SEAHORSES

Dylan - Seahorses are fish.

Their tails are curly. The babies are very tiny. They don't have teeth. Seadragons look like seaweed.

Chantelle - Seahorses hold on to seaweed with their tails so they don't float away.

Leah - The mom gives the eggs to the father. They do a mating dance.

Sierra - Seahorses come in all different colors. Their enemies are bigger fish and people.

Corbin - They eat little shrimp. Their skeleton is outside of their body. It's an exoskeleton.


Crysta  - Seahorses swallow their food whole.

Zoe - They eat by sucking food into their mouth like a vacuum. People are harvesting them and that's not good.


Taylor - Seahorses look like horses because their
noses are the same. People harvest them to eat them. They have fins behind their ears.

Jaz - They are the only animal where dad's have the babies. There are lots of kinds of seahorses, including seadragons.

Karsyn - They push their babies out from their stomach pouch.

Faith - They use their back fin to swim.

Tragan - They also use their tail to swim.

Catie - They have hundreds of babies at a time.

Cam - They can change colors a little.

Signs of Spring

We went outside to look for signs of spring. It was beautiful out! We are learning to take close-up pictures too.

ENOUGH SNOW!

It snowed on April Fool's Day, and we have had enough snow. We found a poem about SUNflakes by Frank Asch and made some sunflakes. We wrote a poem about snow too. We are tired of snow pants and boots. We are ready for SPRING!

The Tale of Custard The Dragon

Temperatures

Today we compared the temperature here with the temperature in Slovenia. It was 34 degrees Fahrenheit here, and 64 degrees Fahrenheit in Slovenia. We found out it was 30 degrees warmer in Slovenia. Some of us counted by 10's to find out. We decided we'd all like to go to Slovenia and visit our friends there.

Do you know that in Slovenia they measure their temperature in Celsius? It was 15 Celsius in Slovenia and 1 Celsius here. Pretty cool.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We all wore all the green we could find. We counted and found out we wore 94 pieces of green! We like the green, curly wig and thought it was cool. We had our own personal leprechaun too! Too bad our leprechaun didn't have any gold.  Cam brought in sparkling shamrocks and we each got one. 
We practiced our Star Words on the IWB,  and shamrocks were covering the words. We pulled Star Words out of a leprechaun's hat too. We had green apples and green grapes for snack. Some of us brought a green jello snack and a green shamrock cookie snack.  We heard a story about leprechauns and we wrote about leprechauns. We persuaded the leprechauns to give us their gold. We went up to visit our principal to wish her a Happy St. Patrick's Day, and we took a picture with her. We gave her a sparkling shamrock too. We made hats that said, "Happy St. Patrick's Day" and we got green glow-in-the-dark bracelets. We had an amazing St. Patrick's Day!

Whales

We built a pilot whale skeleton. We looked at pictures and diagrams to know how to do it. We used all the bones in the spine. The bones in the spine are called vertebrae. The whale has 7 vertebrae in its neck, just like us. All mammals have 7 neck vertebrae; even a giraffe! The vertebrae in the whale's tail have extra bones, called chevrons. The chevrons help the whales muscles to work better.

The whale's skull was huge! The holes on top of the whale's skull are its blowholes so it can breathe.

We were surprised to find out that whales have 5 phalanges, just like us! Whales have a scapula, just like us. Whales have ribs, just like us, but their ribs are much bigger.

We saw baleen. Baleen is what is in the mouth of whales that don't have teeth. The orca tooth was really big! 

Thank you to our PTA for getting us this wonderful program!

Doubles Facts

This is our first photography book. We chose the things to use to show the doubles facts, and we arranged them on a piece of colored paper. We got to pick the color. Then we took all of the photographs ourselves. Some of us had used a digital camera before, but for some of us it was the first time. It was FUN! We hope to make more books like this one.

We each got our own copy of the book to take home too.

Animals in the Arctic

We watched Arctic Tale. It was an awesome movie. We found out that the ice in the Arctic is melting too quickly. That means the polar bears don't have enough food. It also means they may not have a place to live. Some of the polar bears are dying. We want to have polar bears around when we grow up.

We hope people will recycle, save energy, save electricity, and bring their own bags to go shopping. We can help save the polar bears!

IT'S SNOWING! for our friends in Slovenia, The Sparkles

 

We saw the video that our friends, The Sparkles, made. It inspired us to make our own video. We went outside and took pictures and used a video camera. We had fun. We thought the snow was gorgeous and sparkling! We are enjoying all of our snowstorms. 

Our New Year's Wishes

Drake: I wish I was Buzz Lightyear. I wish everybody had puppies.

Karsyn: I wish I was married to a princess! I wish the world could have the honesty of generation - that everyone would be nice to everyone else.

Taylor: I wish for a snowman! I wish for the world to have dogs! 

Faith: I wish for a cat! I wish everybody could have horses!

Zoe: I wish I could live with Faith! I wish everybody would be nice!

Corbin: I wish I was a dinosaur! I wish for everybody in the world to be nice.

Jazlyn: I wish for a magic unicorn. I wish for everybody to have ponies!

Lexi: I wish for an apple. I wish everybody would be honest.

Hunter: I wish for a PS3! I wish everybody could have a hat!

Leah: I wish for a dog! I wish everybody could be friends.

Chantelle: I wish I was rich. I wish the world would be filled with happiness!

Catie: I wish for a unicorn and I want everyone in the whole wide world to be nice to each other! 

Ryland: I wish I had gas for my bike. I wish every day was Easter all around the world!

Dylan: I wish I was in second grade. I wish that everybody had a home!  

Jayson: I wish for a dirt bike! I wish for the world to have snow!

Tragan: I wish for a dinosaur! I wish that no one in the world would be a bully!

Sierra: I wish I had a pet reindeer. I wish for the world that everyone could be peaceful!

Kaleigh: I wish for a bike. I really wish people were nice!

Anthony: I wish for Nat to be 5 and I wish to have a little bit of red hair! I wish everyone could have a warm place to stay.

Note to our Friends: We have been practicing keyboarding, and we did our OWN typing!

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.