DARE

Today our class finished our DARE lessons for first grade. Yesterday's lesson focused on reporting versus tattling. We learned four steps to use when something is happening that doesn't seem safe or right. 1)Know (know what to do) 2)No (tell the person to stop) 3)Go (go get help) 4)Tell (report the problem to a trusted adult). We learned that it's not tattling to report an unsafe situation. It is called reporting and is something we should all do.

Today's final lesson centered around emotions, how to recognize them in yourself, and how to deal with them. Officer Fontaine discussed four steps to use when angry with the class. 1)Stop 2)Breath 3)Think (decide what to do calmly) 4)Act

Go Fish!

Last night our class participated in the yearly UMS whole-school musical, Go Fish! Half of the school performed in the play last night, and the other half will perform tonight. Go Fish is a musical about a tiger shark looking for friends. She doesn't understand why other sea creatures don't want to be friends with a shark. She does end up finding many unique and interesting friends during the play including a blowfish with allergies, a starfish who can't land an acting role, a clown fish who isn't funny, an octopus with 7 legs, an angelfish, a needlefish, and a tuna who can't carry a tune. The message in the play is that it takes all kinds to make the ocean a beautiful place and life would be dull if we were all the same! Below are photos from our rehearsal and the play!

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DARE

This week our class will be wrapping up our DARE lessons for first grade. In our first session the class learned about personal safety as it relates to following rules, paying attention to signs posted in the community, knowing who to ask for help if you are in trouble, and how to call 911 in an emergency. Today our lesson focused on personal safety as it relates to substances and their uses. The children learned about how to identify substances that are safe to smell, taste, or touch as opposed to substances that can be dangerous. We learned that we can often use labels, pictures on containers, and the shape or color of a container to tell us whether the contents are safe to touch. We also learned that sometimes containers that are unsafe to touch are kept in locked cabinets or have caps that are hard to open to help keep us safe. The children learned that many items such as glue, bleach, paint, and even medicine can be safe when it used the correct way but unsafe when used in the wrong way and they should always ask parents before using them! I will post information from our next DARE lessons later in the week.

Valentine's Day Party!

Happy Valentine's Day!
Today students started the day by filling each other's Valentine goodie bags with cards and candy, then ended the day with a Valentine's Day party in the afternoon. Again, we had a wonderful turnout of family members who brought beautiful, tasty treats and came to spend the afternoon with us! Thank you all so much for coming and helping to connect home with school, making our celebration that much more special! We spent our party time making a very sweet heart project and eating lots of red and pink treats. We ran out of time to explore our Valentine goodie bags, so those were sent home at the end of the day to enjoy! Here are photos of our class enjoying the party!

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DARE

Today our class began a four session DARE program where Officer Fontaine from the Colchester Police Department will be coming in to our classroom to teach about saftety. DARE lessons will look different as children get older but in first grade these lessons focus on teaching children about personal safety. Today we learned about rules in and out of school, why we need them, and how they help to keep people safe. We also learned about how to get help in emergencies and who to ask for help. Coming home today is a worksheet about calling 911 that you might use to continue the conversation with your children. One side of the sheet provides spaces where you can write your name, address, phone number, then post it beside the phone to remind your child what to say if they ever have need to call 911. Our next three lessons will continue to teach the children about personal safety including how to handle bullying.

Twins for the day!

The 100th Day of School!

Today was the 100th day of school at UMS! We started the day with a school-wide morning meeting, then the four first grade classes spent the rest of the morning rotating between the four classrooms to do 100th day activities. In our classroom students wrote 100th day poems, in Mrs. Sorenson's class they made 100th day crowns, in Mrs. Hughes' class they built with 100 items, and in Ms. Barnett's class they made art with the number 100! After lunch and recess we read books about the 100th day of school, made 100th day paper ties as a tribute to Mr. Antonicci's tie wearing, and sorted, counted, and glued the 100 items each child brought in from home. We had a very fun day filled with activities celebrating the number 100! Here are some photos of our class working on projects today.

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More Night Sky!

Our class is wrapping up our study of the night sky and you will start to see our projects coming home. Today the kids all brought home their night sky journals where we had charted the moon phases all the way through January, and done lots of activities to discover interesting facts about the moon, sun, and stars! Earlier in the week kids brought home a moveable project showing how the north star stays in one place even as the big dipper appears to change position in the sky! At this point we have many night sky experts in our class and they should be able to tell you lots about the moon and stars at home. You can ask qustions like: What is the brightest star in the night sky? Which star looks the biggest from earth? Which is biggest: the moon, earth, or sun? What does orbit mean? What is a constellation? What is the Big Dipper and what is the North Star? What is a star? Is the sun a star or a planet? What is our closest neighbor in space (the moon)? Why do we have night and day? What are the moon's phases? Bonus if your child can tell you the moon phases in order and what phase the moon is in today-- we have been practicing! Below are a few more photos of us working on night sky projects. We are currently finishing up with cute collages featuring each of the kids as an astronaut floating around the moon and stars!

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