Have a wonderful break and don't forget about parent teacher conferences on March 3 and 4 and the town/school budget vote on March 4! Please make sure to vote!
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| Photo slideshow made with Smilebox |
Friday, February 21, 2014
Snowmen!
Today was our last day of school before February break so we had a little fun at the end of the day and made a snowman trio collage to hang on the wall. Check out the photos of our work below!
Have a wonderful break and don't forget about parent teacher conferences on March 3 and 4 and the town/school budget vote on March 4! Please make sure to vote!
Have a wonderful break and don't forget about parent teacher conferences on March 3 and 4 and the town/school budget vote on March 4! Please make sure to vote!
Thursday, February 20, 2014
The Water Cycle
Our class is studying weather as our current science theme unit! We have been learning about types of weather, factors that affect the weather (such as air pressure, humidity, wind, and temperature), and clouds. We are also learning big words like "meteorologist," "precipitation," "condensation," and "evaporation." This week we learned about the water cycle. Today we learned a song and made a project to help us remember the water cycle. The song goes to the tune of "She'll be coming round the mountain:"
"Water travels in a cycle yes it does,
Water travels in a cycle yes it does.
It goes up as evaporation,
Forms a cloud as condensation,
Then comes down as precipitation, yes it does!"
Our project is pictured below. The yellow bead represents the sun, heating up the water in lakes, rivers, the ocean, etc (the dark blue bead). The clear bead represents water vapor/evaporation as the water is heated. The white bead represents clouds/condensation, and the light blue bead represents precipitation, changing the water vapor back into water, collecting back in the rivers, lakes, oceans, and starting the cycle all over again! This afternoon we created the model below then moved the beads around the pipe cleaner as we sang the song to practice reciting the water cycle! This bead bracelet is coming home today along with a copy of the song and a page explaining the bracelet so you can ask your child to explain the water cycle to you!
"Water travels in a cycle yes it does,
Water travels in a cycle yes it does.
It goes up as evaporation,
Forms a cloud as condensation,
Then comes down as precipitation, yes it does!"
Our project is pictured below. The yellow bead represents the sun, heating up the water in lakes, rivers, the ocean, etc (the dark blue bead). The clear bead represents water vapor/evaporation as the water is heated. The white bead represents clouds/condensation, and the light blue bead represents precipitation, changing the water vapor back into water, collecting back in the rivers, lakes, oceans, and starting the cycle all over again! This afternoon we created the model below then moved the beads around the pipe cleaner as we sang the song to practice reciting the water cycle! This bead bracelet is coming home today along with a copy of the song and a page explaining the bracelet so you can ask your child to explain the water cycle to you!
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Valentine's Day
Friday (Valentine's Day) we had our first snow day of the year so we had our class Valentine's Day celebration yesterday afternoon instead. Kids exchanged Valentines, made a cute craft which looked like a mouse but was made out of paper hearts, and ate some festive snacks. Below are some photos from the celebration!
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Please Watch!
Please watch this wonderfully done, short video about Colchester Schools including information about some great things going on at each school and information about this year's proposed budget and the vote on March 4.
Colchester Schools Video
Colchester Schools Video
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Valentine's Day Party
Dear families,
Tomorrow from 2:15-3:00 we plan to have a Valentine's Day celebration in our classroom and all are invited to join us! In the event that we end up having a snow day tomorrow we will plan to have the party at the same time on Monday instead. Class lists were sent home at the beginning of this week so that students are able to make Valentine cards for one another, if they would like to do so. If your child plans to bring Valentines to school, please plan to make one for each child in our class so that no one is left out. Thank you and hope to see you either tomorrow afternoon or Monday afternoon depending on the weather!
Tomorrow from 2:15-3:00 we plan to have a Valentine's Day celebration in our classroom and all are invited to join us! In the event that we end up having a snow day tomorrow we will plan to have the party at the same time on Monday instead. Class lists were sent home at the beginning of this week so that students are able to make Valentine cards for one another, if they would like to do so. If your child plans to bring Valentines to school, please plan to make one for each child in our class so that no one is left out. Thank you and hope to see you either tomorrow afternoon or Monday afternoon depending on the weather!
School Musical, "Too Much Noise!"
Last night and tonight are the UMS school performances of this year's musical, "Too Much Noise!" Half of the school, including our class, performed last night in the high school auditorium, and the other half of the school will perform tonight. The musical was very cute, lots of fun, and wonderfully put together by our music teacher, Ms. Mutz. Below are a number of photos taken during rehearsals for the musical.
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Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Please Remember to Vote! Absentee Ballots Now Available!
Dear families and Colchester residents,
Town Meeting Day is coming up at the beginning of March (during parent conferences) and the polls will be open for voting on the town and school budgets. Please remember to vote! If you are not available to vote on Town Meeting Day, not to worry, absentee ballots are now available! Please see the information below:
Town Meeting Day is coming up at the beginning of March (during parent conferences) and the polls will be open for voting on the town and school budgets. Please remember to vote! If you are not available to vote on Town Meeting Day, not to worry, absentee ballots are now available! Please see the information below:
Do responsibilities at work prevent you from voting on Town Meeting Day? Are you going to be
out of town on March 4th? Does standing in line bother you? Then, VOTE BY ABSENTEE!
STEP #1: REQUEST AN ABSENTEE BALLOT FROM THE TOWN CLERK
Call 802-264-5520 or fill out the form below and return by mail or in person to:
Town Clerk’s Office
781 Blakely Road, P.O. Box 55 Colchester, VT 05446
Requests for an absentee ballot can be made at any time until 4:00 p.m. on Monday, March 3rd.
A family member or a health care provider may apply for an absentee ballot acting on another voter’s behalf. Requests submitted on a voter’s behalf must be made in writing or in person. If you do not receive a requested ballot or lose your absentee ballot, visit the Town Clerk’s Office to receive a replacement.
STEP #2: CAST YOUR BALLOT
Once received, vote and seal completed ballot in the return envelope.
STEP #3: RETURN BALLOT TO TOWN CLERK’S OFFICE BY MARCH 4TH
Absentee ballots must be returned by mail or in person to the Town Clerk’s Office by 4PM on Monday, March 3rd. Sealed ballots may also be returned to your polling place before 7:00 p.m. on election day.
*A voter who has returned an absentee ballot cannot change his or her mind and vote at the polls!
.............................................................................................. REQUEST FOR ABSENTEE BALLOT
FOR ELECTION HELD ON MARCH 4, 2013
NAME OF VOTER ___________________________________________ BIRTH DATE ____________________ STREET ADDRESS (NOT MAIL ADDRESS) ________________________________________________________ SIGNATURE __________________________________________________ DATE _______________________
IF THIS REQUEST IS FOR SOMEONE ELSE:
NAME OF APPLICANT ___________________________________________
ADDRESS OF APPLICANT _____________________________________________________________________ RELATIONSHIP TO ABSENTEE VOTER ___________________________________________
CHECK THE FOLLOWING: [ ] I WISH TO HAVE MY BALLOT MAILED TO ME
MAILING ADDRESS (IF DIFFERENT THAN ABOVE):
ADDRESS _____________________________________________________________________
STEP #1: REQUEST AN ABSENTEE BALLOT FROM THE TOWN CLERK
Call 802-264-5520 or fill out the form below and return by mail or in person to:
Town Clerk’s Office
781 Blakely Road, P.O. Box 55 Colchester, VT 05446
Requests for an absentee ballot can be made at any time until 4:00 p.m. on Monday, March 3rd.
A family member or a health care provider may apply for an absentee ballot acting on another voter’s behalf. Requests submitted on a voter’s behalf must be made in writing or in person. If you do not receive a requested ballot or lose your absentee ballot, visit the Town Clerk’s Office to receive a replacement.
STEP #2: CAST YOUR BALLOT
Once received, vote and seal completed ballot in the return envelope.
STEP #3: RETURN BALLOT TO TOWN CLERK’S OFFICE BY MARCH 4TH
Absentee ballots must be returned by mail or in person to the Town Clerk’s Office by 4PM on Monday, March 3rd. Sealed ballots may also be returned to your polling place before 7:00 p.m. on election day.
*A voter who has returned an absentee ballot cannot change his or her mind and vote at the polls!
.............................................................................................. REQUEST FOR ABSENTEE BALLOT
FOR ELECTION HELD ON MARCH 4, 2013
NAME OF VOTER ___________________________________________ BIRTH DATE ____________________ STREET ADDRESS (NOT MAIL ADDRESS) ________________________________________________________ SIGNATURE __________________________________________________ DATE _______________________
IF THIS REQUEST IS FOR SOMEONE ELSE:
NAME OF APPLICANT ___________________________________________
ADDRESS OF APPLICANT _____________________________________________________________________ RELATIONSHIP TO ABSENTEE VOTER ___________________________________________
CHECK THE FOLLOWING: [ ] I WISH TO HAVE MY BALLOT MAILED TO ME
MAILING ADDRESS (IF DIFFERENT THAN ABOVE):
ADDRESS _____________________________________________________________________
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
School Musical This Wednesday and Thursday
Don't forget, this Wednesday and Thursday are the dates for our school musical, "Too Much Noise!" Check out our music teacher, Ms. Mutz's, blog through this link for more information on the play and remember that our class is in tomorrow night's performance group. We will be going over to the high school during the day tomorrow for our dress rehearsal, then the musical starts at 6:30pm. Our class will meet in the high school cafeteria at 6:15. Students should wear sneakers so that they are comfortable to stand on risers on stage throughout the performance. We are looking forward to seeing you there!
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
100th Day of School
Today was our 100th day of school at UMS, which is always a lot of fun in first grade! Our class spent the whole day doing reading, math, and art activities related to the number 100.
We started the day with a math puzzle activity creating numbers within 100 during our morning meeting. Students each had a card that said something like, "I have the number 23. Who has the number that is three tens and four ones?" One student started us off by coming to the front of the room and reading their card out loud. After reading the card that student would build the number in the riddle while all of the other students worked to figure out if the number in the riddle was the number on their card (three tens and four ones = 34). The student with the number matching the riddle then came up to the front of the room and read their riddle to the class, ie: "I have the number 34. Who has the number that is nine tens and two ones?" Everyone got a turn to come up to the front of the room to read their riddle to the class then build the mystery number while the rest of the class solved the problem along with them. We had a lot of fun with this game!
After morning meeting we started a fun math estimation sheet that we did bits of throughout the day. The sheet asked the questions, "How many times do you think you can (write your name, hop on one leg, say the alphabet, count to 10, blink your eyes, clap your hands, etc) in 100 seconds?" For each question students wrote down an estimate of the number of times they thought they could do each thing in 100 seconds. We then did each of the activities on the sheet (a couple at a time throughout the day) for 100 seconds each, recorded our actual totals, compared them to our estimates, and figured out which ones we were able to do the most and least of in 100 seconds.
Our big fun for the day was doing station rotations between all four first grade classrooms! Each classroom teacher prepared an activity around the number 100 and classes took turns rotating between the four classrooms so that each class was able to do each activity! Classes spent about 30 minutes in each classroom working on the projects. When students went to Mrs. Hughes room they spent their time building with 100 giant red cups! In Ms. Barnett's room they pasted the number 100 in large cut out numbers on a piece of poster paper then incorporated the number into a drawing (some made the zeros in 100 into glasses on a person, eyes on an animal, windows on a car or house, ponds in a park, etc - they were all very unique and creative). In Mrs. Sorenson's room the students made 100th day crowns where they made groups of tallies, practicing counting to 100 by 5s and adding these to their crown. In my classroom students made a pretend gumball machine where they used Q tips to paint 100 dots (the gumballs) onto their gumball machine in groups of 10 (ten dots in each of ten colors).
Our class read a poem and a book both about the 100th day of school and practiced counting both forward from zero to 100 and backward from 100 to zero by 2, 5, and 10. We had a very fun day full of the number 100! Below are photos of our class taken throughout the day!
We started the day with a math puzzle activity creating numbers within 100 during our morning meeting. Students each had a card that said something like, "I have the number 23. Who has the number that is three tens and four ones?" One student started us off by coming to the front of the room and reading their card out loud. After reading the card that student would build the number in the riddle while all of the other students worked to figure out if the number in the riddle was the number on their card (three tens and four ones = 34). The student with the number matching the riddle then came up to the front of the room and read their riddle to the class, ie: "I have the number 34. Who has the number that is nine tens and two ones?" Everyone got a turn to come up to the front of the room to read their riddle to the class then build the mystery number while the rest of the class solved the problem along with them. We had a lot of fun with this game!
After morning meeting we started a fun math estimation sheet that we did bits of throughout the day. The sheet asked the questions, "How many times do you think you can (write your name, hop on one leg, say the alphabet, count to 10, blink your eyes, clap your hands, etc) in 100 seconds?" For each question students wrote down an estimate of the number of times they thought they could do each thing in 100 seconds. We then did each of the activities on the sheet (a couple at a time throughout the day) for 100 seconds each, recorded our actual totals, compared them to our estimates, and figured out which ones we were able to do the most and least of in 100 seconds.
Our big fun for the day was doing station rotations between all four first grade classrooms! Each classroom teacher prepared an activity around the number 100 and classes took turns rotating between the four classrooms so that each class was able to do each activity! Classes spent about 30 minutes in each classroom working on the projects. When students went to Mrs. Hughes room they spent their time building with 100 giant red cups! In Ms. Barnett's room they pasted the number 100 in large cut out numbers on a piece of poster paper then incorporated the number into a drawing (some made the zeros in 100 into glasses on a person, eyes on an animal, windows on a car or house, ponds in a park, etc - they were all very unique and creative). In Mrs. Sorenson's room the students made 100th day crowns where they made groups of tallies, practicing counting to 100 by 5s and adding these to their crown. In my classroom students made a pretend gumball machine where they used Q tips to paint 100 dots (the gumballs) onto their gumball machine in groups of 10 (ten dots in each of ten colors).
Our class read a poem and a book both about the 100th day of school and practiced counting both forward from zero to 100 and backward from 100 to zero by 2, 5, and 10. We had a very fun day full of the number 100! Below are photos of our class taken throughout the day!
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| A picture slideshow by Smilebox |
Monday, February 3, 2014
Flynn Trip Rescheduled
I am happy to tell families that we have rescheduled our first grade field trip to the Flynn Theater! We were scheduled to see the play Dream Carver, connected to our Mexico unit, in January but the play was cancelled last minute because the theater lost power and heat on the day of the trip. I was able to reschedule our trip so we are still able to go to the Flynn as a first grade group but now we will be going in March to see a different play called, At Nightfall. Our new date and time will be Tuesday, March 25 at 9:30 am. An updated permission slip will go home with students tomorrow. We do not need to collect any more money for the trip, and the chaperones who were signed up to come with classes in January will come with us on the trip in March instead, so the updated permission slip just asks you to give permission for your child to join us on Flynn Trip 2.0! Please sign and return it by the end of this week.
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