SNOWY DAY!

We had a half day of school because it was snowing hard. We went home at 12:30. Here's what we did:

Zoe - I played outside because we got locked out and had to climb in through a window.

Tragan - I stayed inside and played.

Hunter - I played outside and made a snow fort and had a snowball fight.

Corbin - I shoveled my driveway and our car.

Anthony - I went to grammy's and watched TV.

Catie - I had a snowball fight with my brother and sister.

Faith - I slept late and cuddled under quilts.

Taylor - I made snow angels and threw snow at my pepe.

Ryland - I made big, giant snowballs to throw at daddy.

Crysta - I went outside and played with my friends in the snow. We made snowmen all over the place!

Chantelle - I snuggled with mommy and watched a movie with daddy.

Leah - I worked on the computer.

Kaleigh - I stayed in my house and played.

Drake - I played in the snow with my friend and my dog.

Jayson - I played in the snow and Ryland came over and we had a snowball fight.

Sierra - I stayed in the house and played with my little sister.

Karsyn - I made snowballs and had a snowball fight.

Jazlyn - I made beautiful pictures for Santa Claus.

Lexi - I shoveled and went sledding.

Snow is gorgeous! It's fluffy and white and  freezing and wet, but we love it! When snow melts it becomes water. You can make ice cream from clean snow! We can make snow forts and snowmen and snowballs and snow tunnels and snow angels. We like being surprised and waking up to snow. Snow can be so much fun!

AND - We all searched for, and added, our own choice of snow photos ourselves! We checked for copyrights too. We picked snow pictures that we thought were beautiful.

We are Thankful!

Thanksgiving is a holiday when we are thankful for all of our blessings. Here are some things we are thankful for:

Faith - I am thankful for my family, God and Jesus, and birds.
Kaleigh- I am thankful for rainbows, mom and dad, and dogs.
Zoe - I am thankful for my family, horses, and birds, because I like waking up to their songs.
Anthony - I am thankful for my mom, and my brother, my home and TV, and my grandparents.
Hunter - I am thankful for turkey, my family, and my baby brother, and my dog.
Crysta - I am thankful for my family, my little kitty, and flowers.
Sierra- I am thankful for my pets, my family, and beaches.
Tragan- I am thankful for the gym, the library, my family, the art room, my dog and my friends.
Jazlyn- I am thankful for my cat, hugs and kisses, my family, cornucopias and Native Americans.
Ryland- I am thankful for cupcakes, brownies and toys.
Taylor- I am thankful for horses, cats, dogs, my parents, birds and everyone!
Drake- I am thankful for my mom, and my dog, and for my brothers and my friends.
Karsyn -  I am thankful for all of the colors, food, and especially the color purple, and everything, except for guns.
Corbin- I am thankful for my family, Jesus and God, and going fishing.
Lexi- I am thankful for my family, and my dog, rainbows, trees and apples.

Dylan- I am thankful for mom and dad, school, math and sunshine.
Leah- I am thankful for my cats, my family, the sun, my cozy bed, the flowers and my books.
Chantelle- I am thankful for pets, my family, food, houses, and clothes.
Catie- I am thankful for my pets, my family and my food.

The Weather in Maine

"The frost is on the pumpkin!"
When we woke up this morning, there was frost everywhere! We had to scrape the frost off the cars. Frost is white and cold. The warm fall days are over. Winter is coming. Time for warm clothes and staying warm.

Dr. Mathes' Visit

Dr. Mathes is a chiropractor. He came to our classroom to teach us about bones and staying healthy. The femur is the largest bone in your body. We have 20 phalanges all together. Our cranium protects our brain, so we should always wear a bike helmet. 

Chiropractors use their hands to keep you healthy. Chiropractors have always said no to drugs.They put your bones back where they belong. This is called an adjustment. 

We saw x-rays and saw some of the bones in our body. On the x-ray there is an "L" for left and "R" for right.  

We had a very nice day. We are glad that Dr. Mathes came to visit us.  

Our Fall Walk

We went on a fall walk. We picked up leaves that were different colors and shapes. We kicked through the leaves and it sounded crickly, crackly and crunchy. Then we rolled in the leaves. It felt prickly. There were lots of leaves flying around because it was windy. We saw beautiful trees with gorgeous colored leaves. We are so lucky to live in Maine where the leaves are so beautiful in the fall.

Our teacher read us "Leaf Man" and "Look What I Did with a Leaf". The books had beautiful photographs of things made with leaves. We love Leaf Man! We pressed our leaves in our math books overnight, then we made our own leaf pictures. We made people, mice, dogs, cats and other animals. Our classroom looked like fall inside and outside!

Dr. Reynold's Visit

Dr. Reynolds is a geologist and she came to our classroom to teach us about rocks. We each brought a rock to school. Dr. Reynolds told us what kind of rock it was. She gave us each a crystal of white quartz. She brought us cool rocks to look at and touch. It was amazing! Some rocks felt smooth and some rocks felt rough. The rocks were lots of different colors and shapes. They looked neat. One of them looked like it had an eye! One of them had a heart-shaped shell in it. There is a rock called fluoride and it goes in toothpaste. 

Thank you Dr. Reynolds - we had a great time! We learned a lot too.

Our French Friends in Auvre

Here are our e-Pals in France! They sent us a wonderful letter in French and English. We are very excited to have friends in France!

Things We Like in First Grade

Dylan - I like doing Challenges.
Crysta - I like using the cool glue sticks.
Catie - I like doing Buddy-and-a-Book.
Corbin - I like building reading stamina.
Ryland - I like Morning Meeting.
Faith - I like Read the Walls.
Sierra - I like singing at Morning Meeting.
Jazlyn - I like Spider Web.
Zoe - I like our class chants.
Jayson - I like Read to a Friend.
Chantelle - I like working on our computer whiteboard.
Drake - I like Choices and I like stories.
Lexi - I like the computer whiteboard. It  has colors.
Taylor - I like playing games on the computer whiteboard and writing to our e-pals on it.
Leah - I like having e-pals.
Karsyn - I like drawing and Choices.
Anthony - I like learning French.
Hunter - I like the computer whiteboard and hearing stories.


We all like using our computer whiteboard to visit other countries, especially Slovenia and France. It's really fun having e-pals!

School Days

Wake up!
Get dressed!
Catch the bus!
School has started
For all of us!
WELCOME BACK!

Last Days of School

I’m happy, I’m ready.
I’m silly, I’m sad.
I’m jolly, I’m jumpy.
I’m lazy, I’m glad.
I’ve got many feelings
Cause school’s almost done.
I’ll miss many things,
But the summer is F-U-N!

Emilia - I am going to Disney.
Ashley - I'll go swimming and go to a fun daycare.
Chris - I'm going to my camp and Animal Park.
Ben - I'm going to play outside.
Charlotte - I'm going outside in my pool and go swimming with my Barbies, and I'm cutting my long hair.
Matthew - I'm going swimming at my friend's house.
Heavenly - I'm going swimming!
Jenna - I'm going to summer rec and it's my mom's birthday.
Harley - I'm going to read!
Dylan - I'm doing summer cleaning.
Mary - I'm going strawberry picking and swimming.
Ashton - I'm going bike riding.
Lauren - I'm going to read chapter books and swim.
Corey - I'm going to play outside and have fun!
Hayden - I'm going to sleep late sometime.
Hailey - We're going to camp with Daddy.
Our teacher is going to read books on the beach.
HAPPY SUMMER!

From Ms. Holbrook

Here are some graduation pictures that I promised- with the cap; I know all the kids were dying to see the cap! I chose the second picture because, after getting your diploma, you move the tassle over to the other side. How is everything? I really miss you all. A big hello and hugs to all The Fish!

FLABBERGASTED!

We love learning big words! Today we learned that flabbergasted means stunned and surprised.
We were FLABBERGASTED to count 13 letters in the word; that's one half of the alphabet!
Michael- I was flabbergasted when I came in my house and saw my giant birthday cake!
Ben - I was flabbergasted when I saw a skunk in my house!
Cody - When the bird pooped on my brother, he was flabbergasted!
Lauren - Mom got me a puppy and I didn't know. I was flabbergasted when I got home!
Corey - I was flabbergasted that I was so sweaty that tears came down my face.
Matthew - I was flabbergasted when I came home off the bus and my mom told me I was going to Florida with her!
Charlotte - I was flabbergasted when Mom bought me the AquaSand game I wanted.
Chris - I was flabbergasted when the pool was set up because I didn't think it would work and it did!
Hailey - I was flabbergasted when Heavenly squished the spider!
Heavenly - When my dad bought me a Nintendo DS for my birthday, I was flabbergasted!
Ashley - It was so hot and sunny outside that I was flabbergasted!
Jenna - I was flabbergasted because my mom gave me a pony!
Harley - When mom got a horse for me, I was flabbergasted!
Emilia - I was flabbergasted when I found out I could spell lots of words!
Hayden - I was flabbergasted when my mom and dad bought me a video game.
Ashton - I was flabbergasted because I saw a blue dog!
Mary - I was flabbergasted when I got a Wii!

Ms. Holbrook is graduating from Colby College this year. We had a party and made cards and flowers and had a yummy cake. We did the Magic Penny too. Ms. Holbrook made a fish for each of us - even for our teacher! We will miss her a lot, and hope all her dreams come true. We can't wait to see her graduation pictures!

Starfish Facts

Ashley - Starfish do not have any teeth. Their suckers help them climb.
Charlotte - A starfish can grow a new ray if one gets eaten. There are 500 kinds of starfish.
Ben - They eat shellfish. They have hundreds of suckers.
Dylan - Starfish have no bones.
Jenna - Suckers on their rays help them move.
Harley - They use their rays to pull shellfish open and eat them.
Hayden - Starfish come in many colors. Some are hard to see. They have a spot on the tip of their ray - it tells night from day. They can't really see.
Michael - They put their stomach through a hole and put it around their food to eat. They are also called sea stars because they live in the sea, and they look like a star.
Chris - Fish eat starfish. They can climb up rocky walls.
Hailey - Starfish eat shellfish, and if a fish bites off its ray, it will grow back. A ray is an arm.
Matthew - Some starfish are smaller than your fingernail, and some are bigger than a dinner plate! Its favorite food is clams. Its mouth is under its body.
Emilia - Starfish eat without teeth!
Lauren - Starfish have another name; sea star.
Heavenly - They can have lots of arms and be lots of colors.

50 Tails for 50 Whales

We matched 50 whale tails puzzle pieces to their heads. On the back of the puzzle was the name of the
whale and information about the whale.
We found out about dolphins, orcas, narwhals,
blue whales, humpbacks, belugas, grays,
pilots, fins, right whales, minkes and sperm whales.
All together we had 100 puzzle pieces: 50+50=100.

Planting Our School Garden

Today we planted radishes in our school garden. The radish seeds are very tiny. We sprinkled seeds on top, and then we got a handful of soil to sprinkle on top of that. Next we watered our seeds. The radishes take 29 days to grow, so they will be ready at the end of May.

Inside Out Fairy Tale - by The Fish

Once upon a time there was a poor miller who had a daughter and a son. Their names were Hansel and Gretel. Hansel and Gretel had a mean stepmother who wanted Hansel to change gold into straw, because they were out of food for the cows and horses. The mean stepmother locked Hansel in a cottage in the woods and told him that if he didn't change the gold into straw, she would leave him there forever. Hansel didn't know what to do, so he licked a lollipop he found on the door. It was a magic lollipop and it made Goldilocks appear when he licked it. She came in and said, "Good evening Hansel. What will you give me if I help you change this gold into straw?" Hansel said, "I will give you this magic lollipop!" Goldilocks said, "I don't want a yucky lollipop." Hansel said, "I will make you a bowl of porridge." Goldilocks twirled her curls three times and all the gold changed into straw. The work was done and Goldilocks went away, but a little man came in and said, "What have you done with my gold? If you go near my gold again, you'll have to guess my name, or I'll turn your straw back into gold forever!" Hansel waved his magic lollipop three times and called for Gretel. Gretel recognized Rumpelstiltskin, but she knew it wasn't his real name. She told Hansel that his real name was Froggy. Hansel and Gretel followed the little man through the woods to his house, but the Three Bears were guarding his home. They snuck around to the back door and went in, and found Goldilocks. Goldilocks said, "Hi Froggy!" So Hansel told him, "Your name is really Froggy!" Rumpelstiltskin got so angry! He said, "Goldilocks! You yelled out my real name!" Hansel and Gretel said, "Aha!" Rumpelstiltskin was so angry that he jumped up into the air and transformed into a frog. He hopped away, and no one ever saw him again. The cows and the horses had enough straw to eat and they lived happily ever after. RIBBIT!



OUR CLASS DRAGON STORY

On Monday we persuaded our families to let us have a pet dragon.

On Tuesday our dragons came to school. We all flew in on our dragons! Mrs. McGee was aghast! We promised they would sit and listen. At lunch count the dragons asked for a Kindergarten Kid Sandwich. Mrs. McGee said, "NO!" So they had spaghetti, and they made us dragon toast. The dragons took us outside and we toasted marshmallows in their fire. At lunch recess we used the dragons for a big slide. We flew around until the bell rang. At Choices the dragons made a big mess with the crayons, glue and scissors. We were aghast! We made the dragons clean up. At story time they burnt the books because they were laughing so hard. When it was time to go home we flew to the apple orchard first. We had roasted apples. We made apple pie at home with our dragons. Dragons at school are cool!

GEORGE & MARTHA

We have been reading lots of George and Martha stories. We think they are very funny and we like them a lot. We wrote a class letter inviting George and Martha to come to our school. There are lots of hints about George and Martha stories in our letter. See if you can name all the stories we talk about!



Dear George and Martha,

Please come visit us at school. We are not going rollerskating, so you won't lose a tooth. We won't go swimming, so you don't have to worry about jumping off the high board. We are not seeing any scary movies, so George won't have to look for his invisible glasses.

We can study bugs together. We'll go to the beach and Martha will put on her suntan lotion. George can help us plant a garden. We'll make you a box of funny surprises that you both can open.

We will have a lot of fun. We hope you come!

Love,
The Fish

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. SEUSS!

To celebrate Dr. Seuss' 106th birthday we wrote a Dr. Seuss type story using our word study words for this week.

I sat on my rug with a mug. Oh no! There's a Clug in my mug! It's wearing a Zug! Have you seen a Clug wearing a Zug? It scared my bug, and it hopped in a jug. The jug had a plug held by a Nug. The Nug ate a slug! I hugged my Wug and went home - chug, chug!

We love Dr. Seuss stories!

GO WORLD!

We are very proud of all of the athletes at the Olympics. Some of us watched skiing and some of us watched skating. Some of us (including our teacher) stayed up waaay too late to watch! We liked seeing the Slovenian skiers win too. Ben saw the Slovenian team at the opening ceremonies. Go World!

Valentines for the Sparkles in Slovenia

Why We Love Our School

The PTA's 100 Day Project is 100 Reasons We Love Our School.
Here is our part:

Mary - Mrs. Wrigley is so nice to us. Our school does cool stuff like our holiday party and dancing together.
Dylan - We can play in the snow on the playground.
Emilia - Our teachers are the best. If you are sad, people care about you.
Charlotte - We have good, big classrooms. We like art.
Ben - We have a computer and a whiteboard in our room. We do really cool stuff with it.
MacKenzie - Our teachers love us. We have lots of windows and lots of sunshine and happiness.
Heavenly - Our playground is fun. If you get hurt, someone always helps you.
Harley - We like having a bathroom in our room.
Hailey - We all care about other people at this school. We have fun decorating our school for holidays.
Corey - We dance together. Mrs. McGee taught us how.
Chris - We like the dry erase board.
Ashley - We have a garden! We like having the bathroom in our room.
Jenna - Mrs. McGee tells us we are special and does fun things with us.
Mike - Mr. Mike and Mr. Jim help us a lot.
Lauren - We LOVE Mrs. McGee. Our school is very creative together.
Ashton - We are family! We like how we learn together.
Matt - Our outside teachers help us.
Hayden - We have good books.

OUR WISH FOR HAITI

We are very sorry you had an earthquake. We wish you all had food and water and medical care. We wish you had new homes and new buildings. We want you to have a safe life. Next Friday is Hats for Haiti Day. If we bring money we can wear a hat to school. We are going to send the money to help you. We are your friends and we care about you.
Love,
The Fish

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO THE SPARKLES!

We are very lucky to have good friends in Slovenia!

Thank you for the video Christmas greeting. We liked the song very much and we liked the pictures you made. We wish you a very Happy New Year! Srečno novo leto!