Mrs. Golesworthy

 What a beautiful weekend.

 

This week is shaping up to be busy, but we'll also be getting back into our regular routine.

Tomorrow, the multiagers will perform a couple of mini-plays as part of the anti-bullying schoolwide assembly.  This will be taped by Mrs. Wainwright, and will then be posted on Mr. Middleton-Cox's blog page for your viewing entertainment.  

 

We begin rehearsals for the June 1st EXPO.  Once I know which side of the stage we are sitting I'll let you know, so that you can secure seats that have a good view of your delightful children.

 

On Thursday, as you know, we have our in-house field trip to the fields near the school.  Thanks to all who volunteered to be our chaperones.  I'll send confirmation tomorrow of who gets to be 'it'.  I'll put the names in my proverbial hat and pick a couple out.

 

Please return permission slips and checks for our June 7th field trip.  All parents are welcome to accompany us on this trip.

 

Science

We have been watching our caterpillars closely, and they were just on the brink of emerging from the chrysalides on Friday afternoon.  We'll wrap up our observation journals this week, and will research the answers to our list of questions. 

 

Math

We have been working more with fractions, and applying what we've learned to help us calculate the area of floorplans, using wholes, halves and fourths of an inch (or centimeter).  This week we'll be comparing and contrasting 3D shapes, and learning to describe them by their attributes. 

 

Reading

We just finished our read-aloud chapter book, Midnight for Charlie Bone, by Jenny Nimmo. The story and characters were quite complicated, and we had many interesting discussions about what we thought would happen next, and the motivation of the various characters.  

 

Writing with Fluency

We have been working on writing expanded sentences, and varying the ways we begin our sentences.  We are also experimenting with using similes in our writing, which is just one more way of adding details to bring our writing to life.  An example one of the students came up with:  

"He was as fast as a cheetah on the highway!"
 

Reminders for the week
Crickets - Melissa Scheirey

Thursday - field trip.  Dress for weather and ticks.

Friday - last brown bag lunch of the year.

Monday 28th - Memorial Day, no school

Thursday, 1st - EXPO in the cafeteria at 9:30 am.

 

 

As always, please keep in touch with questions, concerns and/or triumphs

Ann

 

 May 10, 2012

 

It was great to see you at Thursday's performance.  The children were very proud of themselves and can't wait to get working on the next plays.  They will be acting out a couple of anti-bullying books for the assembly on Monday 21st.  This will be for the Cole student body only, this time.  (You may be called upon again for props and costumes!)

Each of our caterpillars has now become a chrysalis.  They may even have hatched by Monday ~ very exciting!


Reminders for the week:

There are a couple of field trips coming up.

Thursday, May 24th - Audobon field experience. (Please return permission slip asap)

Thursday - June 7th -  Seacoast Science Center at Odiorne State Park, Rye, New Hampshire.  (Permission slips coming home on Monday).


Crickets ~  Kat Fortin  

Have a super weekend,

Ann

 

Field Trip

Just in! We will not be visiting Chinatown this year, but will go every-other year instead, connecting to our studies of Heritage and Immigration.  Mrs. Salisbury and I are in the process of planning a replacement field trip for our multi-agers, and will let you know once the plans are in place.  June 11th - our original date for Chinatown - is likely going to be Step Up day for the kindergarten and first graders, so we'll need to be in the building for this!  Again, as soon as we know more definite dates, we'll be in touch.

 

This week we continue with projects and ideas introduced last week.

 

Spelling ~ I am noticing a big improvement in the children's spelling, so thank you for the efforts you are making at home to help them practice and learn their spelling words.  Please keep the spelling lists in the Homework Folders.

         The older children have mastered the words at this point, so they should work on 'content' words such as those they come across in the science and social studies lessons.  They can also make a running list of challenge words that they'd like to learn to spell, and keep working on those.

 

Life Cycles ~ We are beginning a unit on the life cycle of a butterfly, and will be recording our observations of the tiny caterpillars that should be arriving this week.  We will be making a connection to other life cycles in nature, and some children will be comparing and contrasting the butterfly's life cycle with that of other insects.

 

Folktale Plays ~  The children helped Mrs. Salisbury and I write the scripts last week, and this week they will be practicing, practicing, practicing.  They will also be brainstorming what they have at home that can be used for costumes and props, so get ready!  Don't forget to mark your calendars for May 10th!

 

Math ~ The children are building up a repertoire for problem solving, and should be able to solve a problem in a number of ways.  For example, younger children might need manipulatives (counters), and/or to make a drawing to solve the problem.  Then they will write a number sentence to match what they've done.  Older children will be able to choose which operation to use, then work directly from the equations that they write.  They can also check their work using another strategy entirely.  This flexibility in thinking is key for children to be able to approach problems from different angles, and to persevere when one strategy is not working for them.

 

This week we will continue working with fractions.  The younger children will work with wholes, halves and fourths cut out of construction paper.  They will learn to write the fractions correctly, and combine them into wholes, with matching number sentences.  Older children will solve word problems involving fractional parts, and write an equation to prove their answer. The ultimate challenge will be to create problems at their "just right" level, for others to solve.

Recent highlights:
Birthday wishes to Cameron and Corin, who both celebrated their birthdays during the vacation week.
Tiny turtles ~ brought in by Katie.  Four tiny, painted turtles are living on her desk at the moment, enjoying lots of attention from the children.  


Reminders for the week:
Crickets - anyone?
Wednesday - early dismissal at 1:15 (lunch at school)

Regards,
Ann
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 22nd, 2012

 

This week begins the final few weeks of the school year…that is unbelievable, isn't it!  Here are the highlights of what we're learning:

 

Math ~ After a few weeks immersed in addition and subtraction (including double-digits for the older children), we are about to begin a unit on fractions.  You can help at home by pointing out halves, quarters, thirds etc in your day to day activities.  Baking provides a great real-world link to fractions, so invite your child to help with the cooking from now on!

 

Reading ~ We are practicing reading for specific details in answer to concrete questions, and also to 'read between the lines' when necessary.  This latter strategy is called 'making inferences' and requires the reader to bring together their own knowledge and life experiences with what the author chooses to tell about, merging the two together to find what is 'probably true'.  They then keep reading and adding to or changing their understanding of the story as needs be.  Even beginning readers can learn to make inferences.  For example, we know from experience that when the big, bad wolf asks Little Red Riding Hood if she'd like to go to his house for a bite to eat, we use our background knowledge of big bad wolves, and infer that she's probably part of the meal he has in mind!

 

 

Writing ~  We are almost ready to begin writing stories inspired by our image-making papers.  We will use the marbleizing technique this week, and this never fails to inspire images for creative writing.  We are also writing letters to Mr. Middleton Cox this week, and experimenting with Haiku poetry. 

 

Books in Bloom ~  I hope you were able to visit the Library to see our Books in Bloom work of art!  It is no longer on display, so the children will be able to bring home their artsy flowers soon.

 

 

Reminders for the week:

Crickets  ~  Thanks to Juli Smith.
Sharing ~ girls' week
Brown-Bag-it - Friday 27th, 12:30 to 1 pm. 

 

 

Have a good week,

Ann

Wishing you all a relaxing yet fun-filled vacation.  

See you next week!

April 8th, 2012

 

Happy Easter/Passover Everyone!

 

This week in school the children will finish presenting their Continents. I'll put pictures on this website soon.

 

Image-making

On Friday we began making image-making papers.  Using a variety of techniques, the children made 16 or so papers each that they will cut, collage and turn into storybooks.  They will work on this probably until the end of the year.

 

Math

We continue to work on subtraction strategies and word problems.

 

Spelling

Some children are learning to master words 1 - 30 on the first grade list, older children are working on words 31 - 150, with special focus this week on words containing the chunk 'ew'.  Accomplished spellers are learning to add suffixes and prefixes onto words, and to apply these skills in their day to day writing.

 

Reading

We continue to read folktales with a view to adapting them into a play.  More of that later.

 Reminder for the week:

Next week is vacation week (no reminders needed there, I'm sure)

Crickets - C. Iacobucci

Have a good week everyone,

 

Ann

 

 

 

Hello All,

 

Here are some highlights from our upcoming week:

Math – We are learning to solve problems using subtraction, and noticing how subtraction lets us to figure out the difference between two numbers.

For instance, how much bigger is 12 than 10?    12 - 10 = 2

 

When making change, we usually 'count up' from the price of the item to the amount we pay with.  Subtraction can also be used to calculate change.  For example,

$1.00 - 40c = 60c.

 

Reading – The children are reading folktales at their "just right" level, and will be retelling their stories to each other.  Over the next couple of weeks, we will use what we learn in reading to write our own folktales.  These will be the focus of our play performances on May 10th. The plays will begin at 9:30 am, and will be on stage in the cafeteria. Mark your calendars!  All family members are welcome, and we'll finish up with a brunch in the classrooms at around 10:45 /  11 a.m.

 

Social Studies ~ The Continents presentations are going very well.  We kicked off with the Africa and Australia groups last week, and the presenters were very excited to share their work and research. The children in the audience pay close attention and are encouraged to come up with Follow-up Cards for the presenters.  These take the form of a Question, Interesting Fact, Prove it! and Compliment.  The presenters will get the Follow-Up cards once all have presented, and will have a week to answer the questions and find proof for the "Prove-its".

 

Spelling ~ from now until the end of the year, the children will have a pre-test on Mondays, and an end of the week test on Fridays.  For homework, they should study the words they spelled incorrectly, so that by Friday they can show what they know!

 

Writing ~ April is Poetry Month, and we will be writing a variety of poems to celebrate. 

 

Books in Bloom ~ Our project is almost complete.  Thanks to Lisa Aronson, Lisa Belanger, and Paije Andrews who came in to help us last week.  The children made a selection of flowers using a variety of techniques.  This week they will paint the flower box, and assemble.  Our theme was the poem Spring Zing, by Minnie Mondschein.  The projects will be on display at the Boxford Town Library, beginning April 7th.

 

Phonics ~  Paije Andrews has found a good website for learning and reviewing phonics.  Check out

http://www.abcfastphonics.com/long-short-vowels.html

Reminders for the week:
Crickets ~ Mrs. Jenkins
Friday is Good Friday, no school

That's all for now.

Keep in touch,

Ann

 

Yes it's true, the gem jar is full.  To celebrate our good work and behavior the children voted on having a  'Comfy Day' on Thursday.  (Thanks to Alma for this idea).   They may bring slippers, pillows, sleeping bags etc. to school on Thursday.  They'll be doing their school work in their 'comfy places' that day.  Thursday morning we'll begin the Continent presentations, and in the afternoon we'll be working on our Books in Bloom projects.   It promises to be a jam-packed, fun-filled, comfortable day.

Reminder:
Lunch on Wednesday is Domino's Pizza.  Children need to sign up ahead of time, on tomorrow's lunch count. 

Regards,
Ann

Hello All,

The warm weather last week inspired us to paint and think about poetry. We’ll continue that this week, and hope to 'publish' our poems in the hallway soon!

Math - Last week the younger children were practicing solving problems using multiplication and division.  They learned to show their work by making a sketch (math art) and writing a number sentence (equation) for each problem.  Older children have been writing and illustrating mini-math booklets based on word problems, and some have been designing and making math board games for their classmates to play. 

This week we will begin solving problems using subtraction, and the older children will learn / teach each other strategies for subtracting double-digit numbers.

Reminders this week:

Crickets: P. Andrews

Don't forget to enjoy this chilly week…it may be your last chance to say goodbye to the cold weather before Spring comes back.

Ann

Hello All,

I wanted to say a quick thank-you.  Luckily for me, and thanks to you, there are weekly contributions of live crickets for our toads and turtles (and Mrs. Salisbury's critters too),  estimation jar and wish-list items, words of encouragement and support, and day to day help with reading and other projects.  So...thank you!

Upcoming projects:
BOOKS IN BLOOM ~ This year, we have picked a poem, and will be creating a floral-themed artistic masterpiece to accompany it.  You will see the results at the Boxford Town Library, beginning April 5th.  Thanks to Lisa and Lisa for helping with this.  Look out...you may be getting a call to come and help too!

CONTINENTS ~ After much deliberation and some discussion, we (the kids and I) have finally come up with a way to 'present' our continents research.  Starting next week, each continent group will be pretending to be a 'travel agent' (anyone remember what those are??)...and will try to persuade their audience to "visit" their continent.  For example, the travel agents will be begin their presentation with, "COME VISIT AFRICA!", and will then present all the attractions and wonderful features that can be found there.  Travel agents may add persuasion to their case by wearing attire suitable for that continent, they may play music, show artifacts, demonstrate games/toys from that continent, ...the possibilities are endless.  (Antarctica group, you have a challenge, but I know you'll be creative!)  

Next week's homework will be to focus on this project, and Africa will be the first to present.  If you find material online, the kids can bring it to the classroom on their flash-drives.  Once all the continents have been presented, the kids will be given one 'ticket to anywhere', and will decide upon the continent that they'd most like to visit, giving reasons for their choice.

Special call-out to parents:  if any of you have some time over the next few weeks, please let me know.  I'm looking for some help (with online material gathering) to make this project go with a zing.

All for now,
Ann