You give your partner their spelling words first. Last time I had six spelling words. I didn’t get many words because they were words I got wrong from writing workshop. This week I have eight spelling words. The hardest one is motivation. If we get a spelling word wrong, Ms. Little puts it on your next spelling sheet. You can tell if she adds it because it is in pen. This week I do not have any extra words.

Alonso: Yesterday in writing workshop we worked on storyboards. A storyboard is a picture version of a story mountain.  We worked hard on them. My opinion is that we did a really good job.

Brianna: The past week we read a story called Big Al. It’s about a big, ugly fish who wants to make a friend.  He tried all kinds of things but they didn’t work. One day all of the fish he was trying to be friends with got caught in a net except Big Al. So Big Al saved all the fish and then all the fish were Big Al’s friends.

Vinny: Yesterday we learned how to multiply by 6 in Math.  If you have 6x3 it would be 18. I counted by 3s six times. We played a dice game to practice x 6.

Morgan: We went to watch Mr. Mehigan’s play last week.  It was about the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. Mackenzie was the narrator. I liked the play because it was educational.

David: We played our recorders in Music. We practiced notes. One song was called Rizzeldy Razzeldy. I called it Rizzeldy Razzeldy Do because it was weird.

Samantha: Last week we read a play in groups of 4 or 5.  The play was called Herbie and Annabelle. My group had 4 people in it. There were 5 parts: Mr. Hodgekiss, Herbie, Annabelle, the SFX (sound) person, and the narrator.  It was about how Herbie had to deliver get well cards to Annabelle because she was sick.

Reese: In class this week we have been working on long a words. Mrs. Adamson came in to help us with long a words. We read our books and then if we found long a words, we would write them on a sticky note. I had lots of fun.

Kyle: We wrote long o stories last week. This is an example of one: Joe went to Toe’s house. He played with Toe. The both played the adventures of Toe and Joe. They wrote a long o story.

Rory: Last week in writing workshop we made a story mountain for Big Al. Big Al was a story about a very nice but very scary fish. So at the bottom of the story mountain we wrote Big Al’s problem, and then we put the 4 ways he tried to solve that problem.  Then at the top of the story mountain we wrote how he solved his problem. Then we wrote how the story ends.

Thomas: Yesterday we had Gym and we played Stinky Rotten Fish Tag. People run with a fish and tag someone. You can’t tag the same person because then it wouldn’t be fair.

Cara: In Reading we did Read to Someone. We had to sit EEKK.  We had to keep our voice level down. We had to ask the questions, “Who did you just read about?” and “What happened?”  Or if you want, the person that was listening would say, “I just heard you read about…” It was fun.

Kyleigh: Last week Ms. Little’s class was doing writing workshop and working on the struggles and wants of their characters. We drew a line in the middle of our paper and wrote struggles on one side and wants on the other.  Struggles means what your character is having a hard time with and wants is what your character wants to happen.

Lindsey: Yesterday we looked at each other’s December calendars. We didn’t look at all of them. We did it so we can learn more about each other.  I liked the way the calendars were decorated.

Ms. Little:  Thank you for contributing so many useful items to our classroom supply at the beginning of the year. We are running low on disinfecting wipes and extra snacks (goldfish, pretzels, etc.).  Any donations would be greatly appreciated! Enjoy the weekend. J

Newsletter 12-1-11

The Green Meadow Gazette

December 1, 2011

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Thursday, December 1^st – Dismissal at 11:25 for Conferences

·        Friday, December 2^nd – Dismissal at 11:25 for Conferences

Classroom News:

Hannah: Lately in Math we have been multiplying by 0s and 1s.  The strategy for multiplying by 0 is that the answer is always 0.  The strategy for multiplying by 1 is that the answer is always the same number you are multiplying by 1.

Cara: We got new phonics notebooks.  The color I got was Christmasy red.  We were working on long e, so we had to think of words with long e sounds and write them in our notebook.  That’s what we did.

James: Last week in Writing Workshop we created a character and made problems for our character.  My character’s problem was that her best friend moved away.  I have already created the title.

Robbi: Two weeks ago we filled up the marble jar.  We decided to have pajama day with stuffed animals. We also had a special snack. We had to wait two days to have the special snack.  It was popcorn, hummus, celery, and carrots.

Lindsey: Two weeks ago we had Music.  We played games. I liked playing Stella Ella Olla and Down Came Johnny.

Joseph: Once our teacher Ms. Little read a story called The Magic Lunch Bag.  It was about two girls who had the same exact lunch bags.  The two girls hated what their moms and dads packed them for lunch but a lunch they liked was always in their lunch bag by the time they got to lunch. They didn’t know they had the same lunch bag.

Aiden:  Last week in Math we learned how to multiply by 9.  How you do it is you put 1 finger down and you look on the left side for the number in the tens place, then look on the other side for the number in the ones place and you get the answer.  I like it because it gives you the answer.

Reese: This week we finished reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. It was about a rabbit named Edward that goes on a crazy trip.  Ms. Little read it to us.  I thought it was a really good story. I liked the story because of the really good ending.

Vinny: Last week we learned how to multiply by 10.  To multiply by 10, you would count by 10s.  For example, to do 5 x 10, you would count 5 times like this: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50.

Dorinda: Last week we thought of Native American names to go along with the sunsets we painted after we read The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. My Native American Name was Little Leaping Dolphin.  I loved making up a Native American Name.

Graham: In Math we did a multiplication by 10 game.  I liked it because it was easy.  My technique is putting a zero at the end of whatever number you are multiplying by.

Hunter: On Monday in Art, we made little winter houses out of clay.  They are coil houses.  We used clay and we rolled a ball, squished it, then made another ball to roll into a long snake.  Then we wrapped them around the flat bottom.  Then we made a pinch pot roof to put on top.

Morgan: We have Kindergarten Buddies in Mrs. Messina’s class.  We watched the Legend of the Indian Paintbrush movie with them.  Then we painted sunsets with our buddies.  I had fun with my Kindergarten buddy.

Brianna: This week in Writing Workshop we made up characters so we could write stories about our characters.  We also got to draw a picture of our character.  We made a list of what they look like on the outside and what they’re like on the inside.

Kate: On Monday we changed seats.  We split into tables with three desks at each table.  I have Thomas, Alonso, and myself at my table.

Thomas: Yesterday we had Gym.  At Gym we had basketball practice.  How to shoot the basketball is you try to flick it up into the net.

Kyle: We made up a dice game for multiplication called Cover the Product.  It has cards and dice.  First you roll the dice.  Then you pick a card.  If it is a two on the dice and a six on the card, the problem would be 2 x 6. Then, you’d figure out the answer and color in the product on the game board.

Henry: In Literacy we are starting something new.  We are doing phonics.  Phonics is about word families.  Word families are like long e, long a, and other vowels.  We got notebooks to do our phonics work in.

Kyleigh: Last Library at Green Meadow School, Mrs. Patino taught us about dictionaries.  We worked on looking up words.  We also checked books out and played games on the computers.  Then we went back to class.

Samantha: Last Wednesday we went to Mr. Mehigan’s class and watched Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving.  It was about when Charlie Brown and his friends had Thanksgiving dinner.  They also went on the Mayflower in the movie.  I liked the movie because I thought it was very funny.

Rory: Last week we received dictionaries from the Maynard Elks.  They are very nice people who help other people.  Then we wrote thank you notes.

Ms. Little: I am looking forward to meeting with parents for conferences. We will discuss your child’s progress and their report card will be given to you at this time.  If you have questions, comments, or concerns after our meeting, please contact me.  I’m also happy to set up an additional time to meet. Have a great weekend. J