Poetry Workshop-Lyn Littlefield Hoopes

We are looking forward to participating in a poetry workshop next Friday. Our thanks to the Friends of Cutler for sponsoring this wonderful event as part of our Big Read program.

"In my workshops, students imagine deeply and learn to listen for their writer’s voice.

They look closely for details that hold meaning for them.

Before writing, we create a poem together as a class, brainstorming vivid verbs, details and similes to capture the spirit of the moment. As we draft, students learn to listen for the voice of the poem, discover its rhythms and patterns. Then, working across a large piece of art paper, they write their own poems, edit, revise, and share aloud with the class.

Our sparks for creating are always new, evolving out of my own writing and travels. Often, I work from photographs I take in nature – close-up images of creatures we find just outside our door, or landscapes that convey a mood, emotion, or state of mind. I enjoy creating workshops to tie with the curriculum, recently Yosemite, Acadia, and Rocky Mountain National Park to link to the study of landforms and United States geography. Other workshops are inspired by artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Vincent Van Gogh, or Claude Monet. Wherever possible, I find it wonderful to collaborate with the art teacher so students may write from their own paintings"

Composing And Decomposing Shapes

The students worked with a set of pattern blocks to compose new geometric shapes.  The students worked with a partner to count sides and vertices and to solve shape puzzles.

Outdoor Classroom

 The students spent some time soaking up the sun rays and sketching in their nature journals. It was the perfect day to add detailed sketches. After, we spent some time comparing and contrasting plants and trees using a Venn Diagram. We are eagerly awaiting the first sprouts from our marigold and pumpkin seeds that we planted with Mrs. Hambelton.

Our 3rd Grade Buddies- A Community Project

 We had a wonderful time meeting with our 3rd grade buddies and creating bookmarks to raise money for the Acord Food Pantry.  The bookmarks will be for sale at Green Meadow Farms, Jolie Tea Company and at Family Fun Night!  The students attended an all-school meeting that focused on hunger awareness.

Thank You To The Hamilton-Wenham Garden Club

Our thanks to the Hamilton-Wenham Garden Club for their gift of a maple sugar sapling for each first grader in our school district.  The students were delighted to meet Chlorophyllis and wrote some wonderful thank you notes.  Just think in ten to twelve years, you might be able to tap your tree and make some maple syrup.

Building Our Independent Reading Stanima

Have you been lost in a book? Each day, we are using our strategies of effective effort to increase our stamina for independent reading. As a reading community, we have increased our independent reading time from 10 minutes to 20 minutes. WOW!! We have used focus, time and persistance!!

Flat First Graders Travel The World!

The students had a delightful time creating their flat first graders to send off to a friend or relative for a fun filled adventure. My thanks to all of you for the addresses and stamp money. Donna, at the Hamilton Post Office, was so kind and patient as she weighed and stamped the 17 important envelopes. The children wrote some great friendly letters and are excited to receive news about their traveling flat first graders. Stay tuned for updates!

Music Program-Tuesday, May 21st 8:45-9:30 am

 Mrs. Clark will be hosting a primary music program on Tuesday, May 21st from 8:45 to 9:30 am. The first graders will be singing 4 or 5 songs.  We hope you will be able to join us!

Spring Sketches!

 We enjoyed a warm Spring morning and headed outside to sketch some signs of Spring.  We discovered bugs, worms, buds, blooms and birds,  We will continue to explore the outdoors and add to our nature sketch books. Also, we will be planting pumpkin seeds and marigold seeds and comparing the growth of the two seeds.

The Gallery Artist-Marc Schepens

 Last week, we had the opportunity to meet the artist that created the large canvases that have been in the art gallery for the last month. Mr. Schepens shared his pottery shard collection with the students. He has been collecting them since he was five years old and those became the inspiration for his works. He shared that an artist paints "what they know about and care about". After meeting in the gallery, the students worked with Mr. Schepens on their own canvases inspired by small shards of blue and white pottery.

Family Heart Maps

  I enjoyed welcoming many of you into our classroom to create family heart maps, read "Giraffes Can't Dance" and to make a poster of the 4 anti-bullying rules for your families to post at home.  If you weren't able to join us, you are welcome to come into the classroom to work with your child or I can send the materials home. Please send me an email if you would like to participate in this project.

Place Value Game -Learning and Playing with a Learning Partner

 We continue to review place value, addition and subtraction with 10's and 1's and comparing numbers using >,<,=. The children have enjoyed playing a variety of games with a classmate.  Ask your child how to play target number addition with a set of playing cards (face cards removed).

Thinking, Designing, Testing

Challenge: Build the tallest stucture you can using 20 index cards, tape and scissors. The students spent a 90 minute science block working on their designs. We had some great discussions on balance, stability and ways to manipulate the cards to increase their rigidity. Next, we will continue our engineering and design unit by building structures using gum drops and toothpicks.