December Update

Our December birthdays are done - we had six in a row! Now we can focus on our December holiday/Christmas party. As I mentioned earlier, we will not be exchanging gifts , and that includes children and teachers. We will welcome gifts for the class to use. Suggestions for these gifts are : crayons, coloring books, storybooks, markers, play doh, games and puzzles. All of these items will come in handy during our indoor recesses that happen frequently during the winter. As far as food for the celebration goes, we will just have a regular snack time, and I may come up with a small surprise. We won't be having anything beyond that. We will have fun with the new recess materials though!

Speaking of recess and winter: We do go out in quite cold weather, so please make sure your child is dressed warmly, with mittens and hats especially important. The temperature in the classroom is variable, so dressing in layers is helpful.

December Notes

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a taste of winter here in Concord yesterday. Luckily, I got home from shopping just before the snow arrived. December will be a short but busy month. Report cards will go home and parent conferences are next week. If you have not signed up for a conference, it is not too late to schedule one. If the dates arranged are not convenient for you, we can choose a better date and time. December is a fun time for kids, and I have several projects and seasonal activities planned. If you celebrate a holiday other than Christmas, let me know so we can celebrate at school as well. We have many December birthdays, so I am planning a party for all birthdays next week. We will have a small Christmas party as well. If you were planning on buying any gifts for school, teacher or student, I ask that you purchase something for the class - coloring books, markers, play doh, paints, games, storybooks all would make great classroom gifts. Just wrap the gift, and your child can open it at the party. Everyone enjoys this event, as the gifts are really for all.

Halloween Parade Pictures

There are several sets of Halloween pictures posted on this blog. Be sure to view all of them. Be sure you see the beautiful banner made by Joey's mom and sister, Sogna and Andrea. On to Thanksgiving!

Halloween Pictures

Halloween Pictures

Halloween Pictures

Coming soon: Halloween pictures!

October Update

The countdown is on to Halloween, and the children are very excited. Halloween is lots of fun, but we will try to keep to our regular schedule this week, until Friday afternoon of course. We will not be having a class party for Halloween, so no treats please. Joey's mom (and big sister?) have volunteered to make our banner for the parade - Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!
A lot of information went home with the children this week, especially about reading opportunities. I hope you will all participate in the Bartlett Reading Program. You should have received an information sheet and book log. Just have your child read (or read to him/her) for fifteen minutes a night, and fill out one line on the log. When the log is done, return it to school. We are hoping for 100% participation in our class. Even if you don't read every night, the log can be filled in as you read, and turned in whenever it is full. Ms. Doris remarked this week on how well the children were reading, and it will only get better the more they read. We also have a Scholastic Book Fair at school this week, which I did not realize when I sent home the book club book orders. Our day to shop at the fair is Thursday, so you may send in money any day this week and we will shop on Thursday. The fair will also be open on Spooky Story Night, which I believe is Thursday as well.

Halloween Updates

As I am sure you know, we will be celebrating Halloween on the 29th with a parade in the village. I was reminded that our class needs a banner to march under. I wonder if anyone is crafty, and would like to volunteer to make said banner? It should be fabric, about 3 or 4 feet by 2 to 3 feet. It needs to say Mrs.Starvish's class, and have appropriate fall/Halloween decorations. I will reimburse you for materials, so if you can help out, let me know! In other Halloween news, the children have completed about half of their Halloween mobiles - they will go home next week. This week I hope to send home Everyday Math logins, so your child can play math games on line at home. I will also send home a Scholastic book order. They have good books at very reasonable prices. Don't forget about the trip to the Orchard on Wednesday 10/13. Each child needs a lunch and drink, no glass please.

Street excavations, writing, and other first grade news.

This past week was an exciting one in room one. The big trucks and other equipment were very active right outside of our windows digging up the street. The whole building shook! The kids did a good job ignoring all this and staying on task, however. We finished the first unit in math, and are more than halfway through our first unit in Reading Streets. We also started science, and wrote our first real stories. We learned that stories need a beginning, a middle and an ending, so the kids were asked to be sure that their stories had all of these. I like to keep the children's writing for a semester, so I (and they) can see their progress. I will send these stories home so you can see them too, but please send them back. You may notice errors in spelling- at this stage in the writing we are focusing on content. As the children become more proficient spellers, this will be reflected in their writing.
This week September turns into October, which of course means fall and Halloween! Today I took out my fall decorations, including a mobile made by my daughter in first grade 26 years ago! I think I will borrow the concept for my students - so watch for a family heirloom coming home some time in October. I hope yours lasts as long as mine has.

Technology and Other News

I hope your first grader was excited about our first use of the computer lab on Friday. They did very well signing on and getting right to work on Kidspiration. We adults have had a few more problems. Parents have been unable to reach me via email, and I think it is because you have been trying to click on my address on the Bartlett website. I tried this myself, and it did not work! If you use your email, and type in my address - mstarvish@goffstown.k12.nh.us, it should work. Let me know if it does not. Re: Power School, you will be mailed from the office a login and password, probably in October. In the meantime, notices will be sent home on Thursdays. I sent home lunch account numbers on Friday - please help your child learn his/her number, and you can use it when you send in money for their accounts. On some non-tech matters:
Homework folders are very important, right now for sending home important messages. Please make every effort to send the homework folder in your child's backpack every day. Math homework will begin shortly. If your child brings home an incomplete worksheet, he/she does not have to complete it unless I have written homework on it. If you want to help them complete it, that is fine of course. Remember to read Summer of Riley.
And finally - No School On Tuesday - due to primary voting at our school.

First Day of School

Well, we survived the heat - and are finished with our first day. The children were wonderful - we kept things very low key. They did have art class, listened to several stories, and wrote about their talents. They also practiced their reading. Tomorrow we will do more writing and hopefully do some real math. Thank you for sending in the Tell me about your child sheets - I will send more home in the homework folders on Friday if I did not get yours. A few things to remember: Water bottles are fine to bring to school, and they can be refilled at the bubbler during the day. The kitchen keeps track of lunch and snack money, and sometimes children order something when they really should not be. If you discover your child is ordering and eating food from school when you are sending food in from home, just let me know. Menus are going home tomorrow. Stay cool!

Welcome to Bartlett.

The Wanderer

Hannah, Sujanah, and Jenna wrote and performed this skit based on Sharon Creech's novel The Wanderer.

Coming Attractions

Coming soon - Wanderer Video.

Thoughts on blogging.

It has been way too long since my last post. I have to admit to being a reluctant blogger, and I think I have figured out part of the reason why. This weekend I took a few minutes (35, actually) and listened to a podcast of a discussion between Nancie Atwell (author of In the Middle, and middle school teacher extraordinaire) and Tom Newkirk, award winning English professor at UNH. Nancie mentioned that when her students compose on the computer, she has them print out their writing every couple of days and read it over. This gives them the distance they need to reflect on their writing and make appropriate revisions. When I write, I like to come up with a draft, let it sit a day or two, and then reread it and make changes. Blogging is a more immediate kind of writing. Of course, I can save my post, and revisit it on another day, but that is not really the blogging process. That brings me to another excuse for not blogging - taking the time! Watch for at least two more postings this school year.

By the way - I highly recommend the podcast. It can be found on the Heinemann website.

Loser by Jerry Spinelli

In December, Jeremy, Ben, Hannah, Samantha, Sujana and Jenna entertained their classmates with an original play based on the novel Loser by Jerry Spinelli. Hannah created and acted as the car, Clunker (4). Ben starred as Donald Zinkoff AKA Loser. Jeremy played Mr. Zinkoff and the Waiting Man. Jenna played Claudia, and Samantha was Claudia's mom. Sujana kept everybody on track as the narrator.