Friday, May 22, 2015

Picture Overload!

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to our little chicks today.  There were some tears (not mine), and lots of goodbyes.  Our chicks will live happily on at the UVM farm.  We had tons of fun learning about the chicken lifecycle and hatching our own chicks in our classroom!


Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Recycle and Compost

We had a special presentation this afternoon from UVM about our new recycling and compost initiative. We are excited to start sorting our waste from snack and lunch next week! 

Monday, May 18, 2015

Chicks Hatching!

We are all excited the chicks are beginning to hatch. (Lucy)  We can tell they are starting to hatch because some of the eggs are cracked.  (Dominic) Some of the cracks are large and some are small.  (Emily)  We know that not all of the eggs will hatch.  (Mathieau)  The very first egg that started to crack hasn't made a lot of progress today.  We are wondering if the chick inside is strong enough to hatch?  (Elsie)  While the chicks are trying to hatch, you can see and hear them moving around in the egg.  (Jason)  In some of the eggs, we can see the egg tooth.  (Amaal)

Today, during literacy.  We watched a current event news story about a special elephant named Lucky.  We compared and contrasted the information about this elephant, to the animals we have been reading about in The One and Only Ivan.  We were excited to see that we found many similarities between our fictional story, and this news clip.  If you would like to see the story about Lucky, you can check it out HERE.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Spelling

We love our new spelling program.  Today, we learned how to sort our words based on their spelling pattern.


Monday, May 11, 2015

Happy Mother's Day

We have spent time this week discussing why all mothers (human and animal) are important to us.  We analyzed mom characters we have read about in books and we even reflected on what makes our own moms so special.  We wrote books about our moms and we wanted to read them to you, so the first graders suggested video-ing them reading their books.  We hope you enjoy their fabulous works and take time to appreciate all of the wonderful mothers we have in our midst! 

Cage vs. Domain

Throughout our story, Ivan and his friends have called where they live a "domain."  Today, for the first time, Ivan called it a "cage".  We had an interesting conversation about the difference between a cage and a domain.  

We think Ivan is changing his mind about where he lives because of the way the animal keeper is treating the new elephant, Ruby.  Today, Ivan was very sad and discouraged which could be why he is changing the way he thinks. (Trinity)

In our discussion, we thought that a cage was very boring with nothing to do and a domain had more things than a cage and a background.  (Amaal)

We looked up the words cage and domain in the dictionary (well, on our dictionary app), and this is what we found:

cage- anything that confines or contains; prison

domain- region with specific features; Ex. pine tree domain (Elsie)

We think a domain is a better place to live and a happier way to think about where you live.  A cage is sad, lonely, cold and there is nothing to do.  (Amaal, Mathieau, Jayden)

Ivan would have more fun in a real zoo with a large space for gorillas because he would have more fun, and more room and lots to do.  (Dominic)  Trinity would like to add that Ivan would be happier with a nicer zoo keeper as well.  

He would also be happier with more gorillas around. (Isabella)

We cannot wait to read what happens tomorrow!

  

Thursday, May 7, 2015

China

We have been learning lots about the country of China and hatching chicks in our social studies and science units.  Today, we learned how to say phrases in Mandarin (the language commonly spoken in China) and we learned how to write chinese characters.


Wednesday, May 6, 2015

RSR Update

I know many have you have already received an email about Saturday's race, but I wanted to be sure to let you know that the Champ Run has been CANCELLED for this Saturday.  Kid's Day is still ON for the park, hopefully many of you can still make it to that wonderful event! 

We are working on race-like event for our Ready Set Runners before the end of the season. Stay tuned!

Monday, May 4, 2015

Ready, Set, RUN down Church Street!~

Our Ready, Set, Runners are participating this weekend in a race down Church Street, but the best part, is that ANYONE can participate even if you are not enrolled in Ready, Set, Run! Come join us Saturday morning for a 1 mile fun run and a celebration at Kid's Day in Burlington.  The race starts at 9am at Edmund's Middle School and finishes at Waterfront Park.  Let me know if you have any questions!

4th Annual Champ on Church

RunVermont’s Ready, Set, Run Program, the Greater Burlington YMCA and Burlington Parks and Recreation, KIDS DAY will join CHAMP, our famous Lake Monster, for a fun run through Burlington and finishing at Waterfront Park
Date: May 9, 2015
Time: 9:00am
Location: Edmunds Middle School lawn
Ages: 4-12
Distance: 1 mile
Cost: FREE!
In partnership with the Greater Burlington Y,  Burlington Parks and Recreation and the Lake Monsters.

Friday, May 1, 2015

Ivan is Back Again

We have learned a lot more about gorillas from reading The One and Only Ivan and many news articles and interviews about primates and the people who help them.

Some important facts we have learned about gorillas are:

  • Silverbacks are protective gorillas (Brady)
  • Gorillas can be dangerous, which is why you should not have a gorilla as a pet (Trinity)
  • Gorillas are endangered (Harley)
  • Gorilla babies need to be touched constantly or they will not survive (Elsie)
  • Gorillas are knuckle-walkers (Nathan)
  • Gorillas protect their families (Dominic)
  • Gorillas are a type of ape (Isabella)
  • Sometimes poachers steal baby animals from their families (Emily)
  • Gorillas forage for food (Mathieau)
  • Gorillas sleep in nests and swing in trees (Kaleb and Mathieau)
  • Gorilla babies are fragile like human babies (Ariana)
  • Humans and gorillas are alike (Lucy)
  • Gorillas are smart (Isabella)
  • Gorillas would rather live in the wild (Trinity)
  • Gorillas can be playful (Fyn) {Author's note- please ask your first grader what a "Me-Ball" is}


We have enjoyed learning how Ivan, the main character in our story, is like the gorillas we have learned about.