June Activities

Dear Families and Students:

The end of the year is upon us and June is always a fun month of events for our class. Below, please find a listing of what we are planning and how you can help. Please let our class parents, Evan and Lenora, know ASAP what you can do to help.

Thank you in advance for making these special days possible!

Sincerely,
Randi Stern

Field Day Prep: (Tues. June 2)
We will be tye dyeing shirts on Tuesday and could use parents to come help. Time TBD.
-Volunteers 1 per table/4 in all - Lenora and Evan are 2, we need 2 more
-4 packages of assorted Sharpie colored markers to decorate the shirts

Field Day: (Fri. June 4)
-water bottles for the children labeled with their names-taken care of by Lisa Mapeli (thank you)
-a cooler with ice to keep water bottles in - Lenora is handling from class funds
-blankets for the children to sit on in our lane- Lenora has 2, we need 2 more

DeWint House: (Wed. June 9)
We will be WALKING to and from the DeWint house in enhance our history studies of the USA. In order to ensure safety for all, we need to have 6-7 parents join us for the walk and the trip. We will be leaving at either 9:00 or 9:30 (TBD).
Since it is likely to be hot, we need water and a snack. Gallons jugs of water, a cooler, and cups would be helpful in providing a cold drink after our walk. This would need to be dropped off at the DeWint House prior to our arrival.

Beach Day: (Thurs. June 17)
-filled water balloons (weather permitting-about 50 in all)
- any beach games and beach balls you have would be wecome

Father's Day Breakfast: (Fri. June 18)
-2 dozen assorted bagels cut in half
-2 dozen plain bagels cut in half
-cream cheese, butter
-optional: fruit, mini muffins, coffee, etc.
I have paper goods already and will take care of drinks.

Sundae on Monday: (Mon. June 21)
-2-3 kinds of ice cream (vanilla, chocolate, and either cookie dough or cookies and cream are safe bets)
-whipped cream
-one of the following: hot fudge/chocolate syrup/hard shell
-sprinkles - NOTHING WITH NUTS
-bowls and spoons
-1-2 parents to help with serving
-optional: M&Ms, maraschino cherries, crushed Oreos, etc. - NOTHING WITH NUTS
I have one ice cream scoop. A second (or third) would be helpful.

Year In Review: (Wed. June 23)
Everyone is invited to attend the Year in Review. - We are looking for a tech savvy parent who can help with the production of cd labels and/or jewel case covers.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

This morning was our music showcase. It started at 9:15. Adam and Lauria got to play the big instruments. Sasha, Nancy, Jacob, Victoria, Dylan M, Anthony, Drew, Sasha and Eesha played the metalophones and xylophones. Emma, Meaghan, Hunter, Amanda, Anthony D., Stephen, Sarah, Dylan A., and Arlo played the glockenspiels. Anthony thought the funniest part was when one of the kids called out the song that we were playing. Adam was happy that his mom, grandma, and grandpa could come. Eesha’s favorite part was singing the Stop Polluting song.

After the music showcase, we came back to the room. We stopped to get drinks first. Then we reviewed some of the big ideas that we learned about mealworms and life cycles. Ms. Stern told us that we’re going to be learning about another life cycle that didn’t include animals or insects: plants. We let our brains do a lot of talking by writing down all of the information that we know about plants. Some kids knew a lot and others knew a little bit. Next, we thought about questions that we had or things that we want to learn about plants.

Sarah shared some of her travel journal from her trip to Savannah, Georgia. She had the funnest time ever! During the long car ride, Sarah wrote in her journal just like Junie B. Jones did in Aloha-ha-ha.

After art, we came back to the classroom to pack up like we usually do. Ms. Stern warned us that kids who were talking would be very upset. We were going to have a surprise but she wouldn’t tell us what it was. Kids kept trying to figure out what it was. We ended up going to the staff lounge to sit in the air conditioning to cool down for a little bit. Ms. Stern told us that there was a second surprise somewhere in the room. After a few guesses, we finally figured out that it might be in the freezer…and it was! We ate ice pops while Ms. Stern read two more chapters of Junie B. Jones: Captain of Field Day. Lauria had fun eating the ice pop and reading more of the Junie B. book. Sasha was so happy. She thought she was going to eat it in two seconds!

Yesterday, Adam was sitting at Ms. Stern’s computer researching the weather in China. He saw a spider near the computer. Ms. Stern caught it and put it in a container. Everyone wanted to know what the spider looked like and what type it was. After doing some research, we think that we discovered that it is a jumping spider. At the end of the day, lots of kids wanted to take it home to keep. Unfortunately, Ms. Stern said no. The very active spider is our new addition!

Speaking of new additions…our beetle eggs have begun to emerge! We have teensy tiny mealworm larvae that continue our life cycle!

Stay cool!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Ms. Stern read us a story called Alfie the Apostrophe. We reviewed contractions and came up with examples. Next, we played Treasure Trove Contractions. Finally, we learned a new poem written by Jack Prelutsky.

Mrs. Costello and Mrs. Healey stopped by. They are second grade teachers who were here for a meeting with some of the first grade teachers. Some kids knew them already.

During math we played a game called Exactly 50. Everyone had to draw a shape on their paper that they thought would hold 50 of their treasures. We then made groups of ten, circled them, and recorded how many in all. Ms. Stern warned everyone to wait to see their treasure before drawing their shape. Most people drew shapes that had space for less than 50 treasures. Some of the treasures were: peas, buttons, eraser tops, creepy crawlers, pom poms, screws, paper clips, and dice. Then we played Shark Numbers.

In P.E., we practiced the races for Field Day. We did the junk race first. Everyone has to carry the jump rope, bean bag, block, bowling pin, and football to one hula hoop. The next person has to carry it all to a different hula hoop. After that, we did the football race. The trick to handing it off to the next person is how we hold our hands if we are waiting to get the football. Sarah’s favorite race was the chicken race. It was easy compared to the other races. Anthony D. liked the football race because it felt like he was in a real football game.

We continued to work on our ABC books. Some children finished brainstorming all of their words and facts today. Amanda likes being able to choose her own ideas in any order. She thinks X, Y, and Z are the hardest.

Monday, May 24, 2010

We started our day with only 15 kids! Stephen and Eesha came late so we ended up having 17 kids in all. We wrote in our journals and got new jobs.

There wasn’t a pre-test this morning. We learned about contractions. Contractions are a shortened combination of two words. You make a contraction by taking out some letters and including an apostrophe in their place. We saw this video from Between the Lions before making a list of contractions together.

We did our 100 facts again today. Lots of people are working on subtraction. Many people think they beat their best score today. After that, we played a game called The Bigger the Better. We worked with our partner from last week. Each player got a set of cards numbered from 0-9. Each player puts down one card from their set and then another and records on their paper. Both people make the biggest number from the two digits they drew. The higher two digit number gets circled and you start again. After 10 times, we figured out how many times both people made the bigger number. Nancy and Drew both ended up drawing the same exact numbers. The same thing happened to Amanda and Ms. Stern! Arlo realized that you can’t always get the number you wanted. Hunter liked when he got 9, 8, or 7 because they are the highest numbers and you win a lot. Emma didn’t like getting the 0 because you can’t make any tens with it.

After math, we went to specials. We had music and practiced for the music showcase on Wednesday. Everyone sat with an instrument: xylophone, metalophone, or a glockenspiel. Mrs. Fox had people at each instrument play a different note. We played tas and ti tis. Then we tried playing songs like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Mary Had a Little Lamb. When our regular specials time ended, we took a quick break and then Ms. Beglin’s class came for us to rehearse together. Stephen likes playing the metalophone the most because you can hear the notes better. Anthony D. also likes playing the metalophone because he makes different sounds. Nancy thinks it’s so fun playing the big xylophone because you get to stand up when you play it.

Please remember to send in t-shirts for Field Day. Our class is Stern’s Speedy Kids. Also, there is a new blog question up now about questions we have about second grade or going to TZE.

Blog Challenge: Questions about TZE

On June 2nd, we will be going to TZE to get a tour of the school, meet some of the teachers, and spend some time with students in a second grade classroom. In the comments section below, please write at least 2 questions that you have about TZE or second grade. Feel free to write as many questions as you have. They might be about the building, teachers, homework, playground, work, or anything else that you're wondering, excited, or nervous about. As usual, please remember to use your first name or initials only!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Today is voting day. Adam wanted to know who gets to vote and what people vote for. Ms. Stern explained that people vote for the budget (how money is spent), the Board of Education (a group of people who make rules for all of the schools), and money saved for projects like fixing the roofs so they don’t leak. Remember to vote!

We reviewed our –ow vs. –ow/ou list from yesterday and added a few more words to each side. Then we played a spelling game on a website. After that, we learned a new poem called Howard the Hound. We highlighted ow and ou words and then started rereading the other poems in our poetry journals (starting at the back and working our way forward).

Sarah’s tooth came out! It was practically hanging out. She said she wanted to keep it in until she got home but, as Ms. Stern suspected, the tooth didn’t want to wait! It came out right away!

Last week we talked about the oil spill that took place in Louisiana. Ms. Stern finished reading us a book called Oil Spill by Melvin Berger. We learned about how and why oil spills take place and different ways to clean them up. We also learned about how to use less oil. We looked at photos online of the water, birds being cleaned, people who were sad or unhappy about the situation, and beaches that have oil and tar washing up on the shoreline. Eesha suggested that we write letters to our senators like the book suggested.

We had art today. Mrs. S. was our substitute. She read us a book called The Art Teacher from the Black Lagoon. Everyone drew a picture of the art teacher doing different things. Nancy’s picture was of her putting two kids in a poster. Meaghan drew the art teacher locking the kids in a picture frame.

In math, we first went over the homework. Then, everyone worked as number explorers! Partners could choose to use a 100 board or not. Everyone also got a bag of number tiles. We worked together to match the number tiles on the right spot on the 100 board. People found different ways to work.





At the end, we shared our thinking, noticings, and observations:
*If you count to 100 with tiles, the 10s will go to 100 and they all end with 0. All the 9s in the column end with a 9 and it keeps going. –Adam
*We looked for 7s at the end and we noticed they are all in a row. –Victoria and Dylan A.
*You can sort by the end numbers. –Sasha and Eesha
*The 100 board doesn’t have 0 but you can always put it next to the 1. –Jacob, Hunter, Emma
*You can turn a 6 into an 8 by adding a 0 to the top. -Lauria

We’ve been reading lots of different ABC books. They are about holidays, people, places, animals, and insects. We had a conversation to figure out whether or not they are non-fiction. Today we read more ABC books. We reviewed our thinking from yesterday about our school (A is for art. In art, we create things using different materials. Mrs. Piteo is our art teacher. We go to the art room in the front of the school. B is for bathroom. There are two bathrooms in first grade. Kids shouldn’t scream in there. Responsible kids use the bathroom, wash their hands, and walk nicely back to their classrooms. C is for Charlie CAPS. Charlie is a bear introduced to the kids by Mrs. O’Donnell. CAPS classes are kind and caring, asking lots of questions, positive, and smile often. They earn marbles by making good choices. When a class earns 50 marbles, they get a Charlie CAPS party!) We started making our own books working by ourselves or with a partner. Everyone is brainstorming words that start with each letter of the alphabet that have to do with William O. Schaefer School or our classroom. Sarah chose to work alone because she thought it would be easier and she wouldn’t be distracted. She didn’t go in alphabetical order and thought it was the easiest thing she could ever do in her life! Jacob worked with Dylan A. They thought it was really hard. They wanted to use different words for the letter E. After discussing their choices, Jacob agreed to go with Dylan’s word, expression, since there was more to explain. Hunter enjoyed working on the ABC book and is excited to work on it again.

Blog Challenge: Non-fiction Facts/Features

We are continuing our study of non-fiction reading and writing. Remember this trick that we learned about telling the difference between fiction and non-fiction:
Rule: You can only say no once.

Fiction = not trueNonfiction = true
Non-fiction=not true can't be.

There are 2 "no"s!

In the comments section below, please:-Share the name of 1 non-fiction book that you read at home this week. Include 3 new facts that you learn. Identify 3 features that the book has. Remember, facts are the true statements that can be checked (the information that you learn). Features are the parts of the book that help you get the information (ex. table of contents, photographs, captions, labels, diagrams, maps, glossary, bold print, italics, index, etc.).

Please use your first name only or your initials! Happy reading!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010/Trip Reminders

This morning we reread Listen to the Wind, the story about a man who helped a small town in Pakistan build a school. After that we read the responses from Mrs. McBride's questions that were posted as an earlier blog challenge. We discussed why Dr. Greg shared his story and believes that education is so important to help the world. We thought about ourselves and our school. Everyone made a quilt square that shows: our name (written as fancy as we’d like), our school, our favorite subject to learn about, someone special in our school, and a way that people help each other here. Even though our schools and kids here are different from children in Korphe, we want to learn and work hard to do so. We also have special people who make our school a great place to learn and grow.

During math, we reviewed using inch rulers. Everyone chose a partner and had to search around the room for objects that were 1 inch to 12 inches in size. Stephen thought that finding smaller stuff was harder than finding bigger stuff. Arlo kept on finding objects that were about 3 and 6 inches!

We had art today. We started making pictures of funny faces called caricatures. The way that you make one is by drawing a really big head and a really small body. Then, you choose a silly face. Nancy made an angry face on a body that was the size of a mouse! Sasha made a happy face with a very big mouth. Her background was outside. We think we will finish working on them next time.

We talked about tomorrow’s trip to the Museum of Natural History. We finished looking at all of the exhibits that we are going to see on the interactive map. Then saw a few minutes of a video that showed some of the dinosaur fossils there. We talked about the rules and expectations for our trip. Safety is SO important! Everyone understands and agrees that we need to be by our assigned adult’s side for the entire trip. We will only touch things that we are told we may touch, walk quietly and slowly to learn and observe the objects around us, and do some great thinking! After our discussion, we worked with partners to record some of our wonderings or questions about things at the museum.

Hunter/Eesha/Nancy: Why is it called the Museum of Natural History? Is there a section about monkeys?
Amanda/Adam/Sasha: How did they get the blue whale there? How big is it?
Jacob/Lauria: Where did they find the dinosaur bones? What are the animals stuffed with?
Stephen/Emma: What is the biggest dinosaur? How many dinosaurs have been discovered?
Victoria/Dylan M.: Why are dinosaurs extinct?
Meghan/Drew: How old are the dinosaurs?
Sarah/Dylan: How many bones are in the big blue whale?
Dylan A./Anthony: Where do the things in the museum come from?

**Please remember to have your child wear his/her SOCES t-shirt or a red shirt on the trip and pack a bagged, disposable lunch as well as a small, quick and easy snack. Additionally, in order to be fair to all of the children, no one is allowed to visit the gift shop during our time together at the museum.

Parents, I will be forming groups based on the response forms that I received last week. Please alert me of any changes. Chaperones may meet us at school and follow the buses or go directly there. Remember to ask about discounted parking and admission for accompanying school groups. We should be arriving at the Museum of Natural History around 10:00 a.m. Thanks!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Yesterday was our Mother’s Day celebration. We greeted our mothers at the door and showed them to their seats. Next, we got them food to eat and drinks. After our guests were served, we got to take food for ourselves. Ms. Stern called the kids to the rug. We recited a poem called I’m Trying So Hard. After that, we played our guessing game. Everyone took turns reading clues that the kids wrote. Moms had to think about the clues and look at the portraits. They had to guess whose mom it was. All of the moms correctly identified their kids’ work. Moms laughed at some of the funny clues. After the celebration, we learned that some of our clues that we wrote weren’t totally accurate. Eesha’s mom grew up in Bombay and worked in Germany. Emma’s mom was born in Amsterdam and not London (but she thought they were the same). Stephen’s mom really had 6 dogs and not 4. Sarah’s mom actually eats a lot and she had 8 cats and not 17. Dylan’s mom was born in Staten Island and not Italy. Emma thought the afternoon went pretty good and it was SO MUCH fun! Her favorite part was playing the game. Sarah really liked serving her mom. Hunter enjoyed the movie of our thank you letters. Everyone laughed because some people sounded louder than others.

Here are some photos of us and our special guests:

During math, we got timed ordering the days of the week and months of the year. Three people got to try each activity. Anthony was the fastest when sequencing the days of the week. He put them in the correct order in 12 seconds. Lauria ordered the months of the year in 33 seconds. Tomorrow, more children will have a chance to beat our current class records. We also reviewed measuring by comparing (longest, shortest, tallest, etc.), using linker cubes, paper clips, and rulers. Hunter realized that measuring two amounts and combining them was just like adding! We went to P.E. We played Rugrat Tag. Lauria, Nancy, and Amanda got to be Lil and Phil. That meant that they were baby rescuers. Meaghan liked when she got to blindfold her partner to give directions. We looked at an interactive map of the Museum of Natural History today. We located many of the exhibits that we will be seeing on Thursday and learned a little bit about them. The map can be seen here. We finished reading Junie B: Boss of Lunch. Amanda thinks that Junie B. is crazy and she doesn’t listen well. She needs better manners. Stephen thinks she tries to be good…it just doesn’t work out.

Monday, May 3, 2010

We had an assembly called Gems Rock. We learned about special kinds of rocks and minerals. We learned lots of neat information. Objects all around our homes are made from rocks and minerals. For example, toothpaste has minerals in it that come from rocks in the earth. Windows, electronics, toilets, and roofs are also made from objects in the earth. We also learned that a purple gemstone (amethyst) will change colors and become orange-ish (citrine) if it is next to a heat source. Potassium is an important mineral that is helpful for our bodies. Some people were called up to try different experiments. One child got to go up and lick his finger, touch the rock, and lick his finger again. It tasted salty! It turns out that the rock in his hand was the same mineral used to make salt.
Another child from our class also got to participate in an experiment. She put her hand in a tub. When we saw her hand, it had something white on it. We got a clue that it was something you might put on a baby’s bottom. She thought it might be chalk. It ended up being talc (used to make baby powder).
At the end of the assembly all of the classes lined up by a bin and got to sort through lots and lots of stones. We each picked two to keep.




When we came back to the classroom, Ms. Stern showed us the chart on the Dinosaurs Rock website to try to identify the stones that we picked.

We played Star Wars during P.E. Coach Hudson picked someone to be a Jedi. Hunter, Sasha, Dylan, Adam, and Dylan M. were picked to be Jedis. The Jedi goes on the orange dot (home base). When Coach Hudson says, “Never smoke!” the other people in the class run to pick up the balls on the floor and throw them to the other team across the gym. If the Jedi comes off of the orange dot, the other team can try to get him by hitting him with the soft ball. That earns the other team a point. Saying “Good luck” before the game or showing good sportsmanship will also earn a team points. Our class beat Mr. Gunther’s class 5-1. Sweepers are people who sweep the balls to either side of the gym. Dylan A., Lauria, Nancy, and Emma were sweepers for our class.

We began working a secret project that our moms will find out more about next week. Everyone is doing their best work, even though we can’t say what we’re doing our best work on!

Blog Challenge: RIF Books/Gems Rock

This week you have a choice! You decide whether you blog about Gems Rock or RIF!

Choice 1: Today we had an assembly called Gems Rock. Everyone learned about gems and minerals. We even got to dig for 2 special ones to keep! Using the chart on the website, leave a comment below telling which gemstones, rocks, or minerals you think you chose. Explain why.

OR

Choice 2: On Wednesday we will be going to RIF. What are some titles of books, series, or authors that you hope are available for kindergarteners and first graders to take? What suggestions would you make to the PTA for next year?