Halloween Parade and Party Rescheduled!

Good Morning First Grade Families,

I hope you are having a great Halloween day! This weather has been particularly spooky with all the power outages and road closures. I hope you all have been safe and staying warm, and I hope that your power is up and running again. I appreciate all of your flexibility in making last minute arrangements during these school cancellations- thank you so much! I am missing all of the children and I am so excited to see them tomorrow (fingers crossed)!

I just wanted to let you all know our Halloween Parade and Party is now rescheduled for tomorrow, November 1st at 2:00. The parade will begin at 2:00 in the front parking lot, followed by a classroom Halloween party at 2:15. If you are able to make it, you are more than welcome to join us at 2:00 for some Halloween fun in November!  

With this being rescheduled unexpectedly, I understand that unfortunately this may not work with your schedule to join us. My sincerest apologies if you are not able to make it tomorrow. Any Halloween supplies, food, etc. can be sent in tomorrow and the children will have a blast celebrating in their costumes! All costumes can be brought to school in a labeled bag.  The children will start changing into their costumes right after lunch for the Halloween parade, which wil start at 2:00.  

Thank you so much for understanding and I appreciate your support in making this celebration so special for the children. :-)

Sending wishes that all power is back soon!
Happy Halloween!

Kathleen Gouzie

Halloween Parade and Party Reminder

Dear Families,

I just want to remind everyone that on Tuesday, October 31st we are scheduled to have our Halloween parade and party - I'm hoping we have school tomorrow!
 We are looking forward to a fun-filled afternoon of celebration.  The children are invited to bring their costumes to school in a labeled bag on Tuesday morning.  We ask that no weapons such as swords, knives or other props that may be viewed as violent are sent to school.  Masks are permissible, so long as they are not frightening or gruesome.  

The children will start changing into their costumes right after lunch for the Halloween parade which will start at 2:00.  We will be walking out the door of the Kindergarten/First Grade wing, down the sidewalk, towards the flagpole.  The children would be thrilled to have an audience on their parade route, so join in the festivities if you can!

The room parents have been busy organizing a small classroom party for the children following the parade.   All are welcome to come back to the classrooms after the parade to join our Halloween celebrations!

I will have a sign-out sheet on the little red table in our classroom for families who plan on taking their child home at the end of the day!

Happy Halloween!
Kathleen Gouzie

Halloween Word Problems

Spooky Halloween Word Problems have been suddenly appearing all over our classroom! During our 

Writer's Workshop times we have been focusing on

 Word Choice. Word Choice is about painting a picture with your words. It's about trying a variety of words to connect with your reader. 

It's about using verbs to create an active, energetic voice and trying new ways of saying things.  Word Choice is about using the perfect word in the perfect place.  

After learning about nouns, verbs and adjectives the children are focusing on the power of word choice while creating their own Halloween Word Problems for their classmates to solve!

Reading to your child each night is a wonderful way to enrich their vocabulary.  As you are reading to your child, you might want to try taking a moment to point out certain verbs or adjectives that the writer used to paint a picture in the reader's mind using words. This will help your child tremendously as they grow as a reader and a writer!

Fun with Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives!

During our Writer's Workshop times we have been learning about Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives! 
The children have learned that if you were a noun, you would be easy to spot.  You would be a person, a place or a thing.  If you were a noun, you could be a star, a cloud, an astronaut, or the moon.

If you were a verb, you could tell what someone or something is doing.  If you were a verb, you could show action!  If you were a verb, you could swim, tiptoe, dance, leap, paddle or plunge.

They have also learned that if you were an adjective, you would work side by side with nouns.  A noun names a person, place, or thing.  As an adjective, you would be busy describing nouns. 
 If you were an adjective, you would be colorful, brilliant, dazzling, feathery, many-legged or slimy!

The children had lots of fun writing their own Halloween nouns, verbs and adjectives!

Mystery Reader

Special Thanks to Laura Denis for being our Mystery Guest Reader last Friday!

The children had a great time listening to the story, Interrupting Chicken, by David Ezra Stein.

It's time for the little red chicken's bedtime story, 

and he gets a reminder from Papa to try not to interrupt, but he just can't help himself sometimes!

This was such a fun story that all children, 

and grown-ups can relate to!

Author and Illustrator, Brain Lies

Early this week the children were treated to a presentation by author/illustrator, Brian Lies.

Brian Lies is the author of several books including Bats at the Beach, Bats at the Ballgame, and most recently, Gator Dad.  Mr. Lies focused on the growth mindset and encouraged children to embrace this mindset.  He emphasized the idea that "practice makes better".  He talked about the writing process and how he revised and revised and revised, to make his stories and his illustrations even better! He encouraged the children to use their imaginations and creativity while writing and illustrating, and to always add more details to enhance their stories and illustrations.  

Many thanks to the members of TESPTO for bringing this wonderful enrichment program 

to Steward School!

Mystery Guest Reader

Special thanks to Linda Ross for being our first Mystery Guest Reader of the year!
 Mrs. Ross came in to our classroom last Friday to read the story Dream Big Little Pig,
which was written by Kristi Yamaguchi. 
Kristi Yamaguchi is an Olympic figure skating champion who knows how to make dreams come true.  Through her picture book debut, Kristi inspires children of all ages to dream big!
Her motto "Always Dream" contributed to her success on and off the ice and is one that she aspires to instill in the hearts of children. 
The children really enjoyed listening to this story, and we had a great discussion where children made connections and reflected on the lessons in the story about perseverance, hard work,
 and Dreaming Big!

Earth and Space - Shadows

Today the children participated in our first 

Science Inquiry Activity for our 

Earth and Space Module.

Our first Lesson is all about Shadows.

Here are some pictures of our exploration 

of how light shining toward an object

from different angles affects the length and direction 

of the shadow cast by the object.

Cultural Enrichment Program

Today, the children heard folktales, 

legends and poetry told in ways that stimulated their imaginations 

and enhanced their listening skills. 

Award-winning storyteller, Len Cabral, returned to Steward School!

The children were captivated as Len used humor, expression and movement to vividly tell his stories.  Many thanks to the members of TESPTO for bringing one of my favorite storytellers back to Steward School!

A Wonderful Day for a Walk-a-thon!

Many thanks for all of your support of our

Steward School Walk-a-thon to preserve the

North Shore Nature Program's environmental enrichment program and to purchase some new playground toys.

We had a beautiful day! 

The children got lots of great exercise 

while supporting two great causes!