Penguin Party!

Another free slideshow by Smilebox

We spent a lot of time finishing up our units in many subject areas this week.  We completed our Force and Motion unit about Bridges in Science and spent some time sharing our science journals with fifth graders on Wednesday.  We also completed our Penguin Unit and had a fantastic time going on a Penguin Parade throughout the building on Tuesday.  On Wednesday we shared our reports, life sized penguins and math learning at our Penguin Party. What an amazing job everyone did sharing their learning!  A huge thank you to everyone for attending this event.  On Friday, we enjoyed a penguin documentary, "March of the Penguins" with popcorn.  A big thank you to Simon's mom for sending in the popcorn for us!
We continued to celebrate Fitness February this week with a dental health presentation from a local dentist.  We learned about important things to do to take good care of our teeth.  We also learned about foods that are good/ not so good for your teeth.
We also received our second pen pal letters from our friends in Gilford, New Hampshire this week.  We look forward to writing back to our pen pals again after the Winter Break.
This week we began a unit with a focus on closed syllables in Fundations.  We will continue with that unit after the Winter Break.  We will move back into fiction in Reader's and Writer's Workshops and begin new units about poetry.  We will also be completing our "On Demand Writing Task" and our "Science Inquiry Assessment" during the first two weeks we are back in school.
Wednesday, March 5th is "Read Across America Day" and "Dr. Seuss Day".  We will be celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday with a school wide assembly in the morning.  In addition to that, guest readers will be coming into our classroom throughout the day to share a favorite book.  Firefly First Grade will also be celebrating by making this day a "Pajama Day" and doing a read-a-thon.  If your child would like to wear pajamas to school, March 5th is the day to do it!  If they wish not to wear their pajamas, that is fine.
A reminder that conferences are coming up on March 18th and March 19th.  Please be sure to sign up for a conference on the Firefly webpage.  I am happy to meet with you with or without your children.  You can decide what works best for your family.  We do have portfolios to share with our recent work we are proud of, so if you choose not to bring your child, please find another time to drop by so your child can share his/her portfolio with you.
There is no regular homework assigned over Winter Break.  I have included another copy of the first grade trick word list in this week's Friday Folder for everyone to practice spelling and writing over Winter Break in place of regular homework.
Have a fantastic Winter Break!

Survey from Tim Guiterman-FIrefly Parent

Brief Survey On After School Program Needs For K-5 Students In Shelburne

For parents of kids in K-5, you know how challenging it can be to find adequate care for your kids after school. Currently, the only program offered at SCS is at capacity, so if your child(ren) is not in there already, you often have to assemble a patchwork of options just so you can work a full day.

I'm working to start a new after-school program in Shelburne, with a focus on physical activity, mostly aimed at kids from SCS but of course open to others in Shelburne schools. I often hear there's a lot of interest, and others need this too, but its very anecdotal. Help me out by completing this short (10-question), anonymous survey. It should only take a fewminutes of your time, and we'll use the responses to help build a new program, and to solicit support from the school, community and other interested parties (e.g., to apply for grants, etc.).

So if your puzzled by the quagmire of trying to balance the need to work with the need to be home with your kids after school (or on breaks, summer, etc...) take the survey! If there's interest in a before-school program, too, put that in the comments section! The survey is anonymous, but if you are interested in helping out or being more actively involved, submit your email on the last question, and we'll be in touch. Thanks in advance for your time! Take the survey here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LPXXSJN

100th Day!

Personalize your own digital slideshow A busy, busy week this has been!  Book fair, birthday celebrations, Hands On Nature, Field Trip to the Flynn, Hula Hooping and Zumba for Fitness February, 100th Day and a visit from "Zero the Hero",  painting penguins and finishing penguin reports.  Your children have worked hard this week and have so many wondeful things to share at our Penguin Party on Wednesday!   I hope everyone is able to make this fun event! Next week will settle down a bit with a continuation of Fitness February activities, our Penguin Parade through the school building, and a Dental Health presentation on Tuesday.  See you all on Wednesday at 1:50 for our Penguin Party! A reminder to sign up for spring conferences on the Firefly webpage.  March will be here before we know it!

Upcoming Events!

February is a busy month with many extra activities taking place.  Please check the "Upcoming Events" section of the blog to see what is happening over the next two weeks.  We will be visiting the Scholastic Book Fair on Monday to browse and create our wish lists.  On Thursday we will return to the book fair to purchase books, so please send your child with money on that day if you would like them to purchase books during school hours.  Monday morning we will be going on a field trip to the Flynn Theater to see "Medicine Bear".  We will return at around 11:15, just in time to go to recess and lunch.   Monday is also our 100th day of school!  We are looking forward to a visit from "Zero the Hero" and have some fun 100th day activities planned for the afternoon.  Rumor has it that Zero the Hero is a parent of one of the Firefly First Grade students!  I refuse to believe this...I can't think of any man in our school who owns a cape and tights!  Perhaps I will be proven wrong... Friday we will be having our February Hands On Nature lesson.  This lesson will focus on birds.  As part of Fitness February we will be participating in a variety of activities encourage a  fit and healthy lifestyle.

A reminder that Wednesday, February 20 at 1:50  is our Penguin Party!  I hope everyone can make it! 

Penguin Party Invitation!

Come one, Come all,

to the

Firefly First Grade Penguin Party!

Firefly First Grade will be celebrating our learning about penguins!  Come see our life sized penguins, listen to our penguin reports and learn some cool penguin facts, and play a penguin game!

Wednesday, February 20^th

1:50 PM

Firefly First Grade Classroom