March Mystery Guest Reader

Special thanks to Jen LeRoyer for being our first 

Mystery Guest Reader in March.

Mrs. LeRoyer picked one of our favorite Dr. Seuss books, 

Horton Hears a Who!

Learning about Animals and their Habitats

  On Tuesday we spent some time exploring a woodland habitat with Mr. Prazar,

 our resident environmental scientist.  Mr. Prazar will be joining our class outside for several hands-on activities to foster a greater understanding of our environment and the living things that are all around us.  Andrew Prazar, founder of North Shore Nature Programs, is an environmental educator.
During his 10 year career in the field, he has spent thousands of hours in the field and worked for organizations such as Mass. Audubon and Merrohawke Nature School.  He obtained his Master's degree in environmental education from the University of New Hampshire in 2013.  A life-long lover of nature, he is dedicated to exploring the North Shore area and sharing his knowledge of local ecosystems.  

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

During the month of March, we are joining forces for our annual "Seussabration"! 

This year our theme is Fox in Socks Thinks Reading Rocks!  

On Friday, members of our community volunteered to read a favorite Dr. Seuss book to our children. Our special reader was Dr. Creeden, former Superintendent of the Tritown elementary schools.  Special thanks to Dr. Creeden for coming out on this stormy day to visit our classroom and share his love of reading with the children.  The children enjoyed listening to 

Yertle the Turtle, which Dr. Creeden generously donated to our classroom, along with providing the children with new Dr. Seuss pencils, erasers and stickers!

We just love reading Dr. Seuss Books!

               

Your child is welcome to bring in any books written by Dr. Seuss

 to share with classmates throughout our Seussabration.

If you’re in the mood for some fun, 

you can visit Seussville at the link below.

www.seussville.com!

Happy Reading!

Kathleen Gouzie

Read Across the World!

This week our entire class participated in
Read Across the World! Each child was asked to choose one of their favorite books and share a #shelfie (selfie with a book), recommend a book for others, and tell why they enjoy the book.  We had five computer stations set up in the classroom and each child had a turn going to a station.  Mrs. Klipfel and I were there to assist children as needed and to type in some of the important information, but the project was mostly done independently.  Children served as coaches, assisting other children as needed.  I was thrilled to see how eager the children were to share their shelfies, how tech savy they are becoming, and how nicely they worked togeher as children assisted other children with recording their shelfie!  I was also very pleased with the content of their shelfies, as they recommended books to others based on the lessons they learned from the books, connections they made with the characters in the stories, etc. Special thanks to Mrs. Klipfel for helping the children connect globally by participating in this exciting project!

You can click on the flipgrid link below to read book reviews from children all around the world,
 and to see if you can find your own shelfie!

Hip! Hip! Hooray! It's the 100th Day!

I

The children had a fun-filled, fantastic day today on our 
100th Day of First Grade!
 It's amazing to see all they have learned and the wonderful friendships that have blossomed
 in 100 Days of First Grade!
This afternoon we had our 100th Day Parade, sharing our 100th Day vests with the Preschool and Kindergarten classes.  We visited the office and Mrs. Willa too! 
Here are some pictures for you to enjoy. 

The children were so creative!

 

We sang this fun 100th Day song during our celebration!
You might want to ask your child 
if he/she can teach it to you!

100 Day Song

We have been together, together, together.

We have been together for 100 days!

We've been working and playing,

and sharing and caring.

We have been together for 100 Days!

Music Technology with Brent Daniels

Today the children were treated to a performance by Brent Daniels, an award-winning composer, producer, sound designer and recording artist.  Brent uses the latest in music technology to sculpt sound and create music.  Using a digital sampling keyboard workstation, a blend of audience participation (including dancing), high-energy music, information and humor, Brent created an exciting, 

one-of-a-kind performance for the children.

 Brent showed students the important relationship between the technology they have in their classrooms and at home and the creation of the music and sounds in everyday life.

This performance fit in perfectly with our Science Unit on Sound Energy!

Thank you to TESPTO for bringing this wonderful enrichment program to Steward School!

Global School Play Day!

The kids had so much fun today celebrating Global Play Day with several hours of unstructured free time to just play! I thought I would share Peter Gray’s TEDx video with you on the decline of play in our culture and the importance of play for the social and emotional development of children.

I hope you take a few minutes to watch this video after you have had a chance to look at some pictures from today. I found it very interesting, as it really sheds light on the relationship between the decline in play and the increase in social/emotional issues in children.

It also shows the positive aspects of engaging in play, such as giving children more opportunities to develop problem solving strategies and form positive relationships with peers while promoting creativity and a sense of well-being and happiness!

► 16:04

The decline of play | Peter Gray | TEDxNavesink - YouTube

YouTube‎ · ‎TEDx Talks