First Grade News and Pics 5-31-24

Just a few pics this week...Newsletter is at the end. 

Hi! I can't even believe we only have eight and a half days left! Although I'm excited for summer, I'm sad to be giving up such an amazing group! We did lots of our regular curriculum this week. It's so much fun to read with the kids. They've come so far as readers this year. Please make sure to keep them reading all summer. It's a great thing to do 1/2 hour before bed...tell them they get an extra half hour to stay up if they're reading! Our math book is almost done. We're just reviewing right now.

There will be no more homework this year. However, I will give them the choice to bring home their reading group book still. It will be their choice. 

We tie-dyed today. Thank you to everyone who sent in extra shirts. We had enough for everyone to participate. I will wash them this weekend and we will sponge paint ocean animals on them next week. Shirts will stay here until the last day when we wear them to field day. Then students can keep them.

We have some special activities planned for next week that we could use some help with. I will email people personally with ways they can help.

Summer Birthdays - We have quite a few of them. I will personally email people to give them a School Birthday. If you want to have your child bring in a special snack, you may. If you do not want to, please don't feel you have to. Your child will still get recognized. I know what it is like to never have a school birthday so I try to give the summer kids a chance to experience one.

Dates to Remember: 

Monday, June 3 + Tuesday, June 4 - Painting T-shirts

Wednesday, June 12: School Barbecue 

Thursday, June 13 - Field Day / Last Day / 11:25 Dismissal

Happy Weekend!

First Grade Newsletter and Pics 5/24/24

 Good afternoon! We finished up this week with our last FLEX Friday. Ask your child which one they chose to go to. We had so many great choices this time! We took our math and reading NWEAs. Everyone went up lots of points so that was great to see. These first few years taking them is to help them get ready for the state mandated ones when they hit third grade. This way they'll feel familiar with taking assessments on the computer which alone is a hard task! The kids did really well figuring it all out!

We learned about octupus, seals and harbor seals. I told them about Andre, the famous harbor seal of Maine. I told them to ask you and their grandparents if they had ever heard of him. We watched a short clip that showed Andre doing some tricks down on the Rockport waterfront. There is a great movie about him out that has real footage of him at the end. Funny fact is they used a sea lion in the movie and filmed in Canada! The kids know how to tell the difference between the two so I'm sure they'd get a kick out of watching it. I will give you a heads up that it is PG and has a few swear words and some adult drinking in it. I don't know why they have to ruin kid movies! Other than that its actually really cute and funny. I'm hoping to squeeze the book in before our last day. There is a statue of Andrea down on the waterfront in Rockport. Can you tell I love harbor seals?!

A huge thank you to the Al-Ameri family for providing us with lots of water fun and cool treats on Wednesday afternoon when it was soooooo hot! The entire primary wing had an amazing time...the eighth graders even snuck in for some of the fun before it was over!

Miss Bilodeau, the kids' second grade teacher, has been popping in a lot to get to know the kids before they go to second. She even took them on a field trip to her room today! They were very excited!

We will still be doing UFLI until the last week. However, I am not going to assess it. I will still send you home the info so you know what sound we are working on. We didn't have time to finish this weeks because of the testing so we will do the same next week. 

We took our last unit test in math. The kids really did well on the geometry and fractions. We have one unit left in the book that takes one day to review each unit. 

We had quite a few authors share their stories this week! Very exciting! It was great hearing the comments and questions after each book. This class is very thoughtful and kind with each other!We also had lots of people earning coupons! One chose to read to second grade. Others did show and share. It's great to see them up in front of a group speaking! 

We will be tie-dying on Friday, May 31st. Please send in a t-shirt if you haven't yet. We did get some generous donations, too. :) Can tabs are also due this day.

Our last student day will be Thursday, June 13th. Dismissal will be at 11:30. We will have field day that day and wear our ocean t-shirts that we make. 

Authors sharing stories.

Show and Share.

An afternoon of fun!

Authors sharing stories.

The Planetarium Flex Friday Choice

Happy Long Weekend!

First Grade Newsletter and Pics 5/17/24

Good Afternoon! This has been a busy, busy week! We had the talent show, Firefighter Pete visited, a steel drum band and Dragon Day! We also got lots of our regular work done, too. We only got to about half of our dragon activities so I will spread the rest out throughout next week. We got to important ones, though! We made dragon masks, three different kinds of 3D paper dragons, got dragon stone necklaces and "real" dragons and ate dragon scales and claws while watching Puff the Magic Dragon.  It was so much fun!

Next week, we will be taking our end of the year NWEAs. We will take one Tuesday morning and one Wednesday morning. They only last about 30-45 minutes. Most of the kids actually enjoy taking them especially because they're on the computer. We also have our last FLEX Friday of this school year.

On Friday, May 31st we will be tie-dying t-shirts. Please send in one plain white t-shirt on or before this day. We'd LOVE to have some extra shirts in case someone forgets. If anyone would like to donate a pack, it would be much appreciated!

I was trying to get us to UMaine's Cow Barns but they are renovating and not allowing school visits this spring. If we go next year, I'll be sure to invite them to join us!

End Of Year Dates

* Tuesday, May 21st - NWEA testing

* Wednesday, May 22nd - NWEA testing

* Friday, May 24th - Last FLEX

* Monday, May 27th - No School - Memorial Day

* Friday, May 31st - Tie-dying t-shirts - Pleases bring a t-shirt by this date.

* Friday, May 31st - Can tabs are due.

* Thursday, June 13th - Field Day, Last Day, 11:25 Dismissal.

Happy Weekend!