Science Journals with 5th Graders

This week the Firefly Team visited the Polaris 5th grade team to learn about science journals.  Polaris 5th graders have been keeping science journals and shared their journals and their learning with our team.  It was a great experience for everyone and we have decided that we would like to use science journals for our next science unit in January.

This week was also a Math Studio week.  On Wednesday we had our second studio lesson of the school year.  Your children were rock stars!  They did a terrific job sharing their math thinking and working in partnerships to learn about trading money.  I was so impressed with their confidence and willingness to share with 15 extra adults in the classroom watching them!  It was a terrific learning experience for everyone.

I will be in school through Thursday of this coming week.  My surgery is Friday so I will be gone from Friday until after the holiday break.  If you have any concerns during that time, please feel free to email me as I will be checking my email.  There have been some changes since I last spoke with many of you at conferences. Miss Claire will continue as our team para.  Stephanie will be in the classroom, but she will continue primarily in her present role.  My classroom teacher role will be covered by another substitute.  There will be more information about my substitute coming home in Friday Folders next week.  Our plan is to overlap and have my substitute in the classroom with me toward the end of the week to make it a smooth transition.

Have a nice weekend!

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It was great to have the opportunity to connect with families this week to share the learning your child is doing in first grade.  All your children were very proud of the work they have been doing in school and have been eagerly anticipating sharing it with you.
This week we started writing "How To" books during Writer's Workshop.  We have been reading published books from the library and discussing how they are written to get ideas for creating our own books.  We have been thinking about the things we know how to do well and choosing them for topics to write our "How To" books about.  In Reader's Workshop we have been focusing on characters and comprehension strategies we can use to get to know characters and their stories better.  We finished our Fundations unit about bonus letters and will begin a new unit next week that will focus on "glued" sounds.  We will be learning about words with "am" and "an".
We have been working hard creating Crab and Sea Star problems this week during our Math time.  We will spend the first two days back after the holiday solving each other's problems, then will move on to a new unit focused on computation and place value.  A big thank you to Tim Guiterman for helping us create our Crab and Sea Star problems this week.
We finished our science unit about chemical engineering, and solids and liquids this week.  We spent the week improving a play dough recipe.  We did three trials; the first was too wet and sticky, the second too dry and the third was almost "just right".  We have been using texture and usage to judge our play dough.  I am sending home the basic recipe as an option for this week's homework for those students who would like to continue to work to improve our recipe.
Vicky Wideman joined us for another lesson this week.  She taught us about making an apology of action.  Please check this week's Friday Folder for a pink paper giving more details about this.
I hope everyone has a happy, healthy Thanksgiving break!

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VSO Petting Zoo

Firefly had another fun week of learning.  On Thursday we visited the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Petting Zoo.  We learned about instruments that are played in an orchestra and had an opportunity to try out those instruments.  We played trombones, trumpets, tubas, flutes, drums, harps, violins and xylophones.  It was great fun for everyone.  Many thanks to all the parents who helped out with this event.
Today we had Hands On Nature and learned about predators and prey.  We watched a puppet show and played some games that taught us about predators and prey.  Ask your child how you can tell if an animal is a predator or prey.  A big thank you to our Hands On Nature parents for this lesson!
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