First Grade Newsletter and Pics 10/23/26

 Hi! We have some amazing writers in our room! We had fun creating ghost shaped books and then writing stories in them. We shared them with our class after. I'm so impressed with their creativity and risk taking, especially so early in the year!

We wrote Haiku with our Peer Helpers to put on our Scream portraits. They came out great!

We "survived" our first two days of having a substitute. They were awesome. I have to tell you how sweet and thoughtful your kids are! I had told them on Monday that I was going to be out. They, of course, asked why. I told them that even adults have to do things that are hard sometimes and I had to do something that was really hard for me. I had to be interviewed in front of about 450 people by two extremely well known authors / podcasters. Your kids gave me the best advice and were so supportive. It was adorable. When I returned Thursday, they all remembered and asked me how I did. They are so precious. This class is truly special and their caring ways come from their families at home. Thank you for sharing them with me!

I'm not going to be able to make the Hullabaloo tonight. If you have any pictures, please email them to me. I'd love to see them!!

Next week we will be doing lots of campaigning as we get ready for the cow elections the following week. I promise I will get out the online voting address the end of next week. They won't accept votes until the following week. :)

Upcoming Dates

* We would love some individually wrapped candy for class Halloween game prizes on or before Friday, Oct. 30.

* Friday, October 23 - Flex Friday / Hullabaloo and Trunk or Treat 

* Thursday, October 24 - Acadia Virtual EEK of Ecology Program - We will be learning all about the spooky parts of Acadia National Park's Ecology! This is a virtual presentation! 

* Friday, October 30 - Dress like a book character (pretty much any Halloween costume has a book to go with it so don't stress over this!) OR pajama day! Your choice! We'll be having lots of Halloween themed activities! 

* Voting will be open November 2nd - November 4th.

* Monday, Nov. 2nd - Fairy Houses inside with Peer Helpers.

* Tuesday, Nov. 3rd - Fairy Houses outside - It's a good idea to start looking for gloves and any garden/beach type tools your child could use in the woods for building. (small shovel, bucket to collect things, small spade) Please, label anything you send in that week.

* Monday, Nov. 9 from 7:30 am - 6:00 pm First Grade Parent/Teacher conferences. I have been given so . me extra time to make sure I can fit everyone in. I will be sending out a sign up next week.

* Tuesday, Nov. 10 from 1:30 - 6:00 pm First Grade Parent/Teacher conferences.

* Wednesday, Nov. 11 - No School. Veteran's Day.

* Wednesday, Nov. 25 - Sunday, Nov. 29 - Thanksgiving / Fall break - No School.

* Thursday, Dec. 3 - K-3 Field Trip to The Grand in Ellsworth to see Charlie Brown Christmas.

* Wednesday, Dec. 9 - Music Concert 6:00 pm. Students should arrive in cafeteria at 5:50pm.

* Tuesday, Dec. 15 - Frogtown Puppeteers present How the Grinch Stole Christmas at 1:00 in our VCS gym.

* Wednesday, Dec. 16 - Acadia Rangers are coming to do a science workshop with primary students.

* Friday, Dec. 18 - FLEX Friday

* Wednesday, Dec. 23 - Monday, Jan. 4 - Christmas / Winter break.

Our school grounds are so pretty!

A few pictures from the Making Meaning Celebration I was so lucky to be a part of.

Happy Weekend!!

First Grade News and Pics 10/16/26

 Hi! We adopted a cow! Her name is Vega. We actually met her on our field trip to Witter Farm but we hadn't been told which cow we would get yet. We started learning about holsteins and some of the similarities cows have with humans. We both eat, see a doctor when sick and live in a shelter. We made an informative  bulletin board to teach the school about how awesome Vega is. The first week of November there is an election to find the most popular classroom adopted cow. We will begin campaigning and informing friends and family about why Vega should definitely win! Voting only runs the first week of November. We will also be learning about the election process as we campaign. The winning cow gets a special cow package for their classroom. We will be getting out the voting link once it is closer to being open. The kids are very excited! 

This week we started our unit on sound and light. We learned that without vibrations there would be no sound. We practiced making our own sounds to work together to make a "storm". We used rulers to make the sounds of a bouncing ball. We also felt how the vibrations in our vocal cords feel different when we change our volume and pitch. 

We had a great trip to the fire station and were actually there when they got a call. Thankfully, it was not a fire. Firefighter Pete was still able to finish our tour. 

We learned about the artist, Edvard Munch. He painted The Scream. We tried painting our own version of the scream. They turned out great! We also wrote about what might be scaring us!

We had a presentation on bus safety and learned how to exit the bus safely from the back.

Spirit Week was lots of fun! The kids were very creative each day!

We started reading groups. You will sometimes see a book in your child's folder. This is something they should reread to an adult, stuffed animal, pet or even themselves and then return when done. If your child has a really long book, feel free to alternate pages or even have them pick their favorite two pages to read to you. :)

Upcoming Dates

* Now - Friday, October 23 - Mrs. Shannon is ready to display some family made pumpkins. These should be fake, craft pumpkins dressed as your family's favorite book character. If you choose to participate, pumpkins can come in anytime through Friday, Oct. 23rd.  Let's decorate the library!

* We would love some individually wrapped candy for class game prizes on or before Friday, Oct. 30.

* Friday, October 23 - Flex Friday / Hullabaloo and Trunk or Treat 

* Thursday, October 24 - Acadia Virtual EEK of Ecology Program - We will be learning all about the spooky parts of Acadia National Park's Ecology! This is a virtual presentation! 

* Friday, October 30 - Dress like a book character (pretty much any Halloween costume has a book to go with it so don't stress over this!) OR pajama day! Your choice! We'll be having lots of Halloween themed activities! 

Happy Weekend!