Week of May 20- May 24

Painted Lady Butterflies

1S returned to school from the weekend to find 2 Painted Lady Butterflies out of their chrysalis! We quickly brought them outside to find food. We're hoping the other 2 butterflies survived this incredible and magical transformation called metamorphosis. 

Spelling Fun

Today our class divided into 4 small groups to begin our new spelling stations! These stations provide students with the opportunity to spell their study words using alternatives to paper and pencil activities. 

Spelling Stations included:

writing on the tables with marker and on the tile floor with chalk

Pipe cleaner spelling

Wikki Stix Spelling

And a spot to spell with play-doh

Each student will have a chance to use each manipulative station throughout this week. 

Week of April 1-April 5

On Thursday we talked about celebrating the Red Sox Opening Day at Fenway on Monday! If you're child would like to wear his/her Red Sox attire or any baseball/sports clothing on 4/8 please feel free to encourage it. Hats are welcomed too! We'll fill the day with integrated baseball activities. 

It's been so wonderful to meet with some of you since I was unable to see you at fall conferences. For those of you that are still interested in holding a conference, I'm available most days from 7:30-3:00. If you'd like to schedule a conference to discuss your child's progress and goals for the remainder of the year please contact me at ssurrette@hopkintonschools.org

This week our class would like to tell you about some books we're reading in our classroom. We can practice retelling stories by remembering to include important details, characters and giving a summary in logical sequence. This afternoon we started summarizing and reporting on books we have read in groups. We haven't finished yet, but here's what we wanted to tell you.

Wild Animals of North America
My class is learning about wild animals and domestic animals. The domestic animal gets food from their owners. Wild animals look for their food.
We are doing the day of the life of a .... We act out the animals. I think soon we are going to make our own day of the life! It is fun acting out the animals.

That's Us

We read that wolves hunt in packs. Fish swim together. It is called a school. Penguins stay together. It is called a colony.

Amazing Eggs

Did you know it takes 9 weeks for a penguin egg to hatch? Bird egg shells are hard. Most reptile eggshells are soft.

How Animals Hide

To hide a snail crawls in its shell. A slug hides under a leaf. A hedgehog hides in a ball. Crocodiles hide under water. Crabs dig in the sand.

Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie

We are reading Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie. So far the characters in the book are Abbie, Papa and Mama. In the beginning Abbie talks with her Papa about leaving the lighthouse. We predict Papa will come back. We are wondering if their mama will get better.

Tidal Pools

Tidal pools are cool. We read that barnacles stick to rock. They're sharp.

Week of March 18-March 22

Whew!

What a week! We had a snow day, report cards, first day of spring, first week of Book Club...lots going on in 1S! I hope you and your family has had time to relax this weekend and enjoy the extended sunshine.

 

Students creating a picture of something that reminds them of spring using tissue paper and vinegar

MyMATH

HMS would like your parent input on our math program that our class has piloted this year. Please take a few minutes and click here to provide us with your honest feedback.

REPORT CARDS

If you have any questions about your child's report card please do not hesitate to call me 746-3473 or send me an email at ssurrette@hopkintonschools.org

And since I wasn't able to meet with you this fall I'd love to meet with you this spring to discuss your child's progress and our goals for the remainder of the year. I can be available from 7:15-3:30 on most days. If you'd like to set up a conference please let me know.

BOOK CLUB

1S has begun the Book Club challenge! On Friday students selected books from around the room that they were interested in reading at home. Some of the books may be from their reading group, something that we've read in class or a new book about an interesting topic. The goal of Book Club is to inspire a passion for reading in and out of the classroom. These books can be enjoyed alone or with a family member. They can read to you, you can read to them or you can take turns reading together. Be sure to keep track of the minutes your child spends reading. Turn in the recording sheet on Thursdays with the books and we'll replenish the bag every Friday. 

If your child spends time reading literature that is not in the bag you can record those minutes as well. Our goal is for each student to read at least 500 minutes from now until the end of the year!

Happy Reading!

March 15th Post

Hello Families!

This week our class wanted to tell you about St. Patrick's Day and our theatrical field trips. One of Bella's favorite parts of the week was creating a leprechaun puppet! Gelson explains, "You had to color it in first. Then you had to cut it out and then glue it on a bag with a glue bottle and wait for it to dry. Then when it was dry we could play with it."

Field Trips
We also went on 2 field trips within the past 2 weeks. Our first trip was to the Capital Center for the Arts in Concord. We saw How I Became a Pirate. Brandon says, "The show was good and the singing was funny."

On Thursday this week we went to see Stone Soup. Ally describes, "There were two knights who were hungry. They were actually girls. They tricked the town people into making them soup. A boy pretended that he caught the 2 dragons. The knights got really mad at him. The king and queen didn't like the dragons and there were old people shaking their bottoms while they were singing 'Magical Soup'. It was funny."

Y

In this picture we are beginning the process of creating our multimedium St.Patrick's Day pictures. We drew the details of our picture in crayon and filled in the larger areas and background with water color. 

Scholastic News

You'll see in our Scholastic News this week we talked about Ireland! Scholastic News also offers a digital issue where we can view videos, play a comprehension game and look up vocabulary related to the text. This is a great activity for our Interactive Whiteboard in the classroom. At home you can also click here to view our Saint Patrick's Day Scholastic News online. Please let me know if you have difficulty viewing this edition.

Have a great weekend!

~Mrs. Surrette & 1S

February 18, 2013

Happy Winter Vacation!

I hope this post finds you relaxed and close by your loved ones either watching the snow fall, swimming in a pool or meeting Disney characters! Olive, Joe and I are enjoying a quiet week visiting with friends and preparing for our garden this summer. 

We had an amazing last week of school before we ventured off onto our individual excursions. We went snowshoeing on Thursday and had a BLAST! Mr. Girzone took us up through the woods by the sledding hill and through the baseball field. Then we said goodbye to him and continued our trek through the trail in the back of the schoolyard which our class calls "Deer Highway". We saw deer tracks, squirrel prints and many signs of wildlife including cavities in trees made by woodpeckers.

Our First Post

Welcome Families!

Do you like our new blog? Your children helped to create this page! In fact, each week the children will reflect on our week and work together to write the posts. Our class is very excited to share pictures and videos with you.

Be sure to view the Upcoming Events on the right for some important updates. We have a very busy Thursday with lots of fun events.

Let us know what you think about our blog. Please leave a comment below for us to view.

Non-Fiction Buddy Reading

Math: Addition Strategies
In MyMath we just completed Chapter 3. We continue to learn about various strategies to help us add. Each day we discuss our Essential Question: How do I use strategies to add numbers? Children review what we've learned so far with number lines, counting on, doubles, near doubles & acting it out (drawing). Using our fingers is NOT a strategy unless you're counting on (3, 4...5...6). Memorizing the double facts (2+2, 10+10) up to 15 would be greatly beneficial to your child. Thank you for reinforcing these skills and concepts at home.

Science
We've been learning about a black bear's habitat. Children have learned that a habitat is where there is enough space, water, shelter, and food for a creature to survive. On Thursday we went out in our school yard to see if a black bear could survive here. We also compared our diet with a black bear's natural diet using a Venn Diagram. We concluded that we eat a lot of similar foods-nuts, berries, meat...

Writing
In the beginning of January our class read The Missing Mitten Mystery by Steven Kellogg. This inspired us to create a descriptive writing piece. Students designed a mitten and then had to write about it as if they had lost one of them. The class had to identify the lost mitten for each student based upon their detailed description. This was a great time to talk about adjectives!

                                              

Library
We went to visit Mrs. Alibrandi & Mrs. Bohlman in the HMS library. We discovered a new section of the library that has I Can Read books. In this section there are some great non-fiction books called Blastoff! Readers.