Penguin Party!

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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!