First Grade Newsletter and Pics 1/17/25

 Good Afternoon! We have been traveling through space and are currently in the asteroid belt! We've learned lots of cool facts about all the inner, rocky planets. We also learned about asteroids, comets and meteors. Did you know when a meteor hits the Earth it's called a meteorite? We think it should be called a meteor-wrong! haha. Next week we will travel to the outer, gas planets. Don't worry we'll still make it back in time for pick up each day!

Flex Friday was today! Ask your child where s/he went and what they did! 

Ms. Ortiz is teaching Unit Five Math. They are working on place value. They work with base ten blocks and money to practice exchanging ten ones for a ten and ten tens for a hundred. A fun game you can play at home is to see who can make $1.00 the fastest. Put pennies, dimes and a dollar bill in a bowl. Take turn rolling a dice. Take pennies for each roll. When you get ten pennies, trade in for a dime. The first person that can trade ten dimes in for $1.00 wins. To make it super challenging, you can play this backwards. Each person starts with $1.00 and works to be the first to get rid of all their money. 

We talked about Martin Luther King, Jr. The Civil Rights team came to our room and read us a bibliography about him. We also watched a couple of short clips about him. We talked about how we can be like him and make a change in our world. We're working on making sure everyone in our school family feels safe, valued and are able to thrive.

Our UFLI sound for next week is the digraph SH. We will be working on it in the beginning and ending of words.

UPCOMING DATES

* Friday, January 17th - Winter Wonderland Dance - PreK-5 - 6:00-7:00 w/families

* Monday, January 20th - No School. MLK Observance.

* Monday, January 27th - Bella Potter, a Hampden High School Senior, will begin coming in a couple days a week. 

* Thursday, January 29th - Whole School to UMaine Collins Center to see Yamato Drummers.

Happy Long Weekend!

First Grade Newsletter 1-10-25

 Hi! We have had a busy week, lots of hard workers! We have blasted off into our space unit. We learned about galaxies. Ask your child what the name of our galaxy is. Of course, we figured out that there were Milky Ways in the Guess Box! We also traveled to Mercury and learned about our smallest planet. We are writing all the information we learn in our Family of the Sun books.

On Monday, Jaana Al-Ameri came in and read us a book called, My Body has a Bubble. She then let each child experience what it's like to be inside a life sized bubble. The kids did projects on who is allowed in their bubble and then had fun making caterpillars as they connected real bubbles. It was so much fun! Ask your child about it!

We read a book called, The Snow Child. We made snow babies after by stuffing socks. We wrote stories about our snow babies. We talked about beginnings and endings of stories.

Our UFLI assessment went well. You will see them come home today. Next week's sound is CK. We use CK at the end of one syllable words that have a short vowel. I will send home the practice papers on Monday.

UPCOMING DATES

* Tab Collection - Our school is collecting tabs again this year again to benefit The Ronald McDonald House. If our class can fill our bucket, I will give the kids  a movie and popcorn party! The incentive this year is within each class. 

* Friday, Jan. 17th - Book orders are due. Our class code is: DV68C

* Friday, January 17th - January Flex Friday

* Friday, January 17th - Winter Wonderland Dance - PreK-5 - 6:00-7:00 w/families

* Monday, January 20th - No School. MLK Observance.

* Wednesday, January 15th - Texas Roadhouse PTO Fundraiser. Mention Veazie when you eat/order at Texas Roadhouse so the PTO will get 10% of the orders.

* Monday, January 27th - Bella Potter, a Hampden High School Senior, will begin coming in a couple days a week. 

* Thursday, January 29th - Whole School to UMaine Collins Center to see Yamato Drummers.

PICTURES OF:

Snow babies, Writing, Bubbles and Space Play

Happy Weekend!