November 17

Some things we did this week:

• Learned about Wampanoag and Pilgrim children 
• Fact families in math
• Had so much fun on our field trip to see Click Clack Moo! 
• Made teepees with Native American symbols on them
• Made the brick house from the Three Little Pigs
• Read the TRUE Story of the Three Little Pigs
• Practiced doing a s-l-o-w check when reading
• Learned how to say hello in Turkish 

Some things to ask your child:

• What kind of things did Pilgrim children wear?
• What games did Wampanoag children play?
• Which Three Little Pigs story do you think is true?
• How did your STEAM challenge go this week? What worked well? What do you think could've gone better?

Important Dates:

• NO SCHOOL 11/22-11/24 Happy Thanksgiving! 
• Early Release 12/13

November 3

Thank you so much to all the parents who came in this week to volunteer and for conferences. This week has certainly been crazy but it has remained very positive! 

Some things we did this week:

• Learned to read with an important "news reporter" style voice
• Worked on a new word sort
• Had a blast at our Fall Festival
• Watched the 5th graders perform "Thriller" 
• Wore lab coats and googles while exploring the inside and outside of pumpkins
• STEAM challenge: 3 Little Pigs: Today we built a house out of the classroom version of "sticks"...pencils. 
• Continued practicing adding 3 digits and working with flipped equations
• Thursday we had a practice lock down, the loons learned what to do if they are outside at P.E. 

Some things to ask your child:

• What is a news reporter voice? 
• What was your favorite part of the Fall Festival?
• What's the name of your word sort group?
• Did your pumpkin have more than 100 seeds?

Important Dates:

• EARLY RELEASE DAY Wednesday, 11/8
• NO SCHOOL Thursday & Friday 11/9-11/10
• Portsmouth Music Hall Field Trip 11/14
• NO SCHOOL 11/22-11/24 Happy Thanksgiving! 

😵 MAD SCIENTISTS!!! 😨

October 27

Some things we did this week:

• Started a unit on nonfiction reading
• Practiced comparing numbers to see how much bigger one is to the other
• Started adding 3 digits
• STEAM challenge: 3 Little Pigs: Today we built a house out of the classroom version of "straw"...paper. None of them stood up to the BIG, BAD WOLF. Next week we will continue this building out of the classroom version of "sticks"
• Worked on "zooming in" to tell detailed mini stories in our writing
• Began using Seesaw to document our reading skills
• Made 3D fall trees
• We practiced a lock down in case a skunk entered the building, of course some scary topics were brought up but I think it went well overall and everyone did a great job during our practice taking things seriously.
• Thank you Mrs. Lawley for visiting us and sharing a story! 

Some things to ask your child:

• Who is the big bad wolf in your classroom? 
• What are some things you wrote about this week during writing time?
• What are you learning about in your nonfiction books?
• Who is your new reading partner? 
• Who was your STEM buddy this week?

Important Dates:

• First Grade Fall Festival October 31st thank you to our volunteers!!!
• Early release day November 1st 
• Conferences are coming up in a couple weeks, be on the lookout I will be sending home reminders of your scheduled times. 

October 20th

Some things we did this week:

• Started our first grade word work which you will see coming home almost weekly. This helps us practice our phonics to strengthen both reading and spelling! 
• Learned about bats
• Discovered dirty hands create orange mold on bread...ask your child why
• Worked on teen numbers 
• Field trip to Coppal House Farm corn maze
• STEAM challenge: Pumpkin towers. Build a tower strong enough to hold a small pumpkin using only base ten and base hundred blocks! So fun and creative as always! 
• Problems and solutions
• Thank you Mr. Craig for visiting us and sharing a story! Big thank you to all of our field trip volunteers! You made taking 16 six and seven year olds into a corn maze easy! (I didn't know it was possible :))

Some things to ask your child:

• Ask your child to teach you our new math song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uedvwH6Ay18&t=34s&disable_polymer=true 
• What did you learn about bats?
• How was the field trip? What was your favorite part? Who's Oreo?
• Quiz them on teen numbers. (ex. 10+___=18; 10+___=13) 
• What are you writing about for your small moment story?
• Who is the M person in the Magic Tree House books?
• Brainstorm a problem and ask your child if they can think of a solution i.e. I'm hungry, how can I solve that problem? I can't find my ___ what should I do? VERY useful for building independence!

Important Dates:

• First Grade Fall Festival October 31st: If you would like to volunteer to help us 9am-11am that would be great! Please let me know, I STILL don't have anyone yet! I promise it will be fun and it would make your child's day. I won't work you too hard! 
• Early release day November 1st 
• Conferences are coming up in a couple weeks, be on the lookout I will be sending home reminders of your scheduled times. 

October 13

Some things we did this week:

• Began Small Moment writing
• Made leaf sun catchers to decorate our classroom
• Worked on detailed pictures for our science journals
• Practiced decomposing numbers to 20 
• Participated in fire safety day with Stratham Volunteer Fire Department Friday
• Worked on our first iReady lessons on our Chromebooks
• Collected data by playing rock, paper, scissors and recorded with tally marks
• Thank you to Miss Devon and Mrs. Herring for helping us this week, we had a blast! 

Some things to ask your child:

• Where is our fire meeting spot at our house? (If you don't have one yet, make one!)
• How is your bread experiment going?
• How many ways do you know to make 10?
• How do you play roll and total? 
• Tell me about the firetruck. 

Important Dates:

• FIELD TRIP to Coppal House Farm October 19th- morning only
• Please pack a snack and drink from home
• Chaperones please meet us at the farm no later than 9:10. 
• First Grade Fall Festival October 31st: If you would like to volunteer to help us 9am-11am that would be great! Please let me know, I don't have anyone yet! 
• Our next field trip will be to Portsmouth Music Hall please 

October 6

Some things we did this week:

• Finished our Mo Willems books
• Practiced solving tricky words
• Built math addition fluency to 10
• Finished Magic Treehouse Book #2
• Read the book My Mouth is a Volcano
• Made our small moments writing folders
• Worked on iReady during math
• Learned how to play math games "Penny Plate" and "High Roller"
• Introduced our new mail center during choice time

Some things to ask your child:

• What happened during your baking soda experiment? 
• Can you teach me how to play 1-on-1 kickball?
• What could I try if I get stuck on a tricky word while reading? 
• Did your boat float?

Important Dates:

• NO SCHOOL Monday, October 9th
• FIELD TRIP to Coppal House Farm October 19th-AM only
• Please pack a snack and drink from home
• First Grade Fall Festival October 31st: If you would like to volunteer to help us 9-11 that would be great! Please let me know, I don't have anyone yet! 

SEESAW SIGN-UP

• If you are interested in seeing our class pictures throughout the rest of the year please sign up for Seesaw! It's such a FUN and EASY way to stay involved with your child's learning all day long. The kids love uploading their own photos of various creations and I love sharing all of their great work habits. Please sign up and comment on your child's pictures so we can see them throughout the day! 

Click on this link: https://app.seesaw.me/s/037-487-323

1. Choose your child from the list
2. Create your account
3. Once I approve you, you can see content from your child (grandparents welcome too!)

Have a great long weekend! 

I love these pigeons! 

Messy Classroom=Fun Day

Dear Families,

This Friday your child will have the opportunity to engineer and design their own boat. We will be having a Christopher Columbus Innovation Day as part of our weekly STEM challenges in the classroom. We are looking for donations for the design/creation of our boats. We need donations by Friday, October 6th. We will be sharing all the materials together.

Here are some items that we might use…

-Styrofoam trays

-Tin Foil

-Tooth picks

-Milk Containers (well washed)

-Any recyclable item

-Rubber bands

-Straws

-Egg Cartons

-Yogurt Cups

-Craft Sticks

-Empty water bottles

-duct tape

-twine

Thank you for your help,

The First Grade Team