Congratulations Miss Lincoln!

Thanks to a few generous, local donors Miss Lincoln's Donor's Choose project was fully funded. Her new headphones arrived today. I have attached pictures of first graders working with their NEW bluetooth headphones! The first grade now owns 31 pairs of bluetooth headphones!

 

A BIG Thank-You to our generous donors...

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Jane Oliver-Gravel, Sara Mckenzie, Tashia Maureen, Kassie Lincoln, Mylissa Welch, Christina Purcell, Advancement Courses, and "The Golf Guys!"

Old Fort Western Field Trip

We had a great trip to Old Fort Western! The weather was beautiful and the kiddos were excited to learn about life long ago! They had the opportunity to learn about textiles. They helped card sheep's wool and watched it be spun into yarn. They learned about looms, how clothes were made and what fibers were used to make fabric. In the kitchen they learned about how they cooked long ago.  They made cinnamon, sugar toast. Each child helped grind the cinnamon and sugar and enjoyed eating the special treat they prepared. Outside they helped to split wood for the fire in the kitchen. Our group enjoyed learning about how they made fire and why they needed fire long ago. Our students also enjoyed playing games from long ago. We look forward to continuing our long ago study. A big THANK YOU to Erin Michaud for chaperoning on our trip. 

Let's Help Miss Lincoln!

Let's help Miss Lincoln with the last $52 of her project. She is working hard to get Bluetooth Headphones for her class!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

Here is a picture of Mrs. Verney's Class using their headphones from a Donor's Choose project that was flash funded by BJ's Wholesale!

Jog-a-Thon

Our kiddos had a blast doing the PTO sponsored "Jog-a-Thon!" If you haven't returned your envelope, there is still time!

Outdoor Classroom Day

First grade participated in #Outdoorclassroomday 

We spent the morning at Hidden Valley Nature Center in Whitefield. If you haven't been and want to spend some time in the woods with your family, this is a great place to do it. We walked in and ate snack at the barn. After we hiked to the yurt and saw the "Hidden Valley" before returning to school. When we returned we read books aloud outside, played a game as a whole group, Mrs. Lincoln's class had the opportunity to press cider and we did some drawing and writing in the Christmas trees. We of course had to end the day with extra recess. We would like to thank Erin Michaud and Carolyn Siegel for joining us on our trip. We always appreciate our classroom chaperones.

New Bridges Math Program

First grade is learning math as a community this year. We are using a new math program called Bridges. Mrs. Welch is in charge of our math instruction in first grade.  Students are really excited about the new program. They are making great observations during math, explaining their thinking and practicing first grade math skills as a group.

Our new program has three major components that make up our math time. The first is called "Number Corner." Each morning we start our day as a group with Number Corner. Number Corner is the Bridges version of the daily calendar routine. Each month, the calendar set up changes.  There is a different pattern on the calendar grid each month. The students make observations and share what patterns they notice in the calendar grid. As a group we also track how many days are in school, representing numbers within a ten frame, and making equations. Each month the focus changes but continues to tie into the first grade Common Core Math Standards.  Please see the attached pictures of components from October Number Corners. 

After our snack/recess break, we move into our daily Bridges math lesson with Mrs. Welch. During this time students practice math skills, do journal work, or learn to play math games. At the start of the year we found it challenging to come together as a whole group. We were still working on creating our routines and remembering how to sit quietly on the rug and listen during a lesson. Now that we are in the second month of school our students have made so many gains. They are able to sit and participate as a whole group. It's amazing to see such growth in a short period of time. 

The third component to our math programming is called "Work Spaces." Work Spaces is a similar set up to math work stations. Students work in stations using math manipulatives or playing math related games. During this time, we pull small groups to do skill work, assess students progress and provide math intervention to students in need. 

As a group we are enjoying many aspects of the new math program. We appreciate any feedback you have about math homework. 

October Special Events and Dates to Remember!

Upcoming Events and Dates to Remember!

• October 6th- No School! Teacher Workshop Day
• October 9th- No School! Columbus Day
• October 11th- Jog-a-Thon

This is a PTO sponsored activity. Donation envelopes will come home 10/3. The PTO works hard to support teachers and make sure our students have what they need to learn!

• October 12th-Outdoor Classroom Day

First Graders will go to the Hidden Valley Nature Center for the

morning. We will return before lunch. Students will spend the     morning outside. This is a rain or shine trip. Please dress your child in layered clothing and if the forecast calls for rain, please pack a raincoat and boots.

• October 12th- Jog-a-Thon rain date
• October 17th- Field trip to Old Rock Schoolhouse in Bristol.

This trip will kick off our “Life Long Ago” unit. We will learn what it was like to be a student in the late 1800’s. We will split into two groups. Mrs. Verney’s class and half of Mrs. Welch’s class will depart at 8:30. Miss Lincoln and the second half of Mrs. Welch’s class will depart around 9:15. The first group will return around 9:45. The second group will return around 10:15.

• October 19th- Old Fort Western Field Trip in Augusta

We will depart at 9:35 and return around 2:15. Students will need

to dress is layers. The fort is not heated and we will be spending

time outdoors. We will have lunch on site. If your child needs a

lunch from the cafeteria, please fill out the form that came home in your child's folder on 10/3 and return it to school as soon as possible.

• October 31st- Halloween and Pumpkin Day

This will be a fun, pumpkin themed day. We will veer from our

regular schedule to do some extra special activities. First graders

are not allowed to wear their Halloween costumes to school.

*If you are interested in chaperoning on any field trips, please contact your child’s classroom teacher*

Donor's Choose Helps Public School Teachers

Hello First Grade Families,

Many of you reached out this summer or at the beginning of the school year to ask for a list of supplies your child will need for first grade. In first grade, we do not ask parents to provide any materials at the beginning of the year. As the school year progresses and needs arise, we occasionally send a request out to families for a specific supply. Most of the supplies we need we are able to purchase with our classroom budget money or out of pocket. For larger items such as easels, technology, leveled books, seating options, etc we use a website to help us acquire the materials and supplies we need. Donor's Choose is a non-profit company who works directly with public school educators to help them stock their classroom's with the necessities and other materials that will impact student learning.  Teachers can create a request for a material and Donor's Choose partners individuals and companies to help fund projects. This summer, I was lucky enough to have a project fully funded by BJ's Wholesale. One day this summer they decided to flash fund ALL of the projects in Maine that were posted. It was a very happy day for many teachers in Maine. A couple weeks later we received 18 pairs of bluetooth headphones. Student will make thank-you cards for donors and we will post pictures of students using the materials on our Donor's Choose page. Currently our grade has 5 active projects. Please visit the links below and check out our requests. We would appreciate you sharing our projects with family and friends via e-mail and/or social media.  We will happily accept donations as well. Every dollar counts and helps our projects get more recognition(which means a better chance our project getting funded)! All donations are tax-deductible.

Don't forget to stop by the PTO meeting on Thursday, October 5th at 6:00. Megan and Kassie will be presenting about Donor's Choose to the PTO and presenting ways that the PTO might be able to partner with teachers to help get their projects funded.

Miss Lincoln's projects:

https://www.donorschoose.org/project/learning-with-tiggly/2731967/

https://www.donorschoose.org/project/hear-the-difference/2660451/

Mrs. Verney's projects:

https://www.donorschoose.org/project/interactive-reading-and-writing-for-1st/2731543/

https://www.donorschoose.org/project/every-student-has-their-spot/2749298/

Mrs. Welch's project:

https://www.donorschoose.org/project/easely-accessible/2814176/

This is Mrs. Welch's first project. Use the code "LIFTOFF" at checkout to match your donation!

September Celebration

We had a lot to celebrate in September. We hold our monthly celebrations on the last school day of the month and honor students and their successes!

This month we celebrated...

• 7 Birthdays
• 40 Students who did their math or reading homework everyday
• 3 Students who earned free books 
• 3 TOP BANANAS!