Happy Halloween!

We had a jam-packed Halloween week!

We finished publishing our small moments stories and celebrated by sharing our stories with the students in Mrs. Lincoln's class!

We dissected Barn Owl pellets to see what they ate for prey!

We made owl masks in preparation for Chewonki's live owls visit and Halloween!

On Thursday, Chewonki visited Rowe School and brought some very special guests!  Huntington the Screech Owl, Olivia the Great Horned Owl, and Veria the Barred Owl.  Just when we thought we knew everything about owls, we learned...

*Screech Owls can be grey or red.
*Owl have feathers covering their entire talon, unlike the bald eagle or other birds of prey.
*Owls get rid of excess body heat by drooling!

Check out some photos from their visit...

What We've Been Up To...

We've been studying the lifecycle of owls this week.  The first graders have been hard a work making owl lifecycle wheels to teach family and friends their newfound knowledge!

Our first round of story publishing is in full swing!  Writers' workshop has been filled with meticulous handwriting, detailed drawings, book spelling, and fancy laminated covers.  These first graders LOVE publishing...I have a feeling there will be many more published books in our future!

We're still studying digraphs!

Pattern-making was the name of the game in math this week.

We made our Rowe School bus drivers some cards to show how much we appreciate them.  Whether it's bringing your child to and from school each day, to the occasional friend's house, or on field trips, these wonderful people do so much to keep Rowe students safe.

We were lucky enough to get sneak peek into the Dave Mason's world of storytelling.  He only told 2 stories, but the students were hooked!  He'll be telling more Halloween stories next Wednesday evening at YES as a fundraiser for the PTO.   Here's just a quick clip from his time at Rowe!

Week 7

Here are a few shots from our  4 day week.  Enjoy!

We started our owl science unit this week!  

Students are very interested in learning more about owl babies, owl anatomy, and how owls move.

Our word study focus this week was digraphs.  Students practiced sounding out words with the ch, ck, sh, th, and wh digraphs.  I'm already noticing lots of digraphs in stories!

We made our spelling words into rainbow words.

We learned some new math games that focus on coin counting.

Fire Safety Week, Reading Buddies, and More!

We had a great week learning all about fire safety from all of the firefighters at YFD.  On Tuesday we visited them at the station and got to tour the fire trucks and ambulances.  On Wednesday, the firefighters brought the smoke trailer to Rowe School so that we could practice moving and exiting safely in smokey conditions.  The students had a wonderful time and learned lots of ways to stay safe.

We also started our kindergarten buddy reading program with Mrs. Melevsky's class!  Each Wednesday afternoon, we will meet with our K buddies to practice our literacy skills together.  So far, I think it's a hit with the students!

In math we've started learning about, counting, and exchanging coins.  This is a math skill we will work on throughout the entire school year.

Happy long weekend, everyone!

Snapshots From Our Week

We started completing  text-to-self connection book sheets this week!

Our readers' workshop is now in full swing!

 We are bringing our stories to life!

We practiced using rulers and dominoes in math this week!