Fall Festival and Zoo Info!

Good Afternoon,

Last Friday we had Fall Festival and celebrated the (somewhat) cooler weather with pumpkin bowling, face painting, and beach ball volleyball. There was a sack race, noodle game and a team game where we had to get the birdseed from one bucket to the other using a spoon. Thank you to all the parent volunteers who helped coordinate the event and who volunteered their time to work at the stations. Thanks to you, the kids had a great time! I’ve attached some pictures to this post that I took but a few more will go up soon that Mrs. Waugh took of our class.

In math, we have been graphing the daily temperature and looking at trends. We are now looking at the difference between the morning and afternoon temperature. We have been curious to look to see the trend in the daily fluctuation. I have started hearing them talk about the temperature when we go to recess if it has warmed up a good bit since the morning, whether it is warmer than the day before, etc. This kind of data gives us so much to explore in terms of weather and daily math we see in the world.

In reading and writing we have been reading several big books together using strategies for sounding out words and using context clues like looking at the details in the pictures. We are learning two songs that are familiar (Love can build a bridge) but need practicing for our grandparents celebration and the kids are very excited about these. We also have so many author shares as kids finish great pieces of writing. They are patterning them off of books we read, each other's work, and many are using the Halloween theme to come up with imaginative stories. We are in the midst of cleaning out our folders and reflecting on past work and the progress that has been made thus far this year in their writing. Some of their work may be coming home if they have a great many already finished in their folder.

On Friday we have our school Zoo trip! We are all looking forward to it and we have been practicing observing animals by viewing other zoo cameras. This has allowed us to single out small details like behavior and habitats. We will continue this tomorrow to prepare us to make great observations and get the most out of the zoo trip.

Zoo Notes:

Please remember it is a long day so make sure your child gets a great night sleep the night before and wears walking shoes. Also, if they have a CFI t-shirt we encourage them to wear it.

For those attending:

*Our school buses will leave CFI shortly after 9:00. Because of the vast number of family members going, there are no open seats on the bus. Thank you for just planning to meet us there at the front gate. We will be arriving at the zoo at approximately 10:00 in the first grade bus.

*Our class will be in the last group eating lunch. We will meet at the Pavilion by the Farm promptly at 12:30.

*Our groups will then all walk to the front gate inside the zoo at 12:50 for a final count of our first grade class before we exit to the buses.

*Please email to let me know if you are going to be with our class the entire time. If you have a child at CFI in another class and want to spend time with them, too, we so understand and appreciate that. However, I hope you can see how difficult it would be for us to keep up with who is coming and going. Therefore, I will group children with teachers and parents who will definitely be with our class the whole time. You are welcome to join other groups and walk from place to place.

*Your child can leave with you, if you attend, after we all finish at the Zoo but you must come to me First and check them out so that I know they are leaving. We understand if you want to continue with them at the zoo or take them home early but it has to be after the field trip is finished at 1:00 and any other children you chaperone must be of course brought back to me and checked in for the bus departure.

Have a great night and I will see many of you on Friday!

Upcoming Special Days:

Friday, November 4: Whole-school Field Study to the Zoo

Friday, November 11: It's a Grand Day (Grandparent Celebration) and Movie Night

Book Fair is Next Week