Happy Friday the 13th!

Wow-it was certainly an exciting week!  We had a great concert, TWO Mystery Readers, celebrated another 25 Caught You Being Good Cards, read lots of seasonal books, and practiced writing reviews.

I'm including photos from our rehearsal and our performance:

DJ A.J. Dukette from WHOM and news anchor Kathleen Jordan from WMTW came to visit!!

-Next Friday, December 20th will be Pajama Day for our whole school.

-We return to school on Thursday, January 2nd.

-Green homework folders/homework menus are due on Monday, January 6.

-Our next Sharing Day will also be on January 6.

Have a great weekend!  I'm looking forward to seeing some friends in their holiday shows, finishing up holiday preparations, and...cleaning the basement. :)  Have fun!

:)

Becca

Happy December!

It's amazing that we are 1/3 of the way through the school year!  We worked hard this week-practicing fact families/number bonds, fine-tuning our how-to books, and talking about kindness, gratitude, and what it means to be a friend.  We had our first snow day, and read a lot of stories about snow.  Our Mystery Reader was the President of the Maine Education Association, Mrs. Grace Leavitt.  She taught us some Spanish words and gave us some handouts to take home and practice.

Next week will be our Holiday Concert on Wednesday evening!  Please be sure your first grader is at the high school auditorium no later than 6:15 so that I may help him/her find the right spot on the risers.  I will let you know on Tuesday, after our rehearsal, just where our class will be standing.  Please do let me know if your child is choosing not to attend the concert so that I can make our plan for where each person will stand on the risers.  Thanks!

Thank you for sending a coat, snow pants, boots, hat, and mittens/gloves with your child each day.  I do have a few pairs of mittens they can borrow in an emergency, but it is better if everyone has their own.  If you need help obtaining these for your child, please let me or the office know and we can assist you.  Thanks!

Thank you also for letting me know in advance, whenever possible, if your child will be absent or picked up early/dropped off late.  I really appreciate it!

Please try to avoid sending food in glass containers.  We had a bit of a scary accident earlier this week when someone dropped their glass container in the very busy hallway and it shattered.   Thanks for your help!

We earned another 25 Caught You Being Good cards!  We will vote on Monday for a special activity next Friday!

On Friday the 20th, we will have Pajama Day.

Have an awesome weekend!  I will be in Augusta most of Saturday and Sunday for an MEA  Board of Directors meeting, but am hoping to get some holiday preparations completed!  Mr. Cole is in a production of "A Christmas Carol", so I may get to see that as well.  I hope you have a fun and festive time, too!
Becca

Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope everyone is healthy and looking forward to a great holiday!  I know that the kids are excited about being with family and jumping into the holiday season!

This week, we read lots of seasonal books, learned about nouns and verbs, and wrapped up our doubles/doubles plus/minus one work.  We continued creating how-to books, which we hope to publish soon.  Our STEM activity was an engineering project which helped us practice using the how-to language from our writing (first, then, next, finally).

Our Mystery Reader this week was Mr. Seth Berner!  He is an attorney in Portland, and we talked with him about how we resolve conflicts with people by talking things out and making it right.

Mr. Howell and Mrs. Bertinet, the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent, came by to visit so we could give them each a special gift.  They had asked for our help in creating some artwork for their new offices, so we thought about the books they had read to us and designed some colorful pieces to brighten their spaces!

Next week, we will only have school on Monday and Tuesday, so we won't have a regular blog post. Please do let me know if you are planning to attend our Project Day on Monday, as all volunteers must have turned in a Volunteer Form with the office prior to helping out.  The form is available on the school site;  just go to rsu14.org, find the Windham Primary page, and look under the Forms tab.

Fall picture retakes will be on Tuesday.  If your child is having retakes, please be sure to return the originals.  Thanks!

Please do also let me know if your child will be absent next week (or anytime) so we can try to make sure they don't miss anything special!  Thanks!

I hope you all have an awesome weekend!  I am going to the Gardens Aglow event at the Coastal Botanical Gardens with Mr. Cole-it's our November tradition and always puts me in the holiday spirit!

Thanks for all you do!
Becca

Hello, families!

I hope you enjoyed the long weekend, and are looking forward to a little bit of a warmup over the next couple of days!

We had a great week in first grade, learning about "doubles" facts, writing our how-to books, and doing a fun chemical changes experiment in STEM!  We also learned a bit about the Iroquois from a BrainPOP video, and took a virtual tour of the Mayflower on Scholastic.com!

Our Mystery Reader this week was Christine Frost-Bertinet, our new Assistant Superintendent.  She gave us a challenge to create a piece of art for her office-we can't wait to show her what we created!

We are learning how to THINK about math problems, COMPARE our strategies, and SHARE our ideas with other mathematicians!

Next week, we will do a bit more learning about the first Thanksgiving and some of the native Americans who live in our part of the country.  We'll continue our doubles/doubles-plus-one work in Math and make a special Thanksgiving how-to book together.

Thanks for marking our clothing with your first grader's name!

Book orders were due today-I will wait to submit the order til tomorrow morning if you'd like to place an online order this evening.  Our class code is H63NZ.  I'm not sending home a book order in December so feel free to order from those catalogs as well.  If there are any holiday gifts in your order, just let me know and I will hold them here until you are able to get them. :)

Have a fantastic weekend!  I am looking forward to some DIY projects around the house and hopefully getting a start on holiday preparations.  I hope you have a lovely time with your family!

Becca

Hello, everyone!

We enjoyed a visit from Dr. David Jefferson, DVM this week!  He told us about being a horse vet and read a funny story called Bark, George!  

We learned more about chemical and physical changes this week, and did a sorting activity to go along with that learning.  We also continued our addition/subtraction word problem work, started writing How-To books, and made some text-to-text connections!  Next week we're looking forward to learning more about Pilgrims and Native Americans.

Thank you to everyone who signed up for conferences!

The iReady assessment data is in your child's Eagle News today.  We took the assessment quite some time ago, at the beginning of the year.  It is measured against an end-of-year expectation, so it's fine if kids aren't "there" yet :) .

Have a wonderful weekend!  I'm headed for Washington, DC tonight with my twin daughters.  We're taking Kola with us-we'll be sure to send you some pictures and updates!

:)

Becca

Happy November!

It's hard to believe that Halloween is over-I hope everyone had a fun time despite the weather!

Aside from the holiday, it was a very busy week here in first grade!  We enjoyed our Drum Song Story assembly today, learned about Empathy with Mrs. Patch, earned our 25th Caught You Being Good card, had our first Mystery Reader (Superintendent Chris Howell), learned about physical and chemical changes, and shared lots of great books!  We're looking forward to continuing our learning in STEM and meeting some new Mystery Readers next week!

Monday is Sharing Day!
Green homework folders with menus are due this Monday as well.
Eagle News is due every Monday.
Home Reading Folders with both books are also due every Monday.

Thanks for helping your first grader remember his/her snack each day!

Have an awesome weekend!  I have another presentation to give tomorrow, then I'll be spending some time getting my house ready for the next season.  Enjoy your family time!

Becca

Happy Friday, everyone!

It's definitely feeling more like autumn!  We learned all about bats and spiders this week, and many of our trees around the school no longer have their beautiful leaves.  The kids are very excited about Halloween and the WPS Fall Festival this weekend!

Apparently, my schedule was not yet launched in PTCFast; here is a screenshot of the conference schedule for November.  I have emailed the office and the schedule should be open on Monday for you to sign up.  I'm including this so you can start thinking about which times might work for you:



We had our first evacuation-to-WMS drill this morning.  The kids did a great job following directions and getting to/from the other building quickly and quietly.

Our Guidance lesson this week with Mrs. Patch was really fun!  She talked with us about Respect and what it means to be respectful.

Next week, we will have our first Mystery Reader!  :D  We will also walk up to WHS on Friday morning for a Cultural Arts Assembly.

Stay warm!  I heard many big plans for pumpkin carving and costume making this weekend!  I will be presenting at the Maine Education Association conference and wrapping up the last weekend of my play.  I hope you all have a wonderful end-of-October!
Becca

Hello!
I hope you all have power back after the exciting weather yesterday!

This week, we continued our work with addition/subtraction word problems in Math.  In Writing, we learned about "unfreezing" our characters by making them "MOVE" and "TALK" in our stories.  Our STEM lesson was really cool-we learned how rainbows are formed and used some prisms to make our own rainbows!  There was also a safety drill and Picture Day!

I took a fall photo of the kids, but it is on my camera-I'll post it when I get home from the theater tonight.

Next week, we'll have a Guidance lesson with Mrs. Patch, practice an evacuation drill to another building on campus, and have our first substitute teacher (Mrs. Cole is a presenter at the Maine School Management Association's Fall conference on Thursday).

Congratulations to Kainen and Aurora on earning the privilege of taking home Darla and Kola again!

What is due next week:

Home Reading Folders (with both books) on Monday
Eagle News on Monday
Library Books on Thursday

Green homework folders and menus are due on November 4th.
Our next Sharing Day is November 4th.

Have a great weekend!  My play is in its second weekend, which is very exciting.  I also have some DIY projects on my list.  I hope your days are fun and productive, too!

Becca

Hello!
The kids are very excited for their long weekend! This week, we learned about a couple of other math applications we will be using in first grade, Sumdog and Prodigy.  Other learning included Fire Safety, Estimating, a STEM lesson on chromatography, and understanding our schema and making inferences.  Wow!

One extra-special thing that happened this week was the arrival of our new classmate, Narjis!  Welcome, Narjis and family!

Please return the reading books and the homework menu on Tuesday-I have the new and improved home reading/homework folders all ready to go at last! :D

I took Kola and Darla for this extra-long weekend-I'll send the kids some updates as the weekend progresses!

Book orders were submitted and should be here in about a week!

Have an amazing weekend!  My play opens tomorrow night and I have plans to finish cleaning the basement and work in our classroom.  I hope you get some extra special time with your family!
:)
Becca

Happy October!

We were busy this week with many things: learning how to use the counting-on strategy to subtract as well as add; thinking about how partners work together to peer edit in writing; learning about our schema and how we use it to understand what we are reading/make inferences; trying out a new math program on our computers (Prodigy) and discussing how the seasons change.

We should finally have our homework folders for Monday!  Our home reading folders will be sent along as well.  Please read the letters on the outside of each folder and help your first grader keep track of their books and homework menus. :)

The first Monday of the month means Sharing Day!  Please help your first grader remember to bring one non-valuable, non-electronic item, and to be prepared to tell us why it is special to him/her.

There will be no school next Friday, October 11 (Teacher Workshop Day) or the following Monday (Indigenous Peoples' Day).

Check out the Upcoming Events for more important dates!

Congratulations to Lucas and Miyah for earning the privilege of taking home Kola and Darla!

Have a great weekend!  I have a committee meeting with MEA all day tomorrow, and technical rehearsal for the play I am in will take up most of Sunday, but I'm hoping to spend some time outdoors getting my yard ready for winter.  I hope you get to accomplish both "have-to"s and "want-to"s this weekend!

Becca

Wow!  This week flew by!

We learned about revising our writing, working in writing partnerships, and using the "counting on" strategy to both add and subtract!  We also made hypotheses about what "our" maple tree will look like, and did Estimating on Wednesday.  On Friday, there was a double safety drill, starting with a lockout drill and moving into an outside safety drill.  We also worked on our Jolly Phonics/phonemic awareness activities and had fun in music, art, PE, and library!

Next week, we'll be continuing our work with computation strategies and working on how to spell tricky words, as well as learning about our schema and making text connections.

Congratulations to Etta and Norah on earning the privilege of taking Kola and Darla home today!

Our first homework folders will be coming home next week!  :D

We seem to have a lot of little toys and gadgets coming to first grade.  Please help your first grader remember to leave those at home unless they are needed for SACC.  Thanks!

Have a fantastic weekend!  I'm going to see some friends in the Camden area, and spending some time here in the classroom getting ready for next week.  I hope you get a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather that is forecast!

Becca

Hello, everyone!
Happy last-weekend-of-summer! 🌤

It was another busy week in first grade!  We have been learning new math and literacy routines, writing Small Moments stories, and getting better and better acquainted with one another!  :)

Our class butterfly hatched and we released her outside.  It was a beautiful day!





Congratulations to Aurora and Kainen!  They earned the privilege of taking home Darla and Kola this weekend! We can't wait to hear about their adventures!

Next week, we will celebrate autumn by starting our weekly STEM lessons!  We will start by learning about why and how leaves change color, and learn about observation and chemical and physical changes.

On September 30th, we will also bring home books to read with our families and our Homework Folders!  There will be an informational letter laminated on the front of the folders to help explain how those work.

Have a wonderful weekend!  I will be in a meeting of the Maine Education Association Board of Directors, so enjoy the beautiful weather for me! :D

Becca

Happy Friday!
It was a very busy first full week here in Grade 1!  We have been learning lots of routines and expectations, and we've gotten a lot of compliments on our work in specials and the cafeteria!

The Art teacher has asked that the students wear their Art shirts to class on Tuesday :)

Ask us about...

-Our first outdoor safety drill
-Small Moments stories ("watermelon" and "seed" stories)
-Reviewing combinations of numbers that add up to 10 using counters (red and yellow)
-Morning Meeting/our calendar routines (the kids started taking turns being our Leader this week)
-Our first Sharing day on Monday!

Thank you to everyone who returned their library books on Thursday!  The librarians REALLY appreciated it! :D

Some of our read alouds this week included:
The Bear Ate Your Sandwich
Sad, the Dog
Stephen and the Beetle
The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes

Congratulations to Lucien for earning the privilege of taking home Kola the Bear last week, and Dominic and Libby for earning the privilege of taking home Kola and Darla this week!

Have a great weekend!  One of the plays I am in opened last night, so I will be busy with that this weekend.  I'm hoping to get outdoors for a bit of fresh air, too!  Whatever your plans, enjoy your time with your first grader :)
Becca

Hello, everyone!
It's been a great first few days of school!  Things to ask your first grader include...

What is "estimating"?  (Hint: it's how we got the little gems we brought home Wednesday)

What is the name of our class caterpillar (now chrysalis)?

What are the steps for our calendar routine?

How many ways can your first grader make 10 (we used ten frames on Friday)?

Who are Millie Fierce, Pinkerton the Pig, and Hunter and Stripe?

What are Bean Words and Rainbow Words?

How can you earn the privilege of taking home the class bears, Kola and Darla?

What are some of the things we need to remember to do Quality Work?

:)

Monday will be our first Sharing Day!  Please help your first grader remember to bring one item that is not fragile/valuable, and to be ready to explain why that item is special to us.  Each time a friend shares, 3 other students will be invited to ask questions about what we brought to share, so it is helpful to review where your child got their item, who gave it to him/her, etc.

There is a Preferred Communication form in this week's Eagle News-please be sure to fill it out and return it on Monday so that I know which emails are best for sending home information.  Also, if you know that your child will get the same thing every day for meals/milks, you can indicate that on the form and I won't send home a Milk/Meals order slip on Friday :)

We are bringing home library books today!  Please help your first grader remember to return their library book no later than Thursday next week.  Thanks!

We're also bringing home Scholastic book orders today!  Please send in paper orders or submit online orders no later than Friday, September 13.  Thanks!

If you are sending in milk/meal money with your child, be sure it is secured in an envelope with your child's name, my name, and "Cafeteria" printed on the front.  Please keep it separate from the milk/meal order form-I get the forms and they get the money. :) . I use the forms to make a chart for the whole week on Monday, and then submit my class's order each day online-which is much faster when I have a pre-made chart vs. taking a daily count.

Please remember to send one easy-to-eat snack and any needed utensils for snacktime each day.  :)

Have a great weekend!  I'm in rehearsals for most of the weekend for some plays, but I'm hoping to get outside and enjoy the early September weather!  Mr. Cole and I went to the Coastal Botanical Gardens in Boothbay last weekend, and it was just stunning-so many colors were still vibrant!  Lots of bees and butterflies were very happy, too!

Becca

Hello, and welcome to our Class Blog!
This is the spot to find out what we've been doing in class, what we will be working on next, and see some great images of our days in first grade!  There is also an Upcoming Events tab on the right-hand side of the blog, and some handy links you and your first grader can access from home.

If you are using a mobile device, scroll to the bottom of the blog post and click on "View Mobile Version" so that you can access the whole blog.

I'll be doing some work with the Maine and National Education Associations in the next few weeks before taking a vacation with my husband, but I wanted to share the blog with you.  I update it at the end of each week during the school year, and will send an email to families when the new posts are "up", along with the blog link.  Please do check it so you can stay informed about all of our activities and learning. :)

Thank you!  Have a great rest-of-the-summer!
Becca Cole