Great First Few Weeks

Open House 

This Tuesday, 

September 16th at 6:00 pm

Mark your calendars!  Come meet the first grade team, see the classroom and sign up for your Parent-Teacher Conference with your child's reading teacher this Tuesday, September 16th.  The Open House will begin at 6:00 in the auditorium where you will meet Principal Nicole MacDonald and hear from the Technology Specialist Ben Schersten and the PTO.  At 6:45 you will go to your child's homeroom (Room 111) where you can meet me, see what's been happening for the last week and a half and familiarize yourself with the classroom, homework, curriculum and communication. At 7:30, you will go to your child's reading teacher to sign up for your parent-teacher conference in December.  Looking forward to meeting you all on Tuesday!

First Week Photo!

Here's Our Gang the first week of First Grade:

What Else Have We "BEAN" doing in Room 111?
This past week the first graders harvested the beans which the previous first graders had planted last Spring at the end of the 2014 school year.  

First we harvested the bean plants from the Francis Wyman plot of the Burlington Community Garden which had grown significantly over the summer.

We then took the bean plants back to the classroom and removed the beans from the plants:

Next:  We will let the bean pods dry out and then pack the beans in jars. We will add rice to the jars to help keep the beans dry.  We will then plant these beans in the spring in the Community Garden so that next year's first graders can then harvest the beans from those plants.  And so the bean life cycle continues!

Room 111 Are Bucket Fillers!

The entire first grade has read and discussed the book How Full Is Your Bucket? This book describes how we all have invisible buckets which are either filled by kind and helpful thoughts, actions and words or "dipped into" by unkind thoughts, words and actions.  Each child has his/her own bucket displayed on the wall.  When they are seen being kind and helpful to others or following the rules of the classroom, they put a coupon into their bucket.  

After the children earn 5 coupons, they receive a ticket.  After 3 tickets, they get a prize from the treasure box.  Check out the books shown below!  The children beg to have them re-read to them over and over again!  Ask your child how (s)he is being a bucket filler at school.

Lately we have been receiving coupons for our buckets by remembering to do the following upon arrival to school each morning (without being reminded by the teacher).

                                        

This is what we have been doing over the first 2 weeks!

Morning Meeting:

During morning meeting we practice greeting each other; learn to listen when others are speaking and read the "Morning Message." 

Hope and Dreams:

We discussed and shared our Hopes and Dreams for our year in first grade -- you can see them posted on the wall when you come to Open House on Tuesday.

Rules:

After sharing our hope and dreams we discussed and made rules as a classroom that we thought would help us achieve our goals.  They are also posted on our wall.

Here are photos of the children acting out the Classroom Rules:

Some More Photos Of the Children Working Together, Having Fun and Getting to Know Each Other:

Tide Pool And Community Garden

The Tide Pool 2014!

We had some great June activities!  The tide pool field trip was one of them.  Below enjoy photos of this great day!

First, Mr. Musselman had the first graders simulate how the Earth, sun and moon rotate and orbit to effect the tides.

Kaylie is renamed "Moon."

The gang then climbs down the rocks to the ocean's edge.

Quinn finds some seaweed.

Diana and Angelina explored a tidal pool.

Kaylie finds a small sea creature!

Alyssa moves rocks to see what's hiding...

Alex carefully navigates the slippery rocks.

Alyssa finds part of a crab.

Luke finds a mussel attached to some pebbles.

The search continues...

Quinn makes his way over to a new rock pool.

Tyrese moves rocks, looking for a hidden sea creature.

We then put our findings into a tub of sea water so we can examine our sea creatures more closely.

Kaylie displays one of the mussels that the crew found.

Quinn gets brave holding a very big rock crab!

Windsor picks up a sea snail.

Tyrese displays one of two sea stars found that day!

All sea creatures are returned back to their homes.

Planting at the Community Gardens

The first grade had a great time planting sprouted plants and seeds in a plot purchased specifically for Francis Wyman at the Burlington Community Garden.  We ask that if you have the opportunity to visit the garden, please feel free to care for the garden by watering the plants and seedlings and weeding.   Enjoy the photos below:

Mr. Capolla, Master Gardener,  speaks to the children in the outdoor classroom, explaining how they can walk in the aisles and how they must avoid stepping the garden "beds." 

We arrive at the gardens!

Mr. Capolla demonstrates how to plant a marigold.

Windsor and Nikil plant a sprouted cauliflower plant. 

Angelina taps down the earth around her plant.

Alyssa and Alex dig a hole and plant their cauliflower.

Mr. Capolla gives the children Tiger Eye beans to plant.

The children take their seeds

Quinn, Angelina and Nabeeha plant their seeds.

Adding water to the seeds!

The children observe a bed of beans planted last week which have already begun to sprout!

PLEASE, PLEASE help this garden thrive!  Donate a bit a your time over the summer to care for the seeds and pull the weeds!