Happy Holidays!

Winter Concert
We had a great time performing at our winter concert for all of our families. A BIG thank you to Mrs. Agati, Ms. Berger, and Ms. DeMartinis who worked tirelessly to put this event together for us. We hope we were able to put you in the holiday spirit!

104 Dressed to Impress!

The Ladies!

The Gentlemen!

The Whole Gang!

And A Few Silly Ones For Good Measure :)

Concert Time!

Mystery Readers
We were SO excited for our Mystery Readers! Mrs. B, our retired kindergarten teacher, and Miss Mills’s dad came in to read us special stories!

Mystery Reader #1 - Mrs. B!

Mystery Reader #2 - Glenn Mills!

Door Decorating!
Pine Glen is holding its first ever winter door decorating contest! First graders began by brainstorming various winter themes for our door. We then looked at some samples to get more ideas. We decided to go with a husky dog and musher theme! We looked up some images of the Alaskan dog sled race the Iditarod, and then got to work creating our scene. First graders worked SO hard as a team to create our snowy husky scene, complete with winter trees, a trail, leashes, and a creative title. Take a look at our finished product below! Whether we win or not, we are really proud of our creativity and finished product!

Persuading our Teachers!
We have some BIG news… first grade has officially persuaded all teachers to let students choose their own lunch seats!! All first grade classes got together and some students were chosen to read their letters aloud. The first grade teachers stood across the room from all of the students on the rug. If teachers heard a very STRONG point and felt persuaded to change their minds, they took a step forward toward the rug. Some examples of great arguments were that they could meet new friends, they could learn to be responsible, it would make them happy (and who doesn’t want happiness?), and they will make non-tempting seat choices. In the end, all of the first grade teachers had made their way across the room.. they were persuaded!! Next, we practiced what it would look like when choosing a seat. We talked about making sure everyone is included and staying in one seat the entire lunch. We are so excited to choose our own seats!!

Winter Wonderland
Thank you to all of our parent volunteers for helping to make Winter Wonderland such a success! Also, thank you to Ms. Pavilcek and Mrs. Hogan from the Burlington Science Center for bringing in some winter animals and snow experiments! We all had such a wonderful morning crafting, decorating, and experimenting, and couldn’t have done it without the extra help!

Green Screen Fun!

Talking Tidbits:

• Our Winter Concert!
• Author of the Month, Jan Brett
• Publishing our persuasive writing
• Decorating our classroom door!
• Mystery Readers!
• Kind Kids Club
• Choosing our own seats at lunch!
• Winter Wonderland
• Green Screen Fun
• Activities in the library & computer lab

The Power Of Persuasion!

Winter Concert Reminder!
The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Grade concert is on Friday, December 18th at 9:00am. Students should wear a dressy outfit!

Winter Wonderland
A big thank you to our room parents, volunteers, and those of you who have donated(are donating) items for our winter wonderland event. I know there is so much going on this month and I truly appreciate the help during this busy time!

Persuasive Writing!
First graders learned all about the power of persuasion this week! We started off with an outdoor activity. All first graders had to choose whether they thought cats or dogs made a better pet. They lined up with their groups and tried to persuade the others to take a step in their direction with some REALLY important reasons that supported their choice.

Dog Lovers             vs.             Cat Fanatics!

Then we came back inside and read a few examples of persuasive writing, including some persuasive books written by first graders! Next, we talked about features of persuasive writing. We learned persuasive writing has a topic sentence that supports your opinion, facts and examples to support your opinion, and a closing statement.

First graders were then given their persuasive topic - lunch seats! Students had to choose whether they wanted to be able to choose their own spots or if they liked sitting in assigned seats. We brainstormed reasons for both sides of the argument, and decided which reasons were fair and which reasons were very strong. First graders worked hard on writing a topic sentence, gave many strong, supporting reasons, and a closing sentence to support their opinion. We will work on publishing these pieces next week!!

Hour of Code
We were very fortunate to have Mrs. Ardizzoni, our technology specialist, assist us in participating in the Hour of Code. We learned how to code using a symbols based interactive iPad app. By listing a series of steps in the correct order, we were able to make our robot characters move. We had a blast learning to code!

Talking Tidbits:

• What is Persuasive Writing
• Preparing for the holiday concert in music
• Persuasive writing that we have read like “Should we squash bugs?”
• Our persuasive pieces
• Hour of Code
• Solving addition and subtraction word problems

This Week *Mattered*!

This week was short, but we made it count! Be sure to talk with your first grader about their week and ask them why this week "mattered."

Conferences
It was great to meet with our families at conferences on Thursday! I am really proud of all of the hard work our first graders have done so far this year and look forward to all they will accomplish throughout the rest of the year. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns as our year progresses. As always-- thanks for your continued help in supporting your child’s learning.

Winter Wonderland Reminder
First Grade will have a Winter Wonderland on December 21st at 9:00am. Your child is invited to bring a special nut-free snack on this day. If you would like to volunteer for our special event please let me know by Monday!

Mystery Readers!
A notice was sent home today about having Mystery Readers come in to read to our class. If you or a family member is interested in participating, please let me know by sending back the attached form.

Matter!
This week we have been very busy in science! We learned all about Matter. When we researched matter, students took notes in their research notebook. We learned that matter is anything that takes up space and that there are three states of matter: solids, liquids and gases. We talked about the difference between each. On Wednesday, all first graders went on a “Matter Hunt” to find as many solids, liquids, and gases in our first grade classrooms. We found LOTS of solids, some liquids, and very few gases. First graders were challenged to find some more solids, liquids, and gases at home!

On Friday the first grade classes conducted some matter experiments! Be sure to ask your first grader about the experiments and what they learned. Here is a list of all of the experiments we did!

1. Matter Mystery Bag: We used our five senses to explore the properties of objects and guess what is inside the bag.
2. Classifying Matter: We sorted objects by shape, color, size, texture, and other properties.
3. Weighing Matter with Blocks: We explored mass-- which we learned is how much matter an object has. We measured how many blocks it would take to balance the scale with a variety of objects.
4. Balloon Experiment: We used balloons filled with ice, water, and air and saw what happened when the balloons were popped.
5. Ice Cube Melting: We experimented with an ice cube and thought about how we could melt the ice cube faster. We also explored how matter can change its state.
6. Liquid Volume Experiment: We used 4 different containers of water and predicted which one has the most. We were VERY surprised with the result! Ask us what we learned from this!

After we completed our experiments, our first grade scientists chose their favorite experiment to write about! We learned that just like readers and mathematicians-- scientists write too!

Talking Tidbits

• Our ticket jar was full AGAIN!!! Every first grader earned a Hoot! card!
• Suffix s to make words plural
• Facts about matter!
• Our Matter Hunt!
• Matter Experimenting
• Holiday songs in music
• Square One Owls in Art!
• Using addition to solve subtraction

Happy Thanksgiving!

Creative Crafting for Winter!
As we wind down and get ready for Thanksgiving break, we took some time to prepare our classroom for the next season-- WINTER! First, we made some winter pine trees. We talked about the steps an illustrator needs to take in order to create a piece.

• Stop and THINK! -- What do I want to make? What do I want it to look like?
• Make a LIST! -- What will I need to make my project?
• DRAW first -- Drawing before cutting makes it easier to be sure our piece comes out just how we want it!

We practiced following these steps as a class to make our pine trees. After we were done, we noticed that even though we all followed the same directions and had the same materials, our trees all looked a little bit different.

Next up-- we were faced with a BIG creative challenge -- to follow the steps to create a project of our very own. We first brainstormed a list of winter wonders that may make a great project. Some included- mittens, penguins, skating, snowflakes, snowmen, and our list went on! Once we chose our topic, we got to writing our list of materials. We went “shopping” in our school store to get what we needed. Then we got to work! Once our masterpieces were complete, we wrote about them. Some writers chose to write about what they made, others chose to write about how they made it, why they made it, or even made up a silly story about it! All of the students worked hard and should be proud of their creativity. We all learned that creativity can be tricky, but in the end-- it is worth it!

Creative Writers At Work!

 

Narrative Books!
We are officially PUBLISHED AUTHORS! Our narrative stories have been published into books and we are OVER THE MOON! Please take some time to celebrate your child’s writing with them and be sure to take a peek at our stories on our bookshelf when you visit for conferences next week!

Conferences & Progress Reports
Please note that report cards will be sent home on Monday, November 30th. Parent/ Teacher Conferences are scheduled for that week. Inside your first grader’s progress report folder you will find a reminder with you scheduled conference time. If that time is no longer convenient for you, please let me know and I will do my best to find a time that works for you.

Talking Tidbits

• Learning about Thanksgiving
• The creative process and what we made!
• Doubles & Near Doubles
• More practice with glued sounds am, an, all
• Filling the ticket jar-- Bring a stuffed friend to school day!
• Words of the Week: do, does, have, from
• Watching the TURKEY TROT!
• Walk - a - thon

PG Walk-a-thon!

Hope Everyone Had A Wonderful Thanksgiving!

More From 104!

Parent Questionnaire
A parent survey was sent home with your child yesterday. We would appreciate your help in completing the questionnaire regarding your student and their learning at school. We would also appreciate your feedback about this year so far. If possible, we would like to have all questionnaires returned by Tuesday, November 24th. Thanks for your ongoing support and for your participation!

Writing
We are just about finished with our personal narratives! First graders have been working extremely hard and have become master writers, editors, and publishers. Throughout our writing process, we have learned how to add more details, “touch each word” while editing, use an editing checklist, and create an interesting title that grabs the reader’s attention. Ask your child all about their stories and what they have been learning about during writing. Be on the lookout - rough drafts of this unit will be sent home in the near future. There is space for you to write a note to your first grade writers about their piece. Please return it to school in the attached envelope and we will open them at school.

Turkey Trot/Walk-a-thon
Next Wednesday, November 25th, Pine Glen will hold it’s annual Turkey Trot and Walk-a-thon! Weather permitting, first graders will be outside for a good portion of the morning. Please make sure your child has sneakers and also a warm coat, gloves, hats, scarves, etc. for the occasion.

Spirit Day/Food Pantry Donations
Next Wednesday is also Pine Glen Spirit Day! Your child is encouraged to wear Pine Glen attire and/or green. If possible, please have your child bring a canned food item to help support the Burlington Food Pantry.

½ Day Snack
Next Wednesday is a half day. We will be dismissed at 11:30am. Since we will not be having lunch on that day your child may bring in one small snack and drink. Please remember that all students must bring in ONLY peanut- and tree-nut free products for snack.

Book Fair December 2nd!
First graders have been scheduled to go down to the Pine Glen Book Fair on Wednesday December 2nd. The book fair will also be open for parents on December 3rd during the day. Book Fair flyers have been sent home with more information.


Talking Tidbits

• Veteran’s Day
• Drafting & publishing our narratives!
• Bus Safety
• Glued sounds all, am, and an
• Earning hoot cards

B-U-S-Y Busy!

Though November is a short, choppy month of school, first graders were B-U-S-Y! We learned new rules in phonics, started a new math topic, and started writing a narrative story. Use the talking tidbits below to chat with your first grader about their week!

NED Assembly
This week we were very fortunate to attend the NED Show! Ned is a cartoon character whose name is an acronym standing for Never give up, Encourage others, Do you best. During the assembly, our host Meghan used yoyo tricks to teach us these important life skills. The assembly was engaging and motivating. Ned Show yoyos will be for sale at Pine Glen until Friday 11/13. If your child is interested in buying one, please send their money to school in their green folder. Money raised from the yoyo sales will go towards helping another school have a Ned Show just like a school had done for us! We learned that his is called “paying it forward.” For more information the NED Show, you may visit here. Thank you to Miss Z for organizing this event for Pine Glen!

Writing
During writing this week we worked on choosing a topic for our narrative stories. We discussed the difference between big moments and small moments. We learned that when we write about small moments we can include more detail and make our readers more interested. Big moments are sometimes too big for a written story!

Once we decided upon our topic, we illustrated our stories using crayons and water colors. We worked really hard to include as much detail in our illustrations as possible. Next up-- we will use our pictures to orally tell our stories to a friend. Then, we will let our pencils do the talking and begin to draft the beginning, middle, and ending of our stories!

Math
In math this week we began Topic 3, Five and Ten Relationships. We will be working with ten frames and learning the different parts of 10. Continue to practice math facts at home with your first grader whenever possible!

Talking Tidbits

•  NED Assembly
•  Phonics: Bonus Letters (f, l, s) and Glued Sound (all)
•  Starting our narratives
•  November Author - Cynthia Rylant