May - June Happenings

Want to Take Butterscotch Home For the Summer?

Butterscotch will be leaving the classroom to go back to the Science Center right after Memorial Day.  Mrs. P. is asking if anyone would like to take him home to care for him over the summer.  If this sounds like something you would be willing and able to do, please e-mail me or jot a note saying that you are interested. If I get more than one request, I will do a lottery drawing.  You will be provided with all of the necessary supplies (shavings, food etc.)

Mrs. P also says that there are many other classroom pets which need care over the summer as well.  If you are interested, you can request that another classroom pet be given to you for summer care.  She will be sending a notice home soon, so be sure to keep yours eyes open for it in your child's backpack if this interests you.

Thank you for all who have taken good care of him over the past school year!  He has been a valuable member of our classroom and has helped teach the children responsibility and care for pets.

Vocabulary Spelling City.Com

A Great FREE App and Website to help Your Child Practice Trick Words!

Vocabulary Spelling City is a great app or website (if you don't have an iPad) to help your child practice trick words. The K-1 reading specialist Michelle Clancy and I have made lists on this site containing our Fundations trick words.  To access this list just:

• iPadClick on "Other Lists"  
• Click on "User Name" 
• Enter "Michelle Clancy" in the space above.  

All of the trick word lists and the games to be played will appear.  You need to click on a trick word list first and then click on the game you want to be played.  I like to have the children play "Teach Me" and then "Test Me" before going onto the other games.  If you have trouble accessing the lists, please email or call me.  Again, if you don't have an iPad go to www.vocabularyspellingcity.com  Both are FREE! Gotta love the free apps!

Tide Pool Field Trip

We are all set for the trip to the Tide Pool on Thursday, May 30th!  All who have volunteered to chaperone have been chosen as we need many chaperones for this field trip.

A few things to remember:

1. Dress your child in layers as sometimes the weather fluctuates going from cold to hot or vice versa.
2. NO FLIP FLOPS!  The rocks are slippery and flip flops don't help the children from slips and falls.  Rubber soled shoes and sneakers are best.  Sometimes these shoes do get wet, so send in shoes that you don't mind getting a little messy.  Aslo, if you'd like to send in a change Thank you to all who have sent int their permission slips and payment.  If you haven't done so  yet, please submit both permission slip and payment by May 23rd.  

Dinosaur Show Pictures???

I was so busy with the show that I wasn't able to take pictures of the Dinosaur Show to share.  If you have any pictures or video that you can send to me electronically I will be sure to post them on this blog for all to see.  You can email them as an attachment to farmer@bpsk12.org

Quick iPad Survey

I recently e-mailed an iPad survey to get parental feedback regarding the class set of iPads which were piloted in Room 111 this year.  Thanks to all of you who have already taken the survey.  This will help both myself in future teaching and administration in technology decisions in the future. (It's completely anonymous).

If you have not yet taken the QUICK 7 question survey, it's not too late!

Click here to access the survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TWZDQGS

Thanks for your time!

Dinosaur Show, Tide Pool, Planting News

Our Dino-Mite Show Is May 17th at 9 am

Mark your calendar for the show of the year, starring...YOUR CHILD!

The Annual Dinosaur Show is May 17th at 9:00 for parents.

We'll be singing, dancing and rapping about dinosaurs.
Don't worry about providing costumes as we will provide everything they need:

If your child is dancing in Supersaurus, the boys can wear a greeen or white t-shirt with jeans.  It's a fifties dance so the girls can wear a poodle skirt (if you have one -- please don't buy!) or capris.

If your child is in Stegasaurus Pete (Irish Step), the girls can wear a skirt or capris.

If your child is in the square dance (Head Banging Boneheads), girls can wear a skirt or capris and boys can wear jeans and a T-shirt.

For all of the other dances, the boys and girls can wear green or white t-shirts and jeans.

Mrs. Astone Visits the Classroom to Play Guitar 
The class had a great time listening to Mrs. Astone playing Puff the Magic Dragon and A Spoonful of Sugar. It was fun to see the children enjoying such a special visit for their principal!.

Tide Pool Field Trip is May 30th

Permission slips have been sent home for the Tide Pool Field Trip.  We need lots of chaperones so please know that you can volunteer if you want to chaperone even if you have already been on a field trip.  We will need to do lots of carpooling as parking is limited, so if you have a large vehicle which can fit a lot of chaperones that would be wonderful.

Planting Sunflowers

The children have been busy planting their sunflower seeds and recording their observations in their KidsJournal on their iPad.  It's great to see them so excited about hands-on science!  They will be bringing their plants home once they have sprouted to be transplanted to a spot around your home soon!

Kid Blog

Read and Comment on Your Child’s Blog

Room 111 has begun blogging!

What is a blog? 
A blog is short for web log. It is a journal of sorts that lives online and allows for interaction between the author and reader. Kidblog is a safe and simple platform built by teachers so that students can get the most out of the blogging process. Most importantly, Kidblog allows teachers to monitor and control all of the publishing activity.

To read and comment on your child’s blog, go to:

www.kidblog.org/MsFarmersClass­-2

Click on the blog name in which you would like to read and leave a comment.

For your child to go onto their own blog and write a new post, they can go to

www.kidblog.org/MsFarmersClass­-2/

1. Click on “Log In” at the top right hand corner
2. Go to Select Your Name and have them scroll to their name
3. Enter Password: blog111 (no spaces)

For your child to view their own blog and read comments on their own blog:

Click on the tab entitled  My blog at the top

For your child to view blogs written by their classmates:

1. Click on the All Blogs tab at the top. 
2. Students can write a comment and 
3. Click on Submit for Review (I review all comments before they are published).

Blogging Rules we share with students:

1. First Name only ­ never use last names in posts or comments. 
2. Do not type e­mail addresses or screen names in your blog. Do not type home addresses or phone numbers.
3. Make sure you are polite.
4. Be respectful of others’ ideas. 
5. Check for spelling, spacing, punctuation and capitalization.

Ideas for blogging:

Journal or blog about:

• Books being read 
• Science experiments 
• Topics being studied at school. 

The ideas are endless. Blogging allows more students to express their thoughts and opinions and write fora greater audience.

Spring show photos, Field Trip Updates and more

Some photos from our Spring Show!

Field Trip to See Click, Clack Moo
Reminder:  The field trip to see Click, Clack, Moo is on Thursday, April 3rd.  Chaperones have the choice of either driving or traveling on the bus for this trip.  The students will eat lunch when we return to school, so there is no need to pack a brown bag lunch for this trip.

Off to the Rainforest!
We are waddling out of Antarctica and traveling into the Rain Forest for our next unit of study.  We will learn about the layers of the RainForest, the animals and plants which thrive there and how we can do our part to help save the RainForest from further destruction.

MATH
We are wrapping up our unit on measurement and you will soon receive all of their hard work from this unit.  Our focus now will be on adding and subtracting with tens and ones.  As always, please help your child's math fluency by having them go onto xtramath (click here) a few times a week.  (Please contact me if you have lost or misplaced your child's password.) It's quick and easy and most children seem to love it!  I've also opened up access to more homework in ST Math if your child is enjoying that program as well.

100th Day and Dr. Suess Celebrations

Photos of Our 100th Day of School Activities!
We come together as a first grade team to celebrate the 100th Day of School.  Each day during the week in which the 100th day of school falls, our classes switch during math time and go to another classroom to participate in that classroom's 100th day activity.  This is a fun and engaging way to teach children how to count by 5's and 10's to 100 and how to organize materials for proper counting.
Below are photos of the activities each classroom provided:
Room 105 played a 100 board game which involved counting by 10's:

 In Homeroom Room 111 we counted by tens and filled our pictures with 100 paint dots:

 Room 112 had many fun sheets of activities involving 100:

Room 110 wrote about 100 things the children wished they DID have and 100 things they were glad that they did NOT have:

 Room 109 had fun stamping activities involving counting to 100:

DR. SEUSS DAY PICTURES

Polie Officer Kent reads a book to the First Grade

Mrs. MacDonald visits the classroom as the Cat in the Hat

Chicks, Space, Matter, Letter Writing, 100th Day -- Oh My!

Museum of Science Field Trip

Next Wednesday, February 13th

There is Space For One More Chaperone

The first graders will be going to the Museum of Science next Wednesday, February 13th.  I still have an opening for one more chaperone if you are interested (it really is a fun trip!).  Please call, e-mail or send in a note if you are interested in going.  The cost for parents is $7.00.

Do you Want to Give Butterscotch 

A Home for February Break???

If you are interested in having Butterscotch the Hamster for February break, please let me know ASAP.  You will be provided with all the materials and food that you need.  Just send in a note or e-mail me at farmer@bpsk12.org

Wee Deliver at Francis Wyman
Francis Wyman has an in-house mail system now in process.  If you would like to write a letter to your child, our address is 111 Butterscotch Blvd.  There is a huge mailbox located in front of the office.  Your kids can also write letters at home and mail them to friends at school if they know the address.  The latest FW newsletter should have a listing of all the addresses.

Valentine's Day

I will be sending home a list of all the boys and girls in our classroom if you would like to have your child send in Valentines.  We will be distributing all of the valentines on Valentine's Day.  Please refrain from putting any candy or chocolate in the Valentines due to school policy and allergy concerns.

100th Day Activities
The first grade will be switching classrooms and participating in various 100 day math activities beginning on Thursday.  This will help make counting to 100 fun.  Look for photos in a future blog.

The Chicks Will be Leaving Soon!
We have a had a blast observing the eggs in the incubator, seeing them hatch and then seeing the chicks grow.  The boys and girls have been hard at work documenting their findings in their paper chick journal (which has been sent home) and their electronic Kids Journal on their iPads.  Here are some photos of the class holding the chicks.