Monday, May 21, 2012

Careers- Physical Therapist




                                 

This afternoon, Mrs. Cordeau came in to share her job as a Physical Therapist.  We had a chance to learn about the human body, how to stay healthy, and some exercises to keep our bodies strong and in balance.  Mrs. Cordeau shared all the tools she needs to use each day with her patients!  

Careers- Emergency Medical Technician and Hair Dresser





On May 17, Miss. Field, an Emergency Medical Technician for Campion Ambulance, and Mrs. Field, a hair dresser, came to share their jobs.  Miss. Field showed all the equipment she uses off of the ambulance and even gave us a pair of gloves to try!  Mrs. Field shared the hair dressing tools she uses on a daily basis and discussed the many hair styles she has performed.  At the end of their presentations they gave each student a 'goodie' bag with bandaids, stickers, and a comb.

Careers- Police Officer

 

                      

On May 16, Mr. Geiger, a Torrington Police Officer visited our classroom to share his occupation.  Mr. Geiger surprised us with his uniform along with all the tools he showed us!  We learned the many ways that Police Officers help our communities.

Careers- Fire Chief/Firefighter


                                      
               

    On May 9, we had the Torrington Fire Chief, John Field, come to our class to teach us about his job!  He answered all of our wonderful questions, discussed his daily schedule and job obligations, as well as showed us his firefighting gear!

Friday, May 18, 2012

Week of May 21-25


Dear Parents,

With only a few weeks left in May, we are finishing up end of the year assessments and beginning to wrap-up what we have learned this year.
                                   
A few reminders:
·         Grades 4-6 Music concert will be held in the gym at 2:30 on May 22.
·         May Sharing Assembly will be on Thursday, May 24 at 9:15 in the gym.
·         No school May 28 in honor of Memorial Day.
           
Here is a look at next week:

Reading: Students have been working very hard learning fairy tale components and started planning out their own fairy tales.  Next week, we will finish publishing our fairy tales and share our masterpieces.  We will work together to evaluate others fairy tales to ensure the main components of a fairy tale are shown.  By the end of the week, we will begin to reflect on books we have read together this year and create a list of books students recommend to the upcoming first grade class!  Students will learn how to complete a book review to share their favorites. 

Word Work/Handwriting: In Buddy Study, students are participating in the routines independently.  Students create their own spelling lists and are learning their words through a variety of activities.  Students also have been bringing home their list of words to share and practice at home.  Next week, we will begin by continuing to work with works that have two consonants sounds, like the hard /c/ in “cat” and the soft /c/ in celery.  We will have our test on Wednesday and then move into words with an ‘-ing’ ending.  Be watching for students to bring home their next spelling list to share!

Writing: We have started our new writing unit and students are thrilled to collaborate with one another during this time.  Students have started exploring their topics with their partners on the net-books and experimenting with different technology tools.  Next week, students will continue to gather information on their topics and begin organizing their information to present.  Further exploring with technology tools will occur whole class and in groups to get students ready to create their final projects.  Digital storytelling tools we will explore include blogs, Wiki’s, VoiceThreads, LittleBird Tales, Voki’s, comics, and StoryBird.  Ask your child to share some of the tools they are exploring! 

Math: Our final unit, Unit 9, focusing on 3-D Shapes, is a great success so far!  Students are very engaged and motivated to explore and build with geo-blocks.   Students are beginning to use vocabulary, attributes, and compare shapes, sizes, and orientations of 3D shapes.   Next week, we will begin with an assessment focusing on shape ‘footprints’ and then will be ready to begin drawing and building their own designs with the geo-blocks.  By the end of the week, students will be introduced to cones and cylinders where they will be able to compare their attributes and size from each other and the other geo-blocks they have been exploring. 

Social Studies: On our trip to White Memorial this week we were able to experience animal habitats in the wild and apply what we learned in Science regarding Amphibians and Reptiles.  Reflections on the field trip highlighted what they learned and how much they enjoyed the day.  This week we also had three visitors join our classrooms to share their jobs.  We learned more about the job of a police officer, Emergency Medical Technician, and a hairdresser.
Next week, we have three more visitors joining our classroom to share their jobs.  Students will generate questions for each guest beforehand and will learn about each career, what skills are needed, and how they help the community. 

Have a wonderful week!

~Your first grade teachers: Miss Field and Mrs. McIntire

Friday, May 11, 2012

Week of May 14 -18


Dear Parents,

We are well into the month of May and we are plenty busy!
                                           
A few reminders for the rest of the month of May:
·         Friday, May 11 is a half session day; students are dismissed at 1:20.
·         K-3 Music concert will be held in the gym at 11:00 on May 14. 
·         Grade 1 and 2 Trip to White Memorial will be on May 15.
·         Grades 4-6 Music concert will be held in the gym at 2:30 on May 22.
·         May Sharing Assembly will be on Thursday, May 24 at 9:15 in the gym.
·         No school May 28 in honor of Memorial Day.
           
Here is a look at next week:

Reading: Students have been enjoying our Fairy Tale discussions!  We have learned what makes a story a Fairy Tale, shared some of our favorites, and even started collected ideas for our own Fairy Tale.  Next week, we will continue to discuss and share Fairy Tales.  We will continue to examine the different elements of Fairy Tales such as “Once upon a time…”, magical powers, good vs. evil, and characters in threes and tie in reading strategies and concepts as much as possible for practice.  We have been exploring several books and websites to help us learn about Fairy Tales and to listen to ones we’ve never heard before!

Word Work/Handwriting: Our Buddy Study has been going very well!  Students are beginning to participate in the routines independently.  Students have created their own spelling lists and are learning their words through a variety of activities.  Students also have been bringing home their list of words to share and practice at home.  This week all of our words have the “bossy ‘r’” or an “r-controlled” vowel.  For example, ‘for’, ‘arm’, ‘art’, ‘farm’, ‘born’, and ‘torn’ are just a few of the words that students were able to choose from and practice.  Next week, we will begin our week by testing our knowledge of the first set of words and then moving into our third list.  For the third list, students will be learning words that have consonants with two sounds or “blends”.  First we will learn about words with consonant blends and then create a list of words together as a group which students can choose their spelling words from.  Gaining independence through this learning process is highly desired. 


Writing:  We have started our new writing unit and students are thrilled to collaborate with one another during this time.  We have reviewed and discussed the theme of our new unit; non-fiction science writing, as well as some science topic to explore.  Students have chosen a partner and have generated a “top three” list of ideas that they would like to research.   From each of their “top three” list, one topic was selected for each group to research.  This will ensure a variety of topics among the groups.  Students have also started thinking about the type of technology tool that they would like to use for their final project displays.  Next week, students will begin researching their topics with the use of the classroom and library tools. 

Math: Students have been doing a wonderful job adding and subtracting larger numbers!  Students are using the tools and manipulative that work for them, such as number lines, 100 charts, and connecting cubes.  Next week, we will begin our last math unit; Unit 9 3-D Shapes.  Students will begin by describing and comparing 2-D and 3-D shapes.  We will explore 3-D vocabulary and attributes and compare shapes, sizes, and orientations of objects.  We will also identify the characteristics of 3-D shapes by touch.  This will be a very fun and hands-on unit that students will really enjoy!  

Social Studies:  In the beginning of the week, we will transition to science as we get ready for our field trip to White Memorial!  Students will make predictions and reflections based on the field trip and what they learn!  Later in the week, as we explore careers during this time, we will have a few guests come in to speak with the classes about their careers!  Students will be able to generate questions for the guests beforehand and will learn about each career, what skills are needed, and how they help the community. 

Have a wonderful week!

~Your first grade teachers: Miss Field and Mrs. McIntire

Friday, May 4, 2012

Animals at the Zoo- Skip Counting!


During math time on Friday, we pretended we were at the zoo!  We chose an exhibit we would see at the zoo and drew it on a large piece of poster paper.  After drawing, with a lot of details to make our pictures look real, we practice skip counting and recorded our counting.  We needed to record how many animals we saw and then figure out how many eyes, legs, wings, and nostrils where in our pictures!
Ask us about our beautiful pictures and how to skip count!