Finding Combinations of Numbers

One of our math targets is: "I can find different combinations of numbers up to 10". For example:
5 + 5 = 10, 1 + 9 = 10, 7 + 3 = 10.

The students have been exploring this through math games. Two games are "Heads and Tails" and "How Many am I Hiding?" They use either pennies or connecting cubes to explore the different ways to make 6, 7, or 8.

Another activity we use to learn this target is called "Peas and Carrots". If you have 7 in all, how many peas and how many carrots could you have of each? This is a different kind of question for the students to explore, because with story problems there was only one answer. This type of question has many answers.

Check out the games:

So Nice to See You!

It was wonderful to see a lot of you for Parent Conferences! While it makes for long days for Mrs. Pelletier and me, it is certainly time well spent! We are a team in your child's learning experience. Getting to know families is just as important as knowing the student. Thank you for your support at home, we all want your child to have a fun, successful year in first grade!

Here is a link to an article from PBS Parents about supporting your child at home:

The Role of Parents

Thanks again!
Mrs. Caron

Field Trip Fun!

Tuesday morning the three first grades at Skillin went on our first field trip! The Rideout and Jordan families of South Portland and Cape Elizabeth welcomed us to their farm, The Alewive's Brook Farm in Cape Elizabeth. Caitlyn Jordan led us on a tour of the farm with important stops to pick green beans, carrots, beets, peppers, potatoes, and finally pumpkins. Phew...farming is hard work! We also got to feed the chickens and taste apple cider as part of our snack. Although a bit rainy and drizzly at times, we had an awesome time learning about farming in a fun, engaging way!

Check out the farm's site: Alewive's Brook Farm

And check out the photos:

 Caitlin welcomes us to the farm and talks to us about the green beans we will harvest.

We are First Grade Farmers!

 

Bees on the farm are an important part of helping the crops grow.

Green beans are in the bag!

Check out this carrot!

Good lookin' green pepper!

The chicken coop.

Feeding the chickens.

 

 

Farmer Jodie used the tractor and potato digger to dig up the potatoes for us!

 

Time to pick a pumpkin from the patch!

THANK YOU FARMER CAITLIN AND YOUR FARM FAMILY!!

 

It's Fun to Read with a Buddy!

A Visit from Chewonki!

Chewonki is an environmental education organization based in Wiscasset. Each year, Skillin is fortunate to have teachers from Chewonki visit each grade level for an hour long program about various topics. The program in first grade is called, "Fur, Feathers, and Feet". Here is what our teacher, Matt, taught us and showed us:

Mammals
Breathe air, have fur or hair, are warm blooded, mammals are born alive, drink milk...we are mammals!
 

                                                    Beaver paw - webbed for swimming

                                         Caribou's hooves help them to run fast on their toes

                                                   Echo the bat eating meal worms

                    A bear getting his under fur (for warmth) and guard fur (waterproof) put on

                                                                    A friendly bear!


Birds
Feathers for camouflage and to fly, have a beak, hatched from eggs

                 Bird skulls with different shaped beaks - long and thin feet for walking in the water
 

          Downy feathers keep a bird warm and outer feathers to fly and camouflage - cute birdie! 
 

                                                   Peepers the duck (thinks he's a person!)

                                                   A fun way to feel fur, feather, and feet!

If you would like to learn more about Chewonki, check them out here: Chewonki

Looking to Volunteer?

Volunteer Training Sessions:

Tuesday, Oct. 13, 6:00 - 6:30 PM, South Portland High School
Thursday, Oct. 15, 6:00 - 6:30 PM, South Portland High School

These are in addition to the Volunteer Training sessions scheduled on a regular monthly basis:

Monday, October 19, 6 PM, SPHS Learning Commons  
Tuesday, November 3, 6 PM, SPHS Learning Commons
Wednesday, December 2, 6 PM, SPHS Learning Commons
Thursday, January 7, 6 PM, SPHS Learning Commons
Monday, February 8, 6 PM, SPHS Learning Commons
Tuesday, March 8, 6 PM, SPHS Learning Commons
Wednesday, April 6, 6 PM, SPHS Learning Commons
Thursday, May 5, 6 PM, SPHS Learning Commons
Tuesday, May 31, 9 AM, SPHS Learning Commons
Tuesday, May 31, 6 PM, SPHS Learning Commons
Wednesday, June 1, 9 AM, SPHS Learning Commons
Wednesday, June 1, 6 PM, SPHS Learning Commons


All sessions are open to anyone, no registration required. 


FMI, pls. contact Molly Aldrich, 773-5629, ext. 3432 or aldricmo@spsd.org

Peace Day and Peace Flags

Yesterday Skillin School celebrated International Peace Day (the actual date is September 21st). It was celebrated with books and songs of peace and making "peace flags" to help spread peace in our community and the world. The peace flags were placed outside in the circle where we gathered as a school at the end of the day. In our classroom we also linked peace to words we have been learning: responsibility, cooperation, and assertion.

Look at these happy, peaceful kids!

C is for Cooperation!

Today we read the book, Ribbit Rabbit by Candace Ryan.

It's the story of a frog and rabbit who are BEST friends. They love to play together but....they don't always get along. Uh-oh. In the end, they learn to work together, share their things, and support each other. That sounds like cooperation!! These are things we do in the classroom, but it's nice to have friendly reminders here and there. Also, there are ways of cooperating that you may not have thought about. Check out the photos of our cooperation activity:

Caron's kids love Kids A-Z!

The students were excited to get on Kids A-Z (formally known as Raz-kids) Friday morning! We read several books on my account to practice using the site earlier in the week. We also took the quizzes to test our comprehension. Kids A-Z is a fun, engaging way to learn to read, practice reading, practice comprehension, and explore fiction and nonfiction books.

To access Kids A-Z at home:  Kids A-Z
Teacher: mcaron4

Happy Reading!

Very focused! 

 Choosing a book...

 Reading and taking a quiz.