Grinch Day

Yesterday was Grinch Day in first grade and we had so much fun!  If you are familiar with the story, the Who's in Whoville help the Grinch's heart grow three times its size!  Here, in first grade, we started our Grinch Day with a reading of How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss.

Then, we each  made a card to help another first grade Who's heart grow three times its size!  Inside each card was a kind message or picture to share with a first grade friend.  We stood in a circle and passed the cards until the music stopped.  Whatever card you were holding was the one just for you!  We had so much fun and watching each first grader spread kindness to one another on Grinch Day certainly helped my heart to grow three times its size!

I wish you a very happy holiday and a Happy New Year.  Merry Grinchmas!  

Fairy Tales, Part 2....

Our study of fairy tales continues in 1-Thomson.  We have been busy comparing characters, settings, and events of various versions of the Three Little Pigs.  Each student chose his or her favorite Three Little Pigs character and described the character using trait words.
Then, using the iPad app, Popplet, students created character trait maps.  Check them out!

View on Flipagram

   

Common Core Standards:

RL.1.9: Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.
RL1.3: Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

Fairy Tales, Part 1...

Our focus in reading has been on fairy tales.  We began our genre study with a personal favorite of mine, The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch.  Ask your child to retell this story to you.  We retold this story on paper bags, just like the one Princess Elizabeth wore!

Next, we compared and contrasted Princess Elizabeth (The Paper Bag Princess) to a traditional princess.

Try reading and retelling fairy tales at home and stay tuned for more fairy tale fun in 1-Thomson! Common Core Standards: RL.1.2: Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson. RL.1.9:  Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.

We Are Thankful

This week in 1-Thomson, the focus has been thankfulness.  After reading several Thanksgiving stories, discussing the meaning of traditions, and learning about the history of the first Thanksgiving, we brainstormed all of the wonderful things in our lives that we are thankful for. We wrote our ideas on turkey feathers. I am thankful for my first graders and their families!

Families and friends, please take some time to add to our Padlet below.  Double click anywhere on the Padlet screen to share your Thanksgiving plans and traditions with us. Wishing you a happy and safe Thanksgiving!  

Created with Padlet

Shapes

Math has been all about shapes in 1-Thomson! To complete our Math in Focus chapter on plane and solid shapes, we created "shape people" and brought them to life using Chatterpix.  Click the picture below to meet our shapes!

Click Picture

Common Core Standards:

1.G.A.1: Distinguish between defining attributes of shapes; build and draw shapes to possess defining attributes

1.G.A.2: Compose two-dimensional shapes or three-dimensional shapes to create a composite shape, and compose new shapes from the composite shape

Fun Friday

Friday was a fun day for first-graders!  We started our day by reading our final chapter of "The Year of Billy Miller", our Global Read Aloud book.  We joined all other first grade classrooms in the library to celebrate and wrap up our month long shared reading experience.  It was great fun working with other classrooms to read this story and to partake in reading-related activities across classrooms.  Ask your child to tell you all about how the story ended!

Also, at the end of our school day, second graders from 2-Kennedy joined us in our classroom for a Thanksgiving themed activity.  With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we started our activity with a discussion of things we are thankful for, followed by "Roll a Turkey", a drawing activity.  Each student drew a turkey part by part as they rolled a number that corresponded with a certain  turkey body part.  The students enjoyed this activity and we can't wait to meet with our buddy class again!

Veterans Day

In honor of Veterans Day, the first graders at Fuller Meadow lead the whole school in a patriotic sing along on Tuesday. Our class, along with Ms. Flynn's class, recited the poem "I Have a Little Poppy".  I was so proud to see all of my first graders paying tribute to our country's soldiers and for showing gratitude for the sacrifices our servicemen and women make each day.  

Enjoy your time with family today, and remember to thank a veteran!

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday was our Halloween parade and party at Fuller Meadow.  It is always such a fun-filled day!  Thank you to all of the parents that came to the parade, donated to our party, and attended the party as well!  I know the students had so much fun!

Spooky Jack-o-Lantern Crafts!

Pin the heart on the skeleton!

Wishing you a happy and safe Halloween-trick or treat!

Halloween Parts of Speech

 In 1-Thomson, we've been adding a little Halloween twist to our learning!  This week for "word work" our focus was on nouns and adjectives. We started  by creating a list of Halloween nouns. Then, we worked together to create a very spooky Halloween "Noun Town" full of ghosts,  black cats, haunted houses, graveyards, werewolves, bats, skeletons, and more!   

Then, we learned all about how adjectives can make our writing more descriptive.  We practiced using adjectives in pumpkin poetry this week, and then we ended our study of adjectives by creating our own perfect pumpkins.  Some were funny, some were mad, others were sad, and some were scary!

Our adjective pumpkins may be pretty great, but nothing topped the ENORMOUS pumpkin we got to see in in real life.  On Thursday, this year's second place winner of the pumpkin contest at Topsfield Fair visited Fuller Meadow School.  A big thank you to Mr. Lancaster for visiting with us and teaching us all about GIANT pumpkins and how they grow!

Common Core Standard: L.1.1,4: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.  Use common, proper, and possessive nouns.  Use frequently occurring adjectives.

Global Read Aloud

1-Thomson first graders are participating in a very exciting "Global Read Aloud" this year! This means, that we are reading and discussing the same book as over 500,000 other students around the world!  "The Year of Billy Miller" by Kevin Henkes is a realistic fiction story about a boy who faces a year full of new adventures as he enters the second grade.  We have been busy reading and discussing this book with each other and with other first grade classrooms at Fuller Meadow!

And today, we connected with a second grade classroom in Topsfield using Skype!

Next, we talked about what we would do if we were Billy and got caught by a teacher doing something disrespectful.  We shared our ideas on this Padlet:

Created with Padlet

To learn more about Global Read Aloud and the Year of Billy Miller, click the book below!

Common Core Standard: Speaking and Listening.1.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

Fall Tree Observations

Our scientific word for the month of October is "observe".  In science, we have been discussing how scientists observe things around them to learn more about a topic.  Scientists observe their surroundings by looking at things closely, noticing changes, and recording their findings.   To practice what scientists do as they observe, we have been noticing the beautiful fall trees around us!  This past week, we traveled outside to make our first of three observations of a tree of interest in the Fuller Meadow Courtyard.  In our science journals, we drew and labeled our fall tree, noted the color and texture of the leaves, and looked closely at its parts using magnifying glasses.  This week and next, we will visit the same tree to note any changes in color and/or appearance.  

In the classroom, we have been studying leaf parts, their color, shape and size up close. We have even identifed some of the trees from which they came using tree field guides.  The first graders have really been loving this science "observation station" in class!  

Ask your first grade scientist to tell you about the changes they've seen in the trees at Fuller Meadow. Maybe you can even find some interesting fall leaves to observe at home!

Friendship Pie

October is Bullying Awareness Month and September's theme at Fuller Meadow was friendship. As part of our weekly Olweus class meetings, some of our discussions included how to be a good friend to others. We shared Derek Munson's "Enemy Pie".  In this story, the main character realizes that someone he thought was an enemy turned out to be a great friend!  Listen to this story at home by clicking the picture below:

After discussing the "ingredients" for a good friend, the students created their own "friendship pies".  Take a look at these delicious friendship pies!

A Week with Kevin Henkes

Kevin Henkes is one of our favorite first grade authors!  This week, we read many of his books, but we especially enjoyed reading Chrysanthemum!  With our current Animal Fantasy genre study underway, we talked all about how the mouse character, Chrysanthemum, thinks and acts like a human. Then we added our ideas to this poster:

Next, we read Wemberly Worried.  Wemberly is also a mouse and she worries about EVERYTHING! She worries about the trees, noises in her house, her doll Petal, but she ESPECIALLY worries about school.  After reading, we made text-to-self connections by writing some things that we worry about too.

To learn more about Kevin Henkes and his books, visit his website and explore from home! Click below:

Common Core State Standards: 

RL.1.7.: Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Animal Fantasy with Pete the Cat

Last week during Readers' Workshop we started our genre study of Animal Fantasy.  What better way to kick it off than with my favorite character, Pete the Cat?  We began our study of animal fantasy by first exploring many animal fantasy books with reading partners and discussing all of the ways the animal characters were acting like people.

 Next, we took a closer look at all of our favorite Pete the Cat books to determine how Pete and his friends were acting like humans.

Ask your child all about our study of Animal Fantasy.  Stay tuned next week as we continue to explore animal fantasy with Kevin Henkes and his characters!    Common Core Standards:  RL.1.3: Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details. RL.1.7: Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Heart Maps

Writing Workshop is part of every day in first grade.  This is a time when first graders draw and write about the things that they know and love.  This week, we talked about how writers often choose to write about the things they know and love the most.  

Next, the first graders created "heart maps" to keep as a resource in their writing folders. Now, each time they sit down to write, they can refer to their map for a little inspiration!  Check out our 1-Thomson heart maps below:

A Fantastic First Week

I always love the first week of school! It's so fun getting to know each other and hearing all about summer adventures.  I can tell that this is going to be a great year filled with lots of fun and learning.  This week, we were busy establishing our routine and learning rules and expectations.  We were able to do this with a little help from our friend, David.  After Reading David Goes to School by David Shannon, we brainstormed a whole list of things we should and shouldn't do at school.  The first graders know their stuff when it comes to expected behavior!

Next, we wrote our class promise together...

We are looking forward to a great year ahead!