Happy Holidays!!!!

Happy Holidays

We celebrated today with a book swap and special snack!!!! So much fun!!!

Marionettes

Marionettes

On Monday, the PCC sponsored a special performance for Jefferson students-the Marionettes puppetry! It was a lively and fun show for everyone! Ask your child what his or her favorite part was....the tarantula running around the audience? Getting squirted with water? 

Happy Thanksgiving!

More Math Fun!

We have so much in J13!!!! Our new math unit (unit 4) is all about strategies for addition and today I introduced the doubles strategy with a fun game called Magic Doubles! Watch and learn how it works!

Zones of Regulation Mannequin Challenge

Zones Of Regulation Mannequin Challenge

The class has been learning about the Zones of Regulation which is a curriculum designed to foster self-regulation and emotional control. So far, they've been introduced to the four zones: blue, green, yellow and red and we've discussed how you might feel if you were in each zone. The optimal zone is the green zone-the happy, content, calm, relaxed zone! There are carefully designed lessons to teach children that all feelings are perfectly natural and there are strategies they can use (both at home and at school), to help themselves through feelings they are having within each zone. Some tools/strategies include: going to the "chill zone" in the classroom, taking a drink of water, lazy 8 breathing, jumping jacks, squish ball, wall push-ups, etc. These are powerful lessons and strategies that will help children navigate through this thing we call life! 

Here's a video we made today during morning meeting that shows some green zone behaviors!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77iOoxcywQE&feature=youtu.be

Thank you, Mrs. Strand!

Alana's Nana came in today and read all sorts of Halloween stories! The class loved them and listened attentively! Thank you, Nana!

What should my teacher be for Halloween?

What should my teacher be for Halloween????

What first grader doesn't have Halloween on the brain??? I capitalized on that excitement during writing today! I didn't tell them what we were doing when I asked them to brainstorm different Halloween costumes. I started getting nervous when I heard dinosaur and even let out a chuckle...haha, if they only knew they were trying to pick a costume for me!
After brainstorming, I finally filled them in on their writing assignment....pick a costume for me and give me 3 reasons why I should wear it.....then I held my breath! Luckily, they were very very sweet and I got answers like Pokemon, a runner, Little Red Riding Hood and a cat. Phew....I'm not old like a dinosaur!

Check them out!

Number Talks and Counting Collections

Friday Fun in Math

J13 is buzzing with fun on Fridays!!! There's just something about the end of the week and the upcoming weekend that make everyone want to jump for joy! We celebrate this excitement by letting the fun spill over into FUNdations, where we do a fast-paced game called SPARKLE, reading, where we do "Flashlight Friday," and now math, where we do number talks and counting collections. It's our break from center work and a chance to interactively problem solve and work together.

Number talks are a quick way of getting kids to talk about strategies for counting and figuring out problems. They are designed to take no more than 10 minutes, but they certainly pack a punch in the learning department! For the past few weeks, we have been working on counting with ten frames. Students are shown a series of dots and they need to efficiently determine how many dots they see and discuss their strategy with a partner. This is a great opportunity for students to learn from each other and think about things in a different way. 

Bottle caps, pasta, birthday candles, coins, stones, marbles....those are just a few of the things we will practice counting throughout the year with our counting collections! Each week, the collection changes and the kids love seeing what they're working with! In pairs, they decide how many objects they think are in the bag, agree on an efficient way to count the items and go about counting them. 

What a great way to practice counting by 2's, 5's, 10's, estimating, working together....the list goes on and on! If you're looking to get rid of "junk" at home and you think it would work for our counting collections, please email me! One man's trash is another one's treasure:-) 

Thank you guest readers!!

Thank you, Mrs. Plante!!!

Flashlight Friday

FLASHLIGHT FRIDAY!!!!!

Today was our first day reading in partners! We discussed the job of each partner-to be a good listener and helper-and how to hold the book so both partners could see it. What better way to read with a buddy than in the dark with a flashlight!!!! We're calling it Flashlight Friday and it might become a "thing" in J13! The class LOVED it and were incredibly focused on their reading! Ask your child about it!

Thank you to Olivia's mom!

Olivia's mom was our guest reader today! Thank you!

 

Thank you, Bethany Haskell!

Thank you, Bethany Haskell (Ashley's mom), for reading to our class last Friday!

Math Workshop centers

Math Workshop-Centers

Yesterday was our first official day completing a rotation of math centers!!! Monday through Thursday, our math routine is a focus lesson, followed by 45 minutes of centers and wrapped up with a group share/check in. On each of those 4 days, students will rotate to 3 centers-teacher center, math mat center and the game center for 15 minutes each. I have found that this is the best way to structure math lessons because it ensures that I have time to meet with every child everyday! We spent a great deal of time beforehand problem solving and talking about how we can help ourselves and others as math students during this time. This is incredible important because they will need to use tools and problem solve independently while I am with my group. So far so good! When I surveyed them at the end, they loved the new centers!!!

Our First Guest Reader

Thank you to Lisa Moura, Carter's mom, for being our first guest reader last Friday!

2016-2017 Specialist Schedule

Specialist Schedule

 Monday: Library

Tuesday: PE (Wear sneakers)

Wednesday: Music

                       Thursday: Art

                       Friday: Health/PE

Science Fun!!!

Living Things

We started our living things unit a few weeks ago and it's been fun seeing science come alive in the classroom! We planted bean seeds (which so far haven't sprouted and it's been two weeks-We're replanting today in the hopes that giving them richer soil will produce better results! Our little scientists studied seeds, both inside and out, as well as set up experiments to investigate how the parts of a plant help it grow. We visited our outdoor classroom, collecting seeds, examining a variety of leaves and flowers, and getting inspired to write poetry about all the living things around us! Here are some pictures of our adventures! 

 

Our Latest Guest Readers

Thank you, Mr. Kucich!!

Thank you, Mrs. Marzullo!

Thank you, Mrs. Barrett!

Baby Vallee

Watch out...the class has been buzzing about talk of babies and siblings...some kids were so excited, they wrote persuasive pieces about "getting" a new baby brother or sister!

Well today, we celebrated one special baby on the way...Baby Vallee! The class read, When I Was Little, by Jamie Lee Curtis and were inspired to write their own memoir of babyhood! Listening to the stories was wildly entertaining (even for the class who laughed out loud about the "artwork" I left for my parents on the wall of my room when I was little)! Each student had a chance to storytell and then create a page for our class book. Mrs. Vallee came in today and each author proudly read his or her story!

All your friends in J13 cannot wait to hear the news about the arrival of Baby Vallee! Congratulations!!!!

We earned brownie points!

We filled up our brownie pan by demonstrating the Jefferson core values!!!! We voted on a reward and decided to have PJ day tomorrow! Feel free to send your child into school in PJ's and with a blanket/stuffed animal (optional)!!! 

Science Fun-Position & Motion!

Our J13 scientists have been hard at work testing out theories in regards to position & motion! Today we came up with a hypothesis about which surface would create the least amount of friction:wax paper, sand paper or bubble wrap. Then, we tested out our ideas by building test tracks & switching out the surfaces! It was fun to hear the chatter between the groups as they summarized their findings! Ask your child about it!