Thanksgiving Recipes

We've been cooking up a storm this week. Here are the recipes and directions for the various food items made in school.

Pumpkin Pie
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 cup milk
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust

In a medium bowl, combine pudding, pumpkin, milk, and cinnamon. Mix slowly for about 1 minute. Fold whipped topping into the mixture then spoon entire mixture into pie shell. Freeze until firm (about 4 hours). Let stand at room temperature for about 10 minutes before slicing.

Cranberry Sauce
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 package cranberries

Before cooking, rinse cranberries in cold water and remove stems or bruised fruit. Combine water and sugar in medium saucepan. Heat to boiling. Stir in cranberries, returning to boiling. Reduce heat; cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool to room temperature; cover and refrigerate until serving time.

Cornbread
Follow recipe on box.

Butter
Pour heavy cream in a container with a sealable lid. Shake vigorously until the butter solidifies and liquid is extracted. Drain the liquid. Add salt to taste.

Stone Soup
Beef bones
Stone (washed)
Yellow onion, chopped
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Pot filled with water
Carrots
Barley
Soup vegetable pack (found in the produce department)
1 can of stock (chicken, beef, or vegetable)
2 red potatoes
Butter

Brown the meat in the pot. Add the onions and allow to cook until tender. Add water to the pot. Include the rest of the ingredients. Allow to simmer over medium heat for 3-5 hours. Serve and enjoy!

November 25, 2009: Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Parents,

Recently, we have been discussing families, holidays, and life long ago as part of our Social Studies curriculum. During this time, we have reflected on the variety of things for which we are thankful. I am very thankful for the unique and special class that I have. I would like to thank you for sharing your children with me each day.

Additionally, I am thankful for all of the help and support that you have shown and the time that you have dedicated to making our first grade community a success. It is a pleasure to work with such phenomenal families.

I wish you and your family a season of health, happiness, and joy. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving (and an extra long weekend)!

Sincerely,
Randi Stern

Monday, November 23, 2009

According to Jacob, “Today was awesome! We got to do a lot of cool stuff.” A few groups of children got to cook in our classroom. Emma, Amanda, and Dylan A. got to make cranberry sauce with Amanda’s mom. They used cranberries, sugar, and water. Two groups made pumpkin pie. Lauria, Victoria, Adam, and Dylan M. worked with Adam’s dad. Jacob, Drew, Dylan, and Eesha also made a pumpkin pie with Jacob’s mom. Most of the ingredients were the same. A few ingredients were different. One of the groups put a smiley face on the top.

Ms. Stern read us a book called Stone Soup. It was about a hungry young man who tricked an old woman. He asked for food but she wouldn’t give him any. He asked her for a stone and told her that he was going to make soup from a stone. Slowly, she gave him onions, carrots, beef bones, salt, pepper, and barley to add to the boiling water. In the end, they ended up with a meal fit for a king! Lots of people thought the woman was greedy. The young man was smart to be able to trick her. On Wednesday, we will be making Stone Soup with our own stone. Mrs. Polansky asked us whether the soup would end up tasting good even if we didn’t include the stone. Some people thought yes and others thought no. We will have to wait and see when we try it on Wednesday!

During Reader’s Workshop we reviewed the latest strategy that we learned: looking for chunks. A chunk is a little word or a part of a word that we already know that helps us figure out another word that we don’t know. We DON’T need to look for chunks when we already know the word. We learned that sometimes a chunk that we find doesn’t help us figure out the word. If that happens, we need to use other strategies like looking at the picture, getting your mouth ready, or thinking about what makes sense.

Ms. Harding read us a book called Sarah Morton’s Day. It was about a girl who lived at Plymouth Plantation. We made a Venn diagram comparing children today with Pilgrim children. Children long ago had chores like milking goats and feeding chickens. They also played marbles and wrote on chalkboards. Children today watch TV, use air conditioning, and have running water. Children long ago and today do chores, play with toys, and fold clothes. After we talked about the book, we worked on turkey booklets at our seats.

In art, we worked on tissue paper collages. The colors were overlapping and some made new colors. Sasha placed yellow and red together to make orange. Sarah used blue and yellow to make green. Red, yellow, and blue are primary colors. Orange, green, and purple are called secondary colors.

Meeting the Author: Alyssa Satin Capucilli

Today we got to meet the author of the Biscuit books. We found out lots of facts about being a writer and also how the Biscuit series was created. Before we met, we read a bunch of Biscuit books. We also looked on her website and even worked on a Biscuit word search together. We knew a little bit about her before we actually met.

Here is the author, Alyssa Satin Capucilli, explaining how she was inspired to write the very first Biscuit book.


We got to see one of the author’s very own writing notebooks. She calls them her “Treasure Keeper” because all of her ideas are treasures, even though they might not all become books one day.



These are the big ideas that she talked to us about:
-Encouraging children to read all kinds of books
-How books are written
-How books are made
-Being INSPIRED
-INSPIRATION
-Using IMAGINATION
-How she writes: recording ideas, starting stories, writes every day, favorite spot is on her blue couch with her dog by her side, on the train, on a plane…, she never erases because the idea that is gone forever and can never be used, crossing out is okay
-Biscuit facts: Biscuit was based on a much bigger dog and was shrunk down by using her imagination; when he gets something, he wants more; Biscuit is a boy; he never gets older or bigger; he is the only character that says “woof, woof;” in Spain Biscuit says “wow, wow;” Biscuit and the little girl are in every book in the series; the little girl doesn’t have a name because she could be anyone
-Authors and illustrators don’t always know each other…sometimes they even live in different parts of the world!
-Previewing a new story called: Biscuit Meets the Class Pet

We were able to leave our Biscuit books behind for Alyssa to autograph. It was so cool getting to meet the real author of one of our favorite series of books!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Ms. Stern shared the great finds that she got at the book drive yesterday. Some children said that they went and got some books too. Ms. Stern was thrilled with her box filled with priceless jewels! One of the books that she got was a Biscuit book. We read 2 more stories together. The kids do a fantastic job speaking just like Biscuit! Everyone got with their reading partners and read 1 or 2 Biscuit books together. We shared noticings about the series: Biscuit only says “woof,” Biscuit is always a puppy, lots of people like Biscuit, the books can be silly and fun, and Biscuit is playful. Tomorrow we will get to meet the author, Alyssa Capucilli!

This morning we got to go on a word search. Ms. Stern asked us to go on a hunt through our reading book bags to find words with beginning blends from our spelling list this week. We found words like: tree, trunk, try, fluffy, flew, flowers, flying, flashed, flat, friend, front, frog, friends, snow, sneezed, sniffed, and snorted. Later on, during Reader’s Workshop, we learned our third reading strategy: Good readers think about what makes sense when they get to a word they don’t know!

Victoria lost her very first tooth! She raised her hand and announced that it came out…only she couldn’t find it! Luckily, the tooth was found inside her mouth! Anthony D. was the paramedic. He took her to the nurse. Mrs. Spiro called Ms. Stern in the classroom to report what great students she had and how nicely they behaved while in the busy office. The class earned 2 marbles for their great choices!

Yesterday we began our trial of Rosetta Stone. A few classes at WOS are giving it a try for a few days. Yesterday, we had only just begun when the website froze so we tried again today. We learned a bunch of words in Spanish. We listened, spoke, and matched words and phrases with photographs. People took turns coming up to the Smartboard.

We continued our discussion of “Long Ago.” Ms. Stern asked us what long ago means. How long is long? Here are some of our thoughts about when long ago is:
Anthony-100,000 years ago
Drew-1 century (6,000 years) ago
Amanda-55 years ago
Sarah-150,000 years ago
Stephen-200 years ago
Dylan A.-67 years ago
Nancy-180 years ago
Sasha-190,000 years ago
Dylan M.-40 years ago
Eesha-204 years ago
Arlo-5,063 years ago
Ms. Stern explained that long ago could mean lots of different things and that all of our ideas can be right and that it depends on what events or people we are comparing. Ms. Stern was born long ago to first graders but in comparison to the Pilgrims or even the time of the dinosaurs, she wasn’t born so long ago.

Mrs. Fox gave us rhythm sticks during music. We copied what she did. Then we went around the rug, counter clockwise, making up our own patterns.

During Writer’s Workshop, we continued working on our personal narrative stories. We filled out graphic organizers first. Then we got 5 page packets of writing paper. The first page told “when, who, and where” from our graphic organizers. The next three pages were for each of the “what”s that we came up with. The last page is for our ending. We learned that the ending is a great place to include what we were feeling when our story event took place. Some people finished their first personal narrative story and began new ones. Other people continued writing and sketching.

At the end of the day, Ms. Stern gave out prizes from last week’s spelling dictation. 12 children got the whole entire sentence correct!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Yesterday was Election Day, the book fair, and Parent-Teacher Conferences. Dylan A. gave his Nona a tour around the school while his mom and dad met with Ms. Stern. Sasha was at the book fair. She helped set it up and was also delivering books. Stephen was coloring in the hall with his brothers and sister in the hall. Ms. Stern was SO lucky. Lots of students were very generous to donate books from her wish list to the class. We even read one, Too Many Toys, by David Shannon today.

Today is Anthony's birthday! He turned 6. We had mini-cupcakes to celebrate.

We learned 2 new poems today: Zack and Jack and Backpack. There were LOTS of ck words in them! We found them together and then practiced at our seats. Everyone had to read all of their poems 3 times once they were done.

During Reader’s Workshop, we learned that good readers carefully study the picture when we get stuck on a word. We practiced together by reading a book called What Will You Pack? We were able to figure out words like bear, map, cap, game, and book. When we were having our private reading time, we marked a page with a post-it and drew an eye with the word that we figured out. That meant that we looked at the picture to figure out the word. Anthony figured out the word “sailboat” by studying the picture.

We went to RIF. Everyone got to choose a book to keep. Someone stamped it so we could write our name inside. Then we went out into the hall to look through our books while everyone else made their selections.

Today we went to art and worked a little on our leaf collages. Adam had to start his because he was absent last time. Arlo traced leaf stencils on his paper. Then he cut them out and placed them in an envelope. They are going to get glued on to cool colored papers next time. The leaves were traced on warm colored papers.

At the very end of art, we had a fire drill. We had to line up outside near the kindergarten classes. Nancy, Stephen, Sasha, Hunter, and lots of other children saw their old teachers. The fire drill took a long time!

Part of our homework this week was to bring in a wrapper from our favorite candy that we got trick-or-treating. We are using them to make a book. Today, we glued our wrappers on the paper and wrote a sentence telling about what kind of candy we like the most. We also drew a picture of ourselves in our Halloween costumes to go along with it.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Mrs. Mesibov came in to teach us how to be “germ smart.” She read us a story. Some children used glitter to show how germs can spread, even though they’re so tiny that we can’t see them with our eyes. We also did 2 experiments. One used water, pepper, and soap. The soap made the pepper go away. It showed that germs don’t like soap because it helps to wash them off of us. The second experiment used vegetable oil and soap. It helped make the oil go away when they were mixed together in water. We learned songs about germs, found out the proper way to wash our hands, and got a chance to practice. At the end, we signed our Germ Smart pledge and tried working on a really challenging maze! Stephen liked doing the experiments. Anthony liked putting the pepper into the bowl. Dylan M. learned to get a paper towel before he washes his hands. Victoria learned that soap helps to kill the germs on your hands.

During Reader’s Workshop, we talked about readers having tools in their toolbox. Readers use tools to help us read just like builders use tools to help them build! Ms. Stern noticed children who used pictures as tools. She also noticed that Hunter found a pattern in his book that helped him read better. Adam was excited to shop for new books today and to be on a new level because his mom will be so proud!

We went to the library today. Mrs. Cornelius read us two stories. One was called The Scarecrow’s Hat. The other was The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything. In that book, there was a part that repeated on almost all of the pages. Dylan A., Jacob, Lauria, and Eesha liked the first book more. Drew, Dylan, Amanda, Hunter, Anthony, Anthony D., Sarah, Sasha, Victoria, Adam, and Meaghan liked the second one more.

In P.E. we played Turtle Tag. Everyone runs around. If you get tagged by a red Frisbee, you need to get on the ground and act like a turtle on its shell. We also played Clean Up Your Room.

Today was School Spirit Day. 8 children (and Ms. Stern) wore their SOCES t-shirts. 8 children were wearing red shirts. Towards the end of the day, all of the classes went into the main hallway. There was a REALLY long piece of white paper there for everyone to sign and draw on. Eesha drew her name with curves at the end. Dylan made a rainbow, flower, a sun, and stars. Jacob made a monster just like Arlo’s. Sasha drew a heart and wrote “Charlie and Zelda Rock.”

Tomorrow is Jacob’s birthday and our Halloween party and parade! Everyone is supposed to wear their costumes to school and leave any weapons at home! After the parade, we are going to be taking our costumes off (so please make sure to send in a change of clothes).

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

This morning, we worked on a listening activity. Ms. Stern gave us directions to color squares on a piece of paper. There were 7 rows and each row had 9 squares. Everyone needed 4 colors: orange, yellow, blue, and green. When we were all done, we had made a picture of a jack-o-lantern. Emma thought it was going to be an earth. After everyone was done, we looked at all of the work. They all should have looked the same since everyone heard the same directions. We talked about what we saw: white spaces, diagonal lines across the whole paper, neatly colored boxes, messy boxes, and pumpkins. We also did some wondering: why some papers look different from others, why there are empty spaces, why there are big lines, if everyone knows the left from the right, if the activity was easy or hard?

We went to music. We watched the video of the typewriter skit. It was funny because the man was making funny faces. His name is Jerry Lewis. Dylan A. has a video of him in his dad’s car of when he was with Dean Martin! We also did a zombie dance. We moved our arms and legs and also made funny faces. Mrs. Fox taught us a new song about a pumpkin saying different things to act out for Halloween.

During math, we practiced skip counting by 10s and 5s as a group, with a partner, and by ourselves. We talked about the different places and times that we can practice (on the bus, in the shower, at the bus stop, in bed, etc.). Ms. Stern showed us a game on the Smartboard that used colored dots. We took turns continuing the patterns using the correct colors. Then we worked on our pattern books. We made patterns with pattern blocks first and then the stickers next. After that, we had to label our patterns and write a sentence telling about it.
We got our new reading and writing partners today! The first thing we had to do was turn and talk. Everyone read our work from yesterday. Then our partners helped us make a plan for today: add on to yesterday’s writing or start a new piece. Emma, Dylan A., Eesha, Arlo, and Lauria started new pieces. Sasha, Amanda, Victoria, and Nancy added on.

Tonight is the Art Show at 6:00 in the gym. Tomorrow is School Spirit Day. Remember to wear your SOCES or a red t-shirt!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Yesterday morning we had our Writer’s Celebration because we completed our first Writer’s Workshop unit. We started the day by practicing reading our story 3 times to ourselves to make sure that we could read them for others. We walked to the cafeteria, where all of the first grade classes were, and saw decorations on the stage curtains. The words “Congratulations Writers” were colorfully displayed and there were also red and white balloons. On the wall there were lots of pictures of children writing. There were even pictures of some of the kids in our class! Mrs. Polansky said she was so excited, she thought she might fall down! She (and Ms. Carr) were both so happy about the great writing and number of writers that were present. Next, they called the names of kindergarten teachers. When you heard your teacher’s name, you followed a first grade teacher to their classroom. Ms. Stern had the students from Ms. Graham’s class, including Stephen and Adam! Anthony also stayed in this class since he didn’t go to Schaefer last year. All of the first grade classes had two grown ups to listen to the stories. Our kindergarten teachers even made a special appearance to see us and listen to our stories! Amanda’s favorite part was when the kindergarten teachers’ names were called. Arlo liked the whole thing. Eesha liked when Mrs. Polansky said she was going to fall down. Sasha enjoyed meeting Mrs. Goldstein.

Today we started Monster Clues. Ms. Stern read us two books: Mompsters are Aminals and GO AWAY Big Scary Monster! Then we learned that we would be drawing a monster using clues that Ms. Stern’s class made last year. Some parts were tricky to follow and others were easy. At the end, we took a “Museum Walk” around each table to look at one another’s work. We talked about things that looked similar and parts that didn’t. After that, Ms. Stern showed us what last year’s class made School Queen (that’s the monster’s name) look like. We also saw other teachers’ drawings of the same thing. Later on, we started making our own monster. We’re almost done drawing what she will look like.

We had picture day. We waited in line in the cafeteria to have our pictures taken. Some people got their hair combed before they went. Ms. Stern was the last person to go. When she was done, we lined up by size and walked out to the gazebo to take our class picture. It was a little cold outside. Lots of kids wanted to stay outside and play.

During math, our observer, Ms. Harding, reviewed patterns with us. We learned that patterns are arranged in a special order and repeat themselves. Everyone got yarn and beads to make any kind of pattern, using 10 beads or less. People could share their necklace patterns when they were done.

Next week we have lots of events:
Tuesdsay-Caps for Kids
Wednesday-Art Fair (6:00 p.m.)
Thursday-School Spirit Day/Library
Friday-Halloween party

Have a great weekend!

Monday, October 19, 2009

We started our morning by writing in our journals, just like we do every Monday.

Today we thought about how we have changed as readers. We discussed how we have grown as readers and what our goals are for reading this year. Everyone wrote about one of their ideas. We celebrated our good habits and tomorrow, we will begin using book bags to read “just right books.” Congratulations, Readers!

We saw a performance about monarch butterflies. At the beginning, a butterfly laid an egg. The egg opened and there was a caterpillar inside. There was talk of something “spectacular” that was going to happen and the caterpillar wanted to know what it was. It ate lots and lots of leaves. The caterpillar felt weird. A ladybug gave her advice to keep eating. Then she felt like being upside down so she climbed on a leaf and formed a chrysalis. It was like magic. After a little while, the caterpillar became a butterfly! The butterfly came out and all of the other animals told her to fly. Finally, the monarch took off for Mexico, where she met other butterflies just like her. The performance ended when the butterfly landed on a leaf and laid another egg. Stephen thought the performance was long.

In P.E., Coach sent us to the classroom to get our coats because we were going on the nature trail. The nature trail was fun. We had to cross two bridges to go over water. The water looked like ice. Coach Hudson poked the water with a stick to see if it was ice. On our way back to school, we saw a broken chimney. Some people saw earthworms and chipmunks. Meaghan saw a frog. Jacob thought the best part was when the class jumped over the logs. Hunter liked when we walked across the bridge. Victoria liked when we came back because she was sooo tired! Nancy liked high fiving Coach at the end.

We continued working on our Writer’s Workshop pieces. Today, everyone was supposed to continue fixing up their spelling and add details to our drawings. Some people even started coloring their work!