Raise the Roof STEM Challenge

Recently, the children participated in the Raise the Roof STEM challenge! The groups were so engaged during this project. I was thrilled to see such wonderful collaboration, creativity, and perseverance!

Teacher Appreciation Week

Dear Families,

     Thank you for making Teacher Appreciation Week so special for me! I love the creative artwork and all the lovely cards from the children! The surprise lunch from Panera was such a wonderful treat, it was enjoyed for several days.  Your thoughtfulness was greatly appreciated!

                                                Sincerely,
                                                Kathleen Gouzie
                                                                               

Animal Habitats

Today the children were treated to a program about Animal Habitats, which was presented by the 

Museum of Science.  The Museum brought live animals for the children to observe for clues that determined the animals' ideal shelter and food.  

The children were then challenged to pick the suitable habitat for each animal.  At the end of the presentation, the children had the opportunity to touch skin, bones and feathers so they could feel some of the characteristics that help each animal survive.  

You might want to ask your child about what they observed today, as well as the predictions and inferences they made about the optimal habitat for the animals they saw.  Special thanks to the members of TESPTO for funding this wonderful educational program for our First Graders! 

Doubles and Doubles Plus and Minus One, Lets Have Some Fun!

During our Math Workshop times, we have been learning lots of new math strategies while learning our doubles facts.  Learning our doubles facts helps us solve problems quickly.  If we know that 7+ 7 = 14, then 14-7=7.  When solving 7+8, we can use the doubles plus one strategy.  If we know that 7+7=14, then 7+8=7+7+1, which equals 15.  We could also use the doubles minus one strategy to solve this problem.  If we know that 8+8=16, then 7+8=8+8-1, which equals 15! Knowing our doubles facts and using the doubles plus and minus one strategies makes solving problems much easier!  Here's a picture of some of the games I made to help us learn our doubles facts and to help us practice our doubles plus and minus one strategies while making our Math Workshop times so much fun!

Here are some of our favorite Doubles Games!

Here's some games that help us practice the Doubles Plus and Minus One Strategies while having fun!

Here we are during our Math Workshop times and W.I.N. times playing games while learning our 

Doubles facts and using the Double Plus and Minus One strategies while having some fun!

During our unit on Addition and Subtraction to 20, we also learned the Make a 10 strategy to help us solve problems quickly.  For example, when solving 8+5 we can break the 5 into a 2 and a 3, and add the 2 to the 8 to make a 10.  By taking the 2 from the 5 and adding it to the 8, we have made 8+5 equal to 10+3, which equals 13.  We have been using cubes to build problems and quickly regroup to make a ten, which makes problems much easier to solve.  When children become more comfortable using this strategy, they start to automatically look at equations in a different way.  When solving 9+6 they quickly see that they can mentally make a 10 and 9+6 becomes 10+5, which equals 15!

You can have your child show you how we use this strategy and practice this strategy at home by having your child use pennies instead of cubes, just remind them to build the problems by making a ten frame so they can see how to make a ten quickly. Some of the children may even be ready to use mental math strategies to automatically make a ten.  

You can even use a deck of cards to play a fun card game to reinforce the doubles plus and minus one and make a ten strategies! Simply take out the Jacks, Queens and Kings in a deck of cards and place the rest of the cards in a pile between you and your child.  Have your child flip over 2 cards and find the sum as quickly as possible.  If your child gets an 8 and a 6 for example, instead of watching them count on from the 8, encourage them to make a 10 by taking 2 from the 6 and adding it to the 8 to make a 10.  Now 8+6 becomes 10+4, which equals 14.  

If your child isn't ready to do this using mental math strategies, then they can use pennies, buttons or any other small counters to help them work the problem out.  Again, just remind them to build the problems by making a ten frame.  You can play a game with a child similar to "war", where each person take turns flipping over two cards, finding the sum as quickly as possible using our new strategies.  The person with the greatest sum wins that round and takes all 4 cards!

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